Liza Achilles

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News & Events

Can’t Concentrate on Anything Not Disease or Quarantine Related?

March 27, 2020 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments

Are any of you book lovers struggling, as I am, to read the books on your bedside table right now? I’m drawn to the news, to the big topics of the day. I was commiserating with a friend about this, and she spontaneously thought up a list of readings, ranging from centuries ago to the present day, having to do...

VW beetle painted with the word Wednesday

News & Events

Happy Wednesday and Stay Safe

March 25, 2020 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments

For various and sundry reasons, this is all the blog post I’m able to get you today. Happy Wednesday! Stay safe, and talk to you on Friday!

hand rising from dark ocean under cloudy sky

Incidental Musings

Managing My Anxiety During a Time of Mass Anxiety

March 23, 2020 by Liza Achilles 21 Comments

I’ve been battling my old anxiety demons continuously since my concussion setback. That was seven weeks ago. The concussion symptoms themselves were sorta kinda back to okay within two weeks, though some of the symptoms persisted a few weeks longer. But the anxiety and panic ballooned and ballooned until they once again started afflicting me with physical symptoms that prevented...

Book Previews

How to Forge a Human Connection Remotely

March 20, 2020 by Liza Achilles No Comments

We’re doing the social distancing thing, due to the coronavirus. It feels strange and awkward and new and unprecedented and scary and confusing. But there is great precedent! We are currently engaged in a vast social experiment: can we continue to work and earn a living, keep up friendships and make new friends, date and experience romance, and obtain the...

cartoon art of the inquisitive one running through trees

Tales

The Inquisitive One Plans a Third Date

March 18, 2020 by Liza Achilles 8 Comments

The inquisitive one went on two dates with someone! The someone was cute and intelligent! And, most charmingly of all, broke! A few days later, the inquisitive one called up the date. “Hey Inquit!” said the date. “You called at a good time. I just finished sending out a few job applications.” “You were sending out job applications at 4am?!”...

Incidental Musings

You Play Stupid Games, You Win Stupid Prizes

March 16, 2020 by Liza Achilles 8 Comments

Do you remember that card game called War? Was it only Gen X’ers like me who played this game as a kid? Do you older and younger folk also remember draggingly long afternoons when Mom was taking forever to start making dinner, and there was nothing on TV, and you had no one to play with except your staggeringly stupid...

image of respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) virion

Incidental Musings

Best Coronavirus Advice: We Need to Act Now

March 13, 2020 by Liza Achilles 10 Comments

Folks. We need to talk about the coronavirus pandemic. And we need to talk now. (But . . . let’s talk through the Internet or phone—not in person!) There’s a lot of information out there about the coronavirus. Unfortunately, much of it is confusing, contradictory, and/or out of date before it was even published. So today I’d like to highlight...

Fall trees near a river in New Hampshire, New England

Book Previews

Ain’t It Great to Be American?

March 11, 2020 by Liza Achilles No Comments

In the 1700s, the world was opening up to Western explorers. Plants from all over the world were arriving in England, and they all seemed wonderfully exotic. A few Englishmen were enthralled. They dedicated their lives to learning about plants from diverse continents, scientifically classifying them, and growing them in gardens and on estates. As Andrea Wulf explains in her...

Tales

The Inquisitive One Misses Monday

March 10, 2020 by Liza Achilles 6 Comments

The inquisitive one went to sleep on SUNDAY night, as usual. The inquisitive one woke with the morning light, per usual. The inquisitive one stretched and yawned, as per usual. The inquisitive one located the mobile phone, as per always and usual. The mobile phone’s screen said TUESDAY, which was an event not very per, nor as, usual. The inquisitive...

Tales

The Inquisitive One Sanitizes the Hands

March 6, 2020 by Liza Achilles 10 Comments

You may have noticed that hand sanitizer is sold out at many stores. Both brick-and-mortar stores and online stores are having trouble keeping hand sanitizer in stock. This is because the inquisitive one has been running around, and clicking around, buying up all of the stock! The inquisitive one, believe it or not, has rented out a massive warehouse, here...

Book Previews

A Surprising Lesson From the Mutiny on HMS Bounty

March 4, 2020 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments

You’ve surely heard about the infamous mutiny on HMS Bounty. The story of what happened on His Majesty’s ship (HMS), in the late 1780s, is fascinating: the ship navigating from England to the South Pacific; the captain and crew on a specific mission, requiring them to go to the island of Tahiti; working together to fulfill the crux of that...

