Thursday, 20 June 2013

Business

-HAVE YOU HAD AN INTERESTING LIFE?-WOULD YOU LIKE TO PUBLISH A BOOK?-
Copies are available from Lynn Davidson memoirclub@msn.com  mob 0755 2086888

We have 20 years experience in publishing, editing, designing and promoting business books.  

We are committed to bringing quality books to potential readers, and to maximising the potential of each book.

Our dedicated in-house team is always on hand to take you all the way from manuscript to eBook or printed copy. Every author is treated as an individual, not a number.

Email your manuscript to Lynn Davidson, memoirclub.co.uk



Esmond Bulmer - Cider and more Besides
Esmond Bulmer describes how the Bulmer family built the world's largest cider company over more than a century. As an MP between 1974 and 1987 he saw at first hand how little those in industry understood each other. He left the House of Commons to chair the company until he retired. He describes how the world in which he was brought up of patriotism, a paternalistic approach to employees, the moral teaching of the Church of England, a gentlemanly approach to the rules of capitalism and respect for authority all fell apart; how the failure of the political class to understand and to foster the creation of wealth in an increasingly competitive world led to decline which sometimes appears inexorable; how Britain's failure to define its relationship with Europe has frustrated the creation of a new political settlement and how the media, with its relentless concentration on the short term, frustrates the long term strategies on which our prosperity, and perhaps in a global context, even man's survival on the earth untimely depends.


Price £14.95 P&P £2.50 UK £4.60 Europe £8.50 ROW


Brian Greenwood - Shop!
Brian Greenwood’s experiences in building what was once Britain’s largest privately-owned menswear chain coupled with 50 years involvement in independent education, together with a very wide range of sporting interests, all make for entertaining, informative and frequently amusing reading. This profusely illustrated book with its foreword by Lord Norman Tebbit CH ranges from the origins of the Greenwood menswear empire, through the acquisition of other firms such as Dunn & Co. and Hodges - once a household name throughout South Wales and the south west - to a succession of commercial disasters in the period of the early 90s recession.
Parallel to the business story are the affairs of one of the North’s leading independent schools - Woodhouse Grove and tales of sporting activities as diverse as athletics, rugby and hunting in South Africa.
In writing his memoirs of a long and interesting life, the author sets out to produce a book which would never be dull but would rather be a thoroughly enjoyable read - he has succeeded!

 Author
Brian Greenwood has led a widely varied life as Chairman of Britain's largest privately owned menswear chain, Chairman of numerous property companies and as the longest serving Chairman of any Public School. His sporting interests have ranged from Athletics to Deer Stalking. His family and business life have seen both triumphs and tragedies.
His life has been a complex tapestry with many colours and hues. Its story will be enjoyed by all who read it.
He and his wife Enid live near Harrogate; they have a son and daughter and four adult children.

 Reviews
'The rise of the Greenwood family fortunes began in Bradford in the 1850's when Brian Greenwood's great-great-grandfather took up the trade of hatter, which was carried on by his son and then grandson, who expanded the business into a gentlemen's outfitters. Shop! traces the fortunes and misfortunes of his descendents - most notably Brian Greenwood himself - through a hundred and fifty tumultuous years including two terrible wars, the devastating slump and depression of the inter-war period, the height and the fall of the British Empire and that of the Greenwood empire too.
The story has in it the stuff of a TV saga.'
Rt Hon Lord Tebbit CH
'Brian Greenwood's life could make a novel. In fact, he's now writing three thrillers based on his experiences.'
Chris Holland, Telegraph & Argus

Price £12.50 P&P £2.75 UK £6.50 Europe £12.50 ROW
Roger A. Owen - From Bricks to Beans
Described as the last of the 'old guard' to leave the Wm. Morrison boardroom. Roger Owen has a captivating story to tell. In From Bricks to Beans he provides a fascinating snapshot of life at the top of one of the country's biggest supermarkets.
As the title playfully suggests, Roger Owen began his working life more interested in bricks and mortar than in fruit and veg. A quantity surveyor with an eye on his future prospects, he took a job with local supermarket chain Morrisons and was given the task of acquiring new locations, overseeing the building of new stores and expanding the company's rental income. When he joined the company in 1975, the chain had twelve stores and one warehouse, all in the Bradford area. When he left, the company was a giant, with over four hundred shops built or under development from Inverness to Gibraltar, numerous depots, produce pack houses, factories, abattoirs and a new multi-million pound headquarters. Bricks to Beans tells the story of this phenomenal growth from the point of view of the man who helped make it happen. 
Away from the building site and the board room, Roger describes his family life with wife Lena and stepsons Glen and Jason, his travels for both business and pleasure to destinations far and wide and the agony and the ecstasy of supporting Bradford City FC. Roger’s down-to earth, warm personality is evident throughout. A natural storyteller, he recalls the time he inadvertently posed as footballer Michael Owen's uncle, not his entirely successful foray into the world of greyhound racing and an unconventional business meeting which saw him dress as a scuba-diver.

