Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Dummies

I must admit, I was sceptical at first, how could something as complex as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) be simplified, but this book does it elegantly.  It begins with a brief 'Contents at a Glance' page and then much more detailed 'Table of Contents' including all the icons used in the book which make it easy to navigate: tips; things to note down and to try, warnings, jargon explanations and tracks to play from the online spoken guided meditation tracks.

The book begins with an introductory part I: a clear explanation of what MBCT is, it's origins and benefits, the problems MBCT can address and what the challenge of taking on the full 8 week course entails

Part II is the 8 week course itself, each chapter covering a single week and each building on the one before to develop becoming mindful of your body and mind and how to deal with setbacks and difficult emotions to enable you to come to a point where you are fully in control of your own physical and mental wellbeing and able to live a life far more connected to your own life.

Part III is on using MBCT for specific afflictions: depression, addiction, anxiety, pain, ageing and the work-life balance.

Part IV enables you to go beyond the book, giving list of 10 ways to expand your mindfulness practice, 10 inspirational people and 10 inspirational places to visit.

All in all a welcome addition to the mindfulness bookshelf, straightforward but not shallow.

The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon

Imagine a virus that affects our ability to speak and write, to communicate.  Anana's father has disappeared from his work as editor of the North American Dictionary of the English leaving only a cryptic message 'diachronic' and his speed dial display reads 'Hotline to Alice'.  The moment she sees this Anana knows something is very wrong, Alice is both a reference to Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland and a kind of literary code name he had for Anana.  Down the rabbit hole the story goes, she finds a small army of sweat shop workers in the basement destroying dictionaries, tries to get help from Bartleby who worked with her father, tries to deal with the aftermath of her breakup with ex Max and the onslaught of the word virus that steals language.  A really good read.