Books and Me

by Tobias Harwood  (2019) Continuing to be happily surprised by books for which I had very low expectations, this unprepossessing little number turned out to contain a welter of insights which the author had gleaned from a thematic analysis of interviews with people who had achieved unusual feats in their various fields. Common traits did emerge which all seemed to make a great deal of sense. An easy read and pretty inspirational, and proceeds of sale are apparently going to a charity. Rating: 8/10

By Henry Marsh (2014) This is, as many of the endorsements in and on the book jacket suggest, a searingly honest account of consultant life in a major British hospital and as such, is probably a pretty essential read if you want to get inside the mind of many a doctor.  My problem with this is that I already know several people so startlingly like Henry Marsh, and having worked in the NHS myself, I didn't learn anything new and will be in a tiny minority in giving it less than a 10/10.  The narrative nonetheless flowed pretty seamlessly, is well written and kept one sufficiently engaged, so that it can be easily read in a couple of sittings. Rating: 7/10

by Chad W. Hall (2015) Short and sweet, this book lays out eight simple principles for helping other people. These principles chime almost completely with other well argued learning theories, such as unschooling doctrine  and indeed the strategies here could well prove a useful adjunct to unschooling practice. The brevity is actually hugely useful: the author doesn't stint on explanations, but instead cuts to the chase and the book therefore works well as an aide memoire, particularly when one is in the  potentially stressful improv that is a coaching scenario. Pleasantly surprised! 8/10

by Max Tegmark (2017) This book, in being huge in scope and purpose and in the beautifully constructed nature of the arguments, is reminiscent of a  book  written by another physicist David Deutsch.    Whilst tackling fundamental theories of the universe, neither author can let go of an argument without tying up all the related explanations into a near perfectly constructed crystal ball, so that even when, as frequently happens, many questions remain unanswered, you feel you know precisely the measure of where humanity is at with the frayed ends. The book is by turns, vertiginously terrifying, pragmatic and finally almost consoling.  One of the most chilling moments stems from Max's argument about the possibility of intelligent life in the observable universe. His is not a conventional take, but it is worth considering because it is by no means impossible, and if he is right, it places a huge burden upon mankind to get things right if the universe is to ...

by Michael K. Simpson (2014) Probably for very poor reasons - such as a potentially irrational aversion to words such as "coaching" and "transformation", I had low expectations of this book, but it turned out these were unfounded. The ethos described in the book frequently chimes pretty closely with ideas I have espoused for almost two decades now, albeit enacted in a slightly different context and described in completely different language. Simpson's coaching is mentoring for the 21st century.  It involves building a trusting relationship, offering a space for building clarity and constructive action plans without resorting to punitive measures or micromanagement.  All of this of makes great good sense to unschoolers and autonomous home educators and indeed, it may prove useful addition to unschooling theory. Rating: 7/10

by Scott Douglas (2017) In this book, Scott Douglas, (a name which feels uncomfortably tautological and therefore somehow unreal, but hey ho, is probably just American) describes in 100 succinct points the broad consensus as to how to get fit and healthy as of 2017.  Most of the advice still seems to make great good sense.  I particularly enjoyed the first point about "choice architecture" - a pleasingly broad opener which just feels as if it must be true.  Less obviously in the next point, Scott suggests that one should take on quite a few habit changing behaviours all at once. This doesn't seem as intuitive, and in fact, I'm sure I've read elsewhere that this is precisely what you shouldn't do.  However, within very recent personal experience of doing precisely as he suggests and actually finding it extremely motivating and easy to do, I would have to concede that this advice does seem spot on. The problem for this sort of book, it seems to me, is t...