Roger Owen interviewed by Carl Gresham on Bradford Community Broadcasting

 Price £17.95 P&P £3.50 UK £6.50 Europe £12.50 ROW


Raymond Miquel - Business as Usual
In his thirty years at Arthur Bell & Sons, Professor Raymond Miquel CCMI, CBE transformed the traditional whisky distillers into one of the most successful companies in Scotland with the Bell's brand becoming a household name.
At the same time Bell's maintained a social responsibility for its workforce and local communities as well as an active policy in sport, personal development and welfare reflecting Miquel's own priorities and beliefs.
He makes no secret of his commitment to Scotland and his belief that local Scottish companies and workers can, given the leadership and direction, compete as equals with the best in the world.
The Bell's takeover of Canning Town Glass and its political implications is described along with the takeover of Gleneagles Hotel. The impact of the latter would have a significant baring on the ensuing battle Miquel had with Guinness.
Karen Cunningham tells of the intrigue and double standards throughout the Guinness bid and .the subsequent disappearance of one of Scotland's strongest independent companies.
After Bell's he looked for a new challenge with Bellhaven Brewery. After accomplishing so much in two short years Miquel was ousted before achieving his ambitious objectives.
Away from business matters the book covers his period in sports administration. As Chairman of the Scottish Sports Council he faced head on the difficulties of running a government quango.
His involvement with Lees of Scotland which he saved from administration in 1993 and floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 2005 is well documented, as is his continuing association with Glasgow University Business School.

Reviews

Price £9.95  P & P £2.70 UK   £4.60 Europe £8.20  ROW


Derek Finlay - Ten to Take Her Home
Derek Finlay's story covers not only his professional life, but describes, with a wonderful feel for language, his personal life from childhood in Kew, college years at Cambridge, the character building experience as a National Service Platoon Commander, to the present day. This book is informative without being prosy; touching without being sentimental; very evocative of the 1930s and 40s, while touching on times past and relating them to the present.
Derek Finlay has experienced a diverse and prestigious career within British and International Industry. After eighteen years, the last seven as a Director, with management consultants McKinsey and Company Inc., he embarked upon a highly successful 14 year career with the H.J. Heinz Company where he moved to the World Headquarters in Pittsburgh on his appointment as Senior Vice President - Corporate Development, and a member of the Board of Directors. It is an exciting and honest story of a career built on the foundation of early family tragedy, private ambition and the strong values of integrity and decent business ethics.
Derek Finlay was born at the home of his parents in Kew, Surrey. His education began at Kew College followed by Kingston Grammar School.
After securing a BA Degree in Economics and Law at Emmanuel College, Cambridge he embarked on a highly successful business career, first he spent eighteen years with McKinsey & Company Inc. then began a fourteen year-career with H.J. Heinz Company. He also spent three years in the textile industry when he became Chairman of Dawson International plc.
He now lives in The Mains of Grantully Castle in Scotland with his wife Una; they have a daughter, two sons and three grandchildren.

 Foreword by Sir Anthony O'Reilly OA, KBE
The book is hugely instructive on the methods of management that were used to achieve goals ...........
His recollections and experiences in Dawson International allow him to conclude that failure is as instructive as success, and his analysis of what the future holds for manufacturing businesses in the UK against the lower cost manufacturing base in the East is both incontestable and holds many ominous lessons ahead for European industry.

 Author


Robert Derek Finlay,  BA, MA, FInstD, FRSA, MCIM. Chairman, Dawson International PLC, 1995-98; b. 16.5.32, London; m., Una Ann Grant; 2 s.; 1 d.

Education: Kingston Grammar School; Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Lt, Gordon Highlanders, 1950-52; Mobil Oil Co. UK, 1953-61; Associate, Principal, Director, McKinsey & Co., 1961-79; Managing Director, H.J. Heinz Co. Ltd., 1979-81; Senior Vice-President, World HQ, H.J. Heinz Co., 1981-93. Member, London Committee, Scottish Council Development and Industry, 1975-2003; Member: Board, US China Business Council, 1983-93, Board, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, 1986-93, US Korea Business Council, 1986-92, Board, Pittsburgh Symphony Society, 1989-93; Vice Chairman, World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, 1986-93; Chairman, Board, Visitors Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh, 1989-93.

Recreations: tennis; rowing; music; theatre.


Price £17.50  P & P £3.00 UK £4.50 Europe £7.50  ROW
Copies are available from Lynn Davidson memoirclub@msn.com  mob 0755 2086888


David Hutchinson - Through a Looking Glass
Through a Looking Glass is the true story of an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. David Hutchinson, 59 years old and retired from a life spent in international business, was kidnapped by criminals and sold to the FARC, the main Colombian guerrilla.
A nine-month forced march through the fierce terrain of Colombia ensued but the author makes little of this and we can only guess his feelings when he is told ‘You pay, you go free’. But this is not a one sided story. David Hutchinson incorporates his family’s side of the story; their efforts to contact him and the FARC: a whole picture of the kidnap is created.
Because this is the story of David Hutchinson’s long march, there is a pace to the narrative. Interspersed with
this are pen-portraits of the various guerrilleros with whom he comes into contact and mini biographies of other captives and the limited occupations of the captives such as chess and wildlife watching.
When he is finally allowed to make a phone call to his home, there is the constant fear that it will be traced. The whole group could then be attacked by the air force, as did happen. This is not just kidnapping; this is war. The air force flies overhead and the army constantly track the guerrilla. They run, they fight and they die, it is a constant battle for survival. Interest is added by giving details of the political and social background and of how the kidnappings first started. Half the kidnaps in the world happen in Colombia. This is an enthralling memoir, which will both fascinate and horrify the reader.
David Hutchinson was born in 1943 in Peshawar, India (now Pakistan) of British parents, John and Antonia. They returned to England in 1947, where David went to school and to Oxford. David married Graciela Busto from Argentina whom he had two children. After her death from cancer he married his second wife Maria Cecilia (Nanette) Muñoz, from the Philippines. He was president of the Colombian-British Chamber of Commerce, Bototà 1993-97 and in 1998 was warded an MBE for services to British-Colombian Trade. He now lives in Barcelona.

