The Online Book Series About Becky Bexley the Child Genius - Contents

It's a story that Mixes fact and fiction, humour and serious topics, by Diana Holbourn

The Contents of the Online Series

This series accompanies the books that can be found on Amazon. You can find out more about them on my author website.

Book One: Becky Bexley's First Months at University

• 1. Becky's Entertaining Presentation to the Psychology Class
• 2. Becky and Other Students Talk About Interesting Things Over a Long Lunch Break
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• The Students Have a Laugh
• The Students Discuss Scientific-Sounding Studies That Had Too Many Problems to Be Trusted, and Joke Around Some More
• Becky Gives the Others Some Information On What Makes For a More Reliable Study, and Then They Start Joking Again
• The Students Talk About Misleading Health Claims On Food Products and Other Things, and Joke About What's Good to Eat
• The Group Discusses a Study That Supposedly Found That Vegetarians Aren't as Healthy as Meat Eaters
• The Students Talk About Reasons Why Reports of Studies in the Newspapers and Science Journals Can Be Misleading
• The Group Talks About Official Advice Changing and Even Reversing Over Time, Such As On First Aid Courses
• The Students Talk More About the Quality of Science Journals, and One Tells Them About Scandals Involving Some
• The Student Talking Tells the Others About Funny Comments From Scientists, and Then They Joke About Wacky Study Ideas
• One Student Worries About Possible Harm Reports of Faulty Studies Could Do, and They Talk About Eating the Right Amount of Protein
• The Students Talk About Allergies, and Then Joke Around a Bit
• A Student Tells The Others About Some Problems Allergies Cause, and Which Foods People are Most Likely to Be Allergic To
• The Students Joke About Doing Wacky Things In Shops
• The Students Talk About Allergies to Pets and Ways of Handling Them, and End Up Joking Around as Usual
• One Student Tells the Others Quite a Bit About What Nutrients Are In which Foods
• The Students Joke Around For a While
• The Students Talk More About Nutrients and Allergies, and Joke Around Some More
• One Student Tells the Others About a Scientific Discovery About the Brain, and Then the Conversation Becomes Humorous Again for a Little While
• One Student Tells the Others About a Fake Study That Was Said to Prove Subliminal Advertising Works, and They Joke About What Could Happen If It Did
• The Students Walk To a Lecture With a Thunder Storm Looming, But They Make Jokes and Talk About Weird Things They've Heard Have Come Down In Rain
• Becky Complains That Some Psychology Books Make Mistakes, and Tells a Joke She Says They Remind Her Of
• The Conversation Gets Back to Discussion of Whether Subliminal Advertising Works, With a Break For a Bit More Joking
• 3. The Students Make Up Zany Stories for Fun
• 4. Interesting, Amusing, Depressing and Gross Conversation Over Another Long Lunch Break
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• The Students Joke About Weather Forecasting
• One Student, Mark, Talks About How Scientists Would Like to Make Unpopular Ideas Like Genetic Engineering More Acceptable To the Public
• One of the Students Complains and Makes Jokes About Some Science Not Being Explained Well
• The Students Talk About Cloning
• The Group Talks About How Journalists Can Feel They Have to Give One-Sided Reports of What Happens in Wars and Don't Report Other Things
• The Conversation Turns Light-Hearted For a While as the Students Joke About Political Plans
• Mark Makes Criticisms of Politicians
• Becky Tells The Others What She's Learned About Bias in the Media, and Then Talks About Funny Interview Clips She's Heard
• The Students Talk and Joke About How Good News is Hardly Ever Reported, and One Tells a Funny Story About a Charity Event At Her School
• Becky Tells the Others About Ways Tabloid Newspapers Can Be Biased
• The Conversation Turns to Discussion of People Who Don't Believe Parents Should Get Their Children Vaccinated
• One Student Entertains the Others By Telling a Joke Story She Wrote on an Internet Forum
• The Students Talk About Understandable Misunderstandings
• Becky Warns the Others About Fake News That Might Mislead People Into Doing Things They Shouldn't
• Becky Tells The Others About Some Ways News Broadcasters Decide What Goes In the News
• Mark Starts Talking Gloomily Again, But it Leads to More Joking For a While
• Mark Begins to Talk About What He'd Hoped to Say At First - That He Thinks He Knows How Scientists Could Make The Public Keener On Unpopular Ideas
• The Students Discuss Malnutrition, and Becky Explains Why it Seems to Be on the Rise in Rich Countries
• The Students Joke About What It Would Be Like To Live On What Plants Live On
• Mark Talks About the Kind of Film He Thinks Could Be Made to Make the Public Sympathetic to Things They Disapproved of Before
• The Students Make Jokes, Imagining Life If Scientists Could Do Really Bizarre Things With Genetic Engineering
• One Student Tells the Rest About How Some Vegetables Have Changed a Lot Over the Centuries
• The Students Talk About Space Travel, and Then Have a Laugh
• One Student Tells the Others About Objections People Have to Genetic Engineering That Are Unrelated to What Scientists Have Done
• The Student Tells the Others About Some Surprising Reasons Why a Lot of People in the World Go Hungry
• One Student Tells an Upsetting Story About Scientists Not Being Allowed to Help People In Need
• The Students Discuss What They Think Is the Absurdity of Objecting to Scientific Developments Just Because It's Possible Things Might Go Wrong
• A Student Complaining About a Cold Shower Cubicle Sparks Off a Few Minutes of Joking
• The Conversation Turns to Discussion of Genetic Modifications to Eliminate Nasty Diseases in Humans, and Then to Other Things, Such as Powerful Painkillers
• The Students Start Joking, Imagining Really Weird Weather
• The Students Talk About How Governments Could Make Some Policies More Popular By Making Films Bringing the Need For Them Home to People
• The Students Start Joking About Amusing Ideas Again, and Telling Funny Stories
• The Students Discuss Ideas For Changing Government Policy Towards Illegal Immigrants
• The Students Talk About Problems In Developing Countries
• The Students Talk About Problems With Foreign Aid and Some Charities
• The Students Talk About Some Good Things They've Heard of Charities Doing
• One Student Has Some Thoughts About People's Motives for Giving to Chairty
• The Conversation Turns Humorous Again
• The Discussion Turns to Problems With Foreign Aid Again, Before Becoming Humorous Once More
• More Problems With Giving Foreign Aid are Brought Up
• Some Humour Breaks Out Again
• The Conversation Turns to Mistaken Government Policies
• Joking Breaks Out Again
• The Students Talk About More Bad and Good Things Some Charities Do
• The Students Start Thinking Up Amusing Ideas Again

