Blue Mind: the surprising science that shows how being near, in, on, or under water can make you happier, healthier, more connected, and better at what you do.
Wallace J. Nichols
ISBN: 9780316252089
Nonfiction: popular science: the therapeutic benefits of various interactions with water.
Interesting book, but despite the footnotes and carefully applied various disciplines and sciences (everything from property valuation to fMRI to sensory-deprivation chambers), it felt a little light-weight. I don't know why - perhaps because most of what was covered falls squarely into common sense. I sympathise with the scientific urge to explain and nail down the whys and wherefores of life, but for something as basic and universal as this, it feels somehow cheap to attempt to pin down specific biological responses and say that those are the reason; to me, that is confusing the mechanism with the motive.
Perhaps in humans, the mechanism and the motive are so interlinked as to be one and the same when looked at through a scientific eye, but in the meantime, as much as I enjoyed reading about the science behind emotional responses, and the peculiar human preferences that make ocean-view penthouses millions of dollars more expensive than their city-view next-door neighbors, I just didn't feel like I was any more renewed or enlightened about my relationship with water, or any more able to advocate for it.
Still, it was a nice enough read, much like floating around on a lazy river loop. The journey is relaxing, even if you don't go anywhere new.
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