Yuhan
The title is clickbait lol. Medicine adjacent literature will always hold my interest but I was worried that this was going to present an overly dismissive argument of people's suffering (and honestly picked it up to expand my worldview - one of those books if you get me) but actually, it was very well written and presented some very interesting points.
The main argument presented was essentially - people are suffering, but if their suffering is not fully understood and the diagnosis does not actually provide any benefits in understanding or treatment, does it actually do more good overall to give them a diagnosis. A multitude of different perspectives are discussed in the book, but the one I found most interesting was the case where the biological underpinnings of a diagnosis have not been understood, and so the diagnosis itself is not much more than a collection of symptoms. For the subset of these diagnoses where it's commonly perceived to be an inherent difference or just simply not recoverable, despite no scientific consensus that this is actually the case, having the diagnosis pinned to a person's identity can affect how they perceive themselves and their relationship with potential recovery.
As someone diagnosed and being treated for ADHD, I SO understand the appeals of a biological explanation, and so kinda just accepted it without digging into it too much - and to be fair, it is very much often presented as truth. Finding out from literature (not even this book lol, but it is discussed) (and also just from personal experience where things didn't quite add up) that the reality was much more complicated did feel like a bit of mourning for a loss of identity. I realised that I was starting to use it as an excuse, and regardless of what the true mechanisms for the condition is, I'd reached the point of diminishing returns of my diagnosis and it was actively stunting my growth in other areas. Either way, I'm glad that I got the diagnosis and it's helped me in many ways, but I'm also glad that I've been able to look beyond it, and I see the worry that other people may be being harmed by a well-intended but ultimately not unequivocally good-resulting simplified explanation.
Gripes about the book (because ⭐necessary⭐): clickbait title is unappetising. missells what the book is about, or maybe it's a meta 5D chess move, idk lol. Also, from some of the interviews featured in the book, it's quite clear how the author feels about the conversation. I understand that as a practicing medical professional, it must be frustrating facing people who give out (from their point of view) misinformation and endorsing medical malpractitioners. After all, especiallyas a medical professional, active harm to people must be difficult to just sit with, buuuuuuuuuttttttt maybe a more neutral viewpoint would be better for a book. That's all!
The title is clickbait lol. Medicine adjacent literature will always hold my interest but I was worried that this was going to present an overly dismissive argument of people's suffering (and honestly picked it up to expand my worldview - one of those books if you get me) but actually, it was very well written and presented some very interesting points.
The main argument presented was essentially - people are suffering, but if their suffering is not fully understood and the diagnosis does not actually provide any benefits in understanding or treatment, does it actually do more good overall to give them a diagnosis. A multitude of different perspectives are discussed in the book, but the one I found most interesting was the case where the biological underpinnings of a diagnosis have not been understood, and so the diagnosis itself is not much more than a collection of symptoms. For the subset of these diagnoses where it's commonly perceived to be an inherent difference or just simply not recoverable, despite no scientific consensus that this is actually the case, having the diagnosis pinned to a person's identity can affect how they perceive themselves and their relationship with potential recovery.
As someone diagnosed and being treated for ADHD, I SO understand the appeals of a biological explanation, and so kinda just accepted it without digging into it too much - and to be fair, it is very much often presented as truth. Finding out from literature (not even this book lol, but it is discussed) (and also just from personal experience where things didn't quite add up) that the reality was much more complicated did feel like a bit of mourning for a loss of identity. I realised that I was starting to use it as an excuse, and regardless of what the true mechanisms for the condition is, I'd reached the point of diminishing returns of my diagnosis and it was actively stunting my growth in other areas. Either way, I'm glad that I got the diagnosis and it's helped me in many ways, but I'm also glad that I've been able to look beyond it, and I see the worry that other people may be being harmed by a well-intended but ultimately not unequivocally good-resulting simplified explanation.
Gripes about the book (because ⭐necessary⭐): clickbait title is unappetising. missells what the book is about, or maybe it's a meta 5D chess move, idk lol. Also, from some of the interviews featured in the book, it's quite clear how the author feels about the conversation. I understand that as a practicing medical professional, it must be frustrating facing people who give out (from their point of view) misinformation and endorsing medical malpractitioners. After all, especiallyas a medical professional, active harm to people must be difficult to just sit with, buuuuuuuuuttttttt maybe a more neutral viewpoint would be better for a book. That's all!
I am gobbledy smacked screaming crying throwing up, this book slaps you in all the unexpected ways that real life does.
Surprisingly this book is very different to the first in its series, but absolutely not in a bad way. It's grown organically to adapt to the new setting - given that the twist in the first book completely alters the fundamental environment that the book is set in, and yet somehow manages to slap in an equally mindbending revelation in this book. I've gushed loads in my review of the first book about how real the writing is, and I think that really excels in this book as well. I'm still marvelling at how well the sense of nothing you thought mattered matters anymore after 200 years of 'time travel', yet it's not even mentioned explicitly. Dude, like, I feel like I time travelled. also loved the not-so-subtle calls to classic Chinese sci-fi that I read growing up, very fun :)).
A note that I did read the original in Chinese, and while I thought the translation of the first book was kinda difficult to read, I had a quick peek at the tranlation of this second book, and actually thought it seemed pretty fab (and I don't often say that about translated works from Chinese ahaha. I know it's difficult to produce a translation that makes a native speaker happy!).
No frickin clue where the third book is going to go, from a quick look at the contents page, it appears to take on a completely different spin again and I'm all here for it. I guess that's part of the charm, and that is just how life goes.
I am gobbledy smacked screaming crying throwing up, this book slaps you in all the unexpected ways that real life does.
Surprisingly this book is very different to the first in its series, but absolutely not in a bad way. It's grown organically to adapt to the new setting - given that the twist in the first book completely alters the fundamental environment that the book is set in, and yet somehow manages to slap in an equally mindbending revelation in this book. I've gushed loads in my review of the first book about how real the writing is, and I think that really excels in this book as well. I'm still marvelling at how well the sense of nothing you thought mattered matters anymore after 200 years of 'time travel', yet it's not even mentioned explicitly. Dude, like, I feel like I time travelled. also loved the not-so-subtle calls to classic Chinese sci-fi that I read growing up, very fun :)).
A note that I did read the original in Chinese, and while I thought the translation of the first book was kinda difficult to read, I had a quick peek at the tranlation of this second book, and actually thought it seemed pretty fab (and I don't often say that about translated works from Chinese ahaha. I know it's difficult to produce a translation that makes a native speaker happy!).
No frickin clue where the third book is going to go, from a quick look at the contents page, it appears to take on a completely different spin again and I'm all here for it. I guess that's part of the charm, and that is just how life goes.
