Jon Stamford

Collected thoughts of Dr Jon Stamford, a Parkinson's patient advocate and former Parkinson's researcher, on a range of subjects from flags to donkey sanctuaries, from French patisserie to recordings of Wagner. And all of it set against a backdrop of Parkinson's. Stamford refuses to be beaten by the condition and resolves to find new ways of fighting back against it's incursions.

This is a book in part about Parkinson's but also about the wider context of the illness. When someone develops Parkinson's it affects not only that individual but also their family and friends. Few books address this with the determined resilience and humour of Slice of Life. Slice of Life attempts to set the individual's illness against the wider context of family life and beyond. This is a book for anyone affected by Parkinson's.

Before you get the wrong idea, may I say that this is not explicitly a book about Parkinson's. There is a whole bundle more stuff in it than that. Parkinson's is a theme certainly - I have Parkinson's and with the best will in the world it's hard to shake off its influence on my daily life. But the book goes much beyond there. I have divided the book broadly into three years. This is mainly to give a context to some of the more ephemeral pieces that would otherwise not make sense such as the piece on Brexit in 2016. That probably gives you also a clear understanding that there will be some politics amongst the pieces. Don't be put off. I have balanced it with other less knuckle whitening subjects. There is also a distinct whiff of nostalgia in some of the pieces as I recall my Yorkshire roots. And as if that was not enough on its own, I've even treated you, dear reader, to some of my thoughts on Wagner's music. You lucky people.

Some things in life are greater than the sum of their parts. At first inspection, Scattered Leaves is a collection of short essays on a range of subjects, written over the last decade. But, dig deeper and find that it is also a pricking of the conscience, an invocation of memories and cultural points of reference from 60 years of life and experience. Above all they are Jon Stamford's unique and iconoclastic take on life, the universe and - who knows - maybe everything. All of life is here - comments on the arts, short stories, travel writing, and more - all couched against a background of chaotic family life with teenage children, dogs, guinea pigs and chickens. As the name implies, this book is not a sequential narrative, more something to dip into. Essays are numerous and short. Bite-size if you will. Like a box of chocolates. Dip in. Enjoy.