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READER’S DIGEST

and use it for improvement. Instead In other words, you have voluntarily
of letting the spectre of your failed re- chosen a life sentence for a poor de-
lationship make you miserable, you cision you made in the past. Now is
can be honest with yourself about the time to appeal that verdict. May-
what went wrong and use that knowl- be you’d be making more today, but
edge in the future. adding self-loathing to the financial
penalty makes no sense. Resolve to
Benefits of regret don’t come to us commute your emotional sentence
by chance. We have to seek them out with a simple verbal declaration: “I
on purpose to improve ourselves. make amends with myself and will not
waste another minute of my life reliv-
Here are three steps you can take ing a decision that can’t be changed.”
the next time you find yourself con-
templating your past missteps.

1 KILL THE GHOST 3 MOVE FORWARD

People often say their regrets ‘haunt’ If you never experienced regret, you
them. This suggests that regret is like would keep repeating the same be-
a ghost: not entirely clear but always haviours that led you to miss oppor-
intimidating. Bring your ghost out of tunities and wreck relationships in
the shadows by making a list of your the past.
regrets. Write down why each one
still bothers you and its lingering bad Your regret can teach you to be-
effects. Be honest without catastro- come smarter and more successful –
phising. For example, note that you if you let it. In your list of regrets, also
hurt a friend’s feelings through your note how you want to change your
own fault, but also that this almost behaviour and outline your future res-
certainly didn’t ruin the person’s olutions. Next, list the ways that you
life. You will find that a list is a lot less can invest in your own skills right now
frightening than a ghost. – and get started.

2 FORGIVE YOURSELF Regrets may hurt, but obsessing
over them is destructive. Shunning
After you make a mistake, life moves them (or trying to live without them)
on. But sometimes you just can’t is a lost opportunity to grow. Life is a
stop kicking yourself. Perhaps you journey full of pleasure and pain. To
dropped out of school decades ago live it well and fully and to move for-
and are constantly calculating today ward, means learning from every bit
how much money you would be mak- of it, including the mistakes.
ing had you completed your studies.
THE ATLANTIC (FEBRUARY 3, 2022), © 2022, THE
ATLANTIC MONTHLY GROUP, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

100 october 2022

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READER’S DIGEST

QUOTABLE QUOTES

CONDITIONS ARE The Eskimos had
NEVER PERFECT. 52 names for snow
‘SOMEDAY’ IS A
DISEASE THAT because it was
WILL TAKE YOUR important to them:
DREAMS TO THE there ought to be
as many for love.
GRAVE WITH
YOU. ... IF IT’S MARGARET ATWOOD,
IMPORTANT TO
YOU AND YOU WRITER
WANT TO DO IT
‘EVENTUALLY,’ Those who take the time to pause
and assist others with tasks are more
JUST DO IT
AND CORRECT likely to be viewed as leaders.
COURSE ALONG
CODY REEVES, BUSINESS PROFESSOR
THE WAY.
Respect is
TIM FERRISS, basically
LIFESTYLE GURU understanding
the ideas of
another person, People seldom PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES
and listening. do what they
So the number
one thing believe in.
[parents] can They do what is
do is listen, and convenient, and
then they can
solicit their then repent.
[kids’] opinions.
... That is the BOB DYLAN, MUSICIAN
respect.

ESTHER WOJCICKI,

EDUCATOR

102 october 2022



MOTORING

WBHeTEhhiEenLdS
The most interesting thing about cars isn’t the car
at all, says motoring writer Simon Heptinstall

T he more nerdy car-spot- production car speed record of PHOTOS: ROYALTY FREE
ters among you may be 412km/h in 2006 – I was more excit-
dismayed to know that ed that the driver was an unheard of
the most interesting thing 71-year-old pensioner roped in as a
about a car is not its horse- test pilot.
power nor the cubic capacity of its
boot. It’s not the top speed either. Nor Motoring historians carefully re-
is it the price or the colour. cord the date of the world’s first park-
After years of writing about cars ing meter in Oklahoma in 1935, but
professionally, I’ve discovered that I’d rather hear about the first driver
the most interesting thing about cars arrested for non-payment shortly af-
is none of those dry specifications. ter it was installed – it was the local
It’s their drivers. pastor, Reverend C. H. North.
For example, while enthusi-
asts drooled about the Ultimate The most fascinating fact about
Aero supercar setting a new world BMW? Nothing to do with ‘the ulti-
mate driving machines’. For me it’s
that around 53,000 British people

104 OctOber 2022

google what BMW stands for every I’ve started writing this treasure
year (It’s Bayerische Motoren Werke). trove of extraordinary automotive
anecdotes into books, but the col-
So in between writing the usual lection grows faster than I can churn
road tests, new car reports and me- them out. Am I the only one to think
chanical specifications for publica- the motorists make better stories
tions like Autocar and Top Gear, I’ve than their motors? Here’s a chance
privately collected a massive archive to make up your own mind with 12
of weird and wonderful human sto- stories from my collection.
ries lurking behind the cars.

1

In 1896 the great businessmen – but to using an axe and
inventive engineer this time he had badly brute force to chop
HENRY FORD finished miscalculated. out the workshop’s
building his first car, doorframe and knock
called The Quadricycle, The completed out the bricks around
in a small shed behind Quadricycle wouldn’t the door to make the
his Detroit house. fit through the opening wider. Then at
He was to become workshop door. He’d last he could get his
one of the world’s built it bigger than the pioneering creation out
most successful width of the door. for its first-ever drive.
Henry had to resort

readersdigest.com.au 105

READER’S DIGEST Millionaire rock star NOEL GALLAGHER
forgot he’d bought a pristine classic car
2 for £110,000 (AU$190,000). The former
Oasis guitarist was puzzled when a
beautifully restored 1967 Jaguar Mark II
arrived at his house on a delivery truck. It
turned out he had ordered it spontane-
ously two years previously. Since then a
specialist company had been painstak-
ingly restoring it for him. At the time he
ordered it he had hoped to learn to drive
– but never got around to it. He forgot
the whole thing. So he has never driven
the classic car he forgot he bought – and
it still sits unused in his garage.

Bowler-hatted businessman and 3
inventor ELWOOD HAYNES
astonished one of his earliest
customers by delivering a
pioneering horseless carriage
personally in 1898. Elwood drove the
spartan open-topped car all the way
from his Indiana workshop to the
wealthy doctor’s home in New York
City. It was the first 1000-mile
(1600km) car journey ever
completed in the United States – it
took over a month – and the car he
delivered became known as ‘The
Pioneer’. It was later donated to the
Smithsonian museum and appeared
on a US postage stamp in 1995.

106 october 2022

4 Behind The Wheels

German racing driver ERNST LOOF
holds a Formula One record that is
unlikely to be ever broken. He had a
career as a successful car and bike
designer. His racing career was less
triumphant however. Loof competed
in just one F1 race: the 1953 German
Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. Loof
lined up on the grid with all the other
contestants in a Veritas racing car
that he had helped design. When
the race started all the cars pulled
away but Loof’s car immediately
suffered a fuel pump failure. The car
stopped after just two metres
scoring no points at all, giving Loof
the world’s shortest-and-least-
successful-ever F1 career.

