There’s something going on here about how we don’t want to take full responsibility for our decisions; we don’t want to think through the issues properly, instead bringing in some text from the past as if it is entirely without its own historical context.
Tag: Hippocrates
‘Trade’ books and ‘academic’ books – what’s that about?
I've been getting excited recently about the final stage before publication of my next book, Immaculate Forms, a history of women's bodies told through four parts: breasts, clitoris, hymen, womb. It's easy to remember the order of the chapters because it's alphabetical, but that wasn't why I did it this way: instead, I am going… Continue reading ‘Trade’ books and ‘academic’ books – what’s that about?
Quote/unquote: basic errors in using the internet for doing history
Just occasionally, even I am shocked at how people don't bother to look at the basics when using a web page as evidence for their arguments: who wrote this? when did they write it? what's their evidence? are they using that evidence properly? This happened today. I was engaging in one of those chats on Twitter… Continue reading Quote/unquote: basic errors in using the internet for doing history
Beans at bedtime? How to dream well
Why did Pythagoras advise against beans at bedtime? and what do dreams mean?
What is this thing called lovesickness?
A very nasty condition in earlier medicine was something called lovesickness. Check yourself out: are you looking pale? Sleeping badly? Finding it difficult to concentrate? Sighing a lot? Are you off your food? These symptoms, history tells us, may point to lovesickness as your problem. When is love a disease? The first stages of being in… Continue reading What is this thing called lovesickness?
Mistaking histories 