A Good Read
Reading books is very subjective and what appeals to one person may not appeal to another. BUT I thought it might be useful to bring books that I have read and especially those that I have enjoyed to your attention. If you decide to read them I hope that you will enjoy them and or find them useful in some way. As time permits I will add to the titles – if you can recommend any books that you have found useful and interesting please get in touch with me so that I can add these to the list. A brief review would be useful too.
| TITLE | AUTHOR | PUBLISHER | ISBN / Product Code | Price |
|---|
| The Definitive Book of Body Language | Allan & Barbara Pease | London Orion Books Ltd 2004 | | |
| Journey into Silence | Jack Ashley M.P. | The Bodley Head Ltd 1973 | 037001380 | |
| Acts of Defiance | Jack Ashley M.P. | Penguin Books 1994 | -10: 0140166416 | |
| Deaf Sentence | David Lodge | Penguin 2009 | -10: 0141035706 | |
| Watch this Face | Based on an original text by John Chaloner Woods | available from Action on Hearing Loss | Product code:PA0547/09/12 | £8.99 |
Reviews
The Definitive Book of Body Language - Allan & Barbara Pease
Lipreading is all about "seeing" words, but this is not the whole conversation.
Words are only about 7% of communication(that, is about 10 to 11 minutes of talking a day) and they are mainly to convey information.
The rest is all nonverbal: tone of voice; facial expressions (some 250,000!): gestures of hands, arms, feet, legs; position of head and body.
Even more important, the nonverbal message can contradict the word message - for example when someone is lying.
This book could help you to undersatnd what someone is really saying. I found it quite an eye opener!
Review by Susan - member of a Lipreadng Support Group - October 2015
Journey into Silence - Jack Ashley M.P.
This is a really moving insight into the emotions and difficulties faced when overcoming being deafened after having lived in the hearing world. It speaks of many of the issues that face those of us who have lost some or all our hearing in later life. It demonstrates the impact that having a person with hearing loss in the family has on family life and especially on the morale of the person with the hearing loss. The book also describes Jack's early life and how through sheer determination and his own intelligence and industry he moved from being a labourer to an inspired speaker and champion of those not able to speak up for themselves. I really enjoyed this book
Acts of Defiance - Jack Ashley M.P.
The first part of the book covers much of what is in Journey into silence and the takes up the story of how Jack continued to work and shake the establishment to help to raise awareness of the difficulties face by those with all kinds of disabilities. It is not so long ago that wheelchairs users could not get on a bus or use a public toilet. Many of the changes made to improve the lives of people with impairments were supported by Jack Ashley. This book shows the many causes supported by Jack, his tenacity and perseverance in making change happen. I think of him as the people's champion.
Deaf Sentence - David Lodge.
David Lodge is a well-known author who has written many successful “good reads”. Deaf sentence is no different. It is well written, amusing and at times very touching. This is particularly so if you have a hearing loss yourself and can relate to the situations and the scrapes that occur through misunderstanding/mishearing what was said. It made me smile!
Watch this face - John Chaloner Woods
This book contains information and pictures to enable the reader to practice lipreading. I think that it is extremely useful and can complement lipreading classes. It is easy to read and easy to follow. Anything that can help us to communicate better must be useful. I found it useful when I was beginning to learn to lipread.