Huh, I had no idea it was so hard to find! I picked up my copy at my local comic shop a few months ago, and immediately pimped it to all of my librarian-geek friends. As someone who's worked in libraries for a very long time, there were just tons of details that had me cracking up or going "oooh!", that really nobody else cares about.
(the microfiche checkout system! I remember that!)
I'll add in that there is some interesting research being done that's looking at the link between vagal nerve tone (via respiratory sinus arrythmia) and emotional resilience.
In a nutshell (and this isn't my research, so some of the details may be off):
RSA = how reactive your heartrate is to your breathing patterns - normally, when you inhale, heartrate increases slightly and decreases when you exhale. People under chronic stress or who have less vagal 'tone' do this less - their heartrate is less reactive to respiration.
Some correlational research has shown RSA to be positively linked to expression of positive emotions, satisfaction with life/well-being, etc.
Research is being done that looks at it in the context of people who are flourishing (vs. depressed or languishing) to see what other factors may be playing a role.
It's theorized that it may be one of the physiological factors underlying the Build aspects of positive emotions (the idea that frequent experiencing of positive emotions builds emotional and physical resources for future need).
Neat stuff. Thanks for posting this!
Crossposting from my comment over there:
[in reply to someone who wrote, "but what about prejudice?", in effect]
There seem to me to be two levels of ... 'disillusionment', or critique, with works. One involves what you might call basic skills, or skillcraft - is the characterization decent, the plotting good? Does the writing suck?
A lot of people just really don't care about these things until they get in the way of the story. And that boundary is different for everyone - for some people, as long as the plot's compelling, it doesn't matter that the characters are all made of tissue paper. Or vice versa.
There's another level, though, that is beyond the ability to actually tell the story, and that's the content of the story itself. And just as the craft of conveying a story takes years to hone, so does the craft of *creating* a story that isn't cardboard. That isn't a mash of stereotypes and whatever elements of character and story are just floating on the surface, easy for the grabbing. This is where your lazy writer will think, "Hm, I need a character who's going to provide plot coupon X, here..." and grabs a handy stereotype off the shelf, because hey, it's not a main character... Which is why you end up with your Magical Negros, and your Elfin Princesses, and Strong-Thewed Dumb Warriors, and any of a million mindless stereotypes.
Some people, as long as the story's well-written, couldn't care less about whether or not the content is original.
Hence the wild popularity and million-dollar market of series romance novels (which, while they may contain some fine writing, do not have as their stock in trade original characters or ideas).
I guess the last thing I want to point out is that there are different levels of social acceptance for criticism and/or tolerance of the two kinds of flaws. Picking on bad style is an easy target - it's hard to defend that you don't mind reading it. But it doesn't do anything to advance the enjoyment of the story - it can only detract. And other readers, all of whom have their own break-points for tolerance for bad writing, can just accept or dismiss the arguments of those who get caught up in knots over continuity errors and the like.
Pointing out flaws in content-creation, character-building, social significance.. those are things that can also detract from the enjoyment of the story, and in places from the enjoyment of that author's entire inventory. Once you've realized that author A has a particular hobbyhorse about political activism (or stereotypical portrayals of women, or of racial minorities) that creeps into every one of their novels, and it's something that offends or disgusts you, their writing has a high chance of no longer being entertaining for you.
But I'd still rather know it than not. I think it's important to let the authors know it, too - it's one thing to hope that their skillcraft will improve with time - usually, it does. Yay editors. It's another to hope that they're going to come to a more nuanced understanding of female characters, or black characters, if they've been lazy enough (or ignorant enough) to employ stereotypes in the first place. Sometimes, you just need the clue-by-4.
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