DrSteve writes a great blog called The Top Two Inches. (I don’t know what he is a doctor of, sorry.)
He covers a wide range of areas about the mind:
“In alphabetical order: neuorology, philosophy, psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy, social psychology, social theory, and so on.”
He covers these things not as separate areas but by dealing with them around a particular topic. This brings these areas alive – much better than the ‘let me introduce philosophy (or psychiatry or psychology)’ kind of thing. Most recently this has been psychopathology. DrSteve has discussed whether psychopaths are good liars, what their motivation is and whether there are places where psychopathology is appropriate, amongst other things.
This has led him to focus at the moment on empathy. Starting with do psychopaths have empathy, and then moving on to explore empathy itself (what is it? Is it necessarily accurate and so on). A theme is followed over several posts which means it can be explored in depth and DrSteve’s posts respond to the comments on the previous posts.
His posts are always well written and invite comments from others. One of the strengths of The Top Two Inches is that there are regulars who leave comments that genuinely engage with the topic and push the envelope with regard to it. It is one blog where it is really worth reading the comments on the posts, they are usually stimulating, insightful and thought-provoking.
In the posts DrSteve does quote from psychiatrists and others with academic training. This means that sometimes jargon is used. However DrSteve himself always writes accessibly and simply.
I think you’ll find, if you are interested in the mind, that The Top Two Inches will quickly become a favourite blog – and that you will enjoy being part of the discussion in the comments.
Unfortunately Dr Steve has stopped writing this blog. I don’t know if he has any plans to start it up again.
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Evan,
I have finally made the time to spend at this blog. I was particularly interested in the articles on psychopathology and how empathy does or does not play a part, as I had been studying it a bit myself last year. I was glad to find information that would probably have taken me through many hours and books to find.
Thanks for the recommendation and thanks Dr Steve.
Glad it was useful.
Evan