Review
Through a Looking Glass - a great title for a great book! Memoir Club, did such a good job.

Roger

Just to say that I read and much enjoyed David’s book. As I read it I could hear him speaking.
I found the chapters on the members of the FARC that encountered, and his fellow captives (and similarities between some of them), particularly interesting and you have a phenomenal memory to describe your experiences so vividly!
Jeremy

What an excellent book. I wonder if I enjoyed it because it was you, and knowing you made it fun, but I think it was just well written. I liked that it wasn't oppressive, full of violence and gore, more depressing, as other books on this sort of subject sometimes are. The human elements, not romanticized, and appropriately brief, were appropriate as encounters in the military would be. I also like how you presented all sides without hammering the points. The wildlife made it delightful. I can’t wait for Jeff to come home and read it
Patricia Harding of The American Orchid Society

Price: £14.95 P&P £2.25 UK £4.50 Europe £7.50 ROW

Through The Looking Glass is now available on eBook:

Harry Simpson - Land, Sea and Air
This is an extraordinary, compelling memoir, spanning a life of ninety four years; starting on the day of his birth; the day ‘The German Zeppelins belligerently invaded the blue sky of England’. His memoirs chart the life of a man with a voracious appetite for challenges and new experiences. He vividly recounts, with humour and anecdotes, his many, colourful experiences in business, RAF, sailing, driving, fishing, plus business stays and holiday travels to almost every country around the world. This context provides the title for the book Land Sea and Air.
This unique collection of life experiences will appeal to many audiences. It is an enthralling, fast moving, chronological journey through history, his life, his work and social experiences. His unusual descriptive writing style adds colour and clear vision to assist appreciation of circumstance, time and place, making it very difficult to stop reading.
His love of flying, driving cars and many hobbies provide the backdrop for many absorbing stories. His business experiences, range from early ‘cold calling’, working for Bakelite and inventing an innovative method of producing sanding discs, and in latter years, coming out of retirement on more than one occasion to meet new business challenges in demanding economic times.
The memoir deals with the tragic death of his son Roger in a road traffic accident; that impacted the rest of the author’s life. Mr Simpson married twice with children, and had happy memories of his life in his home in Duford Wood and Little Langley Farm, near Petersfield.

Price £17.95 P&P £3.50 UK £6.50 Europe £12.50 ROW

Anthony Young - Thin on the Ground
Thin On The Ground describes an episode in the history of Britain’s overseas territories that transformed knowledge about their potential, as ecologists and soil surveyors set off into the bush or the forest and mapped the resources for agriculture and rural development.
It is the first time that the story of land resource survey, beginning between the two World Wars and reaching its full flowering in 1950-1975, has been told. The author has drawn upon his own research and reminiscences, and accounts by over 80 former staff. Descriptions of scientific advances are interwoven with their recollections of events, sometimes bizarre, in the field. The book contributes both to the history of science and to Colonial history.
Anthony Young has over 40 years’ experience in all aspects of land resources, from survey to evaluation, planning and policy. Beginning in the Colonial Service, as Soil Surveyor, Malawi, his subsequent career has been divided between university research and practical contributions to rural development, through work with FAO, the World Bank, international agricultural research institutions, and consultant companies.

 Foreword by Professor Stephen Nortcliff - Secretary General, International Union of Soil Sciences 2003-2010
In this text, Anthony Young seeks to recognise the pioneering efforts of those who undertook the surveys. 
This book is the story of a great era of land resource surveys, emphasising the importance of the experiences gained from observing the natural environment  in the field. It also recognises the contribution of these scientists to the history  of the Colonial Service. In gathering information from some 80 former colleagues,  the author asked them to include reminiscences of unusual experiences in the field, which provide lighter moments in the text. 
Anthony Young is to be congratulated in bringing together information about the surveys, and recording the careers and achievements of the surveyors. This early work, carried out initially under the auspices of the Colonial Office and subsequently by the UK-based Land Resources Division, provides much of the basic knowledge we have about the natural environments of many of the regions today. This text will help to bring about a wider awareness of the wealth of information collected during this era. 

Price £14.50 P&P £2.50 UK £3.50 Europe £6.00 ROW


Christopher Rundle - From Colwyn Bay to Kabul
BBC Correspondent John Simpson describes Christopher Rundle as ‘the guru in the mall.’ In his own book, Rundle now gives a vivid account of his own experiences in Iran and Afghanistan.
Few people are in a better position to write about Iran and Afghanistan than Christopher Rundle. In this, his newly published memoir, he recounts his time working in embassies in both countries. This incident typifies the volatile Iran that Christopher Rundle knew in 1979: I was walking through a part of central Tehran where street vendors had their stalls. From the back a large, bearded man started chanting ‘Sag-e khareji koshteh bayad shavad! The foreign dog must be killed!’ He was probably unaware that I understood him; but that only seemed to make the threat more real.
He also provides enlightening accounts of Afghanistan, from his first posting there in 1968 to the present day. His fascinating descriptions contain some surprising background information, including first hand details of Afghanistan after the Taliban. He pulls no punches in examining the USA’s war on terrorism.

