Difference between revisions of "Newest Travel Reviews"

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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Stephen Halliday
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|author=Alastair Humphreys
|title=Cathedrals and Abbeys (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)
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|title=Local
|rating=4.5
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|rating=5
|genre=History
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|genre=Travel
|summary=What makes a cathedral? It's not automatically the principal church of anywhere that is made a city – St Davids is a village of 2,000 people, and wasn't always a city, but always had a cathedral, as did Chelmsford.  It's not the seat of a bishop – Glasgow has the building but not the person, and hasn't had a bishop since 1690.  It's not a minster – that's something completely different, and if you can understand the sign in the delightful Beverley Minster describing the difference, that I saw only the other month, you're a better man I, Gunga Din.  Luckily this book doesn't touch on minsters much, and we can understand abbeys, so it's only the vast majority of this book that is saddled with the definition problem.  It's clearly not a real problem, and those it does have are by-passable, for this successfully defines a cathedral as somewhere of major importance, fine trivia and greatly worthy of our attention.
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|summary= Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the world.  And then written about it.  For this book he walked and cycled very close to home and then wrote about it. As he says in his introduction, the book is an attempt ''to share what I have learnt about some big issues from a year exploring a small map.  Nature loss, pollution, land use and access, agriculture, the food system, rewilding…''   One of the joys of the book for me was that the biggest thing he learned about all of these things was that there are no easy answers, no single 'right or wrong', that every upside is likely to have a downside for somebody and that there are some hard choices ahead.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910821047</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1785633678
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Zoe Bramley
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|isbn=0957181167
|title= The Shakespeare Trail
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|title=Blue Skies and Boat Trips: The Norfolk of Brian Lewis
|rating= 4
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|author=Alan Marshall
|genre= Trivia
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|rating=5
|summary= It has been 400 years since William Shakespeare, the man heralded as the greatest writer in the English language, and England's national poet, died. Shakespeare has made a profound mark on our culture and heritage, yet many aspects of his life remain in the shadows, and many places throughout England have forgotten their association with him. Here, Zoe Bramley takes the reader on a journey through hundreds of places associated with Shakespeare – many whose connections will come as a surprise to most. Filled with intriguing titbits of information about Shakespeare, Elizabethan England, and the places that she talks about, this is no mere travel guide.  
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|genre=Art
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445646846</amazonuk>
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|summary=There are few positive things which can be said about a substandard apartment when you’re on holiday but this time, in trying to avoid looking at a problem I found myself looking more closely at a couple of pictures on the walls - and was completely taken by the work of Brian Lewis. I searched online and could only find ‘used’ versions of this book and the print I wanted was ‘not available’. Oh, dear - then a few doors down from the apartment, I found a gift shop with a stack of brand new books - and a framed print of the picture I wanted.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Stephen Halliday
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|isbn=1785633457
|title=London Underground (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)
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|title=Charging Around: Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car
|rating=4
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|author=Clive Wilkinson
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary= From initial worries about smutty, enclosed air with a pungent smell to decades of human hair and engine grease causing escalator fires; from just a few lines connecting London termini to major jaunts out into Metro-land for the suburbia-bound commuters; and from a few religious-minded if financially dodgy pioneer investment managers to Crossrail; the history of the world's most extensive underground system (even when a majority is actually above ground) is fascinating to many. This book is a repository of much that is entirely trivial, but is also pretty much thoroughly interesting.
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|summary=Clive Wilkinson has a history of travelling by unconventional means with a preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the idea of exploring the edges of England in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In fact, it should be a pleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, shouldn't it?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910821039</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Julian Holland
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|author=Merryn Glover