5
According to the
Guinness Book of and stitched the locks doors. Her furry Fiat is
Records, the world’s onto every surface of the still legally roadworthy,
hairiest car is a Fiat 500 car, inside and out, and is a familiar sight
owned by MARIA including the steering when she drives it
MUGNO of Salerno, Italy. wheel, dashboard and around Salerno.
The Italian hairdresser
spent hundreds of hours
importing bags of
human hair from India,
because she claimed the
hair is stronger from the
sub-continent than
Europe. She then glued

readersdigest.com.au 107

READER’S DIGEST In the inaugural Indy 500 race
of 1911, all but one of the 40
6 entrants carried an observer,
whose job was to warn the
7 driver about other cars coming
up from behind – the normal
In 2020, NIGEL WRIGHT arrangement in races of that
was fined £100 era. But in the 40th car was
(AU$170) for stopping RAY HARROUN, who took the
(for 35 seconds) outside outrageously risky decision to
an airport car park while drive alone. Harroun drove a
he put a token in the bright yellow car he had built
machine and waited for himself and experimented with
the barrier to rise to let a 20-by-7.5cm mirror on a
him through. Officials stand fixed to his dashboard. It
claimed that the is believed to be the first use of
34-year-old English a rear-view mirror. Being one
teacher was in a ‘no person lighter and more
stopping zone’. aerodynamic, Harroun’s car
easily won the race.
108 october 2022

Behind The Wheels

8

The driver of a Citroën
Saxo smashed into a
parked car at full speed
while trying to catch a
spider running around
inside his car. Both cars
were written off but the
driver escaped injury in
the smash on the A50 in
Derbyshire. He was
reported for driving
without due care and
attention. The spider’s
fate is unknown.

9 On an epic 100-mile (160km) two-car racing
duel at Brooklands, UK, in 1924,
swashbuckling gentleman racer CAPTAIN
JOHN DUFF not only lost the race, but his
brakes failed. His Blitzen Benz – with an
enormous 21-litre engine – crossed the finish
line at over 100mph (160km/h) with Duff
desperately trying everything to slow it
down. He managed to continue steering at
full speed but careered right off the circuit.
The Benz hurtled over the surrounding grass
embankments. Duff crashed through trees
trying to slow his momentum. He then burst
out in the open road beyond the circuit.
Eventually he stopped by running into a
telegraph pole far from the racetrack. Duff
was unhurt and later went on to become a
Hollywood stunt double for Gary Cooper.

readersdigest.com.au 109

READER’S DIGEST

10 11
Unlucky British van driver Ben A young driver in China accidentally
Baron slowly drove past the speed drove onto a narrow pier and
camera where he had been swerved off the side into an icy river
previously snapped over the limit. less than two minutes after passing
That incident had resulted in a his driving test. The incident was
fixed penalty fine. Ben was caught on camera and the video
determined he wasn’t going to get (perhaps unfortunately for the driver)
caught again and he carefully kept was posted on YouTube. The driver
under the speed limit. As he was saved but suffered a dislocated
passed the camera, however, he shoulder. The car was fished out by a
couldn’t stop himself making a crane. Later the young Mr Zhang
rude gesture at the hated device – from Guizhou province told police he
with both hands. was distracted by texts from friends
Unfortunately for Ben, this asking whether he’d passed.
hands-off-the-wheel gesture was
caught on film by the same
camera. Within days he received
another prosecution by post, this
time for ‘failing to keep proper
control of his van’.

110 october 2022

CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS

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a Publisher?

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RECENT TITLES…

READER’S DIGEST

12
Lee Redmond of Salt
Lake City, Utah,
USA, once held the
Guinness World
Record for the
longest fingernails.
Over 30 years they
grew to a curly
76cm long. Sadly in
2009 she had a
minor traffic
accident, fell out of
her car, and all the
nails broke off.

Simon Heptinstall’s PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
latest collection of
motoring madness,
The BIG Book of Car
Trivia is available at
amazon.com.au.

112 october 2022



READER’S DIGEST ILLUSTRATIONS: JAMES STEINBERG

114 october 2022

HEALTH

THE
ANTI-
MIGRAINE
DIET

What you eat – and don’t eat – can help
stave off debilitating headaches

BY Jen Babakhan, Lisa Marie Conklin AND Jessica Migala

C hristy Nielson, 49, remembers get-
ting her first migraine when she was
eight years old. She curled up in the
back of the school bus with excruci-
ating pain, not able to find the words
to tell her parents what it felt like when she got
home. When she hit puberty, the migraines
got worse. By her early 20s, she assumed that

readersdigest.com.au 115

severe headaches were an unavoid- seemingly at random, set off by a trig-
able part of her life. It wasn’t until ger in the environment.
years later that she finally found a
cure ... in her kitchen. “Everyone’s brain works slightly
differently, but we know in general
Migraine is a neurological disease triggers can cause a hyperexcitability
that has a number of symptoms, in- to the cortex of the brain,” says neurol-
cluding moderate-to-severe throb- ogist Dr Danielle Wilhour.
bing head pain that can stick around
for anywhere from four hours to sev- One common trigger is food, and
eral days. According to scienceofmi- some common dietary triggers in-
graine.com, migraines are the sec- clude alcohol, salt, sugar, chocolate
ond leading cause of years lived with and caffeine. But there are many oth-
disability worldwide, with more than ers, and scientists continue to iden-
ten per cent of the world’s population tify more. Last year, for instance, a
affected by the headaches. While mi- Brazilian study looked at some com-
graines can occur partly because of mon fruit and vegetables to see their
genetic factors, attacks may happen impact on headaches. They found
that watermelons were the most

116 october 2022

The Anti-Migraine Diet

common migraine trigger among the minimise them. A study published
produce they studied, bringing on a last year by a team of researchers
headache within minutes in about at the National Institutes of Health
30 per cent of the study participants. and the University of North Caro-
lina found that a diet higher in fish
Another little-known trigger is oils rather than vegetable oils helped
bread. Gluten in food such as crack- people suffering from frequent mi-
ers, pasta and seasoning mixes may graines to reduce the frequency and
cause digestion woes (and be danger- intensity of their headaches.
ous for people with coeliac disease),
but for some, headaches can also be a In the study, those on a diet low-
symptom of gluten sensitivity. Gluten er in vegetable oil (linoleic/omega-6
is a protein found in wheat, barley, fatty acids)and higher in fatty fish
rye and some other grains. (omega-3 fatty acids) had a 30 to 40
per cent reduction in total headache
Wheat turned out to be the culprit hours per day, severe headache hours
for Christy Nielson. When prescrip- per day, and overall headache days
tion drugs began to fail her, Nielson per month compared to the control
turned to alternative medicine. She group. For some study participants,
visited a naturopathic practitioner the improvement was dramatic.
who listened to her symptoms and
tested her for possible allergies. Tanya Kamka had suffered weekly
While awaiting the results, the prac- migraines for most of her life. Then,
titioner put Nielson on an elimina- in her 50s, she joined the NIH diet
tion diet, restricting her food intake trial and increased her intake of fish.
to fruit, vegetables and meat. As she told the New York Times, the
benefits were striking. After only a
“The first weeks of the diet were few months, her migraines had prac-
very difficult,” Nielson recalls. “But tically disappeared. She maintained
on day 13 it was as though a veil had the dietary changes after the study
lifted. The headaches were gone.” ended. “I haven’t had a migraine, not
The lab results revealed that Nielson even a mild one, in over two years,”
had a severe sensitivity to eggs and she says.
wheat, which had always been part
of her diet. Today, Nielson says her For others, relief comes from
migraines are gone for good. plants, not fish. Last year the Brit-
ish Medical Journal published a re-
FOOD THAT HEALS port from a team of New York-based
doctors about a patient who had
Some of the newest research isn’t experienced remarkable relief from
looking at what food can trigger migraines after switching to a plant-
a migraine, but which food and based diet. The 60-year-old man had
what kinds of diets can prevent or

