Getting a Life

Tom Saunders has led a very interesting and adventurous life, beginning in the East End in 1932 and continuing through the Blitz to realise his dream of becoming an architect. He set up his own practice in his late 20s, resigning from it just over 20 years later to set up independently with the sense that the ladder he had been climbing was perhaps against the wrong wall. His career during this period gave him plenty of chance to travel, which he describes vividly in a separate section. He describes the midlife crisis as a growing awareness of mortality leading one to ask central questions about we are, why we are here and where we are going. This helps shed light on his courageous decision - influenced by, among others, CG Jung and Joseph Campbell - as a response to an inner calling. A few years later, he had to face bankruptcy as a result of a property market crash, and he remarks that money is an energy force that creates hope and freedom of movement and choice - without it, we feel incarcerated without a means of escape. His interest in buildings led him to write The Boiled Frog Syndrome about health and the built environment, and he has also published book about the Tarot. In 1991, he met the love of his life, Janet Edward, whose book is reviewed above, and they spent some years living in France. It is an inspiring narrative that will perhaps encourage readers to live and explore with the same zest and enthusiasm.