|title=Railways (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)
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|title=The Hidden Fires
|rating=3
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary=How and when did Laurel and Hardy replace the Duke of York (George VI)?  They reopened the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway when peacetime resumed, at whose launch the latter had officiated before the WarWhat's the worst that can happen when you travel internationally and arrive on a London goods train with no further destination documents?  Well, if you're an unidentifiable Peruvian mummy you can get buried as an unknown corpse before the invoice turns up to prove you were wanted in Belgium. After so many miles and so much drama, it's no surprise odd facts and fun trivia derive from our country's trainsThis book is designed to be an ideal source of quick articles and fun mini-essays for use in the smallest room.
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|summary= It is always about the book, not the writer, but there are times when the author's hinterland is also the background to the book and so it is necessary to understand that context, in order to appreciate the book.  Merryn Glover is of Australian parentage, was born in Kathmandu, grew up in the Annapurna and Himalayan and now lives in Badenoch in ScotlandI can think of no-one better a combination to give us a re-appraisal of Nan Shepherds work than the first Writer in Residence in the Cairngorms National Park.   Merryn walks, not so much in the shadow of Shepherd, but in her spiritI think the two would have gotten along famously.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910821004</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1846975751
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Rob Temple
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|isbn=B0B7289HKQ
|title=Very British Problems Abroad
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|title=Conversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America
 +
|author=Kari Loya
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Humour
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|genre=Travel
|summary=Meet, if you haven't already, the phenomenon of the Very British Problem.  In this format they're in pithy little comments (of, ooh, about 140 characters in length, for some reason…) and detail the minor things in life that we like nothing more than to inflate to a major factor of life.  They can involve manners, staring at things until they mend themselves, hitting things ditto, or the fact that nobody apart from you and I know how to queue properlyAnd if the idea hits the world outside our shores, then – well, you certainly have a book full of content regarding our attitude and ineptitude abroad.
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|summary=Kari (that rhymes with ‘sorry’, by the way) wanted to spend some time with his father and the period between two jobs seemed like a good time to do it.  The decision was made to ride the Trans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon - all 4250 miles of it - in 2015.  They had 73 days to do it - slightly less than the recommended time - but there were factors which pointed this up as more of a challenge that it would be for most people who considered taking it onMerv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751558494</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Ben Coates
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|author=Erling Kagge
|title= Why the Dutch are Different: A Journey into the Hidden Heart of the Netherlands
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|title=Walking: One Step At A Time
|rating= 4
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|rating=5
|genre= Travel
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|genre= Lifestyle
|summary= I know Holland in the way everyone does. Pancakes and windmills and Pot, oh my. But it's one of the few European countries I've never lived in for any period of time, and so I was intrigued to know more.
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|summary= Those who have read my reviews before will know that how much I loved a book is evidenced by the number of pages with corners turned, so let me start this one with an apology to the Norfolk Library Service: sorry! I forgot it was your book not mine. In my defence, I will say that as a reader of this type of book there is something connective about noting where prior readers were inspired (provided it is subtle – I'll allow creased corners, but not scribbles – for the latter we must buy our own copy – which I am about to do as soon as I have finished telling you why).
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>185788633X</amazonuk>
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 +
Erligg Kagge is a Norwegian explorer who has walked to the South Pole, the North Pole and the summit of Everest. He knows a thing or two about walking. However, this isn't a travelogue about any of those epic journeys, it is instead a thoughtful exploration of what it means to walk. It is a plenitude of unnumbered essays about walking. There is no 'contents' page and I haven't counted. In small format paperback, each essay is only a few pages long. Perhaps then, better thought of as a meditation rather than an essay.
 +
|isbn=0241357705
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Tom Sperlinger
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|author=Monica Connell
|title= Romeo and Juliet in Palestine: Teaching Under Occupation
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|title=Against a Peacock Sky
|rating= 4.5
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|rating=5
|genre= Autobiography
 
