Missing by Barry Cummins | The Positive Habit by Fiona Brennan | @Gill_Books | #Reviews

Today I have an overview, with a few of my own thoughts, on two non-fiction publications recently published by Gill Books.

Missing by Barry Cummins, RTE journalist and author, was published on 24th May.
The Positive Habit by Fiona Brennan, a clinical hypnotherapist, mindfulness and NLP practitioner, was published on the 1st March.

[ About the Book ]

The Unsolved Cases of Ireland’s Vanished Women and Children

From 1950 to the present day, there have been almost 900 long-term missing people in Ireland. The equivalent of a vibrant village, all gone, vanished without a trace.

Where did they go? Are they dead or still alive somewhere? How many have been murdered? How many killers have got away with their crimes?

RTÉ journalist Barry Cummins has reported on the unsolved cases of Ireland’s missing for decades. In this new edition of his bestselling book, he examines the latest leads and developments of Ireland’s most high-profile missing cases, including the women who disappeared under eerily similar circumstances in the 1990s and whose bodies have never been found.

Written with the assistance of the gardaí and the families concerned, Missing is a comprehensive and shocking account of the cases that have in turn fascinated, puzzled and horrified the Irish public. It also examines the possibility that there may be a serial killer out there who has gone to extraordinary lengths to evade justice, leaving open the possibility that they could strike again.

[ My Thoughts on Missing ]

Missing is not an easy read. The women and children discussed in this book are still very present in the hearts and minds of their many relatives today. Most Irish people over a certain age have a very strong memory of the images of the disappeared, these women who just vanished into thin air. these high-profile cases that were an all too common news item during the 1990s. There was a terror in the air, a tangible fear at the time that a serial killer was on the loose but as the bodies were never discovered, our lives moved on….and while we never really forgot, we put it to the back of our minds.

But for Barry Cummins, this was not the case. For decades he has followed very closely any new developments and leads. He wrote the original edition of Missing in 2003 and now Gill Books have just released the updated version containing new insights and updated facts.

‘Close to 9,500 people are reported missing in Ireland every year. That’s more than five times the annual figure when I wrote the first edition of this book in 2003. The vast majority of those reported missing will eventually be found, but many will not….Amid calls for more action to be taken by the State and the gardai, the devastating effects of the loss of a loved one are evident in the homes and the hearts of Ireland’s missing….’

Missing is most certainly a hard-hitting book with a very comprehensive overview of dates and times. It is obvious, as you turn the pages, that Barry Cummins has gone to great lengths in researching all of these cases, with his own personal frustrations evident from the pages. I did, at times, find sections a little repetitive and I did get a little perplexed with the use of the word murder, when no body has been recovered to date in some of the more high-profile cases, but, as I am clearly not an expert in this area, this could be just my own issue.

Missing is quite an exhaustive, almost encyclopedic study of a very frightening period in Ireland’s history. For the families involved, books like Missing, are the oxygen for them to keep their stories alive and in the public eye, making Missing quite a significant and important book for all.

[ About the Book ]

Train you brain and transform your negative thoughts into positive ones with The Positive Habit

Love, calmness, confidence, gratitude, hope and happiness: these are the six emotions that tip the balance of our mindset in favour of a positive outlook rather than a negative one. Wouldn’t it be great to feel these positive emotions more of the time?

Now you can with Fiona Brennan’s ultimate manual for the mind.

With a chapter on each emotion, and practical steps on how to cultivate them, this profound, practical plan utilises mindfulness, habit, positive psychology, and neuroscience. It will show you how to train your brain to embrace negative thoughts with courage and love, and transform them into positive ones.

Accompanied with an audio-hypnotherapy meditation plan that takes just a few minutes a day, split between your morning and evening, this book will transform your mental health – it even works while you sleep. With repeated use, you will let go of unnecessary negativity and stress, sleep peacefully and wake up happy as you develop The Positive Habit.

[ My Thoughts on The Positive Habit ]

I have an admission to make. I did not read all of Fiona Brennan’s book….not yet…..BUT I have my reasons. As a book reviewer/blogger I read, a lot, mainly in the evenings and oft-times into the early hours. It’s what I love. It’s how I switch off. To invoke The Positive Habit I would need to alter my reading habits and as every blogger knows, that TBR pile ain’t getting any smaller, so this is one habit I cannot shake. So today I just want to share with you a little about what I did read and why I had to park it…for now.

When The Positive Habit came in my letterbox, I was thrilled, hoping this could be a book I could dip in and out of when I needed a quick pick-me-up, a boost perhaps. But as I soon realised, Fiona Brennan has written a lot more than that. This is a book that you need to invest in, you need to invest both your time and your mind, to successfully achieve a less stressful and happier existence, to remove the anxiety from your life.

‘We are living in the grip of an anxiety epidemic, with many people living in a chronic state of unnecessary fear…..For many, every day becomes a struggle and feelings of being overwhelmed result in anxiety and stress. It is helpful to know that the human race is adaptable and survives even in the most hostile of circumstances – you are stronger than you think you are….’

The Positive Habit provides the reader with 6 steps, the aim being that these steps will assist you to transform all your negative thinking into positive emotions. With a twice daily audio-hypnotherapy meditation plan as part of the process, the commitment is required to avail of the full benefits that Fiona Brennan is offering.

I love the idea that my life can be filled with more positive energy. I love the prospect of shedding all the negative thoughts that cram my mind on a daily basis.

I will complete this process when I am read to accept and adhere to all the necessary steps and requirements. In the meantime I really wanted to share it with you all today, as you might be ready RIGHT NOW, to step on the ladder and embrace The Positive Habit.

[ Bios ]

Barry Cummins is a news journalist with RTÉ and the author of four bestsellers: Missing, Lifers, Unsolved and Without Trace. His most recent book is The Cold Case Files. He is the recipient of three Justice Media Awards. In 2013, he helped to co-ordinate the inaugural National Missing Persons Day.

Fiona Brennan is a clinical hypnotherapist, mindfulness and NLP practitioner, mental-health expert on TodayFM, TEDx speaker, blogger and an ambassador for positivity in the media. With a busy clinic and a long waiting list, Fiona launched her online, five-star rated hypnotherapy programme in 2016 which now helps people all over the world.