Authors Electric

‘Don’t panic!’ Corporal Jones on Dad’s Army used to yell at Captain Mainwaring and the rest. I’ve been saying this to myself rather a lot recently, with about as much success as Jonesy had. At the end of January this year, on a visit to my daughter in lovely Vancouver, I had to call on the emergency services to take me to hospital, following the onset of some worrying symptoms I feared might mean a heart attack. The paramedics and medics were wonderful, and thankfully my test results showed no heart attack – in fact it was unclear what had happened to me. I was sent home in the early hours, pretty much back to normal; a little shaken but hoping that would be the end of it. I went on to have a great holiday and flew home ten days later. I was eventually billed over £800 for my emergency callout and examination, and although money is the least of your worries in such circumstances, this was rather a lot and I put in a claim with my insurance company. The subsequent battle I had with...

It's Christmas Day, so I don't suppose anyone is reading this post. Which means Big Fat Lies by David Gillespie I won't be accused of  killing the joy.           On the other hand, Christmas is a traditional time for telling creepy stories - and I am here to make your flesh creep.              'Big Fat Lies - How the Diet Industry Makes You Sick, Fat and Poor' is by an Australian lawyer, David Gillespie. He was fat, and he wanted to be thinner, but found, like so many of us, that diets don't work. So he started researching the subject.           As he says, he may not be a doctor or nutritionist, but what lawyers are really good at is following the evidence - which he presents in Big Fat Lies.           The ghastly monsters which emerge from fridge and pantry, to gibber, mop and mow, are Sugar, High-Fructose Corn Syrup, and ...

Pure, White and Deadly, by John Yudkin           This is a review of two books.           They have little connection with Authors Electric's usual subject of independent publishing, but as I've spent years watching this poison damage the health of my family, I feel strongly on the subject and want as many people as possible to hear of these books. So I post here, to a larger audience, rather than on my own Nennius blog .           I know I shall probably be accused of being a kill-joy, but I think people should have the information in these books - to ignore if they choose. But an uninformed or misled choice, is no choice at all.           I was haunted in the supermarket recently. In almost every aisle, a voice whispered in my ear, “Pure. White. And deadly.”         ...

Susan Jane Smith, B.Sc.           Sometimes people have a ‘life script’ that disables them.   An example might be a student who could not tell her tutors about some horrible problems that she was trying to deal with at home.   People seem to think that others will consider them weak when in fact it takes a lot of courage and inner strength to admit that you are struggling with any aspect of life.        The benefit of counselling that I experienced personally and then witnessed hundreds of my clients experience (before I retired) was that once you do tell someone, the old saying tends to kick in “a problem shared is a problem halved”.   Now I agree, if you tell a friend or family member there is a possibility that they might “hold it against” you or tell your “secret” to another.           That is where counselling/psychotherapy is so useful. ...