|summary= Towards the end of Tom Sperlinger's first book, he says education can open people's eyes, making them aware 'that we make assumptions all of the time, without even knowing they are assumptions.' ''Romeo and Juliet in Palestine: Teaching Under Occupation'' is a fine example of this belief in learning, an assumption-shattering book that offers a new perspective on Palestinian life not seen on the news or in the papers.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782796371</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Keith Partridge
 
|title=The Adventure Game: A Cameraman's Tales from Films at the Edge
 
|rating= 4.5
 
|genre= Animals and Wildlife
 
|summary=Keith Partridge has been one of the world’s leading adventure cameramen for over twenty years. The award winning Touching the Void, Beckoning Silence and Human Planet are just some of the films that have taken him all over the earth, from the caves of Papua New Guinea to the summit of Mount Everest. No location has been too dangerous, no environment too wild, and if you have ever seen a climber or explorer in some outrageous position, chances are that Keith Partridge was there with his camera. Here Keith discusses the challenges that have faced him in the daring adventures has taken part in, with personalities such as [[:Category:Steve Backshall|Steve Backshall]], [[:Category:Joe Simpson|Joe Simpson]] and Stephen Venables.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910124311</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Simon Wilcox
 
|title=Mudlark River: Down the Thames with a Victorian Map
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary=Do you think finding a 19th century map would inspire you to walk the entire length of the Thames? Because that's what Simon Wilcox did. I think there's something impossibly romantic about that, don't you?
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|summary= Monica Connell went to Nepal to do the fieldwork for her Ph.D. in social anthropology. I think it is important to know that. She went on a grant-supported trip, with a relatively specific objective. She wasn't a hippy wanderer looking for Shangri-la. She wasn't a mere tourist passing through.  She went with a fundamental aim of learning about these people and how they lived. She also went, presumably, with the academic discipline of how to find these things out, how to organise them in her mind, how to "understand" them in the context of her own paradigms, and how to keep enough notes and files and photos to help her create some greater sense of the experience after the event. Fortunately, she also went with a sense of open-ness and curiosity and a willingness to muck-in, to break her own rules and to truly connect with the people of the village where she hauled up.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993016308</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1780600429
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=John George Freeman and Ronnie Scott (editor)
+
|author=Nicolas Bouvier
|title=Three Men and a Bradshaw
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|title=The Japanese Chronicles
|rating=4
+
|rating=5
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary=This book is quite the very time machine, and because of that some of its own history is needed in summary. A year or two ago, our presenter Shaun Sewell was buying some private documents from the descendants of John George Freeman, to complete a set of illustrated travel journals he'd met with when risking a punt on the first few at auction. He was intent on getting them published since finding them, and seemed to be the first person with that desire since they were first written in the 1870s.  Back then they were well-written, educative and entertaining looks at the early days of the travel industry, when for example piers were novel(ty) ways for the rail companies to justify sending people to the ends of the country where previously there had been little for them to do.  Here then is railwayana, travel and social history, all between two covers.  So even if this doesn't find the perfectly huge audience of some books, it will certainly raise interest in many households.
+
|summary= It never does to start a review of a book with a quote from the blurb, but sometimes it's unavoidable. Le Monde reviewed this book, at some point, with the words ''what the old master craftsmen would call a masterpiece.'' It is precisely that. A masterpiece in the sense of the craft as well as the art of writing. I'm going to hesitate to call it 'travel writing' because this is as much a history of Japan, a mythology-primer for the Japanese culture as it is a personal response to living and travelling in the country.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847947441</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1906011044
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Peter Owen Jones
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|author=Stephen Fabes
|title=Pathlands
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|title=Signs of Life
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary= I have lots of walking booksAll of them have been bought with a half-baked intention of actually doing the walks described within them… which of course, I've only partially succeeded in.   I do have some books which I have fully ticked-off, but most of them, especially most of the later ones have (at best) been inspiration enough to get the boots on, but rarely more than once or twiceSo many unfinished plans.
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|summary= I was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of tales of far away places. I was birth-righted wanderlust and curiosityUnfortunately, I didn't inherit what Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had which was the guts to simply go out and do it.  I also didn't inherit the kind of steady nerve, ability to talk to strangers and basic practicality that would have meant that I would have survived if I had been gifted with the requisite 'bottle'.  In order words I'm not the sort of person who will get on a bike outside a London hospital and not come home for six yearsFabes did precisely that.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184604443X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1788161211
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Michael Pronko
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|author=Rob Baker
|title=Beauty and Chaos: Slices and Morsels of Tokyo Life
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|title=Toubab Tales: The Joys and Trials of Expat Life in Africa
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary=Adapting a Buddhist metaphor, Michael Pronko declares that 'writing about [Tokyo] is like catching fish with a hollow gourd.' In other words, it is an elusive and contradictory place that resists easy conclusions. Anyone who has seen the Bill Murray film ''Lost in Translation'' will retain the sense of a glittering, bewildering place that Westerners wander through in a daze. A long-term resident but still a perpetual outsider, Pronko is perfectly placed to notice the many odd and wonderful aspects of Tokyo life.
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|summary=''"Go to Mali," they said. "The music is amazing," they said. "And you get ten hours of sunshine every day." So I did.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00PDH4KVA</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
Rob Baker is an ethnomusicologist. ''A what?'' I hear you cry. Well, an ethnomusicologist studies music in relation to culture, so rather like a folklorist studies the oral and written story traditions relating to a culture.
 +
|isbn=B089CSNFT7
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Greene
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|author=Christine Brown
|title=Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia
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|title=Bucket Showers and Baby Goats: Volunteering in West Africa
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Politics and Society
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|genre=Travel
|summary=It's no mistake that the cover of my edition of this book is a photo where the Trans-Siberian Railway is horizontal in the frame. It's well known for going east-west, left to right across the map of the largest country by far in the world. 9,288 kilometres from Moscow to the eastern stretches of Russia, it could only be a long, thin line across the cover, as it is in our imagination of it as a form of transport and a travel destination in its own right.  So when this book mentions it as the spine or backbone of Russia a couple of times, that's got to be of a prone Russia – one lying down, not upright or active. David Greene, a stalwart of northern American radio journalism, uses this book to see just how active or otherwise Russia and Russians are – and finds their lying down to be quite a definite verdict, as well as a slight indictment.  It's no mistake either for this cover to have people in the frame alongside the train carriages, for the people met both riding and living alongside the tracks of the Railway are definitely the ribs of the piece.
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|summary=In the summer of 2008, this book's author was spending her days working in an office job in the USA while spending her nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else. Long story short, she ended up volunteering in Ghana, West Africa. Now coincidentally, in the summer of 2010, this review's author was spending ''her'' days working in an office job (albeit in the UK) while spending ''her'' nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else, and ''she'' ended up just 3 countries away, volunteering in Sierra Leone, West Africa. So you can see why, when this book came up, said reviewer was delighted to have the opportunity to read and critique it.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846883709</amazonuk>
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|isbn=171024299X
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Horatio Clare
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|isbn=Mourby_Rooms
|title=Down to the Sea in Ships
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|title=Rooms with a View: The Secret Life of Great Hotels
 +
|author=Adrian Mourby
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Travel
 
