My review of How Psychology Works, Consultant Editor Jo, Hemmings

I am always honest with my reviews, which I have learnt is sometimes upsetting to the author. I have a responsibility not to the author who may have written a book, but to the potential readers of that book who may come across it. Okay, being differently abled to others, I am told I come across quite harsh and should perhaps be kinder to the author, but honestly some of the authors would be better using their time to repair the pot holes in the roads rather trying to write. 

 First I must declare an interest, that being that I have followed Jo Hemmings on twitter for some time now and therefore she is my twitter friend.  That is how I came to learn about this book, How Psychology Works,  for which she is the Consultant Editor.  Having said that I follow Jo, in all honesty I didn't really know what she did, I knew the label, but not much more and I really doubt that most people will actually know beyond the label. 

So, let's start with the cover of the book, yes I know you are not meant to judge a book by the cover, or so we are told, but most of us do so anyway! This cover is simple, just a head, but inside the head are, forgive the pun, headlines of what the book is about, a teaser of the treats it holds.  Now most books I have seen on the subject of Psychology, well their cover turns you off them right away and you know that they are going to be boring and so if you're at all like me, you'll leave it on the shelf and get another book.  I will make a bold statement here and say you won't with this one and if I had seen it in the book shop I wouldn't have done and while I ordered it at the same time as 3 others it was so inviting that it was the first one I turned to to read. 

I really could go into great depth about the wonders of this book and here wonders is the correct word, because I found that there was something new to learn on every page and the number of times I went Oh that makes sense, or I didn't know that, or that is why, you get the idea.  The illustrations and the writing are perfectly matched no matter where you go to and you don't have to start at the beginning and work through to the end, you probably won't want to do so any way as you might find a section that you're more interested in and go to that first.  This is the great thing about this book, you don't have to follow the order that it has been written in. 

I have already learnt so much from reading it, for example I have used terms that while in general use I didn't really know the full meaning of and another example was quite surprising to me was how retailers of all kinds use psychology to get us to buy things.  I had always thought that psychology was just about the mind and mental illness, not about emotions, reading the opening pages I quickly learnt how wrong I was about that.  

I am trying to think of any reason why I don't like this book and the truth is I can't find a negative thing to say it is that good.  I have been further trying to narrow it down as to who the readership of the book would be, who it is primarily aimed at,  I have had to conclude, that I can't do that as I think everyone would enjoy reading it.  If you are a student, teacher, parent, guardian,  I don't think there is an age range or profession that would get not find something of interest and benefit from having it in their library, not that it will remain there as many other books often do, because you'll find as I have done reaching out for it to discover something new!  

To conclude my review of this book: It is the most accessible, readable book on psychology that I have ever read and I have read a few in my years of trying to understand myself and events in my life and get clarity of them.  If I were starting that journey right now and for those who are, or those who just want to know, this is the book I would want to read and I would recommend reading first.  As much as I hate to use the term must have, this really is a must have book!  To the publisher, the contributors and the Consultant Editor Jo, thank you for a great book and I've nowt more  to say now apart from to the people who might read this, BUY IT. 

I wish - (the child talking)

 

I WISH(the child talking)

I wish I could believe

the words

you say

Then I hear

the words of yesterday

You didn’t know me then

You don’t know me now

I wish I believed that

hurt won’t happen

again

but I know it will

I wish I believed in family

but I don’t

for there was always

them and us

but not me

I wish the child inside

never had learnt to hide

the tears deep inside

I wish

but wishing is just fantasy

not real

just me

the shadow of the past

Oh you may think this is about

me

then you never read my

poetry as other

than words

it is just a wish

or is it a heart talking

©meirmaat2023

And so he cried

 And so he cried

when no one could see him

he cried for a mother, a father, family

he cried why does no one love me

And so he cried as they all remembered his growing pains

he cried because he knew he was different

he cried wondering why he had been born

he cried where no one could see him nor hurt him any more

he cried for the scars on his body and his soul

he cried for the wounds that would not heal

he cried because no one understood

he cried because no one ever would

he cried for others just like him

who were crying still - just children really

no matter what their body may say

the children are still crying inside

the poet writes his words for them and for me

for while a single child is hurting

it is his duty

to be the page for the child who cried

(c)merimaat 2023

Summer of '72

 SUMMER OF '72

Oh how I wish it was back in the summer of '72

when we sang Metal Guru, danced to Bowie and were the Young Dudes of Mott the Hoople

With Anne and Anne & best friend Gill and all the other girls too

When we worked hard and partied harder

when lost weekend meant Matron telling you off

And Dear Sister May frightened us all

When cherries were yet to be lost

and tits were were nice

but down below was paradise

When you wore glitter in your hair

and thought Patchouli covered the smell of a joint or two

When pay day meant going to the pub

and the record shop and Unisex shopping

talking all night

setting the world to right

Oh I wish I could go back to '72 and say to Anne we done the tits and that was nice now can we get to paradise and this time you don't say no

Back in '72 teenagers, the children of the revolution, free before the world crushed us and the glitter flew

When no one told us what to do

For all the children with the flowers in their hair

Let's go back to the Summer of '72

(c)merimaat 2022 50 years later

The Teenage Dream - 1970 -1977 for Marc Bolan with love and All those who made the Teenage Dreams alive

 As I write this it is 16th of September 2022, exactly 45 years since the accidental death of Marc Bolan just 14 days before his 30th birthday.  That was the day that my Teenage Dream finally ended, but not my love for Marc as that will never die.  I had turned 22 just 5 days before, but still not really ready to face the full force of adulthood. 

Marc wasn't the first star to give teenagers their teenage dream, far from it, perhaps there has always been a teenage dream as long as there have been stars who gave us music that stirred our souls and filled us with love.   Yet perhaps it has only really been since the mid 1950's when kids who reached their teens were no longer young adults, but this strange rebellious, tempestuous, hormonal creature called the teenager. 

