Today Everything Changes

Nov 7, 2024 5:48 PM

Author:Andy McNab

Abandoned as a baby, Andy McNab's start in life was tough. Growing up in South London with foster parents, and surrounded by poverty, he attended seven schools in as many years, disillusioned and in remedial classes. It wasn’t long before his life descended into petty crime. By the age of sixteen, he was in juvenile detention.

Recruited into the Army from there, it soon became apparent that he had the reading age of an eleven year old. The next six months in the Army education system changed his course of his life forever. Today Everything Changes is the inspiring story of when life changed for Andy McNab.

Reviews

Wild Mind vibrates with kindness, truth and courage. The words lift off the page. As I read, my world got bigger. Natalie Goldberg is a superb teacher

—— Laura Davis, co-author of The Courage to Heal

Wakes you up like a cross between morning coffee and a friendly Zen master

—— Jack Kornfield, author of A Path With Heart

Simply English is much more readable than a reference book has a right to be ... basically Simply English is rather good.

—— Observer

Advice that will change for ever the way you use certain words.

—— New Statesman

Easy to use and terribly hard to put down ... Essential.

—— The Field

Great editor: great teacher of editors

—— Peter Stothard, editor of the Times Literary Supplement

Harry Evans is the journalist we all wanted to be. He could write, sub, design, re-write, think - everything short of standing on the streets and selling the paper himself. Essential English has for generations been the bible of any aspiring Harry Evans. It is as fresh today as it was when it was first published nearly thirty years ago

—— Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-Chief, Guardian

Welcome back to the standard and brilliant text on written English for journalism. Good writing is good writing, and Harold Evans is a good writer, when all around are letting standards slip. Essential English should be essential reading for all journalism students, and all journalists who seek to improve their writing

—— Peter Cole, Professor of Journalism, University of Central Lancashire

Eager, conscientious, affectionate… Endearingly old-fashioned in its family piety, protective partisanship and unembellished decency… A work that murmurs and sidles in a self-effacing tone… A likeable, informative and poignant book that Findlay is uniquely suited to have written

—— Richard Davenport-Hines , Literary Review

There is a tenderness with which [Findlay] cherishes even the most inconsequential events… Fitting tribute

—— Jonathan Beckman , Daily Telegraph

Entertaining

—— Financial Times

Findlay’s welcome biography reveals him to be a fascinating character… Admirably and engagingly fulfils its brief

—— Peter Parker , Oldie

A revealing portrait of an extraordinary man

—— Independent

Findlay ably amplifies her portrait with family history and evocations of the Edwardian literary scene

—— New Yorker

Respectful and sympathetic

—— Lesley McDowell , Independent on Sunday

Compelling

—— Clive Aslet , Country Life

A colourful treatment of a colourful life

—— Lady

Personal and affectionate tribute

—— Sally Morris , Daily Mail

Affectionate, familial tribute to this many-sided man.

—— The Catholic Herald

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