Imagine going to the doctor and getting a prescription that needs to be filled at the library.Beginning in May visiting the doctor in the UK can result in a prescription for books. Doctors can choose from a pool of 30 books dealing with specific conditions to “mood boosting books” chosen from fiction and poetry. Doctors "will write out a prescription that will give patients immediate membership at the local library, with recommendations for titles rather than letting their patients rely on Google’s search results."And better yet, the funding comes from the health budget and not the strained library budget.Can't think of a...
Book Store Provides Speed-Shrink Psychotherapy
Wednesday nights in lower Manhattan’s SoHo district have gotten a little saner. The Housing Works Bookshop Café, which donates 100% of its profits to Housing Works, Inc., a social enterprise, is offering psychotherapy to its customers and neighborhood denizens in three-minute doses for those whose therapists are on vacation or who require a quick jolt of personal problem advice.You’d think that three minutes wouldn’t allow enough time for introductions much less delving into the dark recesses. But Jonathan Fast, one of the eight psychiatrists and psychologists who staff these Wednesday nights and who is also a professor at Yeshiva University,...