Reading Matters (week 09) 24 February 2026

I so enjoyed interviewing extraordinary photographer, Shem Compion, that our interview is lengthy.  The Shift: Scar of Africa (HPH Publishing) is a magnum opus covering much of Africa photographically, in some of the most striking landscape pictures I have yet seen. People from vastly differing cultures, stunning wild animals, beads, deserts and forests, camel caravans, tribal jewellery, feature exquisitely.

It’s a massive coffee table book, rich with contributions from ecologists, scientists, paleoanthropologists, conservationists and poets. It’s a book for the centuries, one our grandchildren will peruse with wonder at what Africa once was IF we don’t take more care of it.  Invest in a copy!

If you are one of the 52 million people, worldwide, who experience constant chronic pain, then this is the book for you. It Doesn’t have to Hurt (Headline Publishing / Jonathan Ball) by famous Dr Sanjay Gupta, details how we can live with ceaseless pain without always resorting to opioids and surgery.  He tells us how to live, no matter our age, in order to protect ourselves from pain. Healing.

The world is suffering from a masculinity crisis and in Notes on Being a Man (Simon &S chuster) Professor Scott Galloway tells us that male suicide rates are high whilst employment rates are low, leading to mental health and relationship issues. He defines a good dad as meaning good to women, leaving home before you’re 30, and being kind. He emphasizes the importance of raising good sons.  Fascinating.

Reading Matters with Sue Grant-Marshall