August ’23

• Regenesis by George Monbiot
• Storyworthy by Matt Dicks
• Hiroshima by John Hersey
• Against Intellectual Property by N. Stephan Kinsella
• What Gandhi Says by Norman G. Finkelstein
• Midlife by Kieran Setiya
• Show Me the Bodies by Peter Apps

July ’23

• The Long View by Richard Fisher
• Iron Maiden Running Free by Garry Bushell and Ross Halfin
• ChatGPT for Creative Non-Fiction by Nova Leigh (+2 other books by same author on fiction/prompts)
• What Does This Button Do? by Bruce Dickinson
• The Spy Who Came in from the Bin by Christopher Shevlin
• Fluent in 3 Months by Benny Lewis
• Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner
• Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken

Please check out my Antidotum Substack where there is a new post: Vol 8 Opioid deaths and hospital admissions

My biggest challenge with this one was keeping it down to 1500 words. It raises so many potential areas where we could be developing treatment services for people who use drugs. And, if you want to subscribe you can do so here:

June ’23

• Politics: A Survivor’s Guide: How to Stay Engaged without Getting Enraged by Rafael Behr
• Lawfare by Geoffrey Robertson
• Abolish the Monarchy by Graham Smith
• Written by Bec Evans and Chris Smith
• Exploratory Writing by Alison Jones
• Writing Landscape by Linda Cracknell
• What We Fear Most by Dr Ben Cave
• A Philosophy of Loneliness by Lars Svendsen
• What Is ChatGPT Doing… and Why Does It Work? by Stephen Wolfram

I don’t normally write about books until I have finished them but I wanted to raise an interesting concept in The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time by Richard Fisher.

I’m only about a quarter of the way through and he has raised the notion of the Buxton Index.¹ This is defined as the length of time (in years) over which the entity, be it a company, other institution, or individual makes their plans.

So a politician may be thinking over a 5-year electoral cycle but corporations who report quarterly may be very focused on short-term results. Some of the commentary on the Buxton Index is about recognising it as a potential source of tension between organisations — when the Buxton Index is significantly different it could result in disputes and disharmony. There is an argument, that Fisher is in the process of developing, that we are now far too short term in our thinking.

It has made me consider a little on how short-term/long-term the organisations I know and work with are in their thinking. It’s worth some reflection.

This book is relatively brief and that, in itself, is commendable. Too often books have to be stretched out to the standard length of 80-100,000 words regardless of whether the content merits it. Publishers demand books of a certain length and it’s a pleasure to read books, such as this one, concisely written and just as long as they need to be and no more. It makes the message all the more powerful.

Journalism is a broad church but most of us would wholeheartedly welcome the work that goes into the best kind of investigative journalism. It is deeply threatened by people with much to hide and plenty of money to pursue that desire. As Robertson notes:

The function of investigative journalism is to report, analyse and comment on such matters, and on the beneficiaries, without let or hindrance. By providing the powerful with weapons to obstruct such examinations, British law reduces the availability of news that is worthy of reporting, precisely because it opens people’s eyes to what is happening in their country or their community. For that reason, speech should be accounted the first of our freedoms and have in our laws a presumption in its favour.

It is difficult to come up with any reasonable justification for the UK’s law around libel but this book goes beyond that. It lays to waste the notion that the UK is a model state when it comes to free speech.

So, contrary to the boasts of politicians such as Mr Raab, the United Kingdom has a wretched history and tradition when it comes to free speech. That is because of laws and procedures that for the most part remain in force.

Robertson unpicks the web of legislation and its unintended consequences before suggesting the reform needed at many levels.

I need to write a few catch up notes on recent books. Behr’s book on politics is excellent reading and he interleaves his experience with a brutal MI with great skill. He is particularly good on nationalism and populism and identity.

The political scientist Benedict Anderson described nations as ‘imagined communities’, which is to say their existence — real enough in the minds of those who feel they belong in one — is a narrative construct. It is a myth that people tell themselves, assembled from bits of common economic interest, shared religion, ethnicity and remembered history. The myths stick and evolve into identities when they have sufficient resonance with a critical mass of people.

The book warrants a re-read for sure. He covers a lot of ground and with keen insight. I also liked the thoughts on running at the end as well. He captures it rather well:

There is a technique to distance running that I had not known before. You need to check for hazards at your feet, but mostly keep your head up and your shoulders back, unclench your fists. Look out, look up. That is how I keep things in perspective, especially when the anger rises and I need to think my way through it, to run through it, until I have reached the other side and found my way home.

It’s a fine description and, of course, reads beautifully as a metaphor for engaging with politics. On the more literal running level it is also good advice and, as I’ve said before, it is important to learn how to run. We all think we know how and I don’t want to over-complicate something as natural as running. Yet, it is possible to do it better and enjoy it more as a result.

I should note that I am back from the Cape Wrath Ultra. It was an absolutely epic experience. Spending over a week in a bubble with like-minded people concentrating on doing one thing was very special. And I went better than I could have possibly hoped - I far exceeded my (low!) expectations. It was superbly organised by Ourea Events and the whole ethos in the camp and on the trail was very special.