 Review
I enjoyed this book greatly, and am so grateful that The Memoir Club exists to bring us the work of people as valuable and interesting as Christopher Rundle.
John Simpson, BBC Correspondent



 Price £17.50 P&P £2.50 UK £3.00 Europe £5.00 ROW


John Izat - Thanks to Fredi
Thanks to Fredi is a fascinating look at the life of John Izat. Drawing on his experiences as both stockbroker and farmer his approach is logical but tempered with a great deal of creativity and he is able to recall incidents accurately without resorting to nostalgia.
Mr Izat begins with a brief family history and some delightful memories of school years before describing the way of life in the central belt of Scotland during the war years. Later he had looked forward to National Service with foreboding but it turned out to be the most character-forming period of his life and he describes some of the incidents and the people he met; demobbed four months early he entered Oxford as a much more mature person. His chosen career was stock broking in which he spent twenty highly successful years; for thirteen of those years good fortune and his love of farming enabled his family to grow up in the country and eventually for him to decide to give up the city career to become a full time farmer, with the support of his wife Frederica Ann (Fredi). With an efficient and economical style John Izat describes the workings of livestock markets and the financial implications. This part of the book with an emphasis on the countryside is a pleasant contrast to the one of city banking and the reader can feel the pleasure in the environment and the enjoyment that the author gains from his work. Alexander John Rennie Izat was born in July 1932, to Sir James Rennie Izat and Lady Eva Mary Steen Izat of Balliliesk. He was educated at Trinity College Glenalmond and later Oriel College Oxford.
The years between 1955-75 were spent as a stockbroker with the firm Williams de Broë & Co latterly as partner in charge of the research and institutional dealing departments.
He is a past chairman of the Shires Income plc, United Auctions (Scotland) plc and the Moredun Research Institute - and a past director of Shires Smaller Investment Trust plc, Glasgow Investment Managers Ltd, the Moredun Foundation, Cromlix Estates and College Valley Estates.
He was a member of Council of Glenalmond College 1975-1995 and is a past president of Fife-Kinross NFU & the Kinross Agricultural Association; director of Royal Highland Agricultural Society 1985-97 (honorary treasurer 1992-96).

Review
This book will appeal to a wide audience in that it covers so much, but in concise terms.
Dan Buglass, The Scotsman

Price £19.95 P&P £3.75 UK £4.75 Europe £9.00 ROW

Patrick Gordon-Duff-Pennington - Those Blue Remembered Hills
This is a colourful and poetic memoir written with an unusual degree of candour. It is a celebration of life and highlights man's need to belong to a place, to reconnect with the land and the animals and to find the spiritual values that have been mislaid in today's society. The majority of the author's life has been spent farming in the Scottish hills, in Inverness-shire and Dumfriesshire. He tells of his love of the land and the various characters he has encountered throughout his life, describing those he admires with warmth, those he does not with diplomacy, but all with a touch of humour. Patrick is a natural writer and poet. The book is interspersed with his lyrical verse and anecdotes from his vast experiences, which stretch from student shepherd to reluctant resident of a Grade I Listed Castle on the coast of the western Lake District. Those Blue Remembered Hills will undoubtedly bring a smile to the face of everyone who reads it. Born in 1930 Patrick Gordon-Duff was reared in Moray (near the mouth of the Findhorn) and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford, before National Service in the Cameron Highlanders. His desire for a life on the land was not approved by his parents but eventually brought him great satisfaction and a large circle of friends. He has dedicated his life to the people of the countryside, describes himself as a tinker and is happiest wandering among the people of the hills and islands.

Reviews
Like Patrick himself, Those Blue Remembered Hills is a remarkable production.
The Scotsman

Your book is fantastic and your memory prodigious!
Susan Bell OBE

This book has much humour as well as its serious side and is interspersed with the author's poetry. All in all it is a very good read.
Geoffrey Lee, The Historic Houses Association Magazine

Price £10.50 P&P £2.00 UK £3.00 Europe £4.50 ROW
Available on   http://www.thememoirclub.co.uk/   email: memoirclub@msn.com   or tel 01913735660 with card details and address.

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Guy De-Moubray - City Of Human Memories
This story begins in that distant world of long ago where children of colonial parents hardly ever saw them. Schools in Brussels, Sussex and Scotland were followed by war in the Burmese jungle as a teenager.
Guy de Moubray has had a most unusual and varied life which he recounts with flair and imagination, taking the reader on a revealing journey of discovery. But this book is much more than the tale of a successful career. For he recounts with deep feeling personal and revealing emotions focusing on the relationship with his wife, Daphne. This relationship was the golden thread binding his life together, strengthened with his deep religious faith.
The core working years of his life saw him involved in international finance and monetary and economic policy with the Treasury, the Bank of England and the International Monetary Fund. During these years he was Personal Assistant to Per Jacobson, Chairman of the IMF.

