Katie spent 6 months in one of the world’s most forgotten countries — the Central African Republic. In this episode, we sit down in person to chat about her experiences there working as a medical doctor with Doctors Without Borders.

This is a story of people who have been ignored for too long — of grief, resilience, and what it means to show up in the darkest places.

Her book, Field Notes from Death’s Door, is available wherever you get your books. It’s excellent, and I genuinely recommend you give it a read if you can.

Today’s paid partner is BetterHelp, to get 10% off your first month of online therapy with a credentialed therapist head to www.betterhelp.com/aneedtoread

A Need To Read is partnered with The Breath Space, a online Breath-work education and practise portal that I have been using for the last couple of months, alongside my course to become a breath-work facilitator. To check out how breathwork can help you, follow the link and use the code ED for 50% off your first 2 months.

https://courses.thebreathspace.co.uk/your-breath-space-online-membership

You can also support my work by heading to www.buymeacoffee.com/aneedtoread

Any feedback is welcome: aneedtoread.podcast@gmail.com

Today’s paid partner is BetterHelp, to get 10% off your first month of online therapy with a credentialed therapist head to www.betterhelp.com/aneedtoread

In this episode, I sit down with Ellie Middleton — author of Unmasked and How To Be You — to talk about the messy, powerful journey of self-discovery through a late diagnosis of autism and ADHD.

From anxiety misdiagnoses and burnout cycles to the pressures of “being normal” and the power of simply understanding yourself, Ellie opens up about it all.

We also dive into reading habits, writing under pressure, self-compassion, and learning to be a big brave girl (in the surf).

What We Talk About

• The cycle of burnout and the misdiagnosis of anxiety and depression

• Ellie’s late diagnosis journey and the “lightbulb” moment in therapy

• Masking and why “being normal” is so damn exhausting

• Reading as a neurodivergent person — fiction, nonfiction, and dropping the book snobbery

• Writing two books in under two years (and nearly breaking herself doing it)

• Neurodivergent time vs. linear time — and why “spinning out in space” matters

• The power of somatic work, surfing, and getting comfortable looking silly

• Gendered differences in how autism and ADHD are recognised

• Internalised ableism and the fear of being your unmasked self

• Self-compassion as a daily practice, not a one-time fix

Links & Resources:

• Follow Ellie: @elliemidds on Instagram / TikTok / LinkedIn

• Follow the podcast on Instagram: @aneedtoread

A Need To Read is partnered with The Breath Space, a online Breath-work education and practise portal that I have been using for the last couple of months, alongside my course to become a breath-work facilitator. To check out how breathwork can help you, follow the link and use the code ED for 50% off your first 2 months.

https://courses.thebreathspace.co.uk/your-breath-space-online-membership

You can also support my work by heading to www.buymeacoffee.com/aneedtoread

Any feedback is welcome: aneedtoread.podcast@gmail.com

Boys read less than girls. That’s what the stats say, and today, writer, Lucas Oakley joins me to chat about why this is and gives some direction for guys looking to get into reading.

Today’s paid partner is betterhelp, for 10% off your first month head to www.betterhelp.com/aneedtoread

books discussed

Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Mothers by Chris Power

All that man is by David Soles

Men without women by Murakami

Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia De La Cerda

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Four Three Two One by Paul Auster

A Little Life by Hanya Yangahara

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

For info on his new book and book club for boys follow Lucas on Instagram: @LucasOakeley

buy me a coffee if you like, www.buymeacoffee.com/aneedtoread

Feedback/comments welcome: aneedtoread.podcast@gmail.com

Today’s paid partner is BetterHelp, to get 10% off your first month of online therapy with a credentialed therapist head to www.betterhelp.com/aneedtoread

-

Today's conversation is with Joanna Moncreiff, the author of 'Chemically Imbalanced: the making and unmaking of the serotonin myth'. We discuss the history of the link between depression and serotonin, side effects of taking SSRI's and the emerging mental health treatment methods that we should be wary of.

For help understanding how you can come off Anti Depressants, follow this link

-

A Need To Read is partnered with The Breath Space, a online Breath-work education and practise portal that I have been using for the last couple of months, alongside my course to become a breath-work facilitator. To check out how breathwork can help you, follow the link and use the code ED for 50% off your first 2 months.

https://courses.thebreathspace.co.uk/your-breath-space-online-membership

You can also support my work by heading to www.buymeacoffee.com/aneedtoread

Any feedback is welcome: aneedtoread.podcast@gmail.com

Matt Smith is a former professional surfer and sailor, now he spends his time on the west coast of Ireland as CEO of the charity HOMETREE (https://www.hometree.ie/about).

You can find him on Instagram @thehonestcaptain where he talks about his projects show support

www.betterhelp.com/aneedtoread

www.buymeacoffee.com//aneedtoread

Welcome back! I’ve been away for a while, and never even said see ya later or goodbye.

This episode covers a little bit about why I stopped the podcast, what I’ve been up to, and where the podcast will go in the future.

books recommended:

100 years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda

Someone To Love You In All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob Wakesburg

COMING UP: interviews with Matt Smith (Hometree CEO) & Ellie Middleton (author of UNMSKED & How To Be You), and a review of ‘The Compassionate Mind’ by Paul Gilbert

let me know if you have any suggestions for guests or topics you want me to look in to aneedtoread.podcast@gmail.com

sponsors: www.betterhelp.com/aneedtoread for 10% off your first month of therapy

www.buymeacoffee.com/aneedtoread

Www.betterhelp.com/aneedtoread

Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist, writer, and speaker with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. He received a Ph.D. in tropical ecology from Cambridge University for his work on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama.

His book Entangled life was a Sunday Times Bestseller.

A-need-to-read is the code for an additional 10% off your first purchase with Urban Farm It, who do homegrown mushroom kits: https://urban-farm-it.com/

In this episode, I chat about some fiction books that you might like to read this year.

Books discussed

When We Cease To Understand The World by Benjamin Labtut

Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 by Cho Nam Joo

A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Someone To Love You In All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksburg

First Person Singular by Hariku Murakami

If Cats Disappeared From The World by Genki Kawamura

The Virgin Suicides & Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

A Little Life by Hanya Yangihara

Siddartha & Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

All of the links will take you to Bookshop.org, a website where when you buy books, you support small bookstores, and I also get 10% of the sale. Which is quite nice, init.

Support for the podcast

If you want to help me produce podcasts directly, which would be VERY KIND, head to www.buymeacoffee.com/aneedtoread

You will have heard me bang on about how transformational therapy can be, that's why I am proud that Betterhelp sponsors A Need To Read. Meaning you get 10% off your first month if you wanted to chat with a therapist, just head to www.betterhelp.com/aneedtoread

If you have any feedback, requests, or well-wishes, send me an email at hello@aneedtoread.co.uk