Want to feel part of something special


Tertulia (what is it)
Tertulia is a spanish word for a circle of people who meet regularly to discuss literature, art, what’s going on in the world or just to gossip!
We all want to feel part of something and we envisage Tertulia as a space to reach out to people, provide a forum for stretching our assumptions about the world, enjoy a coffee, a glass of wine, a conversation, or losing yourself in a really great book.
Here is a little about us & our adventures!
NEIL PAUL:
Co-owner Neil Paul, born in London, of Irish parents, brought up in Pimlico, around the corner from the Houses of Parliament. As a child Neil played in (the grounds of) Buckingham Palace with the servants children who went to the same school. Neil’s fascination with books began from about 13 when he discovered Science Fiction and Fantasy. After leaving school, Neil’s other passions, photography and travel competed with his love of books but has been a constant in his life nevertheless. During the punk explosion in London, Neil attended at least 3 concerts a week, seeing all the up and coming bands, taking photographs whenever he could of bands like the Stranglers and the Clash. These he developed while working as a trainee dark room assistant (not a job we don’t see advertised these days). In between times, Neil took himself off to a kibbutz in Israel, taking the “Magic Bus”, or as Neil refers to it as the Tragic Bus, travelling 3 days and 3 nights non-stop across Europe. Neil also spent 3 years in California working in many jobs including in Hollywood, working on the TV series “Moonlighting” staring Bruce Willis.

BRID CONROY:
Co-owner Brid Conroy, born in Dublin city centre, also of Irish parents, developed a love of books from early on. Brid’s grandmother sent her on twice weekly visits to Capel St Library to seek out any Mills and Boons books her Nanna hadn’t yet read (Her Nanna left a small red dot on the inside cover of those she had read!). When Brid herself had read all the children’s books they had in the library, she too started to read the Mills and Boons books (from about the age of 9) and has been a hopeless romantic every since. In 1987, like many of Brid’s peers at that time, went to seek fame and fortune in London. Brid worked as Financial Controller for Ogilvy and Mather, advertising agency, where she got invited to a party at which Neil was in attendance. So whatever about fame and fortune, she met Neil, her future husband. At the time Brid had just qualified as an accountant and they both decided to take off on a round the world ticket for a year.

