Title: “Man’s Search for Meaning”

Author: Viktor E. Frankl

Rank: 91

Blurb: “Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl’s theory — known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos (‘meaning’) — holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.”

Review: “I am not familiar with this book. Did I order it? I cannot make an accurate assessment of this book.” (Amazon Verified Purchase)

Customers Also Bought: “The Stranger”, by Albert Camus

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Award-winning Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman Found Dead in Manhattan Apartment [WSJ]

Title: “Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse!”

Authors: Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond

Rank: 40

Blurb: “Join Mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie as he celebrates Valentine’s Day with all the friends he loves.”

Reviews:

“No storyline. Waste of money.”

“The story is overly simplistic, with barely one sentence per page.”

“I’m sorry, but this story is stupid.”

“I felt it was purely a way to make money.”

“Highly discourage anyone from buying this book.”

“I am really surprised at how many negative reviews there are for this book.”

Customers Also Bought: “Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Curious George”

Footnote: Children’s books are festering like Hallmark cards.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse! [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon Kickback Link]

[Daily Mail]

This is new to us. We feel compelled to express this fact, since Adam West remains our Batman, where by our we mean Wednesdays and Thursdays same-bat-time-same-bat-channel, and we would presume that our inner seven-year-old wouldn’t forget something like that nearly a half-century on.

Unless it came out during the third season, which we’ve mostly sublimated because (a) no cliffhangers, and (b) the Batgirl theme is really stupid. In that context, a pro-Vietnam message would have been the least of our concerns.

[via Comics Alliance]

Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94 [NYT]

Title: “Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain”

Author: Patricia S. Churchland

Rank: 78

Blurb: “What happens when we accept that everything we feel and think stems not from an immaterial spirit but from electrical and chemical activity in our brains?”

Review: “Being a young aspiring experimental psychology graduate with a minor in philosophy, I find the work of Patricia Churchland refreshing.”

Customers Also Bought: “Why Does the World Exist? An Existential Detective Story”

Footnote: Anybody who argues that Self can be explained by brain science should begin by explaining what Self is. We’ll wait.

Touching a Nerve [Amazon]

Buy or Die [Stinque@Amazon Kickback Link]