nick manho

the first books i read about the holocaust were cheap horror paperbacks passed round under the desks in school in the late 50s and early 60s. nazi doctor experiment stuff. it shocked you even then, and kids are hard to shock. and you didn't realise at the time how recently it had all happened. only 10 years earlier. i grew up playing in bombed houses in post-war liverpool.

anyway, i've read a lot of books about the subject since and the best is a book by a guy called bruno bettelheim:



great face, right? he spent a year as a prisoner in dachau and buchenwald and wrote a book about what he observed there. it's called the informed heart. bettelheim was a psychologist so his take on the camps is a bit more professional than many other writers. he had many great insights into human nature. it's not an easy book to read but it's worth trying. you can't buy this book very easily and i wanted to give it a bit of exposure so i looked online for a photo of the cover or something and i discovered that you can actually read the whole thing free. internet is great, right?

here's the book: the informed heart.

i suggest you save it as text and convert it into a more readable format. on paper or something. it's worth it.

bettelheim was one of those guys who survived the camps and continued with his life. he became one of the most important child psychologists of his generation. he spent his life helping kids with problems. then, like so many survivors, he commited suicide. go figure.



cripes takes us back to our reality

life goes on, as they say, and you have to laugh, right? it's a survival technique. maybe the only one. tomorrow glenn "cheer up, it's not the end of the frickin' world" cripes will be here with his musicology lecture.

i'll be back on saturday.