Mike McHargue

You're A Miracle

(And a Pain in the Ass)

Embracing the Emotions, Habits, and Mystery That Make You You

Convergent Books / Penguin Random House / 2020

158.1 MCHARGUE Cedar Mill Library

McHargue and his brain, and probably yours.

• p004 teen suicide attempt
• brain structure layered, ancient structures react first
• 86 billion neurons
• p043 Autism diagnosis (mostly done for children)
• p059 Shame creates hiding, not wholeness. More porn searches by religious conservatives.
• p061 Rats in solitary cages choose drugs, social rats don't
• p083 Emotional wave - time heals. Emotional bypass - no long term relief
• p101 Machines are winning

  • p103 AlphaGo Zero learned by playing 5 million games against itself, beat human champion 100 to 0

  • p108 training machines to encourage human outrage - more page hits
  • p110 bright hi-res "Supernormal" screens win attention and addiction

  • p116 Jean M Twenge: 8th graders >10hrs/week on social media 56% more likely to say they are unhappy

  • p117 Heavy smartphone/tablet users 35% more suicidal ideation
  • p120 Multitasking attention-shifting can eat up to 40% of time
• p140 CBT Cognitive Behavioral Therapy "little yellow book 130 pages" name lost

Finding God in the Waves

How I lost my faith and found it through science

921 MCHARGUE Hillsboro Brookwood Library

McHargue born into Southern Baptist family, marries SB woman. Also science geek; reads Dawkins, loses faith. Learns that christian bible is helpful stories, though misused as supposed science. Finds non-dogmatic seeker Christians to hang out with. Stands on LA beach at night, water "rises 20 feet" to wash his feet, analogized to Jesus washing the feet of disciples. "20 feet" claim subjective - night, ocean, and sand are not conducive to precision elevation measurement.