I recommend it as a thoroughly good read. 
Chris Bailey, Bank of England Magazine

His memoirs are like him - very thoughtful, forthright and honest.
Bernard Taylor, Journal of General Management 

 Price £14.95 P&P £3.50 UK £4.75 Europe £9.00 ROW


Jack Jeffery - A Pudding Full of Plums
A well-crafted memoir is more than a collection of details and anecdotes, it is a glimpse into a person's soul And A Pudding Full of Plums is certainly no exception, providing a deep excavation into the life of an extraordinary man. Jack Jeffery chronicles his trife with candour, wit and humility. From his rural childhood in County Durham, growing up against the backdrop of the Second World War, to an illustrious career in the water industry and public health, Jeffery presents as much a social history as an autobiographical tale.
For those interested in the privatisation of the water industry in the late 1980s and early 90s, the book provides a valuable insight; giving a detailed account of the author's dealings with colleagues and government officials during the period. And although modestly understated, rt is clear to see how his influence has had a positive impact on the shape of the industry. As our very own Chairman of Convocation, and Chair of a number of organisations including Northumbria Larder (the regional food organisation for the North East.)
Foreword by Frank Judd Lord Judd of Portsea Thackthwaite, Cockermouth, Cumbria July 2006 
This is the story of an exceptional man who has made, and continues to make, a powerful contribution to society; but it is also an honest personal account of the internal challenges and dilemmas encountered by him and how they were faced and answered. It is a very interesting read. Enjoy it!

Price £17.50 P&P £2.25 UK £3.75 Europe £7.50 ROW
Copies are available from Lynn Davidson memoirclub@msn.com  mob 0755 2086888

0 comments

Thursday, 6 June 2013

Medical

-HAVE YOU HAD AN INTERESTING LIFE?-WOULD YOU LIKE TO PUBLISH A BOOK-

We have 20 years experience in publishing, editing, designing and promoting books.  

We are committed to bringing quality books to potential readers, and to maximising every book's potential.

Our dedicated in-house team is always on hand to take you all the way from manuscript to eBook or printed copy. Every author is treated as an individual, not a number.

Email your manuscript to Lynn Davidson, memoirclub.co.uk

We can produce an eBook from a PDF, word document or published book from £395.

Victor Dubowitz - Ramblings of a Peripatetic Paediatrician

Victor Dubowitz enjoyed a globe-trotting medical career spanning half a century and is internationally known and regarded within the medical fraternity.
Throughout his academic and research career in the muscle field and the neurology of the newborn infant he has retained a passionate love for clinical medicine.
He has written five books on muscle disorders. He has also collaborated with his wife, Lilly in developing a scoring system for assessment of the gestational age in the newborn infant. This became an international standard known as the Dubowitz score. They have also co-authored three books on the newborn.

This is as unconventional a presentation of memoirs as one will encounter, reflecting perfectly the author's own idiosyncratic nature. Victor Dubowitz takes the reader on a thought provoking journey, often tangentially. He tells of a career which moves off in diverse directions, determined as much by chance as a driving spirit to pursue any channel of special interest. It represents one man's story of his environment and his encounters as he moves from a small country town in the Karroo region of South Africa to the professorship of paediatrics at the prestigious Royal Postgraduate Medical School at the Hammersmith Hospital in London.

Reviews
Victor Dubowitz’s book is fully deserving of a wider distribution, not only to all physicians, but also to the general public
John H.Menkes

Price £20.00 P&P £4.50 UK £6.25 Europe £11.75 ROW

Available from bookbutler at:
http://www.bookbutler.com/compare?isbn=9781841041155
To read more about Victor Dubowitz visit his Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Dubowitz

John Walker Smith (PAEDIATRICIAN) - Enduring Memories
This is the autobiography of a doctor who has contributed to the development of a new speciality within paediatrics both nationally and internationally. However, it is more than a description of the medical life, the author recounts his childhood in Sydney growing up during the war and the immediate post-war period, the influences and education which led him to his current career path. At the University of Sydney he describes his years as a medical student with a lively account of his experiences, as well as the demanding and long hour she worked as a young doctor, at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children. His experiences make an interesting contrast to the present situation of junior doctors in the NHS. After two years as a research fellow in London, John Walker-Smith returned to Sydney when in 1972 an unexpected opportunity arose to move to St Bartholomew's Hospital, and Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children in London. The author tells how he enthusiastically moved to another country along with his young family and how it was in London that he had to fight his corner for personal and professional recognition of the new speciality of paediatric gastroenterology. He also gives a vivid account of life within the NHS over the period 1973 to 2000. The author also describes his involvement in two major controversies in the 1990's. Firstly his outrage at the proposed closure of Baits and QEHC hospitals, both of which he worked in, and secondly his part in the MMR immunisation and autism controversy, an issue which remains unresolved  Enduring Memories provides unique insights into the complex system of provision of medical care and the development of clinical research in the second half of the twentieth century in both Australia and Great Britain.