In the mid 1950's a slang words for having sex, rock and roll became a familiar turn to describe a music and indeed now we don't think of it as having any other connotation other than that.  Yet sex  is at the heart of Rock and Roll, it may be covered up with such terms as love or whatever, yet it is still there. 

Elvis who is known as the King of Rock and Roll, didn't become famous just because of his voice and yes as we all know he had a great voice, even more famously he poured sexuality, the famous Elvis the Pelvis and became the biggest star in the world.  Others who followed were too squeaky clean or very poor imitations of the King and it really wasn't until the 1960s when four lads from Liverpool claimed the crown.  The Beatles, became the biggest band in the world and I doubt we'll ever see another like them again. Behind the nice lyrics there was pure sex and rock and roll lived on. Just listen to a Hard days Night and it is there.  Sadly, both of the above were limited by the age they lived in for the revolution or may be evolution had not quite happened. 

By the end of the 1960s and the end of the so called Hippie era, thanks to the pioneering work of those above the kids were ready for a new Teenage Dream, one of their own, the Children of the Revolution were ready for our hero and that was Marc Bolan.  Marc was overtly sexual, his songs were about having sex, having a good time without the sugar coating of love, well okay some sugar coating and some of the sloppy sentimental stuff.  As our hormone raged and we found our sexuality and over things Marc was our god as much as the previous gods had been to previous generations.  It was our time for fun before adulthood and adult responsibility.  This is why we still love Marc and why pervious generations and future generations loved their Teenage Dream makers. 

The Teenage Dream doesn't ever last for long, for me personally, mine ended on the morning of 16th of September 1977, when Marc was taken and my heart broke and the realisation there would be no more T.Rex, not more boogie apart from in fond loving memories.   Punk rock had already broken through and another load of kids had their heroes, heroes that Marc (as many acknowledged) open the door for. Even his great friend David Bowie had become a bigger star, but one whose love for Marc still shone through until his own passing.

John sadly was killed just 3 years later than Marc. Elvis, had gone and the stage was empty until the rise of Kurt Cobain who electrified another generation and while the Teenage Dream was different it was still the Teenage Dream share by a rebel, a pioneer, I am not sure of the word to use, whatever it is. Sadly as with Marc his life would end before his 30th birthday. 

We should all love our Teenage Dream even if we are now in the final part of our journey, because if we don't then we lose the happy part of ourselves, when we believed, lived and loved like tomorrow was nothing to be frightened or aware of.  We Children of the  Revolution owe it to all generations to become their own children of their revolution and to have their own Teenage Dream. 

    

THE CHILD WITH NOWHERE EYES

 

THE CHILD WITH NOWHERE EYES

I see the child with nowhere eyes

I hear the child with no voice

when it cries

I see the child with nowhere eyes

trying to tell the truth

while others believe the lies

I see the child with nowhere eyes

asking where is my family

everyone has one

why not me

what have I done so wrong

I see the child with nowhere eyes

trying so hard to fit in

to be like all the others when his body

just won’t do

what it is is supposed to

I see the child with nowhere eyes

able to do what others find impossible

yet his words are dismissed

as fantasy

or he’s told off for taking things too literally

I hear the child with nowhere eyes

as they turn the key

as they lock him away

as they don’t know what to do with you

crying their lonely tears

with no-one to hold them to love them

to say you’re okay

special in your own way

Now I see the adult still trying to fit in

still the child with the nowhere eyes

I see them clearly

when I look in the mirror

for you might understand

the child with the nowhere eyes

is me

©merimaat Kev.T. Brown 2022

Spring Tides By Fiona Gell, a personal review of a book I loved One of the greatest Manx books of our time

 To be honest I had heard of this book and had seen it in my favourite book shop, the only one that I use. I was asked if I wanted a signed copy, but said no, because I was only really getting it to add to my Manx section and didn't really think it would go beyond that.  Oh, boy wasn't I incorrect in my thinking on that and very, very wrong on that. Hindsight has a wonderful way of tanning your backside for you doesn't it.

I will start with the only negative thing I can say about the book and that is I wish there had been some colour photographs in it as that would have made it more likeable to me and perhaps highlighted things a bit better.  That aside, the book has a nice print size, the paper quality is very good and the pages turn easily which means you never miss a page out and have to go back and find it as I have found myself doing so many times. It might seem a minor thing, but these things can either add or take away from your enjoyment of a book.

To be honest I don't know much about the sea around our little home and don't really give it much thought. Yes I get excited at seeing the dolphins as they pass and the one occasion I saw the fin of a basking shark. The sea around our home mainly means Kippers and Queenies and going up to the fishmongers for other delights. It sometimes means sitting for what seems hours watching the birds on the shore line or loving the waves crashing onto and over the sea wall and the road closures. It also is something we cross over on a ferry to get to the other island.  It is now just something that surrounds us, which could be, because it has always been there all my life.  Yet what Fiona does in the opening parts of this book is take you back to your childhood and the magic of going to the shore and rock pools when you found everything exciting and new.  She does through her own experiences and I love the family and personal stories throughout which weaved with the Manxness , if there is such a word, into the science bits as well so you don't really realise that you are learning as you go along. 

I was left wondering after reading this book, why I had personally never taken much notice of the things described in the book and the fight to get to where we are now and the real danger of just sitting back and doing nothing is not an option for us any more. I thank her for the ways and there are many that she gets us not just to think, but feel differently about what is happening now for if we don't then future generations will never forgive us. 

Thank you Dr Gell for a great, readable book  I think it deserves wider publicity and is perhaps one of the great Manx books ever written, certainly one of the greatest and most important for our time.