|genre=Travel
|summary=Inspired by a chance read of ''Moby Dick'', the aptly named Horatio Clare applies to be a writer in residence for a shipping company. They accept, and he travels with them on two voyages - one from Felixstowe to Los Angeles, and the other from Antwerp to Montreal.
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|summary=Adrian Mourby has given us a flying visit to each of fifty grand hotels, from fourteen regions of the world, with the hotels in each section being arranged chronologically rather than by region, which helps to give something of an overall picture. So what makes a hotel 'grand'? The first hotel to call itself 'grand' was in Covent Garden in 1774 and it ushered in the beginning of a period when a hotel would be a lifestyle choice rather than a refuge for those without friends and family conveniently nearby. The hotels we visit all began life in different circumstances and each faced a different set of challenges. We begin in the Americas, move to the United Kingdom, circumnavigate Europe, briefly visit Russia and Turkey then northern Africa, India and Asia. Australia, it seems, does not go for the grand.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099526298</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Mike McIntyre and Chris Brinkley (narrator)
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|isbn=1908745819
|title=The Kindness of Strangers: Penniless Across America
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|title=Surfacing
|rating=4.5
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|author=Kathleen Jamie
|genre=Travel
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|rating=5
|summary=In 1994 Mike McIntyre was a thirty-seven-year-old journalist with a secret: he was frightened. There were specific fears, but what it boiled down to was that he was frightened of life - and then there was a memoryHe remembered - with some shame - not stopping for a hitchhiker with a gas can in the desert.  It was almost on a whim that he decided to cross America, from San Francisco in California to Cape Fear in North Carolina, which might sound like a great adventure, but McIntyre decides to do it without money - to be completely reliant on the kindness of strangersHe was confronting his own fears.
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|genre=History
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00PWMVWTY</amazonuk>
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|summary=Sometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book, they tell you ''this one has your name on it''. Mostly we take them at their word, or not, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so unless it turns out that we didn't like the book. That's a rare experience. People who are sensitive to hearing a book calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In this case, I was told why.  The blurb speaks of the author considering ''an older, less tethered sense of herself.'' Older. Less tethered. That's not a bad description of where I am.  Add to that my love of the natural world, of those aspects of the poetic and lyrical that are about style not form, and substance most of all, about connection. Of course, this book had my name on it.  It was written for me. It would have found its way to me eventually.  I am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly.
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{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1912242052
 +
|title=O Joy for me!
 +
|author=Keir Davidson
 +
|rating=3
 +
|genre=Art
 +
|summary=''Oh Joy for me!'' gives Coleridge credit for being ''the first person to walk the mountains alone, not because he had to for work, as a miner, quarryman, shepherd or pack-horse driver, but because he wanted to for pleasure and adventureHis rapturous encounters with their natural beauty, and its literary consequences, changed our view of the world''.
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alexander McCall Smith
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|isbn=Woolf_Great
|title=A Work of Beauty: Alexander McCall Smith's Edinburgh
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|title=The Great Horizon: 50 Tales of Exploration
|rating=5
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|author=Jo Woolf
|genre=Travel
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|rating=3.5
|summary=It might be simplest if I begin by telling you what this book is ''not''.  It's not a book of beautiful photographs (with some supporting text) of the places you'll almost certainly want to visit if you're visiting Edinburgh as a tourist. If that's what you want then there are dozens of such books available all over the city at a fraction of the cost of ''A Work of Beauty''.  This might have the look of a coffee table book (and it would certainly look impressive there) but it has a lot more depth and interest than you might expect. This is a book of Alexander McCall Smith's Edinburgh, the city he walks around every day, constantly seeing something new, something else with a story to tell.
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|genre=History
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1902419863</amazonuk>
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|summary=Jo Woolf has compiled a brilliant set of fifty short insights into the lives and achievements of some amazingly brave people. Their fearless journeys have helped us unlock many of the mysteries of the wildest parts of our world, and also given us an understanding of what it is like to be faced with the most terrible conditions and still have the determination and grit to carry on. This book could be viewed as a taster which encourages us to seek out and read more about some of the most iconic explorers. Their stories are pretty incredible and Woolf does them justice.