Reviews

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Dr Jean Watkins (GP) - Lucky Genes
In this confidently written and beautifully illustrated memoir, Dr Jean Watkins shares her colourful family roots, her education in medicine, her career as a GP and much more. In Lucky Genes, Dr Jean Watkins describes her colourful family roots, her education and training in medicine, her career as a GP in London and then Hampshire, her marriage, the joys of children and grandchildren and her passion for travel. With honesty and humour, she reflects upon her share of joy, frustration, disappointment, hard work and dedication and discusses the effect all of this has had on her public and private life. Accompanying the book is a foreword written by Dame Margaret Seward DBE, CBE, who describes the book as a “well researched, thought provoking and entertaining memoir which recounts so many fascinating life changing events”. Indeed, Lucky Genes brings together family history, professional and personal recollections and tales of travel and adventure into a satisfying whole. A rewarding experience for anyone with an interest in genealogy, medicine and travel, it is complemented with carefully selected photographs showing the people and places that have made the author who she is.

Reviews
I have just completed the first of Jean's books "Lucky Genes". Absolutely brilliant insight into the times, changes and lives of others from a time previous to ours. Gratifying and Inspirational. Please feel free to pass this critique on to Jean on my behalf, as the book is now doing the great northern run.
Review by a local reader

Price £12.95 P & P £2.00 UK £3.30 Europe £6.00 ROW

John Shaw (NEUROSURGEON) - A Fortunate Apprentice

By his own admission, John Shaw took an unusual route into medicine. In A Fortunate Apprentice he tells the story of his childhood in India under The Raj, his education at Dulwich and his early experiences in medicine at Guy’s Hospital Medical School, on to his time in the Royal Air Force in the aftermath of World War II, through to his eventual career in neurosurgery.  As the title suggests, a central theme of this book is luck. When attending a Neurosurgical Congress the author had the good fortune to meet Professor Norman Dott and soon after joined his pioneering team. So began a rewarding career in neurosurgery at the Edinburgh Department of Surgical Neurology, as well as teaching positions at the University of Edinburgh. The author is keen to share his recollections of the many colourful characters and lively situations that shaped his life. Written in a lighter, more irreverent style than many medical memoirs, A Fortunate Apprentice is an accessible account of a career in brain surgery, suitable for the layperson and the doctor alike. It is also a humble reminder of the important parts that coincidence, chance and fortune play in our lives, in addition to hard work and determined studies.

Reviews
John Shaw has written a most fascinating memoir - interesting on so many different levels
The Clarion

Price £18.50 P&P £2.95 UK £4.00 Eur £9.00 ROW

Available from bookbutler at:
http://www.bookbutler.com/compare?isbn=9781841045061

Michael Partington - Barts and Beyond - Looking for Gold
In this memoir Michael Partington tells the story of his career in medicine and how it took him from St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London to Canada and finally Australia. After training in Medicine at Barts and research at the London Dr Partington left for Canada and a career in Paediatrics and Medical Genetics. In Toronto he was drawn into trying to understand the factors that can stop the human brain from reaching its full potential. There are few more challenging issues in medicine than mental retardation or developmental disability which is a major source of anxiety and distress for individuals, families and society as a whole. His experiences looking at biochemical abnormalities, newborn screening and individual clinical syndromes are all described here. After 27 years in Canada and with a growing interest in the genetic components of brain development Dr Partington was led to Australia to work for a year with Gillian Turner in her pioneering Fragile X Program, later renamed the Genetics of Learning Disability or GOLD service. The author emigrated to Australia in 1989 to set up a Genetics Service in Newcastle, New South Wales.

As a former student, houseman, junior registrar and patient at Barts Dr Partington is proud to be labelled a ‘Barts man’. While his focus remains on his professional life, the author includes aspects of his personal life in the story, pulling memories and thoughts from the journals he haphazardly kept from his teenage years onwards. A varied, honest account of a career that covered three continents and an exploration of medical issues that affect us all, Barts and Beyond Looking for GOLD will intrigue and entertain readers from all backgrounds.

Reviews
The themes of his life are constant: a love of life, a love of medicine, a willingness to undertake adventure, and attention to detail with a most engaging wit 
 Judith Hall OC, MD of the University of British Colombia

Price £12.95 P&P £2.50 UK £4.50 Eur £7.50 ROW

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Oscar Craig & Alasdair Fraser - Doctors At War
A joint effort from Oscar Craig and Alasdair Fraser, Doctors At War takes the reader on a journey through the conflicts of the 19th and 20th centuries. Letters and editorials from the archives at St Mary's Hospital Medical School are used to give the reader a range of first-hand accounts of war from the perspective of doctors. The result of hard work and diligent research, Doctors at War delivers an intriguing, interesting and sometimes horrifying record of the war experiences of doctors.

A chronological approach is taken, from the end of the 19th century and the Benin expedition of 1897 through both world wars and various conflicts in between, giving a picture of the changing social climate. There are descriptions of the dreadful conditions on battlefields in the late 19th century and letters from civilians during the siege of Ladysmith.

By the time of the Second World War, letter writing was significantly reduced: letters were subject to censorship and the art of letter writing considered no longer important. However, from this period are letters not only from all parts of the globe but also from prisoner-of-war camps including Belsen, the Japanese camps and the devastation of Nagasaki. The compilers of this book have worked diligently to produce an outstanding in-depth account of doctors engaged in duties during wartime.

