Mary and Her Seven Devils

In the novel Mary and Her Seven Devils we meet Mary Fleet, who is a very attractive young lady, intelligent, smart, serious, courageous, sensible and honest.

As a result she finds it relatively easy to navigate through the weird, delusional activities of many of her contemporaries. Despite it all she manages to become a right-minded and good-natured woman. She's confidant in her own self and has developed the ability to tell right from wrong and good from bad.

She manages to succeed in this despite working in the film world, which is not known for being "normal" for want of a better expression!

She's assisted and strengthened by her flat-mate and she has the backing of her loving but somewhat innocent mother and father. Her father is a Church of England Vicar, well-meaning but put upon by his parish officials.

Mary forms a band, attends university, and learns some hard lessons including that some people take the care out of caring, and that many of the people in the caring professions are corrupt, self-serving venal and some are even depraved.

This novel by Peter Morris is exceptionally well-written and is very readable.

It's published by Brown Dog Books at £13.00.

Brexit Unmasked

Brexit Unmasked is subtitled The memories of a nonagenarian and is written by Albert Kemp.

It's clear from the beginning of the book that Albert Kemp was avowedly pro-European union, even before that was an actual political reality.

We learn about Mr Kemp's attendance of a French language course at Strasbourg University, dining with, possible, Mormon missionaries on a train on the way to Paris, when he was a junior civil servant.

Albert Kemp also tells the story of his family, of his birth in October 1927 in the east London borough of Shoreditch. His family, he revealed was small and also politically aware.

He reveals the history of his family, how his uncle Jack, as a member of the Territorial Army from 1912, was mobilised immediately. 

His own father joined the army after he had made sure his family would be able to cope with his absence.

He had a supportive family although he didn't have a particularly close relationship with his older brother, due to the age gap between them.

His health was troubled by severe bacterial infections, having to spend two months in hospital and later was discovered to have tubercular cells in his lungs and scarring, spending time in a convalescence home in Folkstone for several weeks.

He later spent time at an open air school, seen at the time as important in the treatment of children who had experienced severe chest ailments.

We learn about his postwar experience in the army, his involvement in politics and his trenchant opinions on Brexit and related issues.

The book has several photographs which added some background to the book.

It's published by Brown Dog Books at £9.99.  

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In Search of Time. New book reveals a multi-dimensional perspective and analysis of time

In Search of Time, written by leading management consultant Jacob Dahl, reveals a multi-dimensional perspective and analysis of time, to give us a deeper understanding of its role and impact on our lives. 

By giving the reader a better understanding of time, the book offers ideas to manage and reduce unhealthy time practices in our society and in also our lives.

The word ‘time’ is the most used noun in the English language, followed by ‘year’ in third place and ‘day’ in fifth. This undoubtedly shows our obsession with time for a lot of very good and practical reasons, but also very unhealthy practices. 

Mastering time has been a crucial tool for the evolution of our modern civilization. However, it has also led to many bad habits, frustrations and inefficiencies both on a societal and individual level. We’re constantly driven by deadlines and goals for the future, rarely living consciously and mindfully in the present.

In Search Of Time presents time from ten different lenses ranging from physics, history, philosophy, anthropology to art, business and politics, biology and psychology. The author aims to bring us closer to nature and our experience of time by looking at it from different perspectives to improve our understanding of what time is and what it is not. He then encourages us to use that knowledge to improve how we organise ourselves around time and improve our lives.

Why did he write the book? “Humans have been puzzled by the concept of time for thousands of years, and a lot of books have been written about it. All time-related books, however, are looking at it through one narrow lens - be it physics, neuroscience, philosophy or something else. So far, no books have been dealing with time in a truly holistic way to honour the multifaceted nature of the topic - so I decided to write that book.”

Jacob Dahl is a Senior Partner Emeritus at McKinsey & Co, a board member and an investor. He has an MSc in Economics from Copenhagen University, and has worked as a management consultant for 26 years.

In Search of Time will be published on 24th November 2022, by LID Publishing.

www.lidpublishing.com

This book would make an excellent Christmas present for the person in your life who thinks about time.