Bedside Reading

• Ultra Women

  Send us a textIt's a real treat today to welcome one of the authors of Ultra Women, Emma Wilkinson to the podcast. Ultra Women, written by Emma Wilkinson and Lily Canter, is a book which rather defies classification. It is a book about women doing extraordinary things in the fields of endurance sport, but it's very much not a "sports book".We've got wonderful stories. We've got sociology. We've got history. We've got physiology. We've got a good dose of "invisible women" in there as well.It's a really, really fascinating, thought-provoking book, which I absolutely loved reading. And it's been absolutely fantastic to talk to Emma today about the book and what we can take away from it.

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• The Age of Diagnosis

  Send us a textSuzanne O'Sullivan's The Age of Diagnosis was hotly awaited and has received a lot of discussion on social media and in the national press.  Ben Tyler and I had both really enjoyed her former books and looked forward to this book.  Overdiagnosis is a bit of a hot topic lately, but as I hope we manage to explore, keeping curiosity and compassion at the forefront of what we do are much more important than making hard judgements.We mention John Harris' brilliant substack on the book https://maybeimamazed.substack.com/p/why-new-book-the-age-of-diagnosisand Elke Housmann's BJGP review of the book https://bjgp.org/content/75/754/228

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• Maybe I'm Amazed

  Send us a textJohn Harris' excellent book Maybe I'm Amazed has been one of my non-fiction top reads this year. It was a huge pleasure to welcome James Booth to the podcast to discuss it, and share some of our experiences.  We are both GPs, we are both parents of autistic young people and we both found John's book relatable, funny, warm, moving and necessary.If you want to know more about the book, here's what the publisher's say:"In this extraordinary memoir, a father tells the story of how music has opened up the world to his son, one song at a time. Obsessed with music since he was a child, John Harris had no idea that he was in fact preparing himself for the greatest challenge of his life. But so it transpired. When his son James was born, and three years later diagnosed with autism, music became a source of precious connection and endless wonder for both of them.Maybe I'm Amazed describes how the music of The Beatles, Kraftwerk, Funkadelic, The Velvet Underground, Amy Winehouse and many more were soon woven into the fabric of James's life, becoming an essential part of who he is. It takes us through the struggles of raising an autistic child in a prejudiced world, and uncovers a hidden history of neurodivergence and creativity that casts new light on why notes, chords and lyrics speak so powerfully to the human mind.Anyone who has fallen in love with a band or heard their life reflected back to them by a song will recognise themselves in the story of this father and his son. And in considering the intense and transcendent way James absorbs and connects with music, it has lessons in listening and living for us all."

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• Quacks

  Send us a textA warm welcome today to Dr. Ahmed Handy, who is here to talk about his memoir, Quacks. We've recorded today my favourite bookshop, which is Scarthin Books in Cromford, near Matlock. If the sound is a little bit different to how you might expect the podcast to sound, I hope you'll bear with us. There were a few people in the background. There were loads of people looking at books, thinking about books, and drinking cups of tea and eating cake in this absolute gem of a place.It felt like far too good an opportunity to miss to be talking about the book in the most wonderful independent bookstore I can think about, so please enjoy and bear with the sounds of teaspoons and teacups!

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• Medication, Mental Illness and Murder

  Send us a textMedication, Mental Illness and Murder. What Really Killed the Crespi Twins? sounds like the title of a true crime book or a thriller. I suppose you could call this a true crime. This is an incredibly good book, which has really, really challenged me. I'm delighted to be welcoming Ed Jones, the author to the podcast today.It's quite a hard read in places. It's a story about father who was significantly unwell, who was struggling with side effects from medication and who took the lives of his two children and pays the price of consecutive life sentences in US s jail. Not in any way cheerful reading. But I think a really important book. And I've thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Ed today about how we perceive illness, about the role of pharmaceutical companies in marketing drugs in particular ways, about spin and propaganda and really the importance of listening to people, particularly when they perceive that they or somebody else might be at risk.

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