readersdigest.com.au 117

READER’S DIGEST

suffered from migraines without migraines react to food in very differ-
much relief for years. He’d tried elim- ent ways, what works for one person
inating food triggers. Then he joined may not work for others.
a study on the food-migraine link
and switched to a diet called LIFE BE A FOOD DETECTIVE
(Low Inflammatory Food Everyday),
which includes a lot of dark, leafy If you suspect that food may be con-
greens like kale and spinach, as well tributing to your migraines, there
as blueberries and flaxseed. After are several steps you can take. Some
two months the man reported he was experts recommend keeping a log
experiencing only one migraine a of the foods you have eaten, the
month instead of the 18 to 24 a month time you ate, and when your head-
he’d suffered previously. ache symptoms occurred. After
identifying your trigger foods, see
He has remained migraine-free if eliminating them from your diet
now for several years. The doctors reduces or eliminates your head-
believe that the diet may help both by aches. Be careful about dropping too
eliminating triggers and by increas- many foods from your diet without
ing levels of phytonutrients, which consulting a medical professional.
are found in plants. Elimination diets can lead to malnu-
trition if not done carefully.
Other individuals with migraines
found relief by following ketogenic Alternatively, consider adding fish
diets, low-fat diets or low glycemic oil to your diet or trying to eat more
diets. Clearly, since the food compo- plant-based foods. You can also ex-
nents of these plans differ dramati- periment with different diets to see if
cally – ketogenic diets, for example, overhauling your eating habits will
are high in fat – and people with banish your migraines for good.

Pluses And Minuses

People have a psychological tendency to add even when
subtracting is the right way to go. After asking volunteers to tackle
problems such as stabilising a Lego structure, researchers at the
University of Virginia found they defaulted to addition and didn’t
even consider subtraction unless offered a reward. The researchers

speculate this tendency could be at the root of modern-day
excesses, like cluttered homes.

SCIENCENEWS.ORG

118 october 2022



READER’S DIGEST

The

SLOW
TRAIN
TO SPAIN

Above: Heading for the
Pyrenees mountains;
(opposite page) Liège Station,
Belgium, is a magnificent
piece of 21st-century
architecture

120 october 2022

TRAVEL

PHOTOS: (OPPOSITE) MARK ANDREU/SHUTTERSTOCK; (THIS PAGE) GETTY IMAGES A planned route taking local trains
throws up more than a few surprises and

diversions along the way

By Paul Robert

“ French railways are a catastro- for a language course, and I planned
phe!” barks my fellow travel- to join her when she finished. I
ler, as he storms off. We’re thought it would be fun to take my
both stranded outside the time and travel on local trains so I
railway station of Charmes, would see more of the countryside.
a small town in northeastern France.
This is only day two of my Novem- I bought an Interrail pass, aiming
ber 2021 journey from Amsterdam to to cover my 2200-kilometre route in
southern Spain and already my care- five days; on average, I would travel
ful planning is falling apart. But let me fewer than 500 kilometres between
start at the beginning. breakfast and dinner each day. I’d
The week before, my wife had flown take high-speed trains only if there
to Málaga, near Spain’s southern tip, were no other rail options.

My first challenge? Planning the

readersdigest.com.au 121

READER’S DIGEST

route. The people who create the enthusiasts. It was almost five years
local train schedules for the Neth- old, but I ordered it, and along with
erlands, Belgium, France and Spain help from Google I was finally able to
seem to be unaware that Europe craft my ideal route. It would involve
has had open borders since 1995 – 13 trains and four overnight stops: in
and that the European Union (EU) Luxembourg City; Lyon and Toulouse
declared 2021 the European Year of in France; and Valencia, Spain.
Rail. The Dutch system shows local
trains from Amsterdam to the border, Now that I had a plan, I was excited
but to cross into Belgium, I had to to get going.
check the timetable for international
trains – which didn’t show the local AMSTERDAM TO
lines. I couldn’t even plan my way out LUXEMBOURG:
of the Netherlands. ALL ABOARD!

After spending hours searching It’s still dark when the intercity train
rail websites, help came from Goog- pulls out of Amsterdam Central
le, which has all the European train heading southeast to Maastricht, an
schedules. But it seemed impossible uneventful two-and-a-half hours
to discover how to cross borders on through the low-lying Dutch coun-
local trains. Then I found a way to tryside. Most passengers are com-
purchase a printed European rail- muters staring at their phones as
road atlas created by German rail the weak November sunlight fights
through the morning mist that

The Alzette River in Luxembourg

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES.

122 october 2022

hangs over the meadows.

We cross the Rhine and Amsterdam

Meuse rivers towards Maastricht
higher ground in the

south, and traverse Lim- Luxembourg

burg, the most un-Dutch Paris

of Dutch provinces: it has FRANCE
hills. The highest, Vaal-

serberg, rises more than Lyon
320 metres and is proudly

called a ‘mountain’.

In Maastricht, I board a Toulouse

Belgian train – on which S PA I N Barcelona
staff welcome passengers
in Flemish – bound for Madrid

Liège, the economic cen- Valencia
tre of the Wallonia region.

It’s just past noon when Málaga
I disembark at its splen-

did railway station built

in 2009. With two hours

to kill, I explore this magnificently of pandemic-forced house arrest. I

curved example of 21st-century ar- celebrate with a glass of Leffe beer

chitecture designed by Santiago Ca- – and contemplate tomorrow’s jour-

latrava, a Spaniard. ney southwest to Lyon. It has a tricky

It takes two hours, 41 minutes, schedule: tight connections between

and many stops to cover the 120 five French trains.

kilometres to Luxembourg. At every “You’re taking a big chance,” a

station schoolchildren get on and off, French colleague had warned; track

reminding me that this is no high- maintenance and strikes could

speed train. The landscape changes disrupt any trip in France on local

as we climb higher, roughly following trains. But I relished the challenge.

the Alzette River to Luxembourg City.

