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Books to Inform and Inspire These are some of the books that have inspired, challenged and informed me over the years. In my recommendations you will catch a flavour of me as a therapist. Families and How to Survive Them by Robin Skynner & John Cleese I read this in the 1980s when I first became interested in counselling. It was very illuminating then, and it remains a very readable book, written in everyday language as a question-and-answer dialogue between family therapist Robin Skynner and his former client, comedian John Cleese. For anyone new to personal therapy, it's a great introduction to the psychological dynamics of relationships and the social development of children. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran A spiritual discourse on love and marriage, joy and sorrow, reason and passion, beauty and death. A beautiful and simple book where every line seems to offer opportunity for thought and reflection. Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia A profound book in which Camille Paglia charts the development of attitudes towards sexuality in western civilisation by reference to art, literature and mythology. Essential and challenging reading for anyone with a personal, therapeutic or social interest in sexuality and sexual politics. Iron John by Robert Bly In modern times fathers have become increasingly sidelined, and post-feminism the whole concept of masculinity seems to have fallen into disrepute. Robert Bly examines male wounding and draws on mythology and Jungian psychology to establish a new paradigm for masculinity that is neither weak nor abusive. Aphrodite by Isabel Allende In this part memoir, part multicultural history and part cookbook, Isabel Allende takes a slow sensual stroll through "the love of food and the food of love." A timely counterpoint to a world where newspapers juxtapose articles about the dangerous rise of obesity, the novel eating disorder orthorexia, and the issue of size zero catwalk models. Howards End by E.M. Forster "Only connect!" pleads Forster as he explores the tension between ideals and reality, the fragmention of our souls, the struggle between work and quality of life... Society has changed since he wrote this novel (in 1910), but the themes are still fresh and totally relevant today.  |
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Richard Lawton Deep bodywork, Psychotherapeutic Bodywork, Postural Integration & Pulsing in SW London & North Surrey, England, UK