Neuroscience

When was the last time you felt exhausted? It was probably recently, and it likely wasn’t just a one-time occurrence in the past few weeks. If you stop to observe, we’re all like this. This doesn’t seem like a healthy kind of tiredness, the kind that a weekend of rest can fix, but rather an “infinite tiredness.” You try to rest, but you can’t. Fortunately, the South Korean philosopher and cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han attempted to unravel the origins of this chronic fatigue in his work The Burnout Society. I’ll use it as the basis for this article, but I’ll also try to add some concepts and insights I gained while reading his book. ...

For some time now, I’ve noticed a growing wave of digital influencers focused on reading and books in general. Typically, the books they read and recommend are popular, easily digestible works that lack depth of content, or what some call “fast-food” literature. But is reading these books alone enough? Is reading any book better than reading none? Well, let’s try to find answers to these questions using a field of study that’s gaining popularity every day: neuroscience. ...