Book Two: Becky Bexley, Controversy, and the Strange New Tutor

• 1. The Horrible Psychology Experiment
• 2. Controversy Over the Experiment, and a Class Discussion About It That Gets Way Off-Topic
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• Becky Discovers Some Unpleasant Facts About the Experiments That Inspired the One Her Tutors Put Them Through
• The Students Make Jokes as They Wait for the Tutor to Turn Up and Begin the Discussion Class About the Experiments
• There's Controversy Right From the Start of the Class Discussion About the Experiments
• The Conversation Seems to Go Off-Topic, as One Student Wants to Talk About the Causes of the First World War and Criticise the Leaders Who Started It
• A Bit of Humour Breaks Out
• The Student Who Started Talking About the Causes of The First World War, Daniel, Tries to Carry On
• The Conversation Descends Into Humour Again
• Daniel Is Allowed to Continue What He's Saying, and His Criticisms of the Leaders Become Heated
• The Conversation Turns Humorous Again, and the Tutor Feels Embarrassed At Not Controlling the Class Well
• The Students Discuss the Idea of Training and Qualifications for Politicians, and Criticise Some Modern Ones
• Daniel Criticises the Politicians Who Started the First World War Again, and Then Finally Gets to the Point He Was Really Leading Up To All Along
• Other Students Join In the Criticisms of Old War Leaders
• The Students Start Telling Politician Jokes
• One Student Criticises Some Criticisms of the More Caring Politicians
• The Students Start Talking Seriously About War and Politicians Again, Only For Humour to Break Out Once More
• The Students Start Imagining How it Would Be If Most Soldiers Refused to Fight
• The Students Discuss Whether Violence Is In the Genes, Versus Other Ideas About How Some People Get to Be Warlike, And There's More Humour
• The Students Talk About How Humans Have Lots of Genes in Common With Other Plants and Animals, and Then Have a Laugh
• The Students Discuss Reasons Why Marrying Close Relatives Increases the Risk of Birth Defects in the Children
• The Students Worry Over the Idea of Eating Food From Plants and Animals With Unhealthy Genes, But Then They Start Joking Again
• The Subject Gets Back to Aggression Genes Again
• The Tutor Finally Manages to Bring the Topic of Conversation Back to Something Relevant
• 3. Becky Helps a Friend, Clare, Who's Worried About Her Little Brother's Behaviour, and They Discuss Misdiagnosing Medical Problems and Other Things
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• Becky and Clare Discuss What Might Be Wrong With Clare's Brother
• Becky and Clare Make Each Other Laugh
• Becky and Clare Talk About Common Regrets of People Who Are Dying
• Becky and Clare Talk About People Being Encouraged to Try to Make the Most of Their Last Months of Life
• The Two Friends Talk About Misdiagnosing Medical Problems, and How Clare's Mum Had a Lucky Escape From Death
• Clare and Becky Have a Laugh With a Friend
• The Topic of Conversation Turns to Worrying About Having Serious Medical Problems, and Clare Tells Becky About Things That Happened to Her Mum
• The Conversation Becomes Humorous Again For a While, When Becky and Clare Meet Another Friend
• Becky Begins to Tell Clare About Some Thoughts She Has About Parents Misdiagnosing Their Children With Certain Medical Problems
• Becky and Clare Meet Another Friend, and Have a Bit of a Laugh Again
• The Friends Discuss People With Annoying and Strange Habits, Extreme Politics, and Why Raising Taxes Won't Always Make a Government More Money
• Becky Begins to Tell a Wacky Story
• Becky Tells Clare More of Her Theory About Why Some Parents Can Misdiagnose Their Children With Certain Medical Conditions
• Becky and Clare Have Fun Talking About People Embarrassing Other Family Members, and Tell a Few Stories About Doing it Themselves
• Becky Finishes Telling the Wacky Story She Started Earlier
• 4. The Strange New Tutor Who Can't Control the Class, and Doesn't Even Seem to Want To Most of the Time At First
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• The New Tutor Puzzles the Students By the Way She Introduces Herself
• The Tutor Talks About Problems She Had Trying to Be a Counsellor
• The Students Talk and Joke About Being Forgetful
• The Tutor Talks More About Problems She Had When Trying to Be a Counsellor
• The Tutor Talks About an Anxiety Condition Where People Feel That Things Around Them Are Unreal
• The Tutor Talks About Things That Put Her Off Talking to Her Friends and Family
• The Students Ponder Over What Motivational Speaking Involves, and One Tells a Joke
• The Tutor Talks About How a Suggestion She Gave Her Mum as to How to Encourage Her Sister to Do Her Homework Wasn't Well Received
• A Student Tells Stories, Including a Controversial One, That Teach That Criticising Less and Complimenting More Can Motivate Others to Change
• The Student Talks About How People Often Get Annoyed Or Upset Because They Take Things Too Personally
• One Student Tells a Story About an Annoying Man She Argued With and Made Fun Of On an Internet Forum
• A Student Talks About How People Can Be Angry For Bad Reasons, and When Anger Can Be Good
• A Student Talks About Bad and Better Ways of Handling Insults
• A Student Talks About a Questionnaire That Showed How People Can Jump to Wrong Conclusions About People Just By Interpreting One Thing Wrongly
• The Tutor Talks About Herself Again, As If She Thinks It's More Important Than Giving a Lecture, and Then Realises There's No More Time For It
• At the Start of What's Supposed to Be the Second Lecture, There Are Still No Signs That One Will Actually Happen
• The Tutor Tells the Students Personal Details About Herself They Think She Should Be Keeping To Herself
• The Students Tell Funny Stories, the First Make-Believe, and the Others Apparently True
• The Tutor Starts Talking About Getting Around to Teaching Them, And They Challenge Her About Whether She'll Do a Good Job, and End Up Joking
• The Tutor Finally Gives As Much of the Lecture As There's Time For, About Coping With People With Dementia Who Get Aggressive, and Reasons Why They Do