It’s nearing 5pm and gett ing LUXEMBOURG TO LYON:
dark. My first day has gone per- CHANGE OF PLANS

fectly to plan. I drop my bag at my At 7.09am on day two, my train rolls

hotel near the station and walk to out of the city into a cold mist that

the city centre, intensely happy to covers frosty meadows. As we head

be travelling after more than a year south from the Ardennes Forest into

readersdigest.com.au 123

READER’S DIGEST

France, the mist clears and the gen- at some point.” OK, so today’s five lo- PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES
tle hills of Lorraine appear – hills cal trains won’t pan out. But I recall
on which so many soldiers lost their there are direct trains from Nancy to
lives in World War I. Lyon. The driver drops me in front of
Charmes railway station, where that
My first stop, at 8.45, is Nancy. At fellow stranded passenger rants about
the station, I scan the screens for the catastrophic French railways. I’m
the platform number for the 8.55 not ready to believe him – yet.
to Épinal, a town south of here. But
the train has been replaced by a Back at Nancy Station, a helpful
bus because of track maintenance. employee gives me the bad news:
I recall my colleague’s warning as “You just missed today’s only direct
I run, climbing onto the bus just as train to Lyon.” The young man ad-
the driver starts the engine. But after vises me of my options: Take a high-
45 minutes and two village stops on speed train west to Paris and, from
a meandering road, it dawns on me: there, south to Lyon. Or, take a regu-
I’m going to miss my train from Épi- lar train east to Strasbourg and from
nal to Belfort. there the high-speed to Lyon.

“Best thing to do,” advises the driv- I want to tell the man how frustrat-
er, “is to get off at the next village. ed I feel, but I don’t know the perfect
There should be a bus back to Nancy French expletive.

124 october 2022

The Slow Train To Spain

And so, five hours after I first ar- French railway website on my phone
rived in Nancy, I’m on the intercity to confirm my connection from
train to Strasbourg. Just after 8pm, I Montpellier to Narbonne. But it
finally arrive in Lyon. It’s been a long doesn’t appear. With a few minutes to
day – I left Luxembourg 13 hours ago spare, I get off and hurry to the ticket
– and at the hotel I fall into the kind of office for reassurance.
deep sleep you get when the ground
beneath you isn’t rushing past. I’m welcomed by a young lady who
looks at me as if I’m from Mars when
LYON TO TOULOUSE: I tell her I’m taking local trains from
OFF THE RAILS Amsterdam to Málaga. I can hear her
thinking, Why didn’t this guy fly?
It’s 7am on day three, and I remain
hopeful that today’s plans will work She can’t find my connecting train
out. I intend to take three trains: to either. I say in despair, “It’s listed on
Montpellier, then Narbonne, and fi- Google, but not in your own timeta-
nally Toulouse, that lovely city near ble.” With a sympathetic smile, she
the foot of the Pyrenees. I’m looking says, “Welcome to France.”
forward to an afternoon arrival and
some leisure time. Finally, though, we discover that
all is as I’d planned, and the train I’d
I board the first train, and while been sitting on minutes ago was in-
waiting for it to depart, I check the deed where I should be. But now it’s
gone. Inwardly, I’m tearing my hair

Opposite: Ax-les-Thermes, France, one of the mountain towns
where the author’s train stopped. Below: Toulouse, known as

la ville rose because of the colour of its buildings

readersdigest.com.au 125

READER’S DIGEST

out. On the surface, I must simply look predict how my days will go, but the
stunned. plan is to take three trains; the first is a
three-hour trip to the Spanish border.
The woman tells me pleasantly,
“You can take the high-speed up to My biggest worry: what if there is
Paris and you’ll be in Toulouse by no train waiting on the Spanish side?
midnight.” I seem to have landed in a Google says one will be there, but
1960s comedy film: every time some- the woman at Lyon station yesterday
thing goes wrong, they try to send me couldn’t confirm if it really would
to Paris. But I refuse to step onto any be. “It’s Spain,” she had said with
more trains today. Instead, I surren- a shrug. “It’s not in our system.” So
der: I take a tram to Lyon Airport and much for the European Year of Rail.
rent a car.
We depart on time. On the plains
I love the drive through the hills south of Toulouse I glimpse the white
of Aveyron on the roughly 500-kilo- peaks of the Pyrenees. And then the
metre journey to Toulouse, passing train begins to climb the foothills,
ancient hillside villages and negotiat- following the Ariège River valley.
ing hairpin turns that have featured There’s a spectacular view of the old
in the Tour de France. At one point, city of Foix, with its houses on the
I see a railway bridge far below in a hillside above a whitewater river and
valley and think, that’s where I would Foix Castle’s three high towers be-
have been. hind them.

When I drop off the car in Toulouse, The train stops in small towns and
I’m happy that, after all the unexpect- villages with names like Tarascon-sur-
ed events of the day, I’ve made it be- Arière, Ax-les-Thermes and L’Hospita-
fore sunset. I take a long walk through let-près-l’Andorre, close to the moun-
la ville rose, as Toulouse is known tain state of Andorra. Signs show the
(because of its reddish-pink brick increasing elevations. Finally, we
buildings), and then savour some reach the border station shared by the
classic French cuisine after a warm tiny communities of Latour-de-Carol
sunset. Despite the logistical prob- and Enveitg in France, and the town
lems, no flight could have come close of Puigcerdà, Spain.
to this adventure. And it isn’t over yet.
Tomorrow, I’ll cross into Spain. I disembark, spotting the buffer
stop at the end of the French tracks.
TOULOUSE TO VALENCIA: Just beyond are the wider tracks of
BACK ON TRACK Spain – a literal disconnect for the
two countries’ rail systems. And I’m
At 7am on day four, I leave my ho- relieved to see a train sitting there.
tel and cross the street to Toulouse’s An overhead sign directs arriving
railway station. I’ve given up trying to passengers: ‘To Spain’.

126 october 2022

The Slow Train To Spain

I board the train for Barcelona and the security check that is standard
soon we’re at the pass where some on high-speed lines. Also standard,
historians believe Hannibal crossed thanks to 300-kilometre-per-hour
the Pyrenees in 218 BCE with his speeds, is the lack of views, apart
army and elephants. Again, we fol- from blue flashes of the distant Med-
low a river’s course, and the views iterranean now and again.
are breathtaking.
Over an excellent meal al fres-
At one point I see a large castle in co that evening in Valencia, where
a valley below me, and I wonder if, the November weather is lovely and
in days gone by, its ruler demanded warm, I think about the day’s fantas-
money from travellers who wanted tic trip from Toulouse. It truly made
to enter this region. The journey is all the uncertainty of the previous
even more spectacular than the one days through France worthwhile.
in France. It’s everything I had hoped
to see on this trip. A nd I t hink about tomorrow’s
trains that will bring me past mil-
At 1.30pm we arrive at the huge lions of olive trees en route to Málaga,
and crowded Sants Station in Bar- where someone is waiting at the end
celona, and I find that the 2pm lo- of the line. There’ll be dinner for two
cal I’d wanted to catch to Valencia is tomorrow.
full. My only option is a high-speed at
4pm. In a station café, I treat myself Interrail passes are known as ‘Eurail
to a sandwich of fresh, crispy bread Passes’ outside of Europe. These
with beautifully matured Serrano passes are valid in 33 countries.
ham, and then it’s time to line up for Visit: Interrail.eu or Eurail.com.

