Books by Michael (University of Manchester UK) Scott

In 1914 a small town in northern Belgium was defended by the BEF creating the legend of the 'Old Contemptibles'. For a further four years, the armies of the Empire with those of Belgium and France, took part in several hard fought battles, defensive and offensive, though none moved the trench lines very far in any direction until late 1918. At other times the attrition of occupying the trenches took a toll reflected in the thousands of war burials made in the Ypres Salient. This is a full guide to the nearly 200 CWGC, French, Belgian and German military cemeteries in the Ypres Salient as well as military burials within local civil cemeteries. It has photos of each cemetery that contains more than ten men and some of the other burial grounds. It tells the stories of those who won the Victoria Cross, well known sportsmen, poets and artists as well as many of the 'ordinary' men. A brief outline of the Battles, Orders of Battle and other information is included. This is an invaluable addition to the collection of anyone interested in the Ypres Salient.

This book started as an analysis of the heroic fallacy but became several other kinds of story. Primarily, the portrait of a protracted breakdown in the author Michael Scott's psychological and physical make-up, although he struggles hard not to go under, making his account more useful for others to read. It's neither pathological, nor self-indulgently self-pitying.There are useful accounts of coping strategies, particularly appropriate to age-related weakness and physical infirmity, especially when their onset is sudden as it was for Scott.The book focuses on puzzling features of human behaviour, and whether the species Homo sapiens is anything like the triumphant evolutionary achievement we pretend it to be. We are repeatedly warned about our anthropic megalomania, amply illustrated by unflinching description of the author's own egotism.Two other primary considerations in the book are consciousness and love. Scott questions the airy assumptions made about consciousness, arguing that it is fundamentally unknown and unanalysable. He claims that consciousness is part of life itself, and possibly non-living systems too. He evidences Daniel Dennett writing that the human brain creates a "narrative of consciousness", Scott believes the universe itself is the set of brain-narratives we choose to regard as 'reality'.As for love, Scott is a passionate advocate of it as the only saving grace in our collective and individual behaviour: the supreme brain-narrative, but believes that we are superficial and hypocritical in our attempts to give love its full majesty.In a vivid sense, therefore, The Fifth Revelation becomes a love story. Scott's deeply cherished wife of sixty years marriage died a short time after the book was finished.

Eileen Scott has had an amazing career. In the male dominated world of business of the 1960¿s she fought her way up through the ranks of senior executives at ICI, then the world's largest chemical company. Eileen recounts being invited into the oak panelled boardroom of ICI where the directors were seated as they smoked cigars and drank whisky. The Chairman said, 'Eileen we just want to tell you that had you not been a woman we can clearly see that one day you would have run this company', at which point Eileen was waved out of the room. Thankfully, times have changed, Among her prolific creative output Eileen has authored several books such as 'Savage Quest', 'Soredia Inheritance' and 'Ziggurat'. She has also produced hundreds of paintings, a snapshot of which can be seen in the book 'Being Visual' which spans over twenty years of her work.Michael Scott's early years in rural Gloucestershire laid the foundation for his lifelong interest in landscape and wildlife. Although he qualified as a biologist his sense for the beauties and tragedies of nature was diverted for years by his agricultural research and senior management posts. In the last twenty five years, Michael has worked in the personal development field and became a poet and novelist alongside his passion for painting. His early novels, the 'Fairley Quartet' and 'Imago', carry the themes of his new life, while later novels such as 'Brothers' and 'Nirvana Highway', also draw upon his experience of Transpersonal Psychology. Works such as, 'Siren Voices', address what many see as the current breakdown of our civilization. Michaels book. 'The Inward Eye', presents a retrospective of over 80 of his paintings.POEMS and PAINTINGS is a reflection of a long loving journey.