Alan Conrad is me, though Alan Conrad is not my original name. During my last years investigating accidents and personal injury claims, when I was about to publish The Birdcatcher, a book that reveals some of the dark side of the personal injury business, I had to use a pen name to keep a lower … Continue reading Who is Alan Conrad?
Loners |The one place where society welcomes them |Anneli Rufus and her book Party of One
Loners have a hard time in the modern, day-to-day world, yet not in fiction and film. Solitary men - who I think are shy and/or autistic men - are heroes in literature and the movies – James Fenimore Cooper's Natty Bumpo in The Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans. David Copperfield in the Dickens … Continue reading Loners |The one place where society welcomes them |Anneli Rufus and her book Party of One
The Big Five Personality Traits | Where did the introverts go? What about autism?
Recently I re-examined the 'Big Five' personality traits. This was in a 2007 online article by psychologist Nathalie Nahai (A Large-Scale Personality Research Method, also published in the 2017 anthology, Know This, edited by John Brockman, published by Harper Perennial and the Edge Foundation). They aren't new. The idea began in United States Air Force in … Continue reading The Big Five Personality Traits | Where did the introverts go? What about autism?
Rescuing Reality|Covid 19|mental health and the consequences of ‘stay-at-home’
This week I learned that UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres says the stay-at-home policy invoked as a defense against Covid 19 has resulted in a “horrifying increase in domestic violence.” Was that a surprise to anyone? Well, it shouldn’t have been. After approximately 200,000 years as ‘Homo Sapiens’ (the 'wise hominid'), we ought to know ourselves … Continue reading Rescuing Reality|Covid 19|mental health and the consequences of ‘stay-at-home’
Alternative World |New perspectives on autism, shyness, literature and history, psychology and science, life, the universe and everything
Yes, this is the new title of this site. Though I'm still fond of 'Shy Highway', the title I've used since 2007, my interests obviously are too far-ranging. Since I was a boy entering school, my view of the world around me has been different from that of anyone I've met. That wasn't always positive. … Continue reading Alternative World |New perspectives on autism, shyness, literature and history, psychology and science, life, the universe and everything
Rescuing Shyness| Joe Moran and the Secret History of Shyness
It’s time to look again at these secrets of shyness. Joe Moran, professor of English and cultural history at Liverpool University, is an accomplished writer who comes at shyness with personal experience, literary skill and a subtle mind. His portraits of the many shy characters in history – politicians, military officers, authors, artists, musicians, etc. … Continue reading Rescuing Shyness| Joe Moran and the Secret History of Shyness
Rescuing Shyness|the hunting down of a shy hero |J. D. Salinger
Nothing I have read has convinced me more of the innate callousness and insensitivity to be found in the tribalism we prefer to call 'society' than this account of J. D. Salinger's experience. Salinger was the author of the famous novel, Catcher in the Rye and short stories that are sometimes claimed to be the … Continue reading Rescuing Shyness|the hunting down of a shy hero |J. D. Salinger
Autism and Love-Shyness | A message to the Incels
Yes, this is a message to the Incels from my younger self. When I published the recent post, Toronto Van Rampage III | Alek Minassian and the Incels, I didn't explain that when I was 17 yrs old I was well on my way to being one of them. Based on psychologist Brian Gilmartin's research … Continue reading Autism and Love-Shyness | A message to the Incels
Autism’s lost loners | James Michener
Because the deceased author James Michener will be a major character in my next novel, now wandering the world alone as a ghost, I've been thinking a lot about him. I realized today that he is another candidate for these lists of people who might belong on the spectrum. For he was a loner among … Continue reading Autism’s lost loners | James Michener
