When someone writes a novel, they put a part of themselves into a character or a situation. This could be emotions or vocabulary or the way they react to a situation; more often they will be imagining or researching standing in someone else’s shoes; so, although publishing a novel puts the writer in a vulnerable place, nothing can compare this with writing an autobiography.
I am reading a book by Simon Reeve called ‘Journeys to Impossible Places, in life and every adventure.’ In it, he not only describes some of his travel experiences but also sets out a personal venture into parenthood when he discovers that he has sperms with bad morphology. Apparently, they were deformed, preventing him from being able to impregnate his wife. I felt this was a very brave admission but when he went on to describe the reason for this was very probably due to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) it became clearer. These are chemicals which enter the body through air or the skin, or are ingested and cause hormonal problems as well as autism, obesity and a lowering of IQ. They are blamed by some experts for a 50% drop in fertility across the world. I am no expert and Simon’s book will reach more people than this blog, but if you think he has a point, please share.
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