Reviews for Photographs of the old closes and streets of Glasgow, 1868/1877

The average rating for Photographs of the old closes and streets of Glasgow, 1868/1877 based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-02-14 00:00:00 Lance Taylor A pretty interesting book that I probably would not have picked up had it not been assigned for a class I am taking; I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it. McAdams's central premise is that we give meaning to our lives by applying a narrative structure - dividing the life into chapters, each with its own setting and characters, and, ultimately, unified with a central theme. More specifically, we each create personal myths, based on dominant narrative forms (e.g., comedy, romance, tragedy, irony) and archetypal characters (e.g., the intellectual, the healer, the creator) from within our culture. I like the notion of applying the personal myth paradigm to human lives. Indeed, much of what we understand about the world and human culture in general comes from lessons learned through stories--even Jesus himself employed this strategy as a teacher. Stories serve to delight and instruct (yes, the original quote, whose utterer escapes me, said poetry, not stories, but the application to McAdams is, I think, the same). What do we find more complicated than our very selves? McAdams, a psychologist at Northwestern, explains that his interviewees (for his research on human lives, which informs this book) by and large found the experience of being interviewed tremendously valuable, as the act of talking about their life stories enlightened them in several ways: McAdams helped people to identify and change their personal myths, and ultimately, make meaning of their lives. In other words, the interviews functioned for many as a talk therapy of sorts, not necessarily because these people previously identified as in need of psychological help, but because McAdams and his team asked their questions strategically, encouraging their respondents to think anew about the trajectory of their lives--that is, as personal myths, with a beginning, middle, end, and an underlying theme. One major shortcoming of McAdams's work, however, is that, in explaining the dominant narrative forms and archetypal characters that individuals identify with in their personal myths, he relies heavily on the Judeo-Christian traditions and the stories of ancient Greek mythology. I'm assuming that McAdams did/does most of his research in the United States; nevertheless, I would have appreciated a more cross-cultural look at people and their stories. A key takeaway is that, if we are to make meaning of our lives through telling our stories, we need listeners. As evidenced by the positive feedback provided by his respondents (many of whom would not accept payment for the interview), McAdams and his team served as rather effective listeners: sympathetic, but analytic; invested, but not too intimate. If we can each identify one person in our lives who can be that one good listener, we would have a much clearer perspective on where we are in the course of our lives, as well as what we want to change and where we want to go.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-01-10 00:00:00 Rmi Lauzon I decided not to provide a review of this book here, but to let the other Goodreads reviews do that. Instead I focussed on the part I found most useful and which I thought would be of most interest to readers of my blog ( My Call of Stories):  namely his chapter Exploring Your Own Myth. In that chapter, Chapter 10 of his book, he provides an outline to explore your own myth, or myths: A. Life Chapters…at least 2-3 and at most 7-8 B. Key Events (nuclear episodes)…..Specific list of 8 C. Significant People…at least 4, not related to at least 1 D. Future Script E. Stresses and Problems…at least 2 F. Personal Ideology….beliefs and values G. Life Theme For each of these items he provides the detailed text of the questions he and his students used in their interview process of people selected to tell their life stories. He further suggests not only using these questions to help you identify your personal myths; he goes on the suggest you put them in the hands of a friend who interviews you. It is in this telling to another person that you really come to understand your personal myths. Check them out.