Is This The Worst Hotel In The World?

Comments like “I couldn’t sleep” and “my hotel room was too
noisy” are just what Swiss concept artists Frank and Patrik Riklin
want to hear about their new ‘zero-star hotel’ art installation. The
hotel room is essentially a double bed on a platform, set up on a
roadside near a busy petrol station frequented by trucks. There are
no walls, ceiling or doors to provide privacy or shelter. The intention
is to make guests think about problems in the world such as climate
change, the twin brothers say, and inspire them to act differently.
And the price for a bad night’s sleep – 325 Swiss francs or A$484. It
might not be how everyone wants to spend a night, but a waiting list

of 6500 people speaks to its surprising popularity. REUTERS

readersdigest.com.au 127

READER’S DIGEST

128 october 2022

PHOTO: COURTESY NANCY FRENCH. ILLUSTRATIONS: JOLEEN ZUBEK

RELATIONSHIPS

My Husband’s

SECRET
LIFE

What did my new husband and one of the biggest rock
stars of the 1980s have in common? More than I realised

BY Nancy French

FROM WASHINGTONPOST.COM

WHEN I WAS 20, a man I barely knew – but by the nickname ‘rank stranger’.
proposed without a ring. But we were in love. After refusing

I said yes. premarital counselling (we didn’t
Our friends were alarmed about need it, we insisted), David and I got
our fast decision to marry and move married and moved to Manhattan. We
to New York. I got a letter from an el- could see the Empire State Building at
der at church suggesting I wait to get night, if we craned our necks while sit-
to know my fiancé better. His friends ting on our creaky fire escape.
held a tearful intervention. One of
our university professors questioned My life was as romantic as a love
the decision. My mother referred to song. Then the phone rang.
my fiancé not by his name – David
“May I speak to David?” asked a
sultry-voiced woman.

readersdigest.com.au 129

READER’S DIGEST

I handed my new husband the sarcastically. “Are you going to tell

phone, which he quickly hung up. me I have the wrong number? I’m

“Wrong number,” he said. looking at the note he wrote me now.”

A few hours later, it rang again. She read the number. It was ours.

Another woman. I hovered near the I was confused and hurt. Instead

phone. Did my seemingly loyal hus- of hearing the female voices on the

band have a double life? phone, I heard only the unheeded

Another wrong number, he said. warnings of friends in my head.

The calls became more regular, at all “What’s really going on?” I finally

hours of the day and night. It got so mustered the courage to confront my

common, I was no longer surprised husband. “Wrong numbers usually

when the breathy voices morphed don’t ask for you by name.”

into sighs of disappointment. But David was just as confounded

David always got off as I was. At least he ap-

the phone, exasperat- “WHAT’S GOING peared to be.
ed. Or was it an act? ON? WRONG Finally, a man called.
NUMBERS “Sorry, he’s at work,”
I took messages when
he was out. Desiree. I said.

Brandy. Jill. In some USUALLY DON’T “All work should go
cases, they were testy ASK FOR YOU through me,” he spat.
when I said he wasn’t I wasn’t sure how law
there. One woman start- BY NAME” firms allocated cases,

ed crying. “We were to- but apparently David

gether just yesterday.” was doing it wrong.

“Where?” I demanded. “Who are you?” I asked.

“In Soho,” she said, referring to a “I’ve known David for years,” he

nearby neighbourhood. My husband shot back. “The question is, who are

worked four kilometres away at a you?” He had a point. I was the new

midtown Manhattan law firm during addition. I wanted love so badly that

the day, or so he told me. Had I made I ignored any inconvenient details

a terrible mistake? My friends were – such as barely knowing the man I

right; I didn’t even know him. May- married.

be our relationship was all a ruse. I’d “I’m his wife.” The new label felt

heard stories of people getting mar- heavy in my mouth.

ried only to realise their spouse had Silence for a beat. Then two.

a double life. “Why didn’t he tell me about you?”

“Are we talking about the same he exploded.

David? Tall, blond?” “It was spontaneous,” I said before

“A nd ha ndsome,” she added launching into a defence of getting

130 october 2022

My Husband’s Secret Life

PHOTO: FIN COSTELLO/GETTY IMAGES married quickly, but with less the man on the other end of the phone
enthusiasm than I had before line – his agent, I realised – sighed in
the calls started. relief. Soon, we were both laughing.
Neither of us had been betrayed.
“I’ll be right over,” he said.
“Don’t talk to anyone. We have But during the short time it took
to fix this.” for David Lee Roth to transition to a
new telephone number, I’d started to
“I am not a problem to be doubt the man I married. How pre-
fixed!” carious love is, I thought back then.

“Are you ...” he paused and Surprisingly, it turned out to be
then lowered his voice, “... quite resilient. Our love survived
pregnant? Expecting a little two parents with cancer, a lump
David Lee?” in my breast, a chronic disease. It
lasted when jobs and friends didn’t.
“Lee?” I asked. “My hus- It’s thrived through one difficult
band’s middle name is Austin.” pregnancy, one premature birth, an
adoption, horrible heartbreak and
“I know my own client’s mid- unspeakable joy.
dle name.”
As beautifully described in the im-
“Client?” I asked. “I’m talking mortal words of ‘Jump’, one of Van
about David French, the lawyer.” Halen’s hit songs, “You got to roll with
the punches and get to what’s real.”
“I’m talking about David Lee Roth,
the singer.” FROM WASHINGTONPOST.COM (DECEMBER 30,
2019), © 2019 BY NANCY FRENCH.
As the front man of Van Halen,
Roth was one of the biggest rock stars
of the 1980s. He had a mane of golden
hair and acrobatic stage moves. He
was always surrounded by women.

My David wore glasses and suits
and sometimes dressed up for Star
Wars and Lord of the Rings premières.

There’d been a big mix-up. Appar-
ently, the rock star had changed his
number right before we moved to
Manhattan but still gave out his old
number to women he met but want-
ed to let down easily. That’s how – for
a brief period of time – we became
David Lee Roth’s answering service.

Later that year, we even fielded a
call from Roth’s dad.

Once we put this puzzle together,

readersdigest.com.au 131

ART OF LIVING

Instead Of
University,

I READ
THESE
BOOKS

For a woman whose life
took another path, a
teacher’s reading list

taught her everything she
needed to know

BY Tom Hallman

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANDREA DESANTIS

132 october 2022

readersdigest.com.au 133

READER’S DIGEST

Steph Clemence had always intended on going
to university. But life tended to throw obstacles
in the way. She led a nomadic life growing up
because her mother, who divorced and remar-
ried several times, was always on the move. As
a result, by the time she was in her final year at
school, she had lived in 25 places.

