Ask AltoTHE BOOK
The Alternative Is Unthinkable
We can live a certain way for so long that we stop asking whether it could be different.
Some things cannot change. Some are worth protecting. Others have simply gone unquestioned for years.
This book helps you work out which is which.
It will not tell you to stay, leave or start again. It helps you decide what to keep, what to question and what may still be possible.
Complete digital book and audio. £7.99, one payment. Permanent access.
Available from TAIU for £7.99. Read it on TAIU or download it for Kindle and other e-readers.
Written by Mark Eve and published exclusively by TAIU. Your purchase provides permanent access to read or listen on TAIU, or download the complete book as an EPUB for Kindle and other e-readers.
Questions the book asks
- Do I stay, or is it time to leave?
- What do I keep thinking about but never say out loud?
- Why does the same thing keep happening in my relationships?
- Whose idea of success am I living?
- Am I just tired, or is something no longer working?
- How much money would actually make me feel secure?
- Why am I so busy and still feel unseen?
- What is looking after everyone else costing me?
One life, looked at as a whole
Your health, money, work, love and family affect one another. The book helps you look at them together, without scoring or ranking your life.
Roots
Where it began
Family, place, money and the expectations you grew up with. Much of this was there before you had a say.
Trunk
You, now
The person you have become and what you are carrying today.
Branches
The parts of your life
Health, money, work, love and family. What happens in one part can affect the others.
Canopy
The whole picture
What your life looks like when you stop viewing each part on its own.
New growth
What might change
Something to try, reconsider or leave alone. Change is not always the answer.
Sunlight
What makes life feel alive
People, places, rest, beauty and ordinary moments. The things that make your life feel like yours.
Free to read
The prologue and three chapters are open to anybody. No account, no email address and no payment.
Free chapter
Prologue
Where the book starts, and why it asks what it asks. The best place to begin if you want to know how it reads.
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Who told you this was success?
Not your boss. Not LinkedIn. Somebody, a long time ago, and you have been quietly building towards their definition ever since.
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The life you inherited
Some patterns do not get chosen. They get inherited, from the house you grew up in, the relationships you watched and the things nobody explained.
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Enough
Money, security and the question of how much is enough. The complete chapter, free to read, with nothing to set up first.
Read this chapter free
What you get
One payment of £7.99, and the book is yours.
The book
£7.99 one payment
Complete digital book and audiobook. Read or listen on TAIU, or download the complete book as an EPUB for Kindle and other e-readers.
- Complete text: a prologue and 26 chapters in five parts
- A page based reader for phone, tablet and computer
- Audiobook chapters to listen to online
- EPUB download for Kindle and other e-readers
- Adjustable text size, spacing and page appearance
- Highlights, private notes and For later
- Saved reading position
- Permanent access
- Access to The Clearing, included
- One payment with no subscription
Written by Mark Eve and published exclusively by TAIU. Your purchase provides permanent access to read or listen on TAIU, or download the complete book as an EPUB for Kindle and other e-readers.
Digital book and audiobook · £7.99 · One payment
£7.99. One payment. Permanent access. No subscription is required. No account needed. Buy with your email address and your payment details.
Written by Mark Eve and published exclusively by TAIU. Your purchase provides permanent access to read or listen on TAIU, or download the complete book as an EPUB for Kindle and other e-readers.
After payment we send your copy to the address you paid with, with a secure link that opens the book. Your account is made from your purchase and keeps the book on every device you sign in on.
No subscription is required. No further payment is taken.
Sign in with a secure email link. There is no password to create or remember.
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Read it your way
Read the complete book here on TAIU, or download it for your Kindle or another e-reader.
Read on TAIU
The complete book on your phone, tablet or computer, with your place kept for you.
Download for Kindle or e-reader
The complete book as an EPUB file, yours to keep and read wherever you like.
What is in it
What if there were another way?
Five parts, 26 chapters and a prologue. The middle of the book is where the Tree arrives.
Part one. The life you arrived in
Where a definition of success came from, and how much of a life was decided before anybody thought to check.
- Who told you this was success?
- The life you inherited
- The person you became
- What is actually true?
Part two. The life you are living
The part that is already good, the part making the most noise and the question of what enough looks like.
- The good bit
- The branch in front of you
- EnoughFree to read
- Your dictionary
- Other people's definitions
- What are you protecting?
Part three. See the whole tree
One life seen at once. Roots, branches, weather, seasons and what growth actually is when it happens.
- Before the tree
- The tree
- Other people's trees
- Weather
- Seasons
- Damage, pruning and recovery
- New growth
Part four. The alternative
What we quietly rule out, what it would cost and how a person chooses anything without being certain.
- The things we make unthinkable
- What if there were another way?
- The alternative you don't like
- The cost of a different life
- Choice without certainty
Part five. The life that's left
What remains, what is handed on and the possibility that you would choose the same life again.
- What will be left?
- The life you are handing on
- This is good
- The alternative is unthinkable
The edition
Read it your way
One payment gives you permanent access to read or listen on TAIU, or download the complete book as an EPUB for Kindle and other e-readers. Text size, line spacing and a light, warm or dark page are yours to set, and the book reopens where you left it.
- Edition
- First edition
- Language
- British English
- Chapters
- 26 chapters and a prologue
- Price
- £7.99, one payment
This digital edition is published and sold exclusively by TAIU. Read or listen on TAIU, or download the EPUB for Kindle and other e-readers. There is no print edition yet and no date has been set for one.
Free to read
The prologue and three chapters are open to anybody. No account, no payment and no email address.
If something in the book stays with you, The Clearing gives you somewhere private to work through it. What is The Clearing?