Logical fallacies and irrational claims

I just got it on my Kindle app. Looking forward to reading! well done my son!

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Thank you all again very much. I just hope everyone isn’t disappointed.

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Up to Chapter 3…and very definitely not disappointed. It is a well written narrative. Looking forward to the rest!

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Thank you very much.

Silly me. I spoke too quickly. I only saw the Amazon Prime Kindle $0.00 offer while not logged in, so I mistakenly thought I had to get the paper edition. But then it dawned on me that I could just buy the Kindle edition. So I did. So now I’m going to start reading it whenever I get the some spare time.

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Thank you very much. Writing the book was very cathartic, and I hope you like it . . . but if you don’t, please tell me that also.

I do touch on many ways that religion interfered with me doing my job.

“Dial-a-prayer” :rofl:

20 characters.

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Erica is an awesome Youtuber, I think she received her PhD recently (not sure about this tho). I know she was a candidate. Does awesome videos and explanations. Just watched her in collaboration on some Aron Ra’s video.

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Chapter nine was a bit Carl Hiaasen-esque. “Tourist Season”, “Double Whammy”, “Skin Tight”, etc…try them if you like slapstick humour. They’re set in Florida, so the setting might be familiar to you :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thank you very much. I read “Striptease,” which I thought was very funny. I also read “Lucky You.”

Ironically, Carl Hiaasen’s brother Rob was a writer in Maryland who died in a mass shooting at his newspaper job.

So I read the book (Field Notes of an Autistic Paramedic by Kevin Levites), on my computer at home and otherwise on my phone whenever I’ve had a few minutes to spare. It’s a collection of anecdotes describing a range of situations and inter-human interactions as the author have experienced them, and how his autism affects his ability or inability to put himself in control of the situation, both in a good way, a bad way, and in amusing ways. There are some examples where the autism has helped him, other situations where it has not. The situations described range from everyday encounters via the fights he’s had against ignorance and prejudice and to how some people are accepting him and liking him for who he is. Some of the situations highlight bigotry and double standards that actors in the ER field employ when approaching people that need medical help, while others are downright bizarre (especially one in particular where the plot could fit well in a Carl Hiaasen book of slapstick humour). In short, the book is a short crash course of insight into the ignorance, resistance, misunderstanding, bigotry, and outright hostility that an autistic person meets while just trying to fit in and do a good job.

For me the book provides some valuable insight, both in genereral, and in the form of indirect advise on how to better meet a person I have to relate to that is undiagnosed, but where there is a good chance that this person is somewhere on the spectrum.

As far as I understand it, it’s a self-published book. As such, a minor gripe is that it could have benefited from a better a copy-editing process, especially typographically, but also in a small handful of paragraphs where the attention jumps back and forth, making them somewhat difficult to follow. But that is only a minor point for me.

Conclusion: I will recommend this book to all those who are interested.

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Thank you very, very much.

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I read Kevin Levites’ book Field Notes of an Autistic Paramedic today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Humorous, poignant, sad, disturbing, all accurate descriptions. I found it to be a great example of perseverance in the face of stupidity and insensitivity, with some spontaneous hilarity thrown in for good measure.
I recommend to any and all who care to understand the importance of perspective.

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Thank you very, very much. It was my first book, although I’ve had a lot of my science fiction, horror, a murder mystery, and some essays published in several magazines.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read it and commenting on it at length.

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I feel a bit like a Luddite since I seem to be the only one who got a hard copy. I hadn’t considered getting the Kindle Unlimited since I have access to the local libraries ebooks and I’m up to my eyeballs in ebooks to read. An abundance of riches :slight_smile: . Your book has arrived and I really enjoyed it. It was much more of an emotional roller coaster than I was expecting, and sometimes out of my comfort zone. I consider that a good thing since it definitely kept my interest and I feel I learned somethings. Are you still writing? Your name searched on ebay turns up some “Analog Science Fiction and Fact” magazines, is that where your Scifi strories are published? I used to be quite a Scifi fan with Arthur C. Clarke one of my favorites.

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Thank you very much. I’ve had short stories and letters in Analog, an essay in The Autism Files in the U.K., a murder mystery in Noir Nation, two horror short stories in Blood Moon Rising, an essay in Skeptic Magazine, several letters and an essay in Skeptical Inquirer, and a few other pieces.

I was always a fan of Clarke, and I’ve also read much of Asimov’s work, Heinlein, Frank Herbert, James Gunn, Larry Niven, Ursula K. LeGuinn, and (I am profoundly shamed to admit) Marion Zimmer Bradley . . . among several others.

Thank you again for reading my book.

Ah, some of my favorites. Marion Zimmer Bradley is a guilty pleasure. She was the first author I thought to look up on the internet back in 1999. The reason it sticks in my mind is because it turned out to be the day she died. Not only that, as you likely know, she has some dark scandals that I first learned of then. If I was the superstitious type. . .

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Yes, Bradley is a guilty pleasure.

She started sexually molesting her own daughter when she was 3 years old, and the abuse continued until she was around 13.

Bradley’s husband (Walter Breen) molested hundreds of little boys, and Bradley helped him get access to them.

This scandal was a little personal with me, as I often submitted my early work to her magazine, and while she never bought any of my work, her advice on writing was spot-on, and helped me get published.

Her letters were insightful and very helpful . . . and these letters were some of my most treasured keepsakes. I had them framed and hanging on the wall near my desk where I do my writing.

When I found out that she was a sick paedophile, I threw up until I had the dry heaves . . . and I burned her letters in the backyard barbeque. I also had nightmares for weeks afterward, as I am an ex-paramedic with a lot of experience treating the victims of child molestors.

It still makes me very ill when I think of my earlier sales coming from an association with a sick, nasty, disgusting paedophile.

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Oh wow, I’m sorry to hear that. It’s my understanding that many writers considered her a mentor and it was quite a shock to the community.

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Hi Kevin,

I took the time to read your book, twice…a) because it is very readable, b) because I was interested in your take on the experiences, bearing in mind your comments in these forums.

It is obvious that you, as a writer, have a unique style. Influenced, no doubt, by your autism, it is direct, frank, and lacks the twee, ‘wholesome’ saccharine humor that so often accompanies such memoirs. Think of “Call the midwife” or that Yorkshire vet series. You are much more gritty and real. I appreciated that.

The religious underpinning of the conflicts was very apparent, if real, and not an ascribed theme of your journey then the U.S.A is in even bigger trouble than I could have thought.
I did think that maybe, like so many autistic creatives you had reached the conclusion and were busy making the facts fit your insular narrative. On my second read through I discounted that, having looked up some other sources about the healthcare ethos in the U.S.A.

I hope the writing was a cathartic experience and rid you of the worst of your demons. You deserve that at least.

Well done Kevin, if you write a sequel I shall buy.

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