Another book by the newly identified (autism diagnosis 2022, book out 2024) with fewer laughs than I'd hoped for from a professional comedian. But theAnother book by the newly identified (autism diagnosis 2022, book out 2024) with fewer laughs than I'd hoped for from a professional comedian. But there were some and the writing was good. It covered some aspects of interest to me which I've not seen covered elsewhere (the holding of grudges for example) and was more thoughtful, original and generally empathetic than others, using personal examples to good effect.
Like so many books/articles written by autistic people it seems, it makes a bit of a hash of demand avoidance. I am not sure the nuances of support needs were quite caught either - the boxes aren't as simple as the three offered here: Pierre and his fellow achievers who just need more understanding and accommodation, those who have learning disabilities, those who have other co-morbidities/co-occurring conditions. But I think that would have taken more time to research and moved even further from memoir.
I don't know how Helen Mort came to get the Ethel Haythornthwaite biographer gig from the CPRE but it was an inspired choice. Ethel Haythornthwaite waI don't know how Helen Mort came to get the Ethel Haythornthwaite biographer gig from the CPRE but it was an inspired choice. Ethel Haythornthwaite was an upper middle class daughter of Sheffield, born into manufacturing money. Her first marriage was cut horribly short by the death of her husband in WWI and she took her grief out into the surrounding countryside... and then worked ever after to protect and make that countryside available to her fellow citizens, her tools letter-writing and persuasion. It was startling to realise how many places and organisations in which she was instrumental.
Mort highlights the evolution of aims - what Ethel was seeking to achieve (preservation of landscape) is both different from the biodiversity and other aims of modern day campaigners but speaks very much to the most recent emphasis on value of access to open and wilder spaces for human mental health. She tells a straightforward biographical story (back and forth) interspersed with letters from her to Ethel. Many brief details leapt out at me - the problem of litter in the countryside is on this evidence not a new one, the distance which opened up when her sister disapproved of her marriage to the much younger Gerald Haythornthwaite, the dementia.
The latter part of the book, to my surprise, is a re-printing of Ethel's long form poem The Pride of the Peak. This is very much not a type of poetry I care for generally, but it works beautifully here. It is dedicated to the people of Sheffield and its equivalent now would be a spectacular drone filmed documentary, swooping all round the Peak District. It very much vindicates the use of her name for the Ethel Ready app project which encourages the visiting of many prominences in and around the National Park - the obvious and the less noted, all defined as 'Ethels'. It is followed by a glossary of local words which is sadly incomplete in clarifying all the terms she uses in the poem....more
This is a lovely and logical extension of The Lost Words. The long symphony of sounds collected and arranged by recordist (and musician) Chris Watson This is a lovely and logical extension of The Lost Words. The long symphony of sounds collected and arranged by recordist (and musician) Chris Watson is introduced by Lost Words author Robert MacFarlane and the audiobook concludes with a discussion between Jackie Morris the illustrator and Chris Watson about the process, about the place of sound in our lives, especially natural sound. I was especially interested in their comments about how this changes over the course of our lives. And I am still smiling at the mental picture of Jackie Morris lined up with her dog and her cats, badger watching....more
This is an excellent intelligent book about an under-acknowledged issue written by someone with a valuable set of perspectives from professional, acadThis is an excellent intelligent book about an under-acknowledged issue written by someone with a valuable set of perspectives from professional, academic, volunteering and personal experience. I say 'under-acknowledged' meaning explicitly - I think the book tends to confirm for me my thoughts about it being much more prevalent and implicitly involved...but previously unexamined or unhelpfully rationalised in other ways. I wonder how much nursing aversion lies behind the relentless undermining of breastfeeding as the biological norm by certain individuals. Her phrase about considering whether you want to breastfeed (as many do, despite severe aversion) or instead 'want to want' to breastfeed is important and I feel the latter group's feelings too often curdle and lead them to poison the situation for other women instead of acceptance all round. Perhaps this could have been her, but she is very much on board with the idea of breastfeeding as a tool for mothering and that something else, perhaps even more effortful, will have to take its place if you wean.
Only some in the grip of nursing aversion will really be able to engage with this discursive book I suspect although I would certainly recommend they try: she is unquestionably empathetic and provides practical strategies. For those working with breastfeeding women, it's tremendously important reading looking at the wide variety of possible triggers and the implications of those for relief. Although she has direct personal experience of severe aversion, that's a tiny part of the book - she devotes more time to the experience of those she supports, and to what she feels may be explanatory aspects in her very interesting and remarkable earlier personal history.
There's little about gender dysphoria, simply because she doesn't have the data or access to personal experiences. I felt her emphasis on the loss of personhood and agency, and the impossible demands on 21st century mothers may be rather rosy about the simplicity of life in earlier times and may be somewhat class specific, and even (surprisingly) non-disabled specific (and maybe more) Not everyone was living it large and high powered before giving birth. Perhaps that is indeed a situation which has a silver lining of less risk of nursing aversion but do we have the data? There's a rather jarring suggestion that parenting if you are a Kardashian or a Royal is a doddle because you can just buy in the support (some dots not joined up there with the rest of the thesis I think)
I liked this a lot and might now be keener to try his other books in case their tenor too belies his on Twitter persona which can be offputtingly ungeI liked this a lot and might now be keener to try his other books in case their tenor too belies his on Twitter persona which can be offputtingly ungenerous. I liked that he is clearly someone who has spent and still spends almost the entirety of his life in the North (this does not however give him a free 'Yorkshireman' pass on grumpiness) and not in a particularly cosmopolitan way. I wasn't aware this was a voice I was looking for until I found it. It's not a pandemic book - but these children were very young or even born during that time. Hats off to anyone who had to deal with that and I was touched at the air of 'getting on with it' that he conveys and all that he says about 'upfamilies' and 'downfamilies' The 'my' kids in the title is important - there are things that could be learned from reading this book but it is more of a memoir than a guide....more
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