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Pamela O'Cuneen
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|isbn=Hailstone_Berlin
|title=Hummingbirds in My Hair: Adventures of a Diplomatic Wife in the Caribbean
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|title=Berlin in the Cold War: 1959 to 1966
 +
|author=Allan Hailstone
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Autobiography
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|genre=History
|summary=Pamela O'Cuneen was what is known in the business as a 'diplomatic wife': the spouse of a diplomat sent abroad to represent his country.  It's generally unpaid and extremely hard work - I've always thought of it as one of the original BOGOF deals.  When we first meet Pamela she and her husband, KJ, have been transferred from their beloved Africa to Suriname, or ''Suri-where?'' as people always responded when it was mentioned to them. It ''used'' to be Dutch Guyana on the Caribbean coast of South America and there are few people who would think of it in terms of a holiday destination.
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|summary=''Berlin in the Cold War: 1959-1966'' contains almost 200 photographs taken by author/photographer Allan Hailstone in his visits to the city during this period. The images provide an insight into the changing nature of the divide between East and West Berlin and a glimpse into life in the city during the Cold War.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704373637</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Matthew Engel
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|isbn=Stewart_Marches
|title=Engel's England: Thirty-nine counties, one capital and one man
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|title=The Marches
 +
|author=Rory Stewart
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Travel
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|genre=History
|summary=Matthew Engel has spent some considerable time travelling around the thirty nine historic counties of England.  On the face of it this is a rather strange task given that some of the counties (anyone remember Middlesex? Cumberland?) no longer exist and that they are - or were - situated in a country which you can't reliably find on a drop-down internet menu.  Engel's attempts to explain to his eight-year-old son which country we live in produced mixed results. His son grasped the outlines but as he explained the concepts Engels found himself getting more and more confused, particularly when you add in the counties: reorganisation in 1974 changed borders, created new counties and abolished some old ones. Some were renamed, to subsequently revert to the old name whilst others faded away unremarked.
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|summary=The Observer quote on the front of the paperback edition of Stewart's latest book observes ''This is travel writing at its finest.'' Perhaps, but to call it 'travel writing' is to totally under-sell it. This is erudition at its finest. Stewart has the background to do this: he had an international upbringing and followed his father in both the Army and the Foreign Office, and then (to his father's, bemusement, shall we say) became an MP. Oh, and he walked 6,000 miles across Afghanistan in 2002. A walk along the Scottish borders should be a doddle by comparison.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685710</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Gentleman
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|isbn=Bristow China
|title=In the Country
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|title=China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser
|rating=5
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|author=Michael Bristow
|genre=Art
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|rating=4
|summary=I had no intention of reading ''In The Country''. I opened it simply to see what it was like, but by the time that I shut it again I was nearly halfway through and I had no intention of giving the book to anyone else.  Now in his eighties David Gentleman is well known as watercolourist, specialising in landscapes. He's based in London but also has a home in Suffolk in the village of Huntingfield and it's this house, the village and the surrounding area which is the location for ''In The Country''.
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|genre=Autobiography
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>095715285X</amazonuk>
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|summary=Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese history. Having been learning the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in the early fifties, offered Bristow a compelling picture of life in Communist China - but added to that, Bristow was greatly surprised to find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the tale told here is immensely personal - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most intriguing nations.
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=Four Fields
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|isbn=Hurst_Norfolk
|author=Tim Dee
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|title=On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks
|rating=3.5
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|author=John Hurst
|genre=Animals and Wildlife
 