Full results here: https://www.capewrathultra.com/2023-results

May ’23

• Sludge by Cass R. Sunstein
• People Hacker by Jenny Radcliffe
• Swearing Is Good For You by Emma Byrne
• Becoming by Michelle Obama
• Ravenous by Henry Dimbleby
• Closer To The Edge by Leo Houlding

A quiet month of reading - a lot of time was taken with the Cape Wrath Ultra. I listened to Closer To The Edge on the drive up and back to Scotland and it was a good choice for some inspiration. Dimbleby (of Leon restaurant fame) is also excellent in Ravenous and I have a couple of other books about food supply/culture and agriculture in the UK that I’ll follow up with.

One thing I noticed when I was away in Scotland was just how few sheep there were. I suspect that’s because you can’t throw a stick around Cumbria without hitting about three of the woolly monsters. I’ve been conditioned to expect sheep to be dotting every rural landscape. Admittedly, the Cape Wrath UItra does cover some very wild ground but, still, it was noticeable.

April ’23

• A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton Notes
• Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte Notes
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Notes
• Everest the Cruel Way by Joe Tasker
• No Easy Way by Mick Fowler
• The Trolley Problem by Thomas Cathcart
• Marx: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer
• Unlawful Killings by Wendy Joseph
• Psychovertical by Andy Kirkpatrick
• Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Sharif

And, yes, I did read War and Peace. Not all this month but I did, finally, finish it.

Substack have now released their social media feature - Notes. Seemed worth a microblog here too.

My first post on Notes. So, I shall use it to highlight an essay on harm reduction and drug consumption rooms that I wrote for the New Humanist. It is currently available on their website. (And, of course, in the usual places like WHSmith - but don’t let the bastards upsell you any chocolate 😀)

https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/6091/the-case-for-drug-consumption-rooms-is-crystal-clear

https://substack.com/profile/10318757-euan-lawson/note/c-14480212

In my younger years I was a keen climber. I wouldn’t say I was obsessed with it, that’s too strong, but climbing, and especially winter climbing and mountaineering, is not the kind of activity it is easy to dabble in. It tends to be all in.

I fed my interest by reading many of the classic books of the era. One of the most satisfying aspects of climbing and mountaineering (and especially the armchair variety) is that it has a rich and varied literature. I was living in West Sussex, so not a lot of climbing to be add there, and as a teenager I spent much time trawling the shelves of Haywards Heath library and working through the hardback volumes. I loved the stories and the cast became well known to me: Bonington, Haston, Boardman, Renshaw, Tasker, Patey, Whillans, and Doug Scott to name just a few.

I think it is time to revisit some of them and Joe Tasker’s Everest the Cruel Way is an unsparing description of a winter attempt on Everest in 1980-81. I had the audiobook and it makes a good companion for longer fell runs. Yesterday, I ended up on a much longer, harder run in the pouring rain, as I felt too embarrassed to turn back while listening to the brutal conditions of climbing on Everest’s West Face in winter conditions.

It was one of the best games of the season today with Liverpool hosting Arsenal. Martin Tyler on Sky Sports commented at the start of the match that Arsenal were wearing grey socks to help people who were colour blind.

Sadly, it was of very limited help and viewing was a frustrating experience.

Imagine watching a football match where the two teams wear the same colours and the only way to tell them apart is via their socks… it was verging on unwatchable for those of us who are red-green colour blind.

I’ve not got a long history of trying to read War and Peace but I do have a recollection that I tried to read it when I was 18. I was in Nepal at the time and I am fairly certain that I dragged the full paperback copy around the Annapurna circuit, including over the 5400m Thorung La in some stormy weather. I was wearing Doc Martens and a pair of cheap sportsocks on my hands as mittens. That’s another story though.

I don’t remember getting very far into it at all.

This time, I started reading it at the beginning of 2022 and I was following The Big Read Substack. Each week, you read seven chapters or so, and the author of the Substack, Jeremy Anderberg, would provide a summary and some comment. It’s a great way to get through it, adds some useful context, and adds a lot of value to the experience.

I fell off the Substack wagon last summer when I was about two-thirds of the way through the 600,000 words or so. I binged it this Easter weekend and carved off the remaining 200,000.

I read the Penguin translation by Anthony Briggs. This came out in 2005 and is incredibly accessible. (My original trip to Nepal was in 1991 so it sure as hell wasn’t that one I dragged around the Himalaya.) The chapters of War and Peace are short and the sheer readability of Briggs’ translation should banish any concern you’ll be wading through turgid prose. There are, handily, about 360 chapters in the book so set yourself the entirely manageable target of one a day and you’ll get there.

I read Building a Second Brain as I stumbled on it before doing a session on PKMs - personal knowledge management systems - for the BJGP Research Conference. It starts off encouragingly but quickly descends into absurdist levels of detail and convoluted systems. I do think there are important reasons to develop one’s own PKM but one of the whole points of PKMs is that they have to work for you. It’s the ‘P’ bit…

Forte has some good ideas but they quickly run out and the need to sell a whole system has trumped everything. My advice is to stick with Sönke Ahrens’ How To Take Smart Notes.

