(67) REVIEW: "PARKINSON'S STORIES"

COMPARING RESEARCH ARTICLES & SHORT STORIES

Dear reader: apologies for the long Blog silence since December 2025 - I needed to recover from major surgery involving my prostate - I am a lot better now...Ari 

In Blog post 67, I am going to examine one difference between research articles and short stories, then offer an overview of Miller Caldwell's recent short stories' publication: "Parkinson's Stories". 

Within the research context and according to Hiebert, et.al. (2023) in the prologue (p.xvi) of their book, 'What Is Research, and Why Do People Do It?", educational research is: 

"the process of anticipating claims and checking if they are correct [and is] part of scientific inquiry, a research process used across all disciplines...and checking claims is formulating, testing, and revising hypotheses... [also] we define “hypothesis” as a potential explanation for something based on what is currently known but not yet proven, or as a tentative explanation for reported observations..."

Let's revisit the idea of a hypothesis as described by Hiebert, et.al (2023) above, namely, 'a potential explanation for something...currently known but not yet proven, or as a tentative explanation for reported observations'. Such 'reported observations' are exactly what Dr James Parkinson had observed, then presented in 1817 in "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy". They could also be what we see when we observe other People/Person with Parkinson's (PwP): therefore we have working hypotheses, right?

Let's reconsider the 'hypothesis': if I wrote my Blog posts as journal articles, then my potential audience would be mostly other academics in search of info and data on PD, and my hypotheses. However, I believe that my Blog audience is generally non-academic PwP, who would rather read about support systems and success stories from PwP. In other words, I should provide a simple description of events instead of a complex scientific explanation? Now, if the Blog posts are not journal articles testing hypotheses, i.e. 'a potential explanation for something...currently known but not yet proven', then they could be short stories that describe simple, working hypotheses, okay?

According to Ryan O'Neill (2023) in Writers on Writiing 

"... the length of the short story teaches discipline and economy in expression. Writing a novel is like flying a 747, with plenty of time for take-off, flight and landing. Writing a short story is like trying to get a plane off the ground as you are in the process of building it."

The absurd graphic of people building a plane while it is flying (courtesy of Shutterstock) attempts to illustrate the challenges of writing a short story compared to a novel, as described by O'Neill. In a short story (i.e. O' Neill's plane), the writer does not have the luxury of many chapters to develop the storyline as one would in a novel (i.e. O'Neill's 747). However, the power of a short story is in its length as the writer needs to pack a lot of content into a few pages. The short story focuses on description and on the "outer" appearance rather than a research article's scientific explanation, that generally focuses on "inner" detail. I hope that makes sense, dear reader.

So, Miller Caldwell's PD publication of short stories is an ingenious way of presenting a series of working hypotheses and simple descriptions - in the shape of short stories by PwP - to the worldwide community of PwP in an accessible format. Well done, Miller!

  

MILLER CALDWELL'S PD SHORT STORIES

An author of a few dozen published novels, Miller Caldwell, was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease a few years ago. He decided to compile a collection of short stories by individuals who have PD. Author selection would be based on responses to specific questions (see Request below) regarding the life of the PwP before PD, after diagnosis, and during the onset of PD, which provided a framework for each story. This Request for contributions was circulated online and internationally. 

The result has been a Miller Caldwell 2026 publication called "Parkinson's Stories". It is a charity book for Dundee University's Parkinson's Group generated by Troubador Publishing.               

Miller's Request served as a framework for contributors and it appears below. 

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REQUEST FOR STORIES (book, p.ix)

This book gathers stories from the Parkinson's community. With more than 40 symptoms, no two Parkinson's sufferers seem the same, even each day. I decided to make this book a useful expression of Parkinsonian experiences. I have asked these questions to people with Parkinson's Disease:

1. What did you do before you were diagnosed with PD?
2. Recall the moment you were diagnosed.
3. Were you working at the time and, if so, did your work put in place any adjustments?
4. How are you coping now?
5. What can you still do?
6. What cant you do now?

Please finish your narrative with a section entitled CURIOUS FACTS about yourself or your experiences. If you are willing, send a photo of yourself too. Please send them to me, and the book will emerge. Thank you to all who have contributed. 

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Below is another excerpt from the book that provides a brief overview of the book's content and appears on the Troubador Publishing site.

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 SYNOPSIS (from the Troubador Publishing site)

"A delightful collection of Parkinson’s stories from first diagnosis to brain surgery and creative cures.

Contributions from South Africa, Canada, the Netherlands, America, and many parts of the UK inform, entertain, and enlighten readers about this universal ailment.

In his Foreword, Professor Miratul Muqit speaks of the need for the medical profession to hear the responses and listen to the concerns of Parkinson’s sufferers.

This book is essential for all newly diagnosed cases. It explains how we adapt to our illness.

‘I have learned and continue to learn that each person is vital for determining treatment options to maximise response and quality of life. We also know a great deal more about the underlying biology that explains why brain cells in Parkinson’s may succumb with a promise of new treatments that could slow the disease that has to date remained elusive.’

- Professor Miratul Muqit, Dundee University"

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CONTENTS

"A delightful collection of Parkinson’s stories from first diagnosis to brain surgery and creative cures" is an accurate description of what you will encounter, dear reader, in the context of Parkinson's: mostly pieces of writing where most describe a set of working hypotheses and a few are scientific explanations of elements of PD and even foreseeing a cure.   

*There are 30 stories: 23 PwP from the UK (21 from Scotland & 2 from England), 3 from the USA (including a columnist), 2 from South Africa, 1 from Australia & 1 from Canada. Some of the professions of PwP represented are a poet, academics, medical personnel, sportsmen, a herbalist, farmers, researchers, landscapers, textile industrialists, and an author...

*Among the 29 contributors' gender, 8 are female and 21 are male.

*There is also a 2024 report from the American Parkinson's Disease Association regarding their advocacy for PD at government level.

What I found useful and in support of my earlier distinction between stories 

and research articles is the presence of 26 stories, 3 research reports (stories 28, 29 & 30) and a PD organisational report (story 9) all in one publication. An unlikely set of "bedfellows" to be found in a single book. 

In addition two stories are by senior spokespersons of Parkinson's UK and Alzheimer's UK both of whom are PwP. 

A useful addition in this book, especially for those newly or recently diagnosed PwP, is A BRIEF SUMMARY OF PD (pp xi - xiv) that includes a useful section of ADDITIONAL FACTS!

CONCLUSION

  
Where one might normally have to consult a "Parkinson's Disease Handbook" on how to treat and/or recognise PD - and it is likely to also contain technical language and/or jargon - Miller Caldwell's compilation of Parkinson's Stories contains an informative and entertaining collection of stories and information from PwP, as well as thoughts from a few medical researchers and a neurologist, for good measure!! And the stories' length varies from 1 page to 15 pages long.

An excellent book for anyone with or interested in reading about Parkinson's Disease...