Book Three: Fun and Discussion During Becky Bexley's Second Year of University

• 1. The Students Discuss Unintended Bad Consequences of Government Policies and Other People's Actions, and Sometimes Break to Have a Laugh
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• One Student Starts Joking
• One Student Talks About the Harm Caused by the Kinds of Plastics that End Up in the Ocean and the Problems Banning Them Could Cause
• The Topic of Conversation Turns Mostly Humorous for a Little While
• The Student Talking About the Problems of Banning Plastic Bags and the Harm Discarding Them Where They Shouldn't be Dumped can Cause Says More
• There's a Break for Some Humour
• A Student Tells the Others About How Trees Don't Always Help Diminish Global Warming, and Some Can Even Make it Worse
• The Student Who's Been Talking About Problems With Plastics Tells the Others About Solutions That are Being Tried
• The Subject of Problems With Using Palm Oil and a Campaign to Boycott it Comes Up
• The Student Talking Tells the Rest About the Problem of Birds Being Killed by Crashing Into Wind Turbines
• The Conversation Becomes Humorous Again
• The Discussion Turns to Unintended Consequences of Government Policies like Introducing Treatment Targets in the Health Service
• There's More Humour for a While
• The Students Talk About Health Service Targets Again, Along With Some Problems of Working and Living in Deprived Areas, and Patients Missing GP Appointments
• One Student Amuses the Others by Telling Them About a Conversation They Had Online With a Wisdom Bot
• The Students Talk About Problems With Targets Brought in for the Police to Cut the Crime Rate
• The Mood Turns Light-Hearted Again
• The Students Talk About Criminals Being Given Unfairly Lenient Sentences
• The Conversation Becomes Amusing Again for a While
• The Topic of Discussion Turns to Problems in the Police Again, and Problems With Cutbacks Made by the Government and Businesses
• The Conversation Turns Humorous Again
• The Topic of Discussion Turns to Problems With the Policy of Care in the Community and the Amount of Time the Police Spend With Mentally Ill People
• The Topic of Unnecessary 999 Calls and Ways of Dealing With the Problem Comes Up
• A Student Tells the Others About Daft 999 calls
• One Student Talks About a Humorous Conversation They Had, and Then the Topic Turns to Driving in a Risky Way While High on Cannabis
• There's a Mostly-Humorous Discussion of Therapy, Psychologists and Statistics
• The Conversation Gets Back to the Subject of Problems With Such Things as Performance Targets
• Some Silliness Breaks Out as the Students Have a Laugh Again
• The Students Discuss More Unintended Consequences of Attempts to Improve Medical Treatment
• One Student Tells the Rest About a Novel Experiment That Saved Lives by Reducing Accidents on Oil Rigs
• The Conversation Becomes Amusing Again
• 2. The Daft Philosophy Game
• 3. A Long Discussion About the State of the World, Which is Sometimes Humorous
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• One Student Tells the Others They've Met Up With About a Dream of a Lifetime Turning Bad
• The Students Talk About Accidental Scientific Discoveries That Have Benefited the World
• The Students Talk About the Benefits of New Inventions, and Other Things That Have Been Done to Improve the World, Sometimes Humorously
• The Discussion Becomes More Humorous
• The Students Talk About How Some Countries Have Been Transformed From Poor Ones to Rich Ones, Mostly After Improvements in Government Policies
• The Students Talk About the Ways the World's Been Made a Better Place, Especially in the Last Century
• Some Humour Breaks Out
• The Conversation Gets Back to the Topic of the World Getting Better, and Then the Subject Turns to the Vietnam War
• The Conversation Becomes Amusing Once Again
• The Students Talk About War Again, and a Coup
• The Students Find Something to Joke About
• The Students Talk About the World Getting Better Again
• The Topic of Corruption in Africa Comes Up, and Then Other Subjects Like the British Empire and Slavery
• The Students Indulge in Some Humour Again For a Little While
• The Students Talk About Slavery and the British Empire Again, as Well as Bad Working Conditions, and Problems That Were Caused When India was Given Independence
• Some Humour Breaks Out Again
• The Subject of Colonialism Briefly Comes Up Again, and Then the Topic Turns to Corruption in Some Countries
• The Students Find Something to Joke About
• The Students Talk More About Corruption in Africa
• The Conversation Turns to the Reasons Some Dictators Hold Elections and How They Rig Them, as Well as Some Dodgy Election Practices in the West
• After a Serious Comment, the Conversation Turns Humorous for a Little While
• The Subjects of Corruption and Bad Living Conditions Come Up Again
• One Student Tells the Rest About a Country Where Drastic Measures Were Taken to Try to Get Rid of Corruption
• One of the Group Starts Telling the Others About Tyrannical Dictators, and How it's in Their Interests to Keep Their People Uneducated and Poor
• One Student Tells the Others More About Humorous Banter she Had With People on a Forum
• The Student who Brought Up the Topic of Dictators Talks About Man-Made Famines
• One Student Tells the Others a Daft Humorous Story They Made Up
• The Student Talking About Dictators Explains Why Prices can Rise so dramatically in Some Developing Countries, and Says More About Man-Made Famines
• The Conversation Becomes Humorous Again for a While
• The Student Talking About Tyrants Tells the Others About Cruelty During Natural Disasters and Violence to Promote the Interests of Big Business
• The Students Need a Bit of Light Relief and Make a Few Jokes
• A Student Explains What can Increase the Chances of Revolutions Succeeding, and Says More About the Attitude of Some Dictators to the Public After Disasters
• The Conversation Becomes Amusing Again for a Little While
• The Student Talking About Tyrannical Regimes Says More About Them
• The Student Talking About Dictators Says Some Last Things About Them, and Then Suggests an Idea to Improve Elections in Democratic Countries

