No Point in Stopping?

Samuel at the 'Avid Reader' in April, 2018

I wrote a post back in April about attending a book talk and buying a book (called a noveltini by the publishers) titled 'No Point in Stopping' -

Still Following the White Rabbit?

"No Point in Stopping" is a tale of family, and one young man’s journey to find himself in a haze of bipolar, meds, weed, magic and backstreet Brisbane share-house parties.

I really enjoyed reading this book on many levels.

First, although I've heard of a lot of people being diagnosed as Bipolar, I never quite knew what that really meant, apart from that they suffered from wild mood swings.

In this book Samuel takes you into his thoughts of just what it is like to live from a Bipolar perspective and the magical thinking that he uses to steer his ship through the storms in his life, as Sam puts it.

The Titanic model I saw in the 'Ecclectica' magic store

I thought it was rather a synch that I primarily went to the book talk because I wanted an excuse to be in the area so I could check out the 'Ecclectica' magic shop and buy a few things, and one of the items for sale in that shop was a model of the Titanic.

Sink/synch or swim?

On the night of the book talk, if you bought a book, you had the choice of receiving a wooden sword or shield with your book purchase, and I chose the shield, which now hangs off the shelf on my computer table to my left.

The shield has the words "Fortune favours the brave" scrolled on it, and it appears like a royal coat of arms, pretty much like Meghan Markle would get in May after marrying Prince Harry.

 "No Point in Stopping" also documents thoughts of suicide, not just by Sam, but from other people in his immediate life.

Not long after the book talk, I saw this sad news story -

Sons of Anarchy star David Labrava 'broken' after son takes his own life aged 16

I don't think thoughts of suicide are a unique feature to the Bipolar's world either, and are a lot more common than we care to think about in modern society.

The benefit for me being at the book talk was I could put faces to the real-life characters Sam writes about in his book, as his wife and mother were sitting in the front row at the talk, while his sister Natasha was taking the photos on the night.

All in all, it was a rather magical night I thought, and I even got Sam to put a personal message to me in the book.

Hmm ... do I see some tiny owls around the signing table here?-)

I also found the book a little on the shamanic side as well, and couldn't help but think of a certain Paul Kelly song when I read about the air that Sam describes near the end of the book.

It's a great little book "No Point in Stopping" and I highly recommend a read of it, because it's bound to change your thinking from that point on, I think. 

An owl doorknocker at the
'Ecclectica' magic store

At the start of "No Point in Stopping" is a map of Brisbane and its surrounds, but it looks like my place of residence (Logan) is just off the map, or at least not marked on it.

I hope Sam isn't implying that there is no point in stopping in Logan?-)

The map is not the territory ... where's Logan on here?-)

"The map is not the territory metaphorically illustrates the differences between belief and reality. 
The phrase was coined by Alfred Korzybski.

Our perception of the world is being generated by our brain and can be considered as a 'map' of reality written in neural patterns.

Reality exists outside our mind but we can construct models of this 'territory' based on what we glimpse through our senses."

No point in stopping:-)

Synchronicity, 42 and Owls?