Teach Us to Sit Still
Teach Us to Sit Still
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Summary
Bedevilled by a crippling condition which nobody could explain or relieve, the author confronts hard truths about the relationship between the mind and the body, the hectic modern world and his life as a writer.
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Teach Us to Sit Still by Tim Parks
'Just when the medical profession had given up on me and I on it, just when I seemed to be walled up in a life sentence of chronic pain, someone proposed a bizarre way out: sit still, they said, and breathe...' TEACH US TO SIT STILL is the visceral, thought-provoking and improbably entertaining story of Tim Parks' quest to overcome ill health. Bedevilled by a crippling condition which nobody could explain or relieve, he confronts hard truths about the relationship between the mind and the body, the hectic modern world and his life as a writer. Following a fruitless journey through the conventional medical system he finds solace in an improbable prescription of breathing exercises that eventually leads him to take up meditation. This was the very last place Parks expected or wanted to find answers; anything New Age simply wasn't his scene. Meantime, he is drawn to consider the effects of illness on the work of other writers, the role of religions in shaping our sense of self, and the influence of sport and art in our attitudes to health and well-being. Most of us will fall ill at some point; few will describe that journey with the same verve, insight and radiant intelligence as Tim Parks. Captivating and inspiring, TEACH US TO SIT STILL is an intensely personal - and brutally honest - story for our times. SHORTLISTED FOR THE WELLCOME TRUST BOOK PRIZE FOR MEDICINE IN LITERATURE
His journey will open your mind to the possibilities of mindfulness -- Polly Vernon * Sunday Telegraph *
A searingly honest, viscerally vivid, darkly comic self-examination of the connections between writing, personality and healthOnce I started reading it, I didn't want to stop. * David Lodge *
Tim Parks is a cool, sceptical observer of the human condition and Teach Us to Sit Still - a quest for relief from chronic pain that begins with relearning how to breathe and ends in something close to spiritual transformation - deserves to be taken with the utmost seriousness. -- J.M. Coetzee
In a world dominated by cheap self-revelation and quack self-help, I suspect that Teach Usto Sit Still may be the real thing: a work of genuine consolation that shows the way out of the dark wood in which everyone, at some time or another, will inevitably find themselves lost. -- Will Self * The Times *
This is a startlingly brave book - prostate problems don't usually make comfortable friendships with philosophy, art and history, seasoned with a dash of Buddhist meditation. But since Tim Parks writes so wonderfully well and is so genuinely clever it works. It works very well indeed. Sensible, lyrical, wide ranging, generous hearted and in places very touching. * Sara Maitland *
A searingly honest, viscerally vivid, darkly comic self-examination of the connections between writing, personality and healthOnce I started reading it, I didn't want to stop. * David Lodge *
Tim Parks is a cool, sceptical observer of the human condition and Teach Us to Sit Still - a quest for relief from chronic pain that begins with relearning how to breathe and ends in something close to spiritual transformation - deserves to be taken with the utmost seriousness. -- J.M. Coetzee
In a world dominated by cheap self-revelation and quack self-help, I suspect that Teach Usto Sit Still may be the real thing: a work of genuine consolation that shows the way out of the dark wood in which everyone, at some time or another, will inevitably find themselves lost. -- Will Self * The Times *
This is a startlingly brave book - prostate problems don't usually make comfortable friendships with philosophy, art and history, seasoned with a dash of Buddhist meditation. But since Tim Parks writes so wonderfully well and is so genuinely clever it works. It works very well indeed. Sensible, lyrical, wide ranging, generous hearted and in places very touching. * Sara Maitland *
Born in Manchester in 1954, Tim Parks moved permanently to Italy in 1980. Author of novels, non-fiction and essays, he has won the Somerset Maugham, Betty Trask and Llewellyn Rhys awards, and been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His works include Destiny, Europa, Dreams of Rivers and Seas, Italian Neighbours, An Italian Education and A Season with Verona.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781846553998 |
| ISBN 10 | 1846553997 |
| Title | Teach Us to Sit Still |
| Author | Tim Parks |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2010-07-01 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for Wellcome Trust Book Prize 2010 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |