Trevor Harley weather consciousness mental illness

Welcome to my site.

Keyword summary of content

Weather, Weather and Behaviour, Severe Weather in Britain, Consciousness, Language, Mental illness, Depression, Anxierty, Meaning of Life, Death, Dreams

Short biography. I am Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Dundee, Scotland, and a writer, science journalist, public speaker, and comedian. I was formerly Chair of Cognitive Psychology at Dundee, where I was Head of Department and then Dean from 2003 until 2014. I am a Fellow of the BPS (British Psychological Society). I am author of several books, including The Psychology of Weather, the best-selling text The Psychology of Language, currently in its fourth edition, Talking the Talk, and The Science of Consciousness. My research interests are wide, including language, consciousness, sleep, dreams and their meaning, ageing, futurology, and psychology and the weather. I have suffered all my life from severe anxiety and depression, another topic of my research, and write, talk, and blog about it. I provide this site as a resource for people interested in the weather, consiousness, language, and mental illness. In general my research and interests are about how we can maximise and achieve our potential, and why we behave as we do. Feel free to contact me at the email address below.

Links to my pages

About me. For an extended biography.

Books. For details of my books,including:

The Psychology of Language

Talking the Talk

The Psychology of Weather

The Science of Consciousness

Science and Psychology

My novel Fit for a King, and more.

Weather. Information about severe weather events in Britain, recent weather, the British weather and climate, and material related to my book The Psychology of Weather, including research on the topic of the weather and behaviour. How does weather affect us? Or do you just want to know what the weather was like in a particular month or on a special date? I update these pages at least once a month, usually more often.

Language. Material related to my psychology of language books and psycholinguistics research.

Consciousness. Material related to my consciousness book The Science of Consciousness, and consciousness research, particularly sleep, dreams, and higher and altered tates of consciousness. Here you will find additional information, as well as clarifications and any corrections to the text, plus as many resources on consciousness as I have time to add. I have kept a dream diary for many years. I update these pages very frequently.

Mental illness. My struggles with mental illness. My blog on mental illness, whatisthemeaningofmylife, is now hosted on these pages, and new entries can also be found with here. It particularly deals with depression and anxiety, and how they relate to trying to find meaning in life. I also talk about the meaning of life in general, and my fear of death.

Chess. I am a keen (if distinctly average) chess player. I am interested in the psychology of chess playing, particularly at the sub-grandmaster level, and how we can all become better players - at any age. I have written several guest blogs on improving at chess. You can also find information about my suggested chess self-improvement plan.

Photography. I am a keen photographer, particularly of landscapes and scenes with scientific interest (such as the weather). I have sold some of my photographs to science texts, and the BBC have featured several of my photographs on their weather forecasts with the handle "Perdix". See here for some of my photographs.

Follow me on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/trevor_harley/.

How to contact me

For all media and publishing enquiries please contact my agent Stuart Cooper [email protected].

Otherwise email me at:

[email protected]

Like everyone else I get submerged with spam, so if I haven't acknowledged your email within in a week or so the most likely explanation is that I missed it, so please just resend. I will answer all emails that I think are real (and not asking me for money) as soon as possible.

This site represents a great deal of work on my part. Please contact me if you wish to quote it at length, and please link to or cite it as appropriate:

https://www.trevorharley.com

If you think I have broken copyright in any way, particularly with the use of images, please let me know before sueing me for every penny I have (because I don't have very many). It's not my intention to exploit or offend anyone.

The software I use for putting this site together doesn't have a spellchecker so there are almost certainly typos. I correct them as I find them but life without a spellchecker is surprisingly difficult. Feel free to email me about any particularly egregious ones.

I am an enthusiastic photographer and nearly all of the images on this site are mine. Photography is "painting with light", and the light depends on the weather.

Last updated

23 May 2025