Reviews
The dramatic readings of the letters were very moving and the book is fascinating 
Miss Janet Holland, Operational Projects Manager in the Faculty of Medicine

This interesting book is a true piece of medical historical and biographical research
Harold Ellis of the Journal of Medical Biography

Price £20.00 P&P £3.00 UK £5.00 Eur £9.00 ROW

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Professor Peter Richards - The Harvest of a Quiet Eye
The Harvest of a Quiet Eye is a collection of essays, letters and speeches by, and in some cases about, Professor Peter Richards. In it he shares his observations of medicine, university education and life in general in this absorbing book. The Harvest of A Quiet Eye brings together a unique collection of essays, articles, lectures, letters and stories by Professor Peter Richards. His observations of medicine and healthcare and his experience of medical education and practice make for an absorbing book. Full of revealing and dramatic anecdotes, the book starts with the author's early career at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington before covering an array of important healthcare related issues. This book began life as individual essays and articles, previously published in the likes of The Lancet, The Times and the British Medical Journal over several decades. They have been collected and added to, resulting in this varied, thought provoking book. Variety is very much the key to this book's considerable appeal. Key lectures and important views on the NHS are voiced in this proactive book.

Price: £17.50 P&P £2.00 UK £3.00 Eur £4.50 ROW

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Phillip Harris - To Be A Neurosurgeon - A Memoir
This memoir will have great interest for the professional reader, describing the history of Edinburgh Medical School and the advances in Neurosurgery. The personal and professional are interwoven to give us a rare insight into the life of a neurosurgeon. This is a fascinating memoir, well constructed and a pleasure to read. It is no conventional memoir, ranging as it does over subjects as varied as stem cell research, Rembrandt and Mahler. He writes with great warmth when describing family life and interactions with friends and colleagues. Enjoyment of this memoir is not confined to only readers with a professional neurological expertise, but also to other medical people, and also to intelligent lay people. The author has travelled widely in pursuit of excellence, met many of the great figures of his discipline and has fascinating stories to tell, illustrated with very readable background information to assist the lay reader. In short this memoir is a must for anyone interested in the history of the medical school, the development of the field of neurosurgery or anyone who would like to gain an insight into the life and career of a distinguished neurosurgeon.

Reviews
For those in the medical community who are interested in the history of post-war hospital medicine in the UK, there are some important passages, while the non-medical reader will find the educational passages illuminating.
The Lancet

Price £4.99 P&P £2.50 UK £4.50 Eur £8.00 ROW

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Dr Hywel Davies - Uncle Ebe and Other Stories
Hywel Davies experience of medical practice has been unusual in that he actively sought temporary work, when it was possible, in various urban and rural general practices in the NHS He has worked as consultant physician in general medicine in Scotland, Wales and England, as cardiologist in Alaska, and in Saudi Arabia as chief-of-staff of a hospital. His views about the medical systems, (which do not form part of this book) were gained by working in them. An active interest remains in the mysteries of coronary heart disease, particularly the role of calcium and Vitamin D. He was an early and enduring sceptic about cholesterol, the hole in the ozone layer, man-made global warming, and the other untruths that we are beguiled into believing by those who have an axe to grind.


Reviews
unique perspectives that will challenge the most entrenched beliefs in medicine, society and goverment
James E. Ehrlich MD, University of Colorado

Price £10.00 P&P £2.50 UK £4.60 Eur £8.20 ROW

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If you would like to read more about this author visit his Wikipedia page:


Richard Godwin-Austen - Seizing Opportunities
Seizing Opportunities – the reminiscences of a physician covers the ancestral background of the Godwin-Austen family, as well as the author’s wartime upbringing, his training and life in Neurology in Nottinghamshire, and dramatic setbacks both personal and professional. He includes a breadth of anecdotes which make very good reading. There is discussion of Medical student selection, and Teaching methods and precepts. He talks about junior doctors hours, violence in Hospitals, and the importance of Residency for junior staff. He defines what is necessary in a Doctor. He comments on declining standards, loss of motivation and morale but makes concrete suggestions how these things can be improved.
There is the light and amusing, the pithy and perceptive, the entertaining and the downright tragic. One of the strengths of this book is the intermingling of personal philosophy with medical anecdotes as well as the chronological account of what happened next.

Reviews
This story is original, entertaining and stimulating. It spans the first 50 years of the National Health Service and an era of huge medical advances, but sadly declining medical services; and describes how accident and experience have shaped a fascinating life
Charterhouse

Price £19.50 P&P £2.50 UK £4.50 Eur £7.50 ROW

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Oscar Craig (RADIOLOGIST) - Medical Memoirs
Beginning with his early career in medicine Dr Craig recounts tales of his time as consultant at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London and his election as President of the Royal College of Radiologists. Following Oscar Craig’s highly successful autobiography A Life in Medicine, this new book features aspects of his varied life and career. Colourful and entertaining characters feature prominently, including students and colleagues at St Mary’s as well as those in radiology. 

 Variety is very much the key to the book’s appeal, with holidays, key lectures and views on the National Health Service all given voice. A chapter on retirement is particularly meaningful illustrating the difficulties facing those whose profession is their overriding passion. This is a book by a natural raconteur, with a plethora of humorous vignettes but, above all else, it is clear that the author’s raison d’etre is the practice of medicine.

