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Ron Charach's Night Table Recommendations

Wednesday, Feb 10, 2010 at 10:14am

As a psychiatrist and author, I sometimes wonder if I am better at buying books than actually finding the time to sit down and read them through to the end. When I do complete a book, I know it was clearly written and actually offered me a chance to change my perspective on the world, if not my life.

The Art of Travel & The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton



Recently, I finished a couple fetching, well-illustrated books by philosopher Alain de Botton, namely The Art of Travel, which seeks to answer the question, "Why go anywhere?" and The Consolations of Philosophy, a philosophy self-help book of sorts. The latter offered solutions to such problems as unpopularity, not having enough money, being frustrated or feeling inadequate or broken-hearted, all drawn from the work of philosophers like Socrates, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, men who struggled to rise above such woes in their personal lives.

What the Furies Bring by Kenneth Sherman

For a book on how the art of writing helps one remain sane, even amid the appalling conditions of Nazism and Stalinism, one should pick up poet Kenneth Sherman's book of essays, What the Furies Bring, published here in Canada by The Porcupine's Quill press. Sherman is not only a crystal-clear writer, but also a great reader, and the quotes he offers from the writings of great modern European Jewish, Russian and Polish poets are tonic for the reader who senses that he/she is missing out by never picking up a book of poetry.

The Highly Sensitive Person by Dr. Elaine Aron

Many of the philosophers and the writers driven to make sense of their place in a world gone wrong were, ironically, highly sensitive people to begin with, and I would recommend, as my second book choice, (horror of horrors,) a self-help book, The Highly Sensitive Person, by psychologist Dr. Elaine Aron. Its subtitle is How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You.

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Ron Charach is a Winnipeg born and Toronto based poet and practicing psychiatrist. He is the author of many volumes of poetry, including Elephant Street and Selected Portraits, recently celebrating the release of his first collection of essays Cowboys & Bleeding Hearts (Wolsak & Wynn, 2009) in November of 2009 at McNally Robinson in Winnipeg.
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