This 2010 film - subtitled "Understanding Asperger's Syndrome" - looks at first sight to be just another autism film, with a tour of autistic patients, much talk about symptoms and therapies, etc. But there is much more in the 55 minutes of this documentary. After suggesting that famous people like Einstein, Beethoven, Mozart, Van Gogh … Continue reading Autism | film review | Oops, Wrong Planet!
Autism | Could it be simple after all?
Long before I learned about autism, I was thinking about it. From the beginning I was a loner – when I entered school at 5 yrs old, I didn't keep to myself by choice, I did it by instinct. I was completely unable to have friends. As Chris Stone says in my novel The Birdcatcher, … Continue reading Autism | Could it be simple after all?
Who is Alan Conrad?
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?
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’
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
Dreams | Robert L. Van de Castle – Our Dreaming Mind |all you wanted to know about dreams and more
Because I've been studying dreams since I was a boy, every now and then I think it's time for me to write my own book about dreams. But each time that happens I immediately think of psychologist Robert L. Van de Castle’s monumental book, Our Dreaming Mind and I discard the thought. It’s a book … Continue reading Dreams | Robert L. Van de Castle – Our Dreaming Mind |all you wanted to know about dreams and more
Rescuing Fiction |The 10 shyest novels of all time
Yes, these are the 10 shyest novels of all time - according to me. Since there were over 25,000 novels written in the 19th century alone, and I haven’t read more than 150 of them, along with, maybe, 500 from the 20th and 21st centuries, whose novels no one has tried to count as far … Continue reading Rescuing Fiction |The 10 shyest novels of all time
Writing Fiction | Good and bad titles
One afternoon some years ago I was driving through the spring countryside with my 90 year-old mother when she announced that she had just finished reading my new novel, The Birdcatcher. That was no mean feat, given that she was already going blind and could only read with a small magnifier and her face almost … Continue reading Writing Fiction | Good and bad titles
Paranormal World | God likes Tolstoy more than me
There is a type of paranormal phenomena that no one seems to talk about anymore, maybe because it's so difficult to talk about. Here is an example. One night I was having a discussion with my adult daughter about the lamentable lack of interest in literature today, especially among young men. I was referring not … Continue reading Paranormal World | God likes Tolstoy more than me
Alan Conrad 