Words Fail Us: In Defence of Disfluency

(Paperback, Main)

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'TIMELY' - David Mitchell
'OPEN-MINDED, THOUGHTFUL AND WISE... A LIBERATING BOOK' - Colm Toibin

In an age of polished TED talks and overconfident political oratory, success seems to depend upon charismatic public speaking. But what if hyper-fluency is not only unachievable but undesirable

Jonty Claypole spent fifteen years of his life in and out of extreme speech therapy. From sessions with child psychologists to lengthy stuttering boot camps and exposure therapies, he tried everything until finally being told the words he'd always feared: 'We can't cure your stutter.' Those words started him on a journey towards not only making peace with his stammer but learning to use it to his advantage.

Here, Jonty argues that our obsession with fluency could be hindering, rather than helping, our creativity, authenticity and persuasiveness. Exploring other speech conditions, such as aphasia and Tourette's, and telling the stories of the 'creatively disfluent' - from Lewis Carroll to Kendrick Lamar - Jonty explains why it's time for us to stop making sense, get tongue tied and embrace the life-changing power of inarticulacy.

Reviews

'A moving study of stuttering...remarkable' - Helen Davies

'Words Fail Us is a deep dive into disfluency, exploring its history, its science, its politics and its profile in a fluency-obsessed world. Jonty Claypole's book is timely, thoughtful, rich in fact and personal anecdote, and looks to a more enlightened, speech-diverse future.' - David Mitchell

'Comprehensive, open-minded, thoughtful and wise ... a liberating book.' - Colm Toibin

'Words Fail Us is one of those rare books - a piece of writing and thinking I hadn't realised I'd been waiting for until I read it. In this thoughtful and moving exploration of disfluency Jonty Claypole has written both a wonderfully engaging study on the history, causes and societal perceptions of speech disorders and an acutely argued call to arms, not just for the wider acceptance of communication diversity but also for an embracing of the creativity and originality of thought it can inspire.' - Owen Sheers

'Humane, thought-provoking, and rich in experiential detail.' - Guardian

Author Bio

Jonty Claypole is an arts leader, producer and writer. He received an MBE for his role supporting British culture through the pandemic.