Book Four: Humour and Heavy Conversation During Becky Bexley's Second Year of University

• 1. Some of Becky's Student Friends Discuss Psychopaths, Sexual Abuse, Anger Management and Other Things
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• The Students Have a Conversation That Begins With a Bit of Humour
• The Topic of Psychopaths in Politics Comes Up
• The Topic of Conversation Turns to Tests for Psychopathy and Research into the Brains of Psychopaths
• A Conversation Starts About Harmful Business Practices
• The Conversation Turns Humorous for a While
• The Students Talk About Harm Being Caused by Businesses That Have Put Profit Before Safety Again
• After a Serious Comment, the Conversation Becomes Amusing Again
• The Students Talk About Psychopaths Again, and the Kinds of Careers That Particularly Attract Them
• One Student, Jessica, Tells a Partly-Humorous Story About Someone she Got to Know on a Forum who Seemed to Have Psychopathic Traits
• Jessica and the Others Talk About Excuses Men Have Given for Sexually Harassing Women, Making Jokes About Some of Them
• Jessica Talks More About the Man on the Forum who Seemed to be a Bit Psychopathic, and Tells a Story She Made Up About Him for Fun
• The Students Make a Few Jokes, Before Getting Serious Again
• The Students Talk About Sexual Abuse and its Effects on Victims, After Jessica Tells Them About Someone Whose Character She Misjudged on a Forum
• Jessica Talks About Why Some Abuse Victims are More Resilient Than Others, and Problems Caused When Victims Blame Themselves for Their Abuse
• The Subject of Parents Treating Children Badly in Ordinary Ways Comes up, Before the Conversation Becomes Darkly Humorous for a While
• Jessica Talks More About Misjudging People on Forums, and Then the Subject of Unintentionally Hurting People's Feelings Comes Up
• The Conversation Becomes Humorous for a While
• The Students Talk About Dating, Divorce, and Relationship Break-Ups
• The Conversation Turns Humorous Again for a While
• One Student Talks About Marriages Typically Going Through Several Good and Bad Stages
• The Students Talk About Hurt Feelings Again
• Jessica Tells the Others About a Dubious Anger Management Technique the Woman on the Forum She Talked About Before Recommended
• The Students Talk About Anger Being Expressed in Bad Ways
• The Students Make a Few Jokes Again
• The Students Discuss Anger Management Techniques
• The Conversation Turns More Humorous for a While Again
• The Subject Turns to Anger Management Techniques Again
• The Conversation Turns Humorous Again
• The Discussion Turns to the Topic of Anger Management Again
• Students Tell Stories and Express Opinions About Judging People Unfairly
• The Students Start Joking Again
• The Topic of Animals Having Personalities Comes Up
• 2. The Funny Story
• 3. Becky and Other Students Discuss Hitler, Psychopaths again, Prison Courses, Attempts to Prevent Crime, and Other Things
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• The Students Discuss Hitler, and Whether Politicians can Sometimes Get Support for Reasons That Have More to do with Feel-Good Emotions Than Logic
• A Student Tells the Rest About Interviews That Were Done With People in Extremist Groups About Their Motives
• The Students Tell Stories They've Heard About People With Prejudices Being Influenced to Change Their Views
• A Student Wonders if Something Creative Could Have Stopped Hitler, and Talks About Child and Adult Psychopaths and Attempts to Change Their Behaviour
• A Student Tells the Others About Things That Have Been Tried to Stop Psychopaths and Other Criminals Committing Crimes
• The Topic of Rehabilitation Courses in Prisons That Don't Seem to Work Well Comes Up
• The Conversation Becomes Fairly Amusing for a Little While
• The Topic of Conversation Turns to the Reasons Why Some People Can't Read and Write, and Schools Where Children Don't Get a Good Education
• Becky Tells a Story About a School Bully Who Was Influenced to Change his Behaviour
• One Student Tells the Others About a Program to Reduce Teenage Crime That Had Some Success
• The Students Talk About the Idea of Parenting Courses
• The Subject Turns to Ways of Resisting the Temptation to Do Things That are Nice But End Up Being Self-Destructive
• The Conversation Becomes Humorous
• The Students Talk About Prejudice
• One Student Talks About a Man Who Worked to Reduce Gang Violence, and They Discuss Other Attempts to Increase Peace Between Hostile Groups
• The Conversation Becomes Humorous Again
• The Students Talk More About Reasons for Bad Education in Some Schools and Ways of Improving Things
• The Subject of Reasons for Reading and Writing Difficulties Comes Up Again
• One Student Turns the Conversation Amusing Again
• One Student Tells the Others About Courses for Sex Offenders and Other Things That Have Had Unintended Consequences
• One Student Tells the Others Something Humorous
• One Student Tells the Others About a Charity Teaching Some Prisoners to Read and Write
• The Subject of Ineffective Prison Courses Comes Up Again
• The Students Talk About Lenient Prison Sentences, Reasons Why People Turn to Crime, and a Programme for Children Intended to Reduce Crime
• 4. One Student Tells the Rest About Wife Beaters and Their Motives
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• The Conversation Starts With Some Humour Mixed With One or Two Serious Comments
• One of the Group, Naomi, Starts Telling the Others About a Book She's Read About Men Who Beat Their Wives
• How Abusers Manipulate Their Partners and Other People into Not Blaming Them for Their Abuse but blaming other things, and Some Ways They Control Them
• Excuses Abusers can Make, and Myths About the Reasons Why Abusers Behave the Way They Do
• A Bit of Humour Breaks Out
• Naomi Talks About the Reasons Men Abuse Their Wives or Girlfriends, and Some Tactics They Use to Justify Themselves and Degrade Their Partners
• There's a Bit of Humour Again
• How Abusers Can Seem Nice to Outsiders, and Try to Deceive Even Their Partners Into Believing They're Not Abusive
• Some Ways Abusers Psychologically Abuse Their Partners, Including Being Jealous and Controlling
• How Some Abusers Seem to Have More Attractive Personalities Than Others
• Naomi Tells the Others What She's Learned About How Women Often Get Into Abusive Relationships
• The Conversation Becomes Amusing Again for a Little While
• Naomi Tells the Other Students About Warning Signs That a Man Will Turn Abusive
• Detecting Signs That a Relationship is Beginning to Get Abusive
• One of the Group Tells the Others an Amusing Story She Made Up
• When Abusers Seem Sorry for What They Did
• Naomi Talks About the Rewards Abusers Get From Their Abuse, Which are the Main Reason it Carries On
• Naomi Tells the Others About the Manipulation Tactics Abusers Use to Prevent Their Wives From Leaving Them When They Want to
• One Student Tells the Others Another Humorous Story
• How Abusive Men Grow Up to Be Abusers
• The Things Most Likely to Change Abusers
• Naomi Talks About The Safest Ways for Abused Wives to Leave Their Abusive Husbands

Book Five: Becky Bexley and the Atheist in the Priest's House

• 1. Deborah the Atheist Criticises Some of the Most Respected and Loved Parts of the Bible, and Judith the Christian Defends Them
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• One Girl Recounts a Joke Conversation she Had on an Internet Forum About her Being Very Very Old
• Deborah Criticises Some Commands Jesus Gave in his Sermon on the Mount About Such Things as Loving Enemies
• The Girls Talk About Jokes They Made and Tell Funny Stories
• Judith Tells the Girls About Some Jewish Rules and Regulations, Some of them New Ones
• Judith Explains More About Old Testament Laws That Declare Some Animals Unclean, and Talks about Illnesses That Can be Caused by Eating Some of them
• Judith Relates What She Says About Little Jewish Rules and Regulations to the Sermon on the Mount
• The Girls Joke About the Weather, Time Zones, Misheard Words and Other Things
• Judith Says a Bit More About the Sermon on the Mount, and the Way Jesus Criticised the Jewish Religious Leaders of the Time
• The Girls Make Jokes Again
• Deborah Criticises Jesus for Commanding People to Forgive Others, and Judith Defends What he Said
• Tracy Turns the Conversation Humorous, by Telling the Others About a Game of Insults on a Forum
• The Conversation Turns to Discussion of Heaven, and Whether Souls Really Exist
• The Girls Begin Joking Again
• Deborah Objects to the idea That Babies Have to be Baptised to Enter Heaven, and Judith Explains That the Bible Doesn't Say that
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Deborah is Sceptical of Whether Heaven can Really be All That Good, and Then One of the Girls Jokes About What it Might be Like
Judith and Deborah Discuss Heaven Seriously Some More
• 2. Deborah Challenges Judith to Explain Why God Allows Suffering, and They Discuss Wars and Cruelty Committed in the Name of Christianity Over the Centuries
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• Deborah and Judith Discuss the Reasons Why God Allows Suffering
• The Discussion Diverges Onto Cults
• Deborah Talks About Criticisms She's Heard About the Organisation Mother Teresa Set Up
• There's a Humorous Interlude
• Deborah Tells the Group More of What She's Read About Conditions in Homes Mother Teresa Founded
• Deborah and Judith Discuss More About Suffering
• One Girl Makes Jokes About the Idea of the Book of Genesis Being Meant to be Scientific; and then Jesus' Crucifixion Comes Up in the Conversation
• Judith and Deborah Talk More About the Reasons Why God Allows Suffering
• Deborah and Judith Discuss What the Tower of Babel Story in Genesis Was Really About
• The Girls Talk and Joke About How God Can Possibly Hear Everyone's Prayers, and Then They Joke About the Idea of God Doing Everything Everyone Wants
• The Conversation Gets Back to the Subject of Why God Allows Suffering
• Deborah Talks About How it Seems Most Top Scientists are Atheists, Before the Discussion Returns to the Reasons Why God Allows Suffering
• The Girls Have a Break for Some Humour
• Judith Talks About Old Testament Laws Designed to Prevent Some Disease, and Then Deborah Asks Why Jesus Couldn't Have Educated People About Cures
• The Girls Joke About Some People's Idea That Sport is a Modern Substitute for War, and About Some Sport in General
• Judith Talks About the Different Motives for the Crusades
• The Conversation Becomes Amusing for a While, as One Girl Recounts a Joke She Made on an Internet Forum
• Judith Talks About the Reasons for the Spanish Inquisition
• The Discussion Turns to the Idea of Catholic Communion, Before Becoming Humorous
• The Discussion Turns to Such Topics as Extremism and its Causes, Forced Conversions and Hostility
• Deborah Brings up the Idea That Christianity was Invented to Control People, and Judith Disputes it
• Deborah Asks Why Early Christian Leaders Let Themselves be Martyred Instead of Using Their Supposed Gifts of Healing to Convert Hostile Authority Figures
• 3. Deborah and Judith Debate the Most Gruesome Parts of the Bible
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• Deborah Protests About Gruesome Old Testament Passages About God's Punishments, and Asks How Judith Could Possibly Think of him as a God of Love
• Deborah's Views Cause Controversy and Hurt Feelings in the Group
• The Conversation Turns Humorous for a While
• Judith Starts to Explain a Theory About Why God Comes Across as Harsh in the Old Testament but Loving in the New Testament
• Deborah and Judith Discuss the Fairness of the Command Jesus Gave About Divorce
• Some Zany Humour Breaks Out About Dating
• Judith Talks More About the Theory About the Reason for God Being Harsh in the Old Testament but Kinder in the New Testament
• The Subject of Terrible Working Conditions in Victorian Factories and Mines Comes Up, and Then Judith Says a Bit More About the Bible
• The Girls Joke About Such Things as Poems and Teasing People for Fun on Internet Forums
• Judith Talks About What Old Testament Prophets Said About the Crimes Committed in the Society They Lived in, and Finishes her Explanation of God's Harshness
• Deborah and Judith Discuss a Bible Passage That Says God Ordered the Israelites to Kill an Entire Tribe of People
• One of the Girls Tells the Rest About How She Responded With Humour When Christians Were Insulted by Atheists on a Forum
• Deborah Criticises the Bible Story of the Israelite Conquest of Canaan, and Judith Responds
• Deborah Wonders if the Old Testament was Just Made Up by Primitive Political Leaders for Such Purposes as Trying to Lower the Crime Rate
• Deborah Protests That Surely God Could have Thought of More Intelligent Ways to Punish People Than Making Whole Societies Suffer
• One Girl Relates Humorous Stories About Conversations She's Had With Atheists Who've Argued With her on Forums
• Deborah Brings Home the Horror of the Bible Story of the Great Flood in the Time of Noah, and Challenges Judith to Justify it
• The Conversation Turns Humorous Again
• Judith Talks About Some of the Nasty Things Going On in the World Nowadays, to Illustrate How Cruel Parts of Old Testament Societies Might have Been
• The Girls Crave Some Light Relief, and Some Humour Breaks Out Again
• A Conversation Starts About Evolution, Which Soon Turns Humorous
• The Conversation Becomes More Serious, but Soon Lapses Into Humour Again
• Judith Talks About Old Testament Passages Where God Does Come Across as Kind and Caring
• Deborah Protests About Some Savage-Sounding Old Testament Laws, and Judith Tries to Explain Them, After the Conversation Briefly Becomes Humorous Again
• One Girl Tells Jokes She Made up About the Idea of Weak and Strong Atheists
• Deborah Asks Judith Why the Bible Condones Slavery
• Deborah Asks Judith if She'd Defend Bible Passages No Matter What They Said, and They Discuss Whether God Ever Gives Permission to Disobey his Commands
• Judith Tells a Personal Story about What she Believes was an Answer to Prayer

