Book review - Looking after oneself
Speed Reading: Living
well.
Priya
Basil
Canongate.
In
Be my Guest Priya Basil’s explores the importance of hospitality and
what it means to welcome strangers today. Basil has an Indian heritage, grew up
in Kenya and Britain and currently lives in Berlin so is perfectly placed to
reflect on food and family, identity and community. She touches on the work of
Hannah Arendt, Helene Cixous, Jacques Derrida and Immanuel Kant and poignantly compares
her relatively privileged life with that of many refugees who are unable to
travel freely and enjoy few basic rights.
Kate
Murphy
Harvill
Secker
American
journalist Kate Murphy believes that truly listening to someone allows us to
“engage, understand, connect, empathise and develop as human beings.” But given
the noise created by social media, fake news, and our marked social and
political divisions, we’ve lost the art of listening. Murphy offers a timely
reminder of how we could enrich our lives and relationships if we redoubled our
efforts to listen to opposing views instead of always “liking” or retweeting
opinions similar to our own.
The
Art of Rest
Claudia
Hammond
Canongate
Writer
and broadcaster Claudia Hammond collaborated on ‘The Rest Test’, a global
survey involving 18,000 people living in 135 different countries, and her book,
hailed as “a call to rest”, is the result of her research. How do we unwind and
calm our minds? Hammond believes proper rest “helps us to make better
decisions, lowers our risk of depression, boosts our memories” and staves off
colds. The findings are surprising: gardening and pets did not figure in the
top ten activities the participants consider the most restful. Taking a hot
bath does. The number one pastime for creating a restful sense of wellbeing?
Reading.
Orignally published by The Tablet