This is a special edition episode to put a complete close to this podcast. I couldn't fully end this podcast without first reviewing my own books.

I published six books in 2006 and 2007. The list of books I had written are:

1. It's My Life - 2006
2. My Poetry Reflections - 2006
3. Homeless Circumstance - 2006
4. My Travels to the Gambia and Morocco - 2007
5. Unnatural Obsession - 2007
6. No Self Control - 2007

I have not written anymore books since 2007.

I had contributed to the book ''Earning a Living: v. 2: Memories of Work in and Around Sheffield', that was written by the Memories of Work Group and published by the Workers' Educational Association in 2008.

I decided to revisit five of my books at the Oxford university, to give my own critical review of my books. One of my books titled 'My Poetry Reflections' is only available at the British Library in London.

A big thank you to the Bodleian Library staff at Oxford university for organising a quick turnaround in me getting access to my books for this podcast. I also thank them for their help and assistance during my time on their premises. Much appreciated.

This is an announcement to say that I will not be doing anymore book reviews for this podcast, but I hope you have enjoyed all of the episodes.

I also hope that these episodes have encouraged you to visit the library and read more physical books, where you can learn so much more than just scrolling on the internet.

Thank you to everyone who has spent time listening to my book reviews. Much appreciated.

In this very last episode, I review Maya Angelou's Poetry book titled 'And Still I Rise'.

This episode includes time stamps as I talk at the beginning about my itinerant lifestyle and how I ended up moving to the West Midlands in 2020.

I mentioned Wendover in Buckinghamshire, but the actual village I lived in was St Leonards, Nr Tring which is still in Buckinghamshire, in the Chiltern Hills and bordering Hertfordshire. This village is a couple of miles away from Wendover.

I also review Brendan Hawthorne's book 'Black Country Dialect', and include some interviews with local Black Country residents.

Timestamps:

0:00 - 2:12 - Outtakes with clips talking about my itinerant lifestyle.

2:13 - 18:50 - Introduction to the episode with further talk on my itinerant background.

18:52 - 29:38 - The start of my review of the book 'Black Country Dialect'

29:40 - 48:56 - Interviewing some Black Country residents

48:57 - 52:30 - The value of learning languages and dialects by interacting with the local people in that community.

52:31 - 52:46 - Thanks to the Black Country residents who generously gave their time to speak to me for this episode.

52:47 - 53:26 - Rev. George Cosens was the First Caribbean Minister in the Black Country in the 19th Century.

53:27 - 54:56 - Outro

My review of Historian Alex Woolf's book 'A Short History of The World.

This is not an episode of a book review , but a follow up to the previous episode titled 'A Short History of Slavery'

Below are links to the sources of information used in this episode.

I Am History

National Geographic

Royal Museums Greenwich

This book goes back into the history of slavery from the Slavery in the classic world, slavery in medieval Europe and slavery in Islam up to abolition and emancipation.

Story Time:

When I was in Lisbon, Portugal, I went to visit their history museum. In this museum was a library. I walked into the library looking specifically for their history books on Portugal's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. I was shocked to find nothing except one book that only had art illustrations of freed African slaves from the Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique based in Portugal along with Cabo Verdeans.

I asked the librarian if they had any books on the history of the transatlantic slave trade involving Portugal and Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cabo Verde and Brazil. The librarian said they did not. I looked at her in disbelief and asked her why not? That this is an important part of Portuguese and African History. Why are there no books in your library, especially this particular library in your history museum. The librarian looked at me embarrassed and shrugged her shoulders and said 'sorry'. I looked at her and shook my head in disappointment.

I sat down and went through the art illustration book and about 10 minutes later the librarian walked towards me with a big book and said to me 'I found this book here in our library that will interest you'.

The book that she gave me was thick with a lot of pages (which I expected). It went into a lot of detail on the slave trade between Portugal, the African countries that were under Portuguese colony and Brazil. It was the ONLY book that was available in this library.

Links:

Escaping slavery in Libya

Cameroon: Migrants Tell of Libya Slave Market Hell

Frontline Insights :Photographing Libya's Slaves

Documentary on migrant workers in Qatar

Song: Modern Slavery

My review of the book 'Black Like Me' by John Howard Griffin about segregation in America's Deep South. Published in 1961.

I review a book written by Lemn Sissay on his childhood experiences of being in foster care, children's home and eventually in an 'assessment' centre, that seemed like more of a juvenile detention centre.