Book Six: Becky Bexley Leaves University and Works for a Radio Station

• 1. Just Before The Students Start Some Serious Exam Revision, They Reminisce and Talk About Things in the Park
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• One Student, Anne, Talks About Her Memories of People She Once Knew, Whose Opinions She Decides to Seriously Criticise, For Some Reason
• The Students Tell Each Other Funny Stories They've Heard and Read
• 2. The Students Discuss Alcohol, and Various Other Things
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• Anne Tells the Others About When She Used to Drink to Dull Her Mind to Help Her Tolerate a Very Boring Class, and How She Managed to Give Up the Habit
• Two Students Tell Strange Little True Stories
• The Students Discuss the Effects of Alcohol
• The Students Discuss Brain Power - or the Lack of it, Reducing the Risk of Dementia, and Such Things as Motivation to Study
• The Students Talk More About Research Into What Might Reduce and Increase the Risk of Dementia, Pausing for a Bit of Light-Hearted Chat Sometimes
• The Discussion Turns to the Effects on Children of Toxins in the Environment
• There's a Bit of Humour
• Anne Talks More About What She Did to Try to Motivate Herself to Stop Drinking Before Her Stressfully Tedious Class
• The Students Discuss the Finding That the More Educated a Person Is, the Less Difficulty the Brain Seems to Have Recovering From Injury Up to a Point
• 3. Becky and Other Students Try to Help a Couple of People With Insomnia
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• One Student Complains That His Body Clock's Rhythms Have Been Messed Up By Nights Spent Awake Revising, So He's Developed Insomnia
• Becky Gives the Student Advice, First Talking About How Morning Sunlight Can Help Reset the Body Clock
• Becky Explains About How Worrying About Insomnia Can Make it Worse
• The Conversation Becomes Humorous For a While
• Becky Talks About How Exercise During the Day Can Make People Sleepier At Night, as Long as it Isn't Near Bedtime
• One Student Starts Making Joke Suggestions About Ways the Student With the Sleeping Problem Can Deal With it
• Becky Gives the Student Advice on Giving Up Habits That Can Make it More Difficult to Sleep
• Becky Advises Another Student, Graham, on How His Mum Can Gradually Wean Herself Off the Sleeping Pills She Thinks She's Addicted To
• The Students Start Telling and Making Jokes Again
• Becky Mentions Some Physical Things Such as Vitamin Deficiencies That Can Cause Insomnia
• Becky Gives Graham Some Reassurances to Pass On to His Mum, and Recommends Techniques She Can Use to Stop Herself Worrying About Not Sleeping
• Becky Talks About Practical Ways of Making the Bedroom a More Soothing Place to Try to Get to Sleep In
• Some Humour Breaks Out Again
• Becky Mentions That There Are Medications, as Well as More Physical Problems, That Can Stop People Sleeping Well
• Becky Advises That Graham's Mum Does Things to Unwind Before She Goes to Bed So She's More Relaxed When She Does, So Sleep Might Come Easier
• Some Students Turn the Conversation Light-Hearted and Humorous Again
• Becky Starts to Tell Graham About Some Relaxation Techniques His Mum Could Use to Try to Get to Sleep
• The Students Start Making Jokes Yet Again
• The Students Discuss One or Two Things That Might Soothe Babies and Help Them Get to Sleep
• 4. Becky Gets a Phone Call From an Old Friend Who's Been Feeling Down and Needs Cheering Up
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• Becky Tells Tina an Amusing Story She Was Told By Someone At the Radio Station, and About a Funny Old Memory
• Becky Gives Tina a Bit of Advice About Easing Pain, and Trying to Stop Depression Getting Worse
• Becky and Tina Have a Laugh
• Becky and Tina Talk About Daft-Sounding Theories, Confessions, and Good Ideas

Book Seven: Becky Bexley's Advice on the Radio, her University Lecture and Television Work

• 1. Becky Gives Some Students from her Old University a Lecture About Forgiveness
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• Before Her Lecture, Becky Chats With Some of the Students she Used to Know, One of Whom Makes Fun of a Jane Austen Novel
• Becky Starts Her Lecture by Talking About People Who've Found Forgiveness Helpful
• Some Things That can Get in the Way of Forgiving, and How Anger can Damage the Quality of Life of the Person Who's Been Harmed and People Around Them
• The First Stage of Forgiveness, According to the Author of the Self-Help Book on it
• How it can Help to Get Anger Out of the System Before Forgiving, and More on How Anger can Affect the Person Trying to Forgive and Those Around Them
• Dealing With Guilt and Shame Over Any Part a Person Thinks They Played in What Happened to them, or Shame Caused by Thoughts About What Others Must Think
• More About the Harmful Effects of Anger, and Getting it and Other Upsetting Feelings Out of the System
• The Possible Benefits of Comparing the Quality of Life of the Person Trying to Forgive With the One Who Harmed Them
• Grieving Over Injuries Caused by the Offender, and Thinking About How Opinions of People, Life and the World Have Been Changed by the Offences
• Writing About Attitudes to Forgiveness Itself
• Giving Up Thoughts of Revenge
• Thinking About Such Things as How the Offender Turned Into the Person They Became, to Try to Increase Understanding of Their Behaviour
• Thinking About Whether the Person who Did the Harm Has Actually Done Good Things Too
• Thinking About Whether Any Spiritual or Religious Beliefs Can Help the Forgiveness Process
• Writing About Feelings Towards the Offender, and Comparing Them With What They Were Like Earlier in the Forgiveness Process to See if They're Improving
• Accepting the Hurt Emotions Caused by the Harm That was Done
• Doing Something That Signifies Giving a Token of Forgiveness to the Offender
• Thinking About Whether Anything Positive Has Come From the Suffering, or if it Could
• People Trying to Forgive Could Think About Whether They Themselves Have Ever Felt the Need for Forgiveness, so They Know What It's Like to Want it
• Seeking Support From Others, and Possibly Providing Support to People Suffering Similar Things
• Finding a New Purpose in Life as Emotional Healing Continues
• The Experiences of Some People Who Tried Forgiving Others
• Thinking About the Progress Towards Forgiveness That's Been Made
• Going Through the Forgiveness Process Again to Forgive Other People or Offences, or if Anger With the One Already Forgiven Comes Back
• 2. Becky and Other Students Have Fun on the Internet
• 3. Becky Advises a Man Who Writes to Her to Ask for Help Because his Girlfriend has Threatened to Break Up with Him Because of his Extreme Jealousy
• 4. Becky Works on a Television Documentary About Tobacco Companies Promoting Smoking to Children in Africa

