These Boots Are Made For Walking: Including a Secret Book Review

I wrote a couple of posts a while back about finding an almost new pair of walking boots. I needed a new pair and there they were, lying at the side of the road, just waiting for me to find them. Furthermore, I contemplated the mystery of how lucky I had been to just find a decent pair of boots, it was as if I had manifested them to appear out of nothing. I should be so lucky! 

There then followed even more boot related strange events.

A few weeks later, I was shopping in a charity shop, looking for books. I've written a couple of posts about this shop, as it regularly has a five books for a pound offer. When writing about the boots, I had mentioned the Law of Attraction. Now, I can't say I'm a believer in it, but I'm intrigued by strange coincidences that life often throws up. Another one was about to present itself.  

As I was looking through the books on offer, one that caught my attention was The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.  Now, this is a charity shop with a relatively small selection of books on offer, yet here was a copy of the Law of Attraction bestseller that was very popular in the mid 2000s.  I can remember being at a friend's house and the Law of Attraction was being discussed on the Oprah Winfrey show. Oprah was really into it.  So, I had to buy it.

I have now read it. It is an easy read, in part made up of quotes from Law of Attraction practitioners. It's all very positive and destiny in your own hands kind of stuff, but the idea that it is science based I have never found convincing. More spiritual than science. One of the chapters tells us how we are responsible for any medical condition that we may have, which I am tempted to say is hogwash. The overall impression is that to succeed with the Law of Attraction, you have to believe.  Any questioning or deviation in believing will be the reason you fail. It's also quite religious and Christian based. What if you are not religious?

My series of coincidences continued in that same charity shop visit as another book that I picked up that day was Happy, by Derren Brown. Brown is an English entertainer, magician, mentalist, illusionist, and writer.  Happy is his attempt to address the question that we all ask at some point in life, perhaps often, what makes us happy? 

Little did I know when I bought Happy that chapter two would question the Law of Attraction and The Secret.  Needless to say, Brown is sceptical about the claims made in The Secret. I have not read the whole book yet, it is 528 pages long, quite an effort from someone who does not claim to be an expert on the subject, but so far, I have found it to be a good read. So did many others, as it became Sunday Times bestseller. Like The Secret, Happy found a market, although I doubt that Brown spent too much time trying to manifest sales.

But what about those boots?  I do wear them frequently and they are a perfect fit. There is certainly something unusual about them, a magical quality.  I was wearing them the other day on a long trek when I looked down at the ground and there was a £2 coin looking for a new home. I obliged. 

I wonder what the next mysterious coincidence will be?

A Little Admin: Setting Up a Twitter "X" Feed

I've been meaning to set up a Twitter feed to the blog (I know Musk has decided to call it X, but hardly anyone does, so I think I will stick with Twitter). But I only got around to it yesterday. In itself, it was quite straightforward to do once I had found the instructions on the web. So, the Twitter feed can be seen at the bottom right of the blog.

However, there are one or two problems with it, thanks to Elon's new Twitter rules.

First, I noticed today that the Twitter feed was not showing any Tweets. When you click on the Twitter link, it simply takes you to the Twitter login.  This is Musk's new rule, to see any Tweets you have to be logged in. However, I noticed that when I logged in to Twitter, the tweets on the blog can be seen, but I assume that if anyone else clicked on them, you will still be presented with the Twitter login. 

So, I don't think there is anything that can be done about that.  Musk has his new rules, including plans to charge everyone a monthly fee to use “X”.  

I think if that happens, I probably won't be using Twitter “X” anyway, but we will see.

Charity Shop Book Haul: Finding Books Priced at Five For a Pound.

On Saturday, I made another visit to my favourite charity shop for buying books. They have a sale on of five books for a pound. In fact, that sale appears to be a permanent sale now, as every time I go in the same sale sign is on show.  

Let's see what I got this time.

All the ratings are from the Goodreads website.

1) Conquer Your Year by Natalie MacNeil. This has a 4.05 average review rating. It's more of a daily planner than an actual book, but I thought I would have a look. I'm not the greatest at planning for each day, so this might give me some ideas.

2) I Never Knew That About England by Christopher Winn. This has a 3.63 average review rating. Published in 2005 it is a book that presents a random selection of little known facts and stories about the 39 counties of England. It's one of those books that you can dive into as and when you are in the mood for some trivia.

3) Anyone Can Do It, My Story by Duncan Bannatyne. Has a 3.9 average review rating. Probably best known for being one of the dragons on the BBC'S Dragons' Den and for saying “I'm out”. 

4) Blowing The Bloody Doors Off by Michael Caine (who else could it be?). It also has a 3.9 average review rating. I expect a heavy dose of nostalgia.

5) Ancestors by Alice Roberts. Has a 4.12 average review rating.  The book is about the prehistory of Britain in seven burials. 

This may be the one I read first, or maybe Blowing the Bloody Doors off will beat off the more academic challenge of Professor Roberts.

I note that in the three charity shop book hauls that I have done so far, all the books have been non-fiction.  That's probably because I mostly read non-fiction. I should probably try harder to pick up some fiction.  There is usually plenty available, so no excuse, other than the non-fiction just draws me towards it.

Imposter Syndrome: The Creative Person's Curse?

I must admit that I had never come across imposter syndrome until recently. I was on Twitter when someone, a self-published author, mentioned that they felt like they were not worthy of being called an author. That they felt like they were an imposter.  There then followed a discussion on Imposter syndrome.

Around this time, it was announced in the UK that the TV chat show host and journalist Michael Parkinson had passed away.  Parkinson interviewed many famous people from all walks of life.  He was considered to be the best in the business, the UK equivalent of Johnny Carson.  He was particularly good with great story tellers, like David Niven and Peter Ustinov.  

Then I read an article where his son Mike Parkinson said that his father had suffered from Imposter Syndrome, a feeling that he was not worthy of the undoubted success that he had achieved. He said that his famous father did not have as much self-confidence as he appeared to have on TV.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66605926

It's remarkable to think that someone who was so successful had so much self-doubt, but it does seem to happen quite a lot to those in the creative arts.  I'm sure that many who have a written a book, fiction or non-fiction, have wondered to themselves, “why would anyone want to read what I've written”. I've certainly had that self-doubt. 

When I was a lot younger, I would often hear people say things like “don't have ideas above your station” or “know your place”. It could be a class thing, or just that being from a certain background, you were not expected to be anything.  Michael Parkinson had working class roots, the people he worked for at the BBC were typically from a different background. 

Knowing your place is difficult to overcome. I'm still trying to beat it. My self-doubt makes me wonder if I ever will.