Chris West

Two of the greatest interests in my life are psychology and history. I have been fortunate enough to write about both.

I studied counselling at Norwich City College in the 1990s, and was particularly intrigued by Transactional Analysis and the Karpman Drama Triangle - about which I have recently written a book, 'The Karpman Drama Triangle Explained', as I felt there was not a clear introduction available to this fascinating model of human behaviour.

I have written history since around 2010. My most recent history books are 'Landslide! How Big Ideas win Big Majorities (and have done for the last 120 years)', and 'Eurovision! - a History of Modern Europe through the World's Greatest Song Contest' (I've been a Eurovision fan since seeing the UK's Sandie Shaw pad to victory in 1967.) A third edition Eurovision! has just come out in time for this year's contest.

I also write on business, especially entrepreneurship. The Beermat Entrepreneur has become something of a classic in its genre. I co-authored it with a successful start-up founder, Mike Southon, in 2001, and a new edition came out in 2018. A new version of another joint work with Mike, 'Sales on a Beermat', is also available.

My first published writing was crime fiction, which I have always enjoyed reading. In the 1990s I wrote a series of crime novels set in mainland China - a first; nobody else was doing that at the time. The books are now being reissued as ebooks. Contemporary at the time, they are now almost historical. The 1990s were a special time in China.

I must admit that I tend to read classics more than modern literature. Especially the great C19 novelists like Tolstoy (despite current events) and George Eliot. I love the British tradition of humorous writing: I belong to the generation that grew up with Monty Python's Flying Circus. And I like poetry of a rather old-fashioned kind that rhymes: Hardy, Larkin... I also grew up with pop songs and rock lyrics, where rhyme was expected.

Thanks for visiting my page. I have a website, www.chriswest.info if you want to find out more. Happy reading!