Teach Us to Sit Still

His journey will open your mind to the possibilities of mindfulness

Polly Vernon, Sunday Telegraph

[Parks] writes with forensic precision about all he experiences, physically and mentally... Even those free of illness will find Parks's journey gives us much to ponder about the effects of modern living

Ben Felsenburg, Metro

Teach Us to Sit Still is a small triumph of narrative artistry, luxuriantly written and full of bone-dry humour. I'd recommend it to any man over 45 who frets incessantly about his health - which is to say, any man over 45

Marcus Berkmann, Spectator

Teach us to Sit Still made me laugh; it made me cry; and it made me seriously think about taking up Vispassana meditation

Will Self, The Times

A movingly honest book that is about a great deal more than breathing and meditation

Susan Hill, The Lady

A searingly honest, viscerally vivid, darkly comic self-examination of the connections between writing personality and health. Once I started reading it, I didn't want to stop

David Lodge, Guardian

Beautifully written and painfully honest...a fascinating, perceptive and rewarding read

The Big Issue

Funny, painful and quietly profound book

Doug Johnstone, Scotsman

Parks is an excellent writer, capable of writing wittily and with great beauty about the near indefinable

Seven, Sunday Telegraph

Parks writes wonderfully well about his body as he is reluctantly reconciled to its existence alongside his mind... All the more moving for avoiding new age fakery. Anyone plagued by chronic aches and pains will find much to cheer them in this most unusual and engaging book

Jane Housham, Express

This is a crazy, wince-inducing, uplifting book... Parks has done a service to the many people who would never look at a cheesy self-help book or try anything with a whiff of spirituality about it

Financial Times