Book review: 1000 Answers…

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STAMMA volunteer Bill McMillan tells us what he thought of the new book '1000 Answers: What Everyone Should Know About Stuttering' ,by David Alpuche.

I have to be honest, when I first saw the cover of 1000 answers… I didn't like how the title had been written to show how a stutter sounded ('st-st-stutter'). It's my personal reaction but I've never liked that. I think it demeans how serious having a stammer is. However, once I opened the book and started reading I discovered straight away that the Mexican author David Alpuche does not treat the subject lightly. 

Yes, Alpuche is a fluent and witty writer and I get the impression he has a good sense of humour but he does not flinch from the negative aspects of stammering: the 'look' you get from people when you get stuck, as if nobody in the world stammered except you; the fear of leaving a message or answering the phone; ordering a meal in a restaurant; and of course, the feeling of isolation. Alpuche knows how it is to stammer. He knows the constant everyday rebuffs, the laughter, the sighing, the tapping of impatient fingers and the loneliness.

He tells of the speech & language therapist (or pathologist as they're known in America) who didn't call his stammer something it wasn't, like others he had been to. She didn't call it anxiety, nor did she say it would disappear. She simply told him he had a stammer, followed by "and this is what we know about it". Although feeling hurt at first learning there was no wonder cure, Alpuche knew that was the best thing for him to hear. This was an eye-opener for me, as all the therapy I had growing up concentrated on fluency, with some therapists even advocating covert stammering.

It will be a great 'dip into' book for years to come. 

Each chapter heading in the book is in the form of a question (the '1000 answers' title isn't to be taken literally) and they are wide-ranging, from basic ones like "What is stuttering?" to the more interesting and probing questions such as "What is the most common feeling you associate with stuttering?", "Do you ever get used to having a stutter?", "What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to accept themselves?" and so on. He even asks "Do you stutter in your dreams?" (I actually do sometimes). It really gives readers a deeper insight into what it's like to stammer. 

In each chapter, Alpuche includes something from his own experiences and it was astonishing how they seemed to mirror my own, even though he says, rightly, that every person stammers differently and quotes Lee Reeves of the Dallas Stuttering Association: "If you have met someone who stutters, you have met one person who stutters". He doesn't preach. When talking about therapies, techniques and approaches, he never tells the reader to "do this".

Nothing appears to have escaped Alpuche's eye, from the stammering iceberg to so-called cures. He even touches on recreational and prescribed drugs, none of which helped his stammer. I have reservations about this. Although he gives a strong warning about the use of drugs, I can't help wondering if a curious, desperate teenager would be tempted to try them after reading about them, even though he says they didn't work.

Somehow or other Alpuche has managed to cover everything I have wondered or puzzled about stammering for years. What is especially helpful are the comments he includes from various people who stammer from around the world, contributing the different ways they get through their days.

There is so much in this book, not just for people who stammer, but for concerned parents, friends, therapy students, employers, colleagues and anyone wanting to learn more. It will be a great 'dip into' book for years to come. 

'1000 Answers: What Everyone Should Know About Stuttering' by David Alpuche, is self-published and is available to buy from Amazon.

Thank you very much to Bill for writing this review for STAMMA.

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