The Books
My books come from experience. Some are personal. Some are practical. Some are provocative. But they share a common theme: what happens to us when life doesn't turn out the way we expected?
An examination of the rights and responsibilities of HIV-positive healthcare workers. Drawing on clinical debate and real-world experience, the book explores individual, managerial and state accountability — and the practical dilemmas faced by workers after diagnosis.
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A comprehensive guide aimed at both patients and clinicians. Covering epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and the patient's perspective, it reinforces the importance of compliance and creates a dialogue between those living with TB and the healthcare workers supporting them.
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The complete collection of Paul Thorn's HIV column from GT magazine, written over more than a decade. A candid, witty and deeply personal record of living with HIV through the years when everything was changing.
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Hailed as "a step change in the way we speak about HIV", this ground-breaking book presents a new philosophy for living with the virus. Long-term survivor Paul Thorn guides readers through a process of self-examination, showing how a happier life with HIV is not just possible — but achievable.
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"One of the best reads around if you're dealing with a broken heart." — The Sun. A step-by-step practical guide to healing a broken heart, from understanding the emotional pain of a relationship ending to using that pain to build a more whole and emotionally independent self.
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In 1995, Paul was infected with a multidrug-resistant strain of tuberculosis in a West London hospital outbreak. Aged 24, he spent three months in negative pressure isolation and was not expected to live. This is the diary he kept — a remarkable story of survival and a modern take on the great consumptive literature of the 19th century.
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A&U Magazine · Review
"HIV Happy offers a short and to-the-point, brutally honest yet much needed self-help read, in which the author shares his own experience of living with the virus, and details, with much clarity, the five pillars of living HIV happy… reaches many of us — HIV-positive or not — on a personal level, daring to touch on issues we often hesitate to talk about."
Alina Oswald's review in A&U Magazine describes HIV Happy as "a blueprint of living life to the fullest, while living with the virus" — one that speaks to anyone navigating change, loss, or the search for a better sense of self.
Read the full review →A&U Magazine · Interview
Read the full interview →"The most important relationship we can have is with ourselves. You occupy the top step of the pyramid… Sometimes, to rebalance things we have to be purposely selfish — in the most positive way."
— Paul Thorn, quoted in A&U Magazine
Coming next
Paul is currently writing a candid memoir about HIV, TB, activism, addiction, sobriety and the unexpected freedom of discovering that life can turn out differently from the way you imagined.
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