Still, she had good grades and con- cupboard. Inside a box of files she

sidered herself university bound. But spotted a thick folder on which she’d

when her stepfather died tragically in written ‘School Keepsakes’. Tucked

a car accident, leaving her mother to in among memorabilia and photos

support three daughters on a modest from her time at high school, she

income, further study became out of found two stapled mimeographed

the question. pages from her English teacher,

Around that time, Dorothy Clark.

Steph’s boyfriend, Gary Mrs Clark was small

Frye, joined the navy – a and animated, given to

commitment that would waving her hands when

send him overseas. Be- she spoke. One after-

fore he shipped out, the noon, she walked into

couple tied the knot. the classroom carrying

“We got married on “I WAS a stack of stapled pa-
July 7, and Gary left on pers. She instructed the

August 18,” says Steph. DETERMINED students in the front of

“I dropped him off at the TO IMPROVE each row of desks to take
base and cried all the MYSELF” one and pass the rest to
way home.” the students behind

With her husband them. The handout was

at sea, Steph lived with her family, titled ‘Mrs Clark’s Book List’. It wasn’t

found a job and tried to figure out homework, the teacher announced,

what to do with a life that had deviat- but it could be a road map.

ed so far from the plan she’d carefully “Some of you might not go on to

laid out. higher education,” Mrs Clark said,

The answer came one afternoon “but you can continue to learn.”

when she was cleaning her bedroom She’d spent months creating a list

134 october 2022

I Read These Books

of 153 fiction and non-fiction books, And so it began. It was 1970. “I was
plays, and short stories covering sci- hopeful and determined to improve
ence, history, economics, politics myself,” she says. Steph had always
and literature. It would, she believed, read for pleasure – magazines, crime
form the equivalent of two years at a books, mysteries and romance nov-
liberal arts college. els. Now she would add Mrs Clark’s
suggestions to the mix. Starting at
“She knew the income levels of the the top, she would read every book in
kids in my high school,” says Steph. the order they appeared. That night
“Working-class families. She knew she wrote to her husband to tell him
most of us would not go to university. about her plan. When she eventually
She was right. But she knew we could went to university, she told him, she’d
continue to learn after high school. be further along than the other first-
She was also right about that.” year students.

Steph studied the list. The first book Four years later, he left the navy
was Bulfinch’s Mythology. She flipped and enrolled in university while
the page to see the last book: The Al- Steph worked in a variety of jobs. She
exandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.

readersdigest.com.au 135

READER’S DIGEST

supported him financially, and she multiple locations around the coun-
kept reading. try. Steph buried her mother. She and
Gary lost one home, scrimped, saved
The only other people she told and bought another. Gary retired as
about her goal were her mother, her the property manager for a hospital.
sister and a few friends. She assumed Then Steph retired as an office man-
that people would find little value in ager for a dentist.
her journey. But she felt different.
Each of the books sparked her pas- Through it all, the reading list was
sion to learn more about the person, a constant in her life, travelling with
subject matter or time in history. her even on holidays so she could re-
That made her look for other books fer to it while prowling flea markets
that weren’t on the list, hoping to and used bookshops for the next
deepen her knowledge. book on the list. She never bought
the books in advance; she looked for
Over the years, the Fryes, who the title only when it was the next
chose not to have children, moved one up.
around a lot, living in 16 homes in

136 october 2022

I Read These Books

When the original list wore out, get to university. But she has only

she typed up a new copy. And then four books left to read from the list.

another. She expects to complete them some-

“Finding the next book on the list time next year.

was fun, like a treasure hunt,” says “Each of the books has added

Steph. Whenever she couldn’t find a something to who I am and how I see

used copy of a book, she’d mark the the world,” she says. “They’ve opened

title with a dash. If she couldn’t find so many doors for me about race, the

it in the library, she’d use a circle. environment, history and politics.

While she kept looking, she’d read I’m no expert, but I now have the

other books that weren’t on the list. background to see why things hap-

Unlike many people who crack pened and what it might mean.”

open a book in bed before it’s time She wishes she could thank Mrs

to sleep, Steph prefers Clark. She wishes she

to read while sitting in a could share with her

chair with a cup of coffee teacher how reading

by her side. She doesn’t the works on her list has

race through a book, as changed her life.

she wants to savour the In Madame Curie, the

experience. author, Eve Curie, writes:

“Reading these books “EACH “Each of us must work for
is an emotional and in- his own improvement,

tellectual experience,” BOOK HAS and at the same time
she says. “What am I go- ADDED TO share a general respon-
ing to discover? How will WHO I AM” sibility for all humanity,
my heart change?” our particular duty being

Her favourite from to aid those to whom we

the list was The Human Comedy by think we can be most useful.”

William Saroyan. It’s about a father- The way Steph Frye sees it, Mrs

less boy growing up during World Clark felt it was her particular duty to

War II. “It made me think and feel. help young st udents nav igate a

It’s heart-warming. I’ve read it three changing and ever more complicated

times,” she says. world. And thanks to a simple class-

Her least favourite: Karl Marx’s room handout, at least one young

critique of capitalism, Capital (Das woman who couldn’t afford universi-

Kapital). Her critique: “It’s so dry. ty was the better for it. “It was never

Reading it was like working on a just a list I got from some teacher in

complicated maths problem.” school,” says Steph. “It’s always been

Now Steph is 70 and she never did Mrs Clark’s Book List.”

readersdigest.com.au 137

Mrs Clark’s • The Symposium by Plato
Book List • Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
• The Complete Sherlock Holmes
• Bulfinch’s Mythology
by Thomas Bulfinch by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
• Gulliver’s Travels • A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
by Jonathan Swift • Native Son by Richard Wright
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Odyssey by Homer • The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer • The Leatherstocking Tales

by Mark Twain by James Fenimore Cooper
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe • Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll • Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson • She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck • Hiroshima by John Hersey
• Walden by Henry David Thoreau • Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne • The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
• TheRedBadgeofCourageby Stephen Crane
• Ivanhoe by Walter Scott by Howard Pyle
• Great Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe • The Ugly American by Eugene Burdick and
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw William J. Lederer
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville • Animal Farm by George Orwell
• Oedipus Rex by Sophocles • Abraham Lincoln by Carl Sandburg
• The Aeneid by Virgil • How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley • Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
• 1984 by George Orwell • Giants in the Earth by Ole Edvart Rölvaag
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin • Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton • Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
• Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand • All Quiet on the Western Front
• The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte by Erich Maria Remarque
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte • VanityFairby William Makepeace Thackeray
• The Once and Future King by T. H. White • War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes • Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
• The Old Man and the Sea • The Holy Bible
• The Iliad by Homer
by Ernest Hemingway • David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller • Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann
• Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan • Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee • Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
• The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson • Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde
• Call of the Wild by Jack London • Jennie Gerhardt by Theodore Dreiser
• Patterns of Culture by Ruth Benedict • Clarissa by Samuel Richardson
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding • Paradise Lost by John Milton
• Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy • Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer by Stephen Crane
• The Green Hat by Michael Arlen
• The Last Days of Pompeii