|summary=If asked to name, or even think of, four fields, the common man might well struggle, such is the chance of him living in a city.  He might not think of the local park as a field, and he may turn to the field of the cloth of gold if a historian, the field of dreams perhaps, or he might at least have something looking like a football pitch in his mind's eye.  Tim Dee, not a nature scientist as such but so in tune with the outside world he really doesn't seem to have stopped indoors but to write this book in the past decade, seems like the sort of person who could hardly name four buildings, but would relish the chance to itemise his favourite fields.  He is very doubtful any two in Britain are the same.  Like snowflakes, then, they can bear a closer examination to show their full picture – and Dee picks on four, across the world and noted for events across the last few thousand years, to focus on.  The result is a rich – if at times over-rich – summation of the birdlife above the fields, and everything Dee knows and loves about them.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099541378</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Like a Tramp, Like A Pilgrim: On Foot, Across Europe to Rome
 
|author=Harry Bucknall
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Travel
+
|genre=Art
|summary=What links London and Rome?  Their capital city status for one, of course.  One has a St Paul's cathedral, the other a St Peter's (although pedants will say not). They both have a football team who wear red and white.  Oh, and the ancient pilgrim route called the Via Francigena – although the pedant will again say that that strictly starts at that other pilgrimage site, CanterburyAs for Harry Bucknall, the Via starts at St Paul's and should end at St Peter's.  Whether or not Harry himself will connect the two cities – and entirely on foot – is the subject of this travel book.
+
|summary=It was pure serendipity: after a five-hour drive, we were, annoyingly, left with an hour to fill in Blakeney before we could have the keys to our holiday cottage. There was an art exhibition in the church hall, so we went in - and found a display of the most gorgeous picturesI'd cheerfully have bought every one and hung them on our walls, but thought that I would have to make do with a couple of greetings cards when I saw ''On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks'' and I couldn't resist buying it.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408187248</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rainforest
 
