A Dark, Divided Self


Book Description

When the decomposed remains of a young woman are discovered just outside Birmingham, criminologist Will Traynor is drawn into a baffling investigation. "Plenty of unexpected twists sure to set pulses racing, leading to a shock ending guaranteed to blindside even the most experienced thriller reader" - Booklist Starred Review When the badly decomposed remains of a young woman are discovered in an isolated wooded area just outside Birmingham, the victim is quickly identified as Amy Peters, a Manchester University student who disappeared three years earlier. She is one of five young women who vanished from the streets of Manchester within a two-year period. Called in to assist the police investigation, criminologist Will Traynor believes they are looking for an intelligent, socially confident individual, someone adept at covering his tracks. But why would the killer transport the victim on an eighty-mile journey from Manchester to Birmingham? If he can find the answer to that question, Traynor believes he has the key to cracking the case. But at every stage of the investigation, the killer seems to be one step ahead of him. If he's going to outsmart him, Will realizes he's going to have to play this twisted individual at his own deadly game.




A Dark, Divided Self


Book Description

The badly decomposed remains of a young woman are discovered just outside Birmingham, identified as a Manchester University student who disappeared three years earlier. Why would the killer transport the victim on an eighty-mile journey? Criminologist Will Traynor believes that finding the answer to that question is the key to cracking the case.




The Divided Self


Book Description

The Divided Self, R.D. Laing's groundbreaking exploration of the nature of madness, illuminated the nature of mental illness and made the mysteries of the mind comprehensible to a wide audience. First published in 1960, this watershed work aimed to make madness comprehensible, and in doing so revolutionized the way we perceive mental illness. Using case studies of patients he had worked with, psychiatrist R. D. Laing argued that psychosis is not a medical condition, but an outcome of the 'divided self', or the tension between the two personas within us: one our authentic, private identity, and the other the false, 'sane' self that we present to the world. Laing's radical approach to insanity offered a rich existential analysis of personal alienation and made him a cult figure in the 1960s, yet his work was most significant for its humane attitude, which put the patient back at the centre of treatment. Includes an introduction by Professor Anthony S. David. 'One of the twentieth century's most influential psychotherapists' Guardian 'Laing challenged the psychiatric orthodoxy of his time ... an icon of the 1960s counter-culture' The Times




The Divided Self


Book Description




Devil in the Detail


Book Description

A suspected car-jacking leads to something deeper and darker in the compelling new Will Traynor forensic mystery. The emergency call comes in the early hours of the morning. A man and a woman found in a car in a rundown part of the city, both of them critically injured. A random, opportune attack by a stranger? Or were the pair deliberately targeted? Is there a connection to series of car-jackings which has been plaguing the area? Nothing about this case seems to add up. As each theory as to what might have happened leads to yet more questions, Detective Inspector Bernard Watts decides to call on the help of criminologist Dr Will Traynor. Traynor knows that it's the small, easily missed details that will crack the case, but not even he could suspect just where those seemingly insignificant details will lead . . .




Dark Truths


Book Description

A fresh case lays bare old bones for DI Watt’s team When a young woman’s body is discovered on a popular jogging trail in Birmingham, Detective Inspector Bernard Watts and his team are plunged into a disturbing murder investigation. Not only has the woman been violently stabbed – her head is missing. When a close examination of the crime scene results in a shocking discovery linking the present murder to a past crime, criminologist Will Traynor is brought in to assist the police. Aware of Traynor’s troubled past, Watts is sceptical that Will can contribute anything useful to the investigation. He's about to be proved very wrong . . .




The Digitally Divided Self


Book Description

"It isn't easy to find an informed and critical look at the impact of digital media practices on human lives and minds. Ivo Quartiroli offers an informed critique based in both an understanding of technology and of human consciousness." --Howard Rheingold, author of The Virtual Community and Smart Mobs. Howard Rheingold, Derrick de Kerckhove, Arthur Kroker, Eric McLuhan, Michael McLuhan, Douglas Rushkoff, Michael Wesch, Hilarie Cash, Erik Davis, Michael Heim, Maggie Jackson, Ervin Laszlo and others on the forefront of technology and media studies praised The Digitally Divided Self as a milestone in the understanding of human nature in relationship with digital technology. Intersecting media studies, psychology and spirituality, The Digitally Divided Self exposes the nature of the malleable mind and explores the religious and philosophical influences which leave it obsessed with the incessant flow of information.




We, the Divided Self


Book Description




The Philosophy of William James


Book Description

This is an accessible introduction to the full range of the philosophy of William James. It portrays that philosophy as containing a deep division between a Promethean type of pragmatism and a passive mysticism. The pragmatist James conceives of truth and meaning as a means to control nature and make it do our bidding. The mystic James eschews the use of concepts in order to penetrate to the inner conscious core of all being, including nature at large. Richard Gale attempts to harmonize these pragmatic and mystical perspectives.




Spite


Book Description

Spite angers and enrages us, but it also keeps us honest. In this provocative account, a psychologist examines how petty vengeance explains human thriving. Spite seems utterly useless. You don't gain anything by hurting yourself just so you can hurt someone else. So why hasn't evolution weeded out all the spiteful people? As psychologist Simon McCarthy-Jones argues, spite seems pointless because we're looking at it wrong. Spite isn't just what we feel when a car cuts us off or when a partner cheats. It's what we feel when we want to punish a bad act simply because it was bad. Spite is our fairness instinct, an innate resistance to exploitation, and it is one of the building blocks of human civilization. As McCarthy-Jones explains, some of history's most important developments—the rise of religions, governments, and even moral codes—were actually redirections of spiteful impulses. A provocative, engaging read, Spite shows that if you really want to understand what makes us human, you can't just look at noble ideas like altruism and cooperation. You need to understand our darker impulses as well.