by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

138 october 2022

I Read These Books

• Sappho by Alphonse Daudet • The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
• The Green Bay Tree by Louis Bromfield • The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
• Jalna by Mazo de la Roche • The Bridge of San Luis Ray
• Bliss by Katherine Mansfield (short story)
• The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith by Thornton Wilder
• Europa by Robert Briffault • The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
• Europa in Limbo by Robert Briffault • Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner
• The Widow Barnaby • The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway
• Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson
by Frances Milton Trollope • A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
• The Widow Married
by James Joyce
by Frances Milton Trollope • A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
• The Old Wives’ Tales by Arnold Bennett • The Human Comedy by William Saroyan
• The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott • The Ox-Bow Incident
• Pendennis by William Makepeace Thackeray
• The Magnificent Ambersons by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
• HowGreenWasMyValley
by Booth Tarkington
• Penrod by Booth Tarkington by Richard Llewellyn
• Of Human Bondage • Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
• Lust for Life by Irving Stone
by W. Somerset Maugham • The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman
• The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck • The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler
• Crime and Punishment • Death Comes for the Archbishop

by Fyodor Dostoevsky by Willa Cather
• The Golden Bough by James George Frazer • The Emperor Jones by Eugene O’Neill
• Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton • The Virginian by Owen Wister
• The Importance of Being Earnest • Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
• The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
by Oscar Wilde • Capital (Das Kapital) by Karl Marx
• The Glass Menagerie • Our Plundered Planet

by Tennessee Williams by Henry Fairfield Osborn Jr
• Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe • The Crucible by Arthur Miller
• John Brown’s Body • Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen
• The Late George Apley
by Stephen Vincent Benét
• A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen by John Phillips Marquand
• Wind, Sand and Stars • Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy
• Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry • Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
• All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren • Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis
• Madame Curie by Eve Curie • The Sea of Grass by Conrad Richter
• Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff • TheLottery by Shirley Jackson (short story)
• Our Town by Thornton Wilder
and James Norman Hall • The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
• Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts • One Man’s Meat by E. B. White
• ThePowerandtheGloryby Graham Greene • The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
• The School for Scandal • Roughing It by Mark Twain
• As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
by Richard Brinsley Sheridan • The Alexandria Quartet
• The Organization Man by William H. Whyte
• Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad by Lawrence Durrell
• The Federalist Papers by Alexander

Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay
• An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

readersdigest.com.au 139

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RD RECOMMENDS

Movies

PHOTOS: © 2022 SONY PICTURES DIGITAL INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The Woman King Historical Drama

S et in the 18th and 19th century Thought to have been made up of
and shot in South Africa, The hunters known as ‘gbeto’, the
Woman King is based on the Agoji later recruited slaves who
true story of a remarkable all- they freed during conquests of
female unit known as the Agoji, who neighbouring villages. Girls as young
protected the African kingdom of as eight were even recruited.
Dahomey – an empire in West Africa
that existed between 1625 to 1894 – The film follows the emotionally
from neighbouring tribes as well as epic journey of General Nanisca
European soldiers. The historical epic (Oscar-winner Viola Davis) as she
explores the often overlooked tribe trains the next generation of recruits
of warriors who were known for their and readies them for battle against
ruthlessness and fearlessness. an enemy determined to destroy
their way of life.

COMPILED BY DIANE GODLEY

readersdigest.com.au 141

READER’S DIGEST

Don’t Worry Darling Psychological Thriller

Victory is an experimental town based on 1950s societal optimism. The
husbands living in this desert utopia work at the top secret Victory
Project, working on the ‘development of progressive materials’, while
their wives get to spend their days enjoying the beauty, luxury and debauchery
that the community provides. All they are asked for in return is discretion and
unquestioning commitment to the cause. But when cracks in their idyllic life
start to appear, Alice (Florence Pugh) can’t help questioning exactly what they
are doing in Victory and why. Also starring Harry Styles and Gemma Chan.

Black Adam Action Adventure PHOTOS: COURTESY WARNER BROS. PICTURES.

B ased on the DC superhero
Black Adam, one of Captain
Marvel’s arch enemies, this
film explores the story behind the
character. Nearly 5000 years after
he was bestowed with the almighty
powers of the Egyptian gods – and
imprisoned just as quickly – the
antihero Black Adam (Dwayne
Johnson) attempts to clear his name
and reputation when he is freed
from his earthly tomb, unleashing
his unique form of justice on the
modern world. Also starring Sarah
Shahi and Pierce Brosnan.

142 october 2022

PHOTOS: COURTESY HACHETTE; PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE; MACMILLAN Fiction Exiles WIN!

Seventeen Jane Harper We have 10 copies of
Five Bush Weddings
John Brownlow MACMILLAN to give away. For your
chance to win, visit
HACHETTE The internationally readersdigest.com.au/
bestselling author of contests and answer
When diplomacy fails, The Dry and Force Of
professional assassins Nature returns with her the competition
are hired – and third novel featuring question.
currently, Seventeen finance investigator
is the most feared Aaron Falk. The mystery Five Bush
assassin in the world. of a devoted mother Weddings
He is the 17th in a long who goes missing at a
line of assassins for a food and wine festival, Clare Fletcher
secret organisation. But leaving behind her
his last two jobs don’t six-week-old baby in PENGUIN
sit well with him, and a pram, continues to RANDOM HOUSE
when he’s suddenly told haunt her family and
his next target is his friends as they gather Always the wedding
predecessor, Sixteen, together a year later. photographer and
(who went to ground Slowly but surely, Falk never the bride, Stevie
some years before), begins to unearth the is on the other side
things start to get truth with the support of 30 and starting to
complicated. Written of a local woman, wonder why there are
in a voice with all the Gemma. As with The more brickbats than
grit of someone living Dry, there is a strong, bouquets for her. She’s
on the pointy end of well-executed plot with been asked to shoot her
society, Seventeen will an interesting ending. ex’s wedding and even
have you captivated her mother is dating.
from start to finish. M.Egan Set in the country, this
romantic comedy is a
delight. M.Egan

readersdigest.com.au 143

Non Killer In The Combat Doctor PHOTOS: COURTESY PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE; MACMILLAN
Fiction The Kremlin
Dr Dan Pronk
Smart, John Sweeney
Stupid & Sixty MACMILLAN
PENGUIN RANDOM
Nigel Marsh HOUSE This is an honest
retelling of what it is
PENGUIN RANDOM If you still have a like to be a doctor in a
HOUSE thirst to decipher who war situation: the good,
Vladimir Putin really is, the gung-ho and the
Best-selling author then get a hold of this heartbreakingly ugly.
of 2005’s Fat, Forty & book. Award-winning As a frontline Special
Fired and co-founder journalist John Sweeney Operations Units
of Earth Hour, Marsh provides an explosive doctor, and with the
has turned his sights account of the Russian rank of Major, Dr Pronk
to the ‘third trimester’ ruler’s tyranny, charting served on four tours in
of life in his humorous, his rise from spy to Afghanistan and over
thought-provoking and president. Drawing 100 combat missions.
life-affirming account on 30 years of his The psychological
of turning 60. Marsh own reporting, eye impact and trauma
has rebranded the term witness accounts and of treating injured
‘old age’, and ponders testimony from those civilians and mortally
his entry into the third who have suffered at wounded soldiers,
trimester, ageing Putin’s hand, Sweeney including some of his
well, parenting adult gives a no-holds barred friends, takes a heavy
children, decreasing exposé of the man’s toll, however, and his
work, maintaining sinister ambitions and passion for his calling
friendships, learning the darkest acts of begins to wane.
new skills and the aggression in modern
secret to living a happy history. M.Egan
life and making the
most of getting older.