|author=Wade Davis
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Travel
 
|summary=As someone who has always enjoyed learning about the Amazon, and with plans to travel to South America next year, this book practically screamed at me to be reviewed. And, although a little tough going and long-winded in parts, I'm glad I had the opportunity to get lost in Davis' incredible work of non-fiction. Difficult to describe in terms of genre, this book combines history, politics, science, botany and culture. It is delivered through a biographical account of Davis' own travels and as a memoir to Richard Evans Schultes, an ethnobotanist well known for his work and travels in the Amazon and Wade Davis' highly regarded mentor.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099592967</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest Trivia Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 11:59, 26 December 2023

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Review of

Local by Alastair Humphreys

5star.jpg Travel

Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the world. And then written about it. For this book he walked and cycled very close to home and then wrote about it. As he says in his introduction, the book is an attempt to share what I have learnt about some big issues from a year exploring a small map. Nature loss, pollution, land use and access, agriculture, the food system, rewilding… One of the joys of the book for me was that the biggest thing he learned about all of these things was that there are no easy answers, no single 'right or wrong', that every upside is likely to have a downside for somebody and that there are some hard choices ahead. Full Review

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Review of

Blue Skies and Boat Trips: The Norfolk of Brian Lewis by Alan Marshall

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There are few positive things which can be said about a substandard apartment when you’re on holiday but this time, in trying to avoid looking at a problem I found myself looking more closely at a couple of pictures on the walls - and was completely taken by the work of Brian Lewis. I searched online and could only find ‘used’ versions of this book and the print I wanted was ‘not available’. Oh, dear - then a few doors down from the apartment, I found a gift shop with a stack of brand new books - and a framed print of the picture I wanted. Full Review

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Review of

Charging Around: Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car by Clive Wilkinson

5star.jpg Travel

Clive Wilkinson has a history of travelling by unconventional means with a preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the idea of exploring the edges of England in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In fact, it should be a pleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, shouldn't it? Full Review

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Review of

The Hidden Fires by Merryn Glover

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It is always about the book, not the writer, but there are times when the author's hinterland is also the background to the book and so it is necessary to understand that context, in order to appreciate the book. Merryn Glover is of Australian parentage, was born in Kathmandu, grew up in the Annapurna and Himalayan and now lives in Badenoch in Scotland. I can think of no-one better a combination to give us a re-appraisal of Nan Shepherds work than the first Writer in Residence in the Cairngorms National Park. Merryn walks, not so much in the shadow of Shepherd, but in her spirit. I think the two would have gotten along famously. Full Review

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Review of

Conversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America by Kari Loya

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Kari (that rhymes with ‘sorry’, by the way) wanted to spend some time with his father and the period between two jobs seemed like a good time to do it. The decision was made to ride the Trans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon - all 4250 miles of it - in 2015. They had 73 days to do it - slightly less than the recommended time - but there were factors which pointed this up as more of a challenge that it would be for most people who considered taking it on. Merv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's. Full Review

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Review of

Walking: One Step At A Time by Erling Kagge

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Those who have read my reviews before will know that how much I loved a book is evidenced by the number of pages with corners turned, so let me start this one with an apology to the Norfolk Library Service: sorry! I forgot it was your book not mine. In my defence, I will say that as a reader of this type of book there is something connective about noting where prior readers were inspired (provided it is subtle – I'll allow creased corners, but not scribbles – for the latter we must buy our own copy – which I am about to do as soon as I have finished telling you why).