Naming of our daughter

Neil loves movies as well as music, books and photography. When I moved in with him to his bachelor pad in Pimlico London, there was a poster hanging in the front room of a movie called,”Rumble Fish”. It’s a Francis Ford Coppola kind of cult movie staring Matt Dillon as the main character called “Rusty James”. It’s filmed in black and white with just his fish in colour. That poster became the backdrop of our new shared life together so when I became pregnant, the name of our child was without a doubt to be Rusty James, whether it be a boy or a girl. Our daughter now calls herself Rusty but we still call her Rusty James.
Accony School Reunion
In 2009, we hosted a school reunion for all the past pupils of the villages of Accony, Emlagh, Doughmakeon and Askillaun. 450 attended a Mass on the day in the school yard. From our back door overlooking the sea from the “Girls” entrance, I watched the past pupils retrace their steps from the villages they came from. We are so privileged to be part of this amazing community.
Masters in Philosophy
Philosophy is about conversation, exploration and experimentation (with ideas) and in general, an effort to achieve greater understanding of whatever topic is under discussion” Philosophy Foundation
It’s corny I know but I have always wanted “world peace”. Since an early age, in between reading Mills and Boons, I sought to understand the meaning of life. So, 3 years ago, I undertook a Masters in Philosophy at Trinity College, focusing on International Peace Studies. What a joy, to take time from my normal life, and study the conditions of war and peace in our world, to meet amazing like-minded people, to have the shelves of Trinity Library at my disposal, to stretch and challenge what I know about this world. We are what we think are, and what we think today is what will make our tomorrow.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit” – Aristotle
Tertulia Philosophy Favourites
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The Hidden Spring : A Journey to the Source of Consciousness
€18.52 Add to cart -
The Choice by Edith Eger
€12.66 Add to cart -
Rewriting our Stories
€14.95 Add to cart -
War : How Conflict Shaped Us
€23.16 Add to cart -
Mission Economy
€19.67 Add to cart -
Creating Your Best Life : The Ultimate Life List Guide
€17.36 Add to cart -
The Upswing : How We Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again
€28.95 Add to cart -
Do It Like a Woman : … and Change the World
€11.57 Add to cart -
A Little History of Philosophy
€11.57 Add to cart -
The Act of Living
€17.36 Add to cart -
How to Spend a Trillion Dollars : Saving the World and Solving the Biggest Questions in Science
€17.36 Add to cart -
Aristotle’s Way : Ten Ways Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life
€11.57 Add to cart -
The Daily Stoic : 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living: Featuring new translations of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius
€12.73 Add to cart -
The Game of Life and How to Play It : The Self-help Classic
€11.57 Add to cart -
Meditations : The Philosophy Classic
€11.57 Add to cart -
An Introduction to TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION : Improve Your Brain Functioning, Create Ideal Health, and Gain Enlightenment Naturally, Easily, and Effortlessly
€10.41 Add to cart -
A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas
€10.34 Add to cart -
The Infinite Game
€17.24 Add to cart -
Benedictus : A Book Of Blessings
€17.25 Add to cart -
Apollos Arrow
€29.78 Add to cart -
Burnout
€17.46 Add to cart -
Sapiens
€13.10 Add to cart -
What is Beautiful in the Sky
€16.50 Add to cart -
The Winner Effect : The Science of Success and How to Use It
€12.73 Add to cart -
My Angel, My Best Friend
€14.99 Add to cart -
Why We Sleep : The New Science of Sleep and Dreams
€12.73 Add to cart -
Hiking with Nietzsche : Becoming Who You Are
€11.57 Add to cart -
Our Only Home
€18.73 Add to cart -
White
€11.50 Add to cart -
Talking to Strangers: What We Shoul
€11.90 Add to cart -
Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: A brief history of capitalism
€10.70 Add to cart -
Think Like a Monk
€15.50 Add to cart -
Feminism Backwards
€13.99 Add to cart -
Search For The Real Self : Unmasking The Personality Disorders Of Our Age
€12.64 Add to cart -
Radical Acceptance : Awakening the Love that Heals Fear and Shame
€17.24 Add to cart -
POWER OF NOW
€13.10 Add to cart -
Irrational Ape, The: Why Flawed Log
€11.50 Add to cart -
Humankind: A Hopeful History
€17.85 Add to cart -
Gift
€16.50 Add to cart -
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
€11.90 Add to cart -
We Should All Be Feminists
€6.89 Add to cart -
Fat Cow, Fat Chance : The science and psychology of size
€19.54 Read more -
A Force for Good : The Dalai Lama’s Vision for Our World
€11.49 Add to cart -
Leaders Eat Last : Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
€12.64 Add to cart -
The End of Loneliness : The Dazzling International Bestseller
€10.34 Add to cart -
The Prosecutor by Nazir Afzal
€19.50 Add to cart -
We Are Family : what really matters for parents and children
€19.54 Add to cart -
Philosophies of India by Heinrich Robert Zimmer
€27.25 Add to cart -
Philosophical Hitchcock: “Vertigo” and the Anxieties of Unknowingness by Robert B Pippin
€18.40 Add to cart -
An Introduction to Philosophy by Jon Nutall
€26.85 Add to cart -
Beginnings of Philosophy in Greece by Maria Michela Sassi
€21.00 Add to cart -
Who Owns Religion by Laurie L. Patton
€29.90 Add to cart -
The Last Utopians by Michael Robertson
€21.00 Add to cart -
Solo: How to work alone and not loose your mind by Rebecca Seal
€17.20 Add to cart -
Uncertainty Rules by Richard Plenty and Toni Morrison
€14.90 Add to cart -
Republic of Shame: Stories from Ireland’s Institutions for “Fallen Women” by Caelainn Hogan
€11.99 Add to cart -
The Sacred and the Profane
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From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp
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World Divided
€35.40 Add to cart -
Talaat Pasha
€42.11 Add to cart -
Handbook to Higher Consciousness
€27.37 Add to cart -
War, Suffering & Struggle for Human Rights
€19.95 Add to cart -
How to Be a Dictator: The Cult of P
€17.99 Add to cart -
Small is beautiful
€18.89 Add to cart -
Origins of happiness
€25.96 Add to cart -
Preventing Palestine
€23.51 Add to cart -
Irish Women & Nationalism
€24.95 Add to cart