A key book that’s influenced how you see the world?
The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud
Freud’s great work that woke me up to the meaning of dreams and their access to the unconscious.
Book you shouldn’t miss in your lifetime?
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Such inspiring insights into life and the human condition.
What’s by your bed right now?
The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
Milne’s delightful Winnie-the-Pooh stories to explain the basic principles of philosophical Taoism.
Unmissable jazz read?
The Baroness – the search for Nica, the Rebellious Rothschild by Hannah Rothschild.
A great insight into New York’s 1950s jazz scene including snapshots of moments in the lives of jazz musicians in the peak of the jazz age.
There’s a wonderful review by the Guardian here.
A book that has resonated across your life?
Neill of Summerhill: The Permanent Rebel, by Jonathan Croall
Neill was arguably the most famous child educator of the twentieth century. He was certainly the most controversial. All over the world, countless parents and teachers have been shocked, delighted, or inspired by his subversive ideas about education.
The biography is a fascinating and revealing portrait of a remarkable man who, in his absolute determination to be ‘on the side of the child’, remained in permanent opposition to the adult world.