144 october 2022

IMAGES: COURTESY OF BBC R ADIO 4; THINK FAST, TALK SMART; AUDIOBOOKS.COM RD Recommends

Sixth Sense

Pam Sica’s friends said she should put her dog to
sleep. After all, the 15-year-old golden retriever
was grizzled with age and – to make matters
worse – was now acting strangely. A story about
a family’s love for their dog and how he paid them
back in the most astounding way.

Unreal: A Critical History Of Reality TV

Since it exploded in the early 2000s with shows
like Big Brother and Survivor, reality TV has both
fascinated and appalled viewers. The BBC’s Sirin
Kale and Pandora Sykes delve into themes such as
the Kardashians’ creation of uber-celebrity, and why
Selling Sunset and Real Housewives are so successful.

Think Fast, Talk Smart

We all have the ability to communicate more clearly,
especially at work. Stanford Graduate School of
Business lecturer Matt Abrahams discusses real-
world challenges and offers tips such as writing
better emails and preparing for meetings and
presentations.

A Song Of Ice And Fire

BY GEORGE R.R. MARTIN ON AUDIBLE

For those who like long listens, George
R.R. Martin’s series claims the (Iron)
Throne. The first book, the 33-hour-long
Game of Thrones, won a Guinness World
Record for the “most character voices in an
audiobook” with 224 characters alone.

HOW TO GET PODCASTS To listen on the web: In a search engine, look up ‘Think
Fast, Talk Smart’, for example, and click on the play button. To download: Download an
app such as Podcatchers or iTunes on your phone or tablet and simply search by title.

TO LISTEN TO RD TALKS GO TO
www.readersdigest.com.au/podcasts and click on the play button.

readersdigest.com.au 145

READER’S DIGEST Why
Happiness
THE
GENIUS Can Be
SECTION Hard To

Sharpen Your Find
Mind
It is not simply a
question of nature

versus nurture

BY Jolanta Burke

FROM THE CONVERSATION

T he self-help industry General Psychology, 50 per cent of PHOTOS (THIS PAGE) GET T Y IMAGES; (IMAGES) VECTEEZY.COM
is booming, fuelled by people’s happiness is determined by
research on positive psy- their genes, ten per cent depends on
chology – the scientific their circumstances and 40 per cent
study of what makes peo- on “intentional activity” (mainly,
ple flourish. At the same time, the whether you’re positive or not). This
rates of anxiety, depression and self- so-called happiness pie put posi-
harm continue to soar worldwide. So tive-psychology acolytes in the driv-
are we doomed to be unhappy, de- ing seat, allowing them to decide on
spite these advances in psychology? their happiness trajectory. (Although,
the unspoken message is that if you
According to an influential arti- are unhappy, it’s your own fault.)
cle published in 2005 in Review of

146 october 2022

The Genius Section

The happiness pie was widely cri- molecular level, shows that they con-

tiqued because it was based on as- stantly influence one another. Genes

sumptions about genetics that have influence the behaviour that helps

become discredited. For decades, people choose their environment. For

behavioural genetics researchers example, extroversion passed from

carried out studies with twins and parents to children helps children

established that between 40 per cent build their friendship groups.

and 50 per cent of the variance in their Equally, the environment changes

happiness was explained by genetics, gene expression. For example, when

which is why the percentage appeared expecting mothers were exposed to

in the happiness pie. famine, their babies’ genes changed

Behavioural geneticists use a statis- accordingly, resulting in chemical

tical technique to estimate the ge- changes that suppressed pro-

netic and environmental compo- duction of a growth

nents based on people’s familial factor. This result-

relatedness, hence the use of twins ed in babies being

in their studies. But these GENES born smaller than
figures assumed that INFLUENCE THE usual and with med-
both identical and frater- ical conditions.
nal twins experience the BEHAVIOUR Nature and nurture
same environment when THAT HELPS are interdependent and
growing up together – an PEOPLE CHOOSE affect each other con-
assumption that doesn’t stantly. This is why two
really hold water. THEIR people brought up in the
ENVIRONMENT same environment may
In response to the respond to it differently,
criticism about the 2005 meaning that behaviour-
paper, the same authors

wrote a paper in 2019 that al genetics’ assumption

introduced a more nuanced approach of an equal environment is no longer

on the effect of genes on happiness, valid. Also, whether or not people can

which recognised the interactions become happier depends on their ‘en-

between our genetics and our envi- vironmental sensitivity’ – their capac-

ronment. ity to change.

Nature and nurture Some people are susceptible to
their environment and so can signif-

Nature and nurture are not independ- icantly change their thoughts, feel-

ent of each other. On the contrary, ings and behaviour in response to

molecular genetics, the study of the both negative and positive events. So

structure and function of genes at the when attending a wellbeing workshop

readersdigest.com.au 147

READER’S DIGEST

or reading a positive psychology book, genetic plasticity – meaning they are

they may become influenced by it and more sensitive to the environment

experience significantly more change and hence have an increased capac-

compared to others – and the change ity for change – may be able to en-

may last longer, too. hance their wellbeing if they are

But there is no positive psychol- in an environment that en-

ogy intervention that will hances happiness and ability

work for all people be- to grow.

cause we are as unique But genetics does not deter-

as our DNA and, as mine who we are, even if it

such, have a different WE ARE AS does play a significant
capacity for wellbeing UNIQUE AS OUR role in our wellbeing.
and its fluctuations DNA AND, AS What also matters are the
throughout life. SUCH, HAVE A choices we make about
where we live, and how
Are we destined DIFFERENT we live our lives, which
to be unhappy? CAPACITY FOR affect both our happiness
and the happiness of the
Some people might WELLBEING next generations.
struggle a little harder
to enhance their well- Jolanta Burke is a Senior
being than others, and

that struggle may mean Lecturer, Centre for

that they will continue to be unhap- Positive Psychology and Health, RCSI

py for longer periods. And in extreme University of Medicine and Health

cases, they may never experience Sciences.

high levels of happiness. REPUBLISHED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS

Others, however, who have more LICENCE.

Traffic Stopper

Neil the seal has become an internet sensation after being snapped
playing with traffic cones on a road near a Hobart beach. The

two-year-old elephant seal spent over a month in and around the
beach’s surrounding residential area in July. Hobart photographer

Sam Shelley, who had been working on a shoot for the surf club
said, “The seal has been following us around, I’ve been down in
the sand taking photos and he’s been coming towards us, trying to

check us out. Probably thinks I’m a seal.” ABC.NET.AU

148 october 2022