Incidental Musings

Quantum Encryption and Other Silliness

March 2, 2020 by Liza Achilles No Comments

The consensus seems to be that practical applications of quantum physics work, . . . but no one knows why or how. One up-and-coming practical application is quantum encryption. That’s being touted as a supremely secure way of protecting data. But one person is healthfully skeptical: Tom Simonite, a writer for Wired magazine. He wrote a short piece about this...

woman crouching against bed in pain or agony

Incidental Musings

Let’s Talk About Fear and Mysterious Illnesses

February 28, 2020 by Liza Achilles 8 Comments

The most recent issue of Washingtonian magazine includes an article called “The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness,” by Sarah Ramey. The article is an excerpt from her memoir (which will be released next month, and has the same title) about her persistent, unexplained health troubles. In the article, Ramey explains that she used to feel that she was the...

Incidental Musings

Ridiculous Fun and True to Form

February 26, 2020 by Liza Achilles 6 Comments

Remember: no matter how bad things seem, they can always be worse. Did you catch Stephen King’s short story in the most recent issue of Harper’s magazine? It’s ridiculous fun. And true to form. Read it here.

Tales

The Inquisitive One Cleans House

February 24, 2020 by Liza Achilles 10 Comments

The inquisitive one woke early in the morning and realized something very important. Today was the day to clean house! A whirlwind of activity ensued. Magazines and newspapers were taken out of the house and stacked intricately together, like Tetris pieces, in the enormous blue recycling bin. Laundry was done, even the nasty, sweat-wicking running apparel that had been lying...

Incidental Musings

An Acupuncture Experience

February 21, 2020 by Liza Achilles 16 Comments

Yesterday I tried acupuncture for the first time. This morning I feel more relaxed than I have all week. Thanks to J.D.M. for repeatedly recommending the acupuncturist to me, and thanks to D.H. for being absolutely relentless in expounding on the virtues of acupuncture and other aspects of Eastern medicine. My health is still at a low point, but for...

Incidental Musings

Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys

November 4, 2020 by Liza Achilles 30 Comments

I recently met a guy who disclosed to me that his personal motto is “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” Despite this expression having been popular for a number of years—it’s all over the Internet—I did not remember hearing it before. But I instantly took to it. What lovely imagery. And what lovely meaning: so metaphorical, yet so obvious. At...

Book Previews

Don Quixote: What’s the Best Translation?

February 10, 2021 by Liza Achilles 8 Comments

I have read the masterpiece Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, twice in my life. The two experiences were quite different. This was in large part due to the fact that I read two very different translations of the book. Don Quixote Reading #1: Bargain-Bin Translation The first time, I was in my early 30s. I had picked up the...

Book Previews

Everyone’s Asking: Should I Read Huckleberry Finn Before James?

December 16, 2024 by Liza Achilles 12 Comments

A classic has been born. Yeah, I know—you’ve heard that before. It’s on the back cover of practically every book you pick up. But this time, it’s for real. The 2024 novel James, by Percival Everett, isn’t just destined to become a classic of American literature; it already is one. And now everyone’s asking me the same question: Should I...

Book Previews

Three Don Quixote Translations: Spanish to English

February 12, 2021 by Liza Achilles 16 Comments

Let’s take, as a sample, the first sentence of chapter IV of the first part of Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. This great and classic novel was written and published in the early 1600s in Spanish. Part I was published first. Ten years later, part II was published. The two parts are now together known as Don Quixote and...

woman shocked with hands to head - for blog post on it's all in your head meaning

Incidental Musings

“It’s All in Your Head!” . . . Meaning . . . What?

September 9, 2024 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments

Is there someone in your life you’d like to insult, but can’t decide how? For maximal negative impact—if not maximal logic—I humbly suggest, to all jerks and bullies, “It’s all in your head!” For some reason, unkind people like to throw around “It’s all in your head,” meaning by this, “You’re imagining something with no basis in reality!” Or, more...

small room in winter as woman drinks hot beverage on a bed in a tiny house

Book Previews

The Psychological Effects of Living in a Small Space

February 3, 2021 by Liza Achilles 4 Comments

What’s it like to have your world confined to a small space? I think most of us know, having lived through the past year. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I read the book Solitary, by Albert Woodfox, out of curiosity as to whether there were any lessons to be learned in looking at the pandemic experience through...

Book Previews

Why Is It Called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

August 4, 2021 by Liza Achilles 2 Comments

This is something of a convoluted story. The famous 1968 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick has an unusual title. It’s quite long for a book title, and it ends with a question mark. What’s more, there are few clues within the book itself as to why it’s titled as it is. And so, the question of the hour...