What have you researched lately?

I've been reading up on H H Holmes now there's due to be a film about him. I'm currently reading Stephen Fry's Paperweight, which is more of a walk through history. The audiobook on my ipod is a study of the earliest Christian texts, most of which are now considered heretical, so there's a ton of info that most people wouldn't have access to and yet they formed what are now considered the canonical Gospels - it pays special attention to what might have existed in the famous missing 'Q' gospel which was the earliest version of Luke and Matthew's gospels, but held some different material, which is fascinating stuff. Oh, and I'm skimming the Radio Times preview of the new Doctor Who series this Saturday.

An eclectic mix and not to everyone's taste I know!

Brain surgery. I was renewing Philip Glass's memoir and picked it up. I wanted to see how severe head trauma was treated in the emergency room. It was mostly tumors and aneurysms. I wasn't disappointed. I finished the book in a day.

There was one discussion of head trauma. The hospital had received a 30-something man who had fallen off a bicycle and significantly damaged his frontal lobes. Whether or not they operated depended on how they broke the news to the family. If they said, "We can operate and remove the damaged brain and he may survive," his family would likely opt for surgery. But if they said, "If we operate there is no realistic chance of his getting back to an independent life. He will be left profoundly disabled. Would he want to survive like that?" his family would likely have a different answer.

Isn't that terrible and awesome? If I had to make those sort of decisions on a daily basis I'd lose my mind.

And that was the sort of ethical dilemma I was sniffing for and ohmygodyoushouldreadthisbook. "Do No Harm."

Scientology. Going Clear by Lawrence Wright is a mind-boggling intro and background on them.

Been doing a lot of work on dysfunctional families in Jacobean drama

The process of making silk by hand in ancient China

Reseacrch on Dead Bodies

The Nizari Ismailis.