Book Eight: Becky Bexley's Anxiety Lectures

• 1. Becky Gives Lectures on Getting Over Anxiety Problems to Students and Others at her Old University
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• A Few Days Before her First Lecture, Becky Has an Amusing Conversation With her Auntie Diana
• Becky Starts her First Lecture by Telling the Group About a Story of Someone's Recovery from a Phobia by Using an Unusual Technique
• Becky Explains About How Fear of Fear Often Makes Anxiety Worse
• Becky Describes One Way Fear Symptoms Can Begin to Come On
• Becky Talks About Becoming Less Frightened of Physical Fear Symptoms
• Becky Describes Some Relaxation Exercises People can Try
• A Breathing Technique
• A Muscle Relaxation Technique
• Imagining You're in a Private Special Place
• The Benefits of Relaxation Exercises
• Becky Explains More Advice She's Learned About How to Reduce Anxiety
• Mindfulness Techniques
• Becky Has Fun With Some of her Old Student Friends Before her Second Lecture
• Becky Starts her Second Lecture by Talking About Dealing With Panic Attacks, and Some Reasons for the Symptoms They Cause
• Trying Out Techniques to Calm Panic
• More About the Causes of the Physical Fear Symptoms Panic Attacks can Bring on
• Trying to Counteract Panicky Feelings and Thoughts
• Panic Attacks can be Automatically Brought on by the Brain if Part of it Mistakenly Thinks They're Needed
• Some Causes of Social Phobia and Other Phobias
• Becky Says More About Panic Attacks and Phobias
• Reassuring the Emotional Part of Your Brain
• Problems on the Way to Recovering from Panic
• Becky Has a Laugh With her Auntie Diana Before her Next Lecture
• Becky Starts her Third Lecture by Talking About Nervous Breakdowns
• Becky Talks About What to Do About Problems That can Seem Unsolvable When People are Feeling Really Anxious or Suffering From a Nervous Breakdown
• Getting Help to Solve Problems
• Anxiety After Returning Home After a Break Taken to Aid Recovery From a Nervous Breakdown
• Worrying About a Nervous Breakdown Returning
• More Problems a Nervous Breakdown or Constant Severe Anxiety can Cause
• People Suffering From Nervous Breakdowns can be Plagued by Intrusive Obsessive Thoughts
• Becky Talks About Nervous Breakdown Caused by Sorrow or Grief
• Becky Talks About Nervous Breakdown Caused by Guilt and Shame
• Some Ways Fear can Make People More Pessimistic and Worried
• Feeling Especially Bad in the Mornings
• Doing Something New
• Anxiety That's Triggered Off by Memories
• Before her Fourth Lecture, Becky Has a Laugh With some Old Student Friends
• Becky Begins her Fourth Lecture by Talking About Misinterpreting Other People's Actions During Bouts of Anxiety
• Becky Talks About Mistaken Beliefs Some People Have About Why it's Worth them Worrying
• Becky Talks About Common Errors People Make in Their Thinking That Increase Anxiety
• Controlling Worries by Resolving to Have a Worry Half Hour, and Doing all the Worrying in That
• The Benefits of Reducing Worry, and Other Ways of Reducing it
• The Body's Fight or Flight Alarm Signals can be Set Off Even When People are Just Imagining Scary Things
• Anxiety can Make People Feel Disconnected From Other People
• Becky Tells Stories About People Who Overcame Worry, Grief and Depression
• How a Woman Stopped Worrying and Found Peace by Thinking of the Law of Averages
• How Calculating the Law of Averages Helped a Fruit Distributor Stop Worrying
• The Man Who Nearly Died Before Deciding Not to Waste Life Worrying
• How Not Worrying But Using a Problem-Solving Technique Helped Someone Avoid Imprisonment and Torture
• How an Engineer Managed to Stop Worrying
• The Woman Who was Helped to Get Over Depression by Helping a Couple of Orphans
• How Someone Discovered a Cure for His Grief
• Becky Has More Fun With her Old Student Friends Before her Fifth Lecture
• Becky Begins her Fifth Lecture by Talking About Ways of Sleeping Better
• Becky Talks About People's Emotional Needs, and How to Meet Them so as to Reduce Anxiety
• The Need for Security
• The Need to Receive and Give Attention
• The Need for Control
• The Need for Privacy
• The Need to Feel Connected to the Wider Community
• The Need for a Close Friendship or Relationship
• The Need for Some Kind of Status
• The Need for Mental Challenges
• The Need for a Sense of Meaning and Purpose in Life
• Some Benefits of Working Towards Getting Emotional Needs Met
• Becky Talks About Planning to Change Life for the Better
• Combating Negative Discouraging Thoughts
• Increasing Confidence by Standing Up to Criticism
• Becky Has More Fun Listening to Stories Told by a Student Before her Last Lecture
• Becky Begins her Sixth Lecture by Talking About how Anxiety can be Decreased by Finding Amusement in Life
• Thinking About What's Going Right in your Life
• Becky Talks About How People can Develop a More Optimistic Attitude to Succeeding in Life
• Becky Talks About the Importance of Living a Healthy Lifestyle
• Exercise
• Eating a Healthy Diet
• Keeping Occupied can Help Anxiety Symptoms Fade
• The Way Attitudes of Family Members can Affect Someone With Severe Anxiety
• Becky Talks About Relapses Where the Anxiety Comes Back Again
• Becky Talks About Making a List of Anxiety-Provoking Situations to Gradually Work on Feeling Less Anxious About Going Into
• Becky Gives Advice About Not Becoming Discouraged by Setbacks While Working Through the List of Anxiety-Provoking Situations
• Becky Gives One or Two Tips for People Who are Really Bothered About Blushing in Public
• Becky Tells Some Stories About People Who Recovered From Anxiety