Reviews
A profound and eventful story.
Baroness Young of Old Scone

Price £19.95 P&P £3.50 UK £5.50 Eur £9.25 ROW

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Alan Lettin (SURGEON) - Was It Something I Said
This is a fascinating thought provoking account of success courage and achievement. Alan Lettin spent his 1930s boyhood in his parent's corner shop in Leytonstone, East London. He describes the wonderful cast of characters, travelling salesman, customers and neighbours with whom he came into contact. He goes onto describe the impact of World War Two, the blitz V1 "doodlebugs" and the V2 rockets which led to his evacuation on four occasions and fragmented schooling. His account of surgical training half a century ago will be a surprise to many, but undoubtedly led to a successful career. The chapters in which he recounts the changes and events which took place during his association with the organisations with which he was involved are interesting and informative. His career spanned the first fifty years of the NHS and he describes the changes which have taken place as he personally saw them, with characteristic cogency and honesty. Alan Lettin was never reluctant to express his views. Was It Something I Said? recognises that they were not always appreciated. The book is essential reading for all those interested in matters medical and for those who simply enjoy a revealing and frank memoir well told.

Reviews
The autobiography is laid out in an episodic, sequential manner starting with a fascinating account of his family background, parents' Leytonstone shop, school, the second world war, education and training in surgery.
Jerry Kirk

Fascinating insight into the haphazard nature of surgical training half a century ago
Save Bart's Campaign

Price £17.50 P&P £2.75 UK £3.75 Eur £7.00 ROW

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Colin H M Walker (PAEDIATRICIAN) - I Also Ran
There are not many Biographies of Paediatricians that include first hand experience of the development and early days of Intensive Baby Care. Colin Walker easily blends the personal with the professional to produce a memoir that reflects the whole man, not merely the ambitious professional, the conscientious medical practitioner, the loving husband or the devoted father, but all these things and more. Dr Colin H M Walker describes his family and the exigencies of school and university days in the troubled times of the Second World War. He goes on to relate the challenging path to becoming a consultant paediatrician and the positions he subsequently held at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London and later The Princess Margaret Hospital, Australia, The University of Colorado, USA before returning, by invitation, to work in Scotland.


Price £14.50 P&P £2.80 UK £5.60 Eur £10.00 ROW

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Daniel Haines - A Dangerous Practice
As doctors both Daniel Haines and his wife Hilary wanted to leave the rat race and so applied to work overseas. They worked in the Cayman Islands and Swaziland, ending up in the Falkland Island, along with their three children. Daniel describes the quirks and intricacies of living and practising medicine in such a remote and unusual community as the Falkland Islands. Doing his rounds in an aeroplane, growing his own supply of vegetables and having Marines as neighbours are just some of the highlights. He also goes on to tell of the infrastructure and organisation of the islands. Most poignant are his memories of the Falkland War in 1982 which he witnessed from beginning to end. The devastation and loss of Argentine life; being kept prisoner under armed guard along with his wife, children and other civilians; and their attempts to reduce danger to inhabitants during the anticipated British retaking of the Islands are all described in vivid detail. A superbly written book which takes the reader on a varied and absorbing journey. ‘A Dangerous Practice’ it was but Daniel Haines and his family emerge strengthened by the experience'.

 Reviews
I have to say I found this unique book an excellent read. It would make an excellent gift to anyone in, or outside, the often enigmatic forensic community!
Robin Moffat

Price £19.50 P&P £2.50 UK £3.50 Eur £7.00 ROW
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 Professor Sir Thomas Symington - A Chance to Remember 
A Chance to Remember chronicles a prestigious career in medicine mainly concerning the very specialist field of adrenal gland research. The author highlights the funding and financial complications involved in research, as well as the joy of discovery and the sharing of knowledge, in his own inimitable style. The book details Sir Tom's work when Professor of Pathology at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, his work in research centres all over the world and how this led to various lecture posts including visiting Professor of Pathology at Stanford University USA in 1965 and the Joseph Aub visiting lecturer at Harvard Medical School in 1969. As well as his invitation to speak at most universities in Britain and Europe to discuss his pioneering research. In 1969 he was a member of an external review group for the Institute of Cancer Research in London to determine their funding requirements, following which he was appointed Director of the Institute, a post he held for seven years. He describes the struggles, triumphs and ultimate success of the institute, to which he contributed a great deal. Not only does he recount his own career but Sir Thomas also conveys his sometimes controversial views on the National Health Service as he has witnessed much of its development from its inception to the present day and has some shrewd observations regarding its future. His family also feature strongly in these memoirs as their influence and support has been constant throughout the years.

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Michael R Lee - Stood On The Shoulders Of Giants
'Stood on the Shoulders of Giants' chronicles as extraordinary journey from the back streets of Manchester to the spires of Oxford and eventually to Edinburgh. The author describes his upbringing in a working class environment in Manchester and how, from an early age, he was plagued by injury and illness. This ill health sparked his early fascination with medicine and disease. He tells how his childhood dreams were realised when he was able to pursue these interests by studying at Oxford University. His career on academic medicine is described as a roller coaster ride, punctuated with success and failure, highs and lows, both personal and professional. Along the way he encounters a number of 'giants' in their fields, particularly Professor Archie Cochrane, Sir Douglas Black and Sir George Pickering. He relates how each of these men had a profound effect upon the development of his career before he eventually established himself as an independent clinical scientist and subsequently received a Professorship at the University of Edinburgh. This account is not merely one man's reflection on his career in medicine but is the story of his journey through life as a whole. The book also contains some trenchant criticisms of the organisation of the medical profession in the second half of the twentieth century.

Available from bookbutler at:
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