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Publishers book summary:
Fathering
from the Fast Lane was
published in August 2001. It became a
national bestseller within two months and has featured on
numerous TV and radio presentations as well as newspaper and
magazine articles.
The
Author: Dr Bruce Robinson, Professor of Medicine at the University
of Western Australia Medical School, has been speaking on the
topic of work and family life to students and professional and
community groups for over twelve years. He is all too familiar
with the challenges of working 'in the fast lane': as a father
of three, he has had to balance his family life with the pressures
of being a practising lung specialist, leading a large cancer
research team, teaching medical students and attending international
conferences.
Why
the interviews of other men in this book?
When I started this book I wrote some text and included my own
experiences and ideas but it sounded a bit one-dimensional. After
all, I was only one man, with one particular personality and experience
of life. I had only one father and have only three children, each
with their own unique personality. These were not sufficiently
representative of a broader range of fathers.
To avoid this
problem I decided to look at statistics on fathering – as
a medical scientist, statistics are second nature to me. But useful
as they are, they are quite dry, and lack the personal element
that we all need to be able to relate to the issues. Also, I noticed
a lot of inaccuracy or even bias in much of the statistical work,
meaning that some of the data was of uncertain value.
I tried including a few things that I remembered hearing from
other dads that I knew, from friends, from patients or public
figures, but that was also limited because it relied on my memory
of what they said and was also only my interpretation of those
experiences. Realising that I needed a far broader range of more
personal experience if the book was going to be really useful,
I decided to interview a wide range of busy, successful men from
different walks of life.
Overall, from
all of these interviews there were many things that were common
but there were always lots of individual stories from each dad
and gems of ideas that I couldn’t wait to get down on paper.
I found them helpful, and I hope you do, too.
When I started to write this book I took the view that most busy
fathers fail in their job as fathers, so this would be a ‘collection
of confessions’. Instead, every person I spoke to had lots
of good ideas. They spoke frankly about their fathering and the
mistakes they had made. They described to me a lot of joy and
a lot of heartaches. None felt as though they deserved a gold
medal for their fathering. I have no doubt that the ideas and
experiences I have included in this book will be helpful to other
dads who are still on the journey of fathering at the present
time or who plan to start in the future. Some of the most valuable
bits of advice are those that start with the phrase, ‘If
I had my time as a dad all over again, I would … ’
Based on the
ideas, experiences and mistakes shared in the interviews, I present
to you a number of ideas and strategies for young dads. The goal
is to increase the chances that our children will live happy and
healthy lives and, when they sit around in middle age listening
to others talk about how bad or good their fathers were, our children
will say ‘my dad was a great dad’.
Some issues
talked about:
- How do I know what it is my kids really need?
- How can I work around my busy schedule to get time with my kids?
- Is ‘quantity’ or ‘quality’ of time most important?
- What does ‘quality time’ mean anyway?
- How can I make the most of the limited time I have?
- How can I make my job and my travel schedule work for me instead
of against me in my parenting?
- Is it possible to improve my fathering or do I just do what comes
naturally?
- How can I know if I am doing a good job as a dad before it is
too late to change?
- How can I help the young fathers that I work with to avoid the
mistakes I have made?
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Publisher's
comments about
the Author:
Dr Bruce Robinson is a practising lung
doctor, Professor of Medicine and the head of a large,
successful cancer research team. He has worked and studied in
the UK, USA and Australia. He has published over 150 scientific
papers, several medical books, and won several prestigious
awards, 3 for his research and 3 for his teaching in the
medical school. He is regularly invited to speak at conferences
around the world to discuss his research and experimental cancer
treatments.
With such a busy work and travel schedule he
knows what it is like to struggle with the balance of
professional life, family life and time away from his 3
children, Simon, Scott and Amy, and his wife, Jacqueline.
He has been lecturing on the subject of work
and family life for many years and is the author of the book
“Fathering from the Fast Lane”, which presents a host of
fathering ideas for busy dads. It became a best seller within 2
months of its release and was described by Dan Petre, former
Microsoft Vice-President as “a powerful and practical look at
fathering in all its many stages. A must-read for all men, be
they fathers or not”. It was listed in Choice Magazine’s ‘Top
Ten Books’ in 2001.
Since the rapid
success of this book he has been regularly asked to speak on the
subject of fathering to many different groups, including
schools, universities, churches, professional organisations,
mens health groups, business groups, rotary clubs and other
community groups. In 2004 he received a Family Service Award and
he has now lectured on topic of fathering in
Australia, Britain, the US, Canada and New Zealand. He is
currently completing UK and USA versions of this book and
writing on the topic of Daughters and their Fathers and
Father-figures.
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