December 2011 - Knowledge is Necessity

Christopher Hitchens: An Appreciation

This is crazy. I just happened to be reading Christopher Hitchens’ recently released collection of essays, “Arguably,” when I found out he died today from complications from throat cancer. Christopher Buckley on the back cover cites Hitchens as “the greatest...

Published Fri, Dec 16 2011 3:36 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Christopher Hitchens

Is There An RX for the Over-Prescription Epidemic?

Do we have an over-prescription epidemic? Here’s a snippet from a piece I wrote in 2002: Paramijit Joshi MD, Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the National Children's Medical Center in Washington DC, told the gathering she gets kids aged...

Published Mon, Dec 05 2011 10:49 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, over-prescription epidemic, Gianna Kali

Hitler on the Couch

As I promised last week, a study on Hitler. My starting point was Nassir Ghaemi’s recent “A First-Rate Madness,” which raised the extraordinary proposition that Hitler was far more “normal” than we give him credit for. What Ghaemi was driving at was that...

Published Mon, Dec 12 2011 6:49 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Nassir Ghaemi, Evil Genes, Barbara Oakley, Hitler

WTF?: How Hitler Ran Amok, Mao Died in Bed, and Your Jerk Brother Ruined Your Thanksgiving

First let me recap:In six pieces, we have investigated evil, working off of Barbara Oakley’s 2007 “Evil Genes.” Dr Oakley noted that the type of people who specialize in making your life miserable are best described as Machiavellian, what she calls the...

Published Tue, Dec 13 2011 4:37 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, evil, Barbara Oakley, Hitler

Chairman Mao: A Portrait in Evil

This is my fifth piece on Barbara Oakley’s eye-opening 2007 “Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend.” I stumbled into her book after a Google search involving Hitler and sociopathy. What prompted...

Published Thu, Dec 08 2011 2:04 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, evil, Evil Genes, Barbara Oakley, Chairman Mao

See the Man with the Stage Fright

The life of a writer is much like that of a weather observer at Advance Base in Antarctica in the winter of 1934, but without the snow and all the social distractions. The reference is to Admiral Richard Byrd, who spent five months completely on his own...

Published Sat, Dec 03 2011 7:38 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, NAMI San Diego, stage fright

Rerun: Where is God?

Christopher Hitchens' passing last week generated considerable discussion on his militant atheism, which you can read all about in his 2007 diatribe, "God is Not Great." The first major flaw in Hitchens' approach is that exclusively...

Published Mon, Dec 19 2011 2:54 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Christopher Hitchens, religion, The Case for God, Karen Armstrong

Rerun: A Christmas Poem

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the place Not a thought was racing, not even a trace; The meds were all stashed, in the cabinet with care; A warning to my neurons, behave and beware. When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, Something...

Published Fri, Dec 23 2011 4:01 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, Christmas poem

Robert Sapolsky Talks About the Biology of Human Behavior

We think in categories. But there are these problems. The first one being that when you think in categories you underestimate how different two facts are when they fall in the same category. When you think in categories you overestimate how different...

Published Tue, Dec 27 2011 4:34 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: Robert Sapolsky, human biological behavior

The Blood-Brain Barrier

I just finished rewriting my mcmanweb article on the blood-brain barrier, which I first published in 2003. Here is the new version in full ... You may have heard of "antisense" therapy. The idea is to synthesize strands of RNA that bind to disease...

Published Fri, Dec 02 2011 4:28 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, William Pardridge, blood-brain barrier

Illustrating Depression and Bipolar

As most of you who follow this blog know, at the beginning of this year I essentially blew up mcmanweb and started over. The site was in serious need of an updating, plus a facelift. My first phase involved a complete redesign, together with rewrites...

Published Thu, Dec 15 2011 4:25 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, bipolar, depression, mcmanweb

Why Evil Works

What does Mao Zedong have to do with that jerk brother or sister who wrecks everyone’s Thanksgiving? Funny you should ask. Barbara Oakley’s 2007 “Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend” masterfully...

Published Wed, Dec 07 2011 1:40 PM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, evil, Evil Genes, Barbara Oakley

The Year That Was: My 2011 Highlights and Lowlights

This is the time of the year for looking back, a la Time Magazine and CNN. Following is my personal (and highly idiosyncratic) view on how the year unfolded: Person of the Year: The Three Stooges This was a no-brainer. Anytime I was stuck for a pictorial...

Published Wed, Dec 28 2011 5:24 AM by Knowledge Is Necessity

Filed under: John McManamy, year that was