About this Blog
Who am I?
Who am I? British (no sympathy please). Child of the 50s & 60s. Lancashire born and bred, but now living in Sheffield and retired. My career has always been as a psychologist, working with people with neurological and mental health problems and clients, offenders and patients in the civil and criminal justice systems. I've been a university lecturer too. Nowadays I'm active both as a humanist and a dyed-in-the-wool skeptic. See homepage for further details.
Why blog?
I enjoy communicating with others and sharing knowledge, ideas and opinions about matters that interest me, both by teaching and giving talks, and in writing. (You can access here lots of mainly brief papers that I have written over the years, covering a wide range of topics.)
I tend only to communicate about things of which I have sufficient knowledge, experience and expertise. But these days, with one or two exceptions, I don't have much to say about my previous work as a psychologist. Too be honest, I feel a bit rusty in this department now. So here's some of the topics I do write about now, and about which I blog.
Universal Awareness: I have written three easy-to-read books expounding on the idea of 'universal awareness' (or 'universal consciousness' if you prefer), based on rational principles and consistent with scientific knowledge. I am now blogging separately on this subject here.
Hypnosis: During my career I established a reputation in the field of hypnosis and (co)-edited and co-authored several books on the subject. These days I tend to talk about what I have come to believe and understand about hypnosis-its nature and its practical applications.
Humanism: I call myself a humanist and am a member of Humanists UK. I enjoy attending talks meetings about humanism, and giving talks, particularly in school RE classes. I'm a voluntary humanist advisor in a university chaplaincy.
Science and the Paranormal: I have written and lectured extensively about the scientific investigation of paranormal and other anomalous phenomena. I'm a skeptic and one of the founders of UK's Association for Skeptical Enquiry and Sheffield Skeptics in the Pub, which I now run in partnership with Sheffield Humanists.
There are other topics I like to write about, but that's enough for one blog!