My second read of A Little History of Philosophy (well, listen, as it is an audiobook) by Nigel Warburton and it was a fine companion for a long drive to the south of England. Recommended.

March ’23

• The Blazing World by Jonathan Healey
• Long Story Short by Margot Leitman
• This Mortal Coil by Andrew Doig
• The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre
• How to Think Like a Philosopher by Julian Baggini
• Unnatural Causes by Richard Shepherd
• What Does It All Mean by Thomas Nagel
• Philosophy: The Basics by Nigel Warburton
• Justice by Michael J. Sandel

My recommendation of the month is Baggini’s How to Think Like a Philosopher. I’m reading several general philosophy primers and this is the new one from a quite remarkably prolific author.

Now finished Unnatural Causes by Richard Shepherd. Some mixed feelings about this one. It is, as you would expect, an engrossing tour of forensic pathology, but looming over the whole thing is Richard Shepherd. Or, more specifically, his mental health. This is flagged early in the book, pops up regularly on the way through, and his eventual diagnosis with PTSD is given some brief coverage at the end. It’s so blatantly obvious through the book it was starting to get uncomfortable and it was almost with some relief that it came out.

I did note that Shepherd has an interesting relationship with truths and facts — reporting the ‘truth’ was, at one point in his career, pivotal to his professional approach and one had the slight sense this was anchoring him throughout the stresses and strains of subverting all emotions in the most challenging of circumstances. However, he later becomes ambivalent about this and he often seems contradictory. Overall, it was hard not to read this book and not think about all the doctors and the culture of medicine where emotional detachment is a prized commodity that is valorised. And it slowly eats out people from the inside.

February ’23

• The Five by Hallie Rubenhold
• Eat the Buddha by Barbara Demick
• The Life Inside by Andy West
• Getting Better by Michael Rosen
• Hidden Mountains by Michael Wejchert
• Zen and the Art of Dealing with Difficult People by Mark Westmoquette
• When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope
• Why Vegan? by Peter Singer
• If You Should Fail by Joe Moran

Some excellent books here and a good month. It’s difficult to pick one but I did think that Joe Moran’s book was a delight and one I will make a note and read again.

January ’23

• A World Without Email by Cal Newport
• The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
• Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
• Mythos by Stephen Fry
• Essentialism by Greg Mckeown
• The Hunt for the Silver Killer by David Collins
• The Perpetual Astonishment of Jonathon Fairfax by Christopher Devlin
• Evil Beyond Belief by Wensley Clarkson
• Jonathon Fairfax Must Be Destroyed by Christopher Devlin
• The Pursuit of Coconuts by Christopher Devlin
• Liberalism and Its Discontents by Francis Fukuyama

Book of the month is not easy to pick out. Not many of these really rang with me but I did enjoy a venture back into some gentle comedic crime fiction with the Fairfax novels. Perhaps Fukuyama was the book I am most likely to read again. (And Newport’s A World Without Email was already a second read and I got a lot more out of it this time. It hit the spot and I’m making some changes to how I work as a result.)

December ’22

• Billy No-Mates by Max Dickins
• The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku
• Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
• The Making of the Modern Middle East by Jeremy Bowen
• Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco
• The Peter Principle by Laurence J. Peter & Raymond Hull
• Complicit by Max Bazerman
• The Moth and the Mountain by Ed Caesar
• The Vegan “Beef” Guide by Lyanna K. Peterson

Somewhat electic mix this month — an excellent graphic non-fiction book by Sacco is well worth the time. I read Down and Out in serial form via the Orwell Foundation Substack. Complicit was a well-timed book for me given my work situation and Billy No-Mates was more thorough and comprehensive than I expected. It just pips the others to my book of the month recommendation.

The temperatures have dropped and the morning fell run has been sub-zero but with the most stunning light to enjoy. Every day has been a treat. The photos below were all taken with an iPhone 11 Pro (and no filters). Indeed, the only editing at all was when I cropped the photo of the horses to a square format. That’s it!

The viewing dial on the top of Winder at sunrise.

Winter light as the horses enjoy some hay.

My favourite of the week. I used portrait mode on the iPhone and it gives an otherworldliness to the trig point with its coating of rime ice.

I’ve moved almost all of my microblogging to Mastodon so follow and connect there. 😃@euan@bjgp.social #microblog

November ’22

• The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland
• The Last Colony by Philippe Sands
• A Man With One of Those Faces by Caimh McDonnell
• Mission Economy by Mariana Mazzucato
• The Great Mental Models: Vol 1 by Shane Parrish
• Letters to a Young Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens
• The Restless Republic by Anna Keay
• Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning
• Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens

Recommended book this month: hard not to go with The Escape Artist by Freedland. It’s a bestseller for a reason.

I’m now on Mastodon. And, do you know, I am thoroughly enjoying it. It is, of course, micro-blogging and social media, but there are slight differences that make a huge difference to one’s wellbeing when using it. Part of that may just be the reduced traffic but I think the underlying structure gives me cause for optimism that it won’t descend into the hellsite that is now Twitter.

Get yourself signed up to a server and follow me there: @euan@bjgp.social