StWd Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Hello everyone, I'm fairly new to freedomainradio having found Stefan's work less than a few months ago but would like to be involved with some online intellectual discussion. First, a long bit about myself so you understand a little more about where my ideas come from. Then, I will put a bit of the books I'm currently reading and recommend a few books from the past. Thanks for reading, I look forward to seeing some ideas that I might otherwise not be exposed to. My situation: I am 23 years old and live in SouthWest UK, currently in my second undergraduate year of study. I am reading Psychology with Sociology and studied maths, further maths, physics and computing in college (16-18yrs old UK). After college, in the NorthWest of England where I grew up, I went to a university there to study Physics but left after a couple of months due to lack of financial support from family or government. I worked on slave wage and drank a lot of the subsequent years away before finally being able to move "down South" and start life again without the damaging influence of my dysfunctional family (which I may discuss in another post at some point). I worked another year and due to moving so far and having no friends, and never clicking with the majority of people I ended up working with, I decided to look at the local university societies for social interaction. That year I also got into taking drugs (just smoking weed, psychedelics and a couple of empathogens but I saw and heard a lot of crazy shit and met some crazy people; eg guns, domestic violence, katanas, machetes, blocks of cocaine, homemade opium and crack). These experiences got me interested in psychology and philosophy as I tried to make sense of how random the turns my life had taken seemed compared to what most people considered "normal". A year after moving to this city, I went to one of the local university open days. I spoke to a professor about the studying I do in my spare time, my previous academic success and how my progress had been halted my circumstances beyond my control. I got accepted as direct-entry, meaning I didn't have to apply through UCAS (meaning I also didn't have to pay the application fee), then quit my fast-food job and hoped that I would get my funding. Last year, I struggled getting back into the academic lifestyle and reducing my drug usage but was fortunate to make some great friends and found that a lot of the maths and statistics skills I'd learned in college, which a lot of people seem to struggle with most in this course, came back to me quite easily. Despite doing fairly and consistently well in all of my exams, I failed the year due to late submission or non-submission of most coursework. I had to take an extra exam and write an essay during summer. On the basis of my essay alone, I was allowed to enter second year of study and also added a minor to my degree- sociology. I discovered my passion for sociology over that summer while studying for my essay, entitled something like "how is scientific knowledge developed?". The first academic term, end of last year, was also a struggle as I tried to catch up on sociology after having never studied it before in my life, apart from a few books over summer, and being fortunate enough to, I think, possess a "sociological imagination". Now, after years of letting myself go, mentally and bodily, I am fit and healthy, free of over 6 years of depression, and full of motivation. Current/Recommended Reading: I won't list university textbooks, however, will mention a couple of books that I have read in my university studies that I highly recommend for anyone/everyone. Currently I am reading: Reclaiming Reality - Roy Bhaskar Only 2 chapters into this monster and it's thoroughly demanding. Critical Theories of Mass Media Then and Now - Paul Taylor & Jan Harris This is fairly easy to read yet provides great stimulation, insight and integrates a lot of major theories. Recommended Reading (off the top of my head): Beyond Good and Evil - Nietzsche Self-Reliance - Waldo-Emerson The End of History - Fukuyama Consilience - E O Wilson Everything Bad is Good for You - Steven Johnson Emperor's New Drugs - Irving Kirsche Chomsky Foucault Debate on Human Nature Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatrickC Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Hi StWd.. We have a burgeoning group of us that meet every fortnight in London and other parts of the country too. If you were interested in joining us our Facebook group is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1438425056435291/ Otherwise I have a thread here that I update for each meet up that you might like to favourite, so as to keep updated on our movements. Our next meet up in London is planned for the 14th Feb: https://board.freedomainradio.com/topic/41769-london-uk-meet-up/?hl=%2Blondon+%2Bmeet Anyway nice to meet you and all the best. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts