191 ratings | 149 reviews | avg rating:4.06

Neil’s Year In Books

Neil’s 2025 Year in Books

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Neil MacDonald

Goodreads Author

Born

Dundee, The United Kingdom

Website

https://neilmacdonaldauthor.com/

Genre

Nonfiction, Contemporary, Thriller

Member Since

March 2014

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I was born in Dundee, Scotland and raised in Jamaica. I have a PhD in genetics and started my working life as a scientist. From there, I moved through journalism (the last profession of the gentleman) and publishing to working for international aid organisations.

I have always written, one way or another, and am the author of five current affairs books on Latin America and the Caribbean, and most recently, in 2013, Cautionary Tales for Development Workers, a collection of stories about international aid.

Over the last several years I have been serving my apprenticeship in fiction and my debut literary thriller,The Tears of Boabdil, is out in September 2020. My historical fantasy novel A Prize of Sovereigns. was serialised on BigWorldNework ...more

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Combine Editions
Neil MacDonald’s books

Average rating: 4.3 · 50 ratings · 45 reviews · 15 distinct works

	The Tears of Boabdil 4.35 avg rating — 46 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cautionary Tales for Development Folk 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Caribbean: Making Our Own Choices really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Andes (Oxfam Country Profiles Series) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1992	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Central America: Options for the Poor 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hard Lessons: Report of a N.U.T./W.U.S.Delegation to El Salvador 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	With Full Conviction 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Western Way 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Eachunn agus an Tarbh: Hector and the Bull 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Palliative Medicine: A case-based manual by Neil MacDonald (2012-05-04) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Neil MacDonald's Blog

199. Articial Intelligence vs Author

How good is AI nowadays at writing stories?

I decided to put this to the test, using ChatGPT. I took the prompt from this week’s Friday Fictioneers group, which is this photograph,

PHOTO PROMPT © Lori Wilson

Friday Fictioneers is a weekly challenge to write a 100 word story based on a photo prompt.

My first prompt and resulting story wre the following:

Write me a 100 word story based on a small

Neil is Currently Reading

Neil MacDonald is currently reading

Close Quarters (To the Ends of the Earth, #2)

by William Golding

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Feb 15, 2026 11:30AM

Neil MacDonald is currently reading

The Tears of Boabdil

by Neil MacDonald (Goodreads Author)

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Jul 30, 2024 05:26PM

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Neil MacDonald wrote a new blog post 199. Articial Intelligence vs Author How good is AI nowadays at writing stories?I decided to put this to the test, using ChatGPT. I took the prompt from this week’s Friday Fictioneers gr Read more of this blog post »
Feb 22, 2026 03:42AM · like
Neil MacDonald wants to read The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 21, 2026 08:58AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Neil MacDonald is currently reading Close Quarters (To the Ends of the Earth, #2) by William Golding	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 15, 2026 11:30AM · like
Neil MacDonald rated a book really liked it Rites of Passage (Sea Trilogy) by William Golding	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This story, which won Golding the Booker Prize, is a deceptively simple one. Edmund Talbot, a smug and affected aristocrat is bound for Australia on a converted man of war in the early nineteenth century. The ship becomes a microcosm of English socie ...more
Feb 15, 2026 11:27AM · like · see review
Neil MacDonald wants to read The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 29, 2026 09:00AM · like
Neil MacDonald is currently reading Rites of Passage (Sea Trilogy) by William Golding	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 29, 2026 08:59AM · like
Neil MacDonald finished reading The Scorpion God: With an introduction by Craig Raine by William Golding	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 28, 2026 05:58PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Scorpion God by William Golding. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Scorpion God by William Golding <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Neil MacDonald rated a book really liked it The Spire by William Golding	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
William Golding’s The Soire is a novel about obsession. Jocelin. Dean of the Cathedral, dreams of adding a tall spire, even though the building lacks adequate foundations. Golding’s stream of consciousness prose captures Jocelin’s growing madness, as ...more
Jan 26, 2026 03:43PM · like · see review
Neil MacDonald is currently reading The Scorpion God: With an introduction by Craig Raine by William Golding	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 16, 2026 04:40PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Scorpion God by William Golding. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Scorpion God by William Golding <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Neil MacDonald finished reading The Spire by William Golding	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 15, 2026 05:02PM · like