What We Are Reading Today: ‘On Gaslighting’

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Updated 29 March 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘On Gaslighting’

Author: Kate Abramson

“Gaslighting” is suddenly in everyone’s vocabulary. It’s written about, talked about, tweeted about, even sung about (in “Gaslighting” by The Chicks).
It’s become shorthand for being manipulated by someone who insists that up is down, hot is cold, dark is light — someone who isn’t just lying about such things, but trying to drive you crazy.
The term has its origins in a 1944 film in which a husband does exactly that to his  wife, his crazy-making  efforts symbolized by the rise and fall of the gaslights in their home.
In this timely and provocative book, Kate Abramson examines gaslighting from a philosophical perspective, investigating it as a distinctive moral phenomenon.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Doctors by Nature’ by Jaap De Roode

Updated 15 January 2026
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Doctors by Nature’ by Jaap De Roode

Ages before the dawn of modern medicine, wild animals were harnessing the power of nature’s pharmacy to heal themselves. “Doctors by Nature” reveals what researchers are now learning about the medical wonders of the animal world. 

Drawing on illuminating interviews with leading scientists from around the globe as well as Jaap de Roode’s own pioneering research on monarch butterflies, he demonstrates how animals of all kinds—from ants to apes, from bees to bears, and from cats to caterpillars—use various forms of medicine to treat their own ailments and those of their relatives.