Recently I was reading some pages from my journal written in 2009 when I was 59 years old, and I came upon a forgotten thought: Looking back on the previous decades of my life, reflecting on what I had learned and not learned, achieved and not achieved, I said to myself: "You are 25% social, … Continue reading Rescuing Shyness |Fate of the 25% Man
Science| Animals vs Insects |Insects are Animals
I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard someone say, or write, that insects aren't animals. When one of my daughters was ten years old, she came home one day with the story that her teacher had told the class that insects weren't animals. She spoke up, declared that insects were animals, … Continue reading Science| Animals vs Insects |Insects are Animals
My Lost Book – Skol
Though I've been told that my novel Skol is the best of my books, you would never guess that from its sales. My other novel, The Birdcatcher, has had many readers over the years, and the first edition of The Shyness Guide was once selling well enough that I was threatening to break even financially. Meanwhile, Skol has had no following at all. … Continue reading My Lost Book – Skol
Why do Young People like my books?
Although the central character in my novel, The Birdcatcher, is 52 years old, that book seems to please young readers more than old ones. One shy teen-age reader told me that she found the book to be "not just the story of one lone man, but of a worldwide type of people who have been so well … Continue reading Why do Young People like my books?
What is a Loner?
About 10 years ago I did a search for loner websites and found none. The only site that used the term was Loners of America. That turned out to be a group of seniors who had each lost their partner but owned an RV. This group of newly singled men and women travelled around America together, … Continue reading What is a Loner?
Rescuing Jude
Have you read Thomas Hardy's 1895 novel, Jude the Obscure? If you haven't, it's the story of Jude Fawley, a shy, intelligent, sensitive boy, then man, who is too shy, intelligent and sensitive to fit into a callous, indifferent and hypocritical world. Jude is working class, but he longs to become a Greek and Latin scholar … Continue reading Rescuing Jude
Wild New York
Recently I came upon a post by a Toronto journalist celebrating the many ravines in Toronto, the refuge of much local wildlife, valleys created by the rivers that run south through our city. As someone who has been exploring those places since the 1960s, I know them well and I celebrate them too. But when … Continue reading Wild New York
The Autism Matrix – a new vision
The biggest problem with autism is that no one knows what it is, or what causes it. That's why the debates about it are so confusing and unrewarding. People aren't talking about the same thing. I was very interested in autism when I was writing The Birdcatcher, and that continued as I worked on The Shyness Guide. In both … Continue reading The Autism Matrix – a new vision
Alan Conrad address change
Although I have had the domain alanconrad.com since 2006, and I hoped to continue with it here at WordPress, the location of its registration, it is proving to be problematic in the WordPress system and my access to the location of its registration is so poor, that I have decided that I must abandon it. … Continue reading Alan Conrad address change
Alan Conrad 