Erligg Kagge is a Norwegian explorer who has walked to the South Pole, the North Pole and the summit of Everest. He knows a thing or two about walking. However, this isn't a travelogue about any of those epic journeys, it is instead a thoughtful exploration of what it means to walk. It is a plenitude of unnumbered essays about walking. There is no 'contents' page and I haven't counted. In small format paperback, each essay is only a few pages long. Perhaps then, better thought of as a meditation rather than an essay. Full Review

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Review of

Against a Peacock Sky by Monica Connell

5star.jpg Travel

Monica Connell went to Nepal to do the fieldwork for her Ph.D. in social anthropology. I think it is important to know that. She went on a grant-supported trip, with a relatively specific objective. She wasn't a hippy wanderer looking for Shangri-la. She wasn't a mere tourist passing through. She went with a fundamental aim of learning about these people and how they lived. She also went, presumably, with the academic discipline of how to find these things out, how to organise them in her mind, how to "understand" them in the context of her own paradigms, and how to keep enough notes and files and photos to help her create some greater sense of the experience after the event. Fortunately, she also went with a sense of open-ness and curiosity and a willingness to muck-in, to break her own rules and to truly connect with the people of the village where she hauled up. Full Review

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Review of

The Japanese Chronicles by Nicolas Bouvier

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It never does to start a review of a book with a quote from the blurb, but sometimes it's unavoidable. Le Monde reviewed this book, at some point, with the words what the old master craftsmen would call a masterpiece. It is precisely that. A masterpiece in the sense of the craft as well as the art of writing. I'm going to hesitate to call it 'travel writing' because this is as much a history of Japan, a mythology-primer for the Japanese culture as it is a personal response to living and travelling in the country. Full Review

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Review of

Signs of Life by Stephen Fabes

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I was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of tales of far away places. I was birth-righted wanderlust and curiosity. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit what Dr. Stephen Fabes clearly had which was the guts to simply go out and do it. I also didn't inherit the kind of steady nerve, ability to talk to strangers and basic practicality that would have meant that I would have survived if I had been gifted with the requisite 'bottle'. In order words I'm not the sort of person who will get on a bike outside a London hospital and not come home for six years. Fabes did precisely that. Full Review

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Review of

Toubab Tales: The Joys and Trials of Expat Life in Africa by Rob Baker

4star.jpg Travel

"Go to Mali," they said. "The music is amazing," they said. "And you get ten hours of sunshine every day." So I did.

Rob Baker is an ethnomusicologist. A what? I hear you cry. Well, an ethnomusicologist studies music in relation to culture, so rather like a folklorist studies the oral and written story traditions relating to a culture. Full Review

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Review of

Bucket Showers and Baby Goats: Volunteering in West Africa by Christine Brown

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In the summer of 2008, this book's author was spending her days working in an office job in the USA while spending her nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else. Long story short, she ended up volunteering in Ghana, West Africa. Now coincidentally, in the summer of 2010, this review's author was spending her days working in an office job (albeit in the UK) while spending her nights dreaming about being somewhere else, doing something else, and she ended up just 3 countries away, volunteering in Sierra Leone, West Africa. So you can see why, when this book came up, said reviewer was delighted to have the opportunity to read and critique it. Full Review

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Review of

Rooms with a View: The Secret Life of Great Hotels by Adrian Mourby

4star.jpg Travel

Adrian Mourby has given us a flying visit to each of fifty grand hotels, from fourteen regions of the world, with the hotels in each section being arranged chronologically rather than by region, which helps to give something of an overall picture. So what makes a hotel 'grand'? The first hotel to call itself 'grand' was in Covent Garden in 1774 and it ushered in the beginning of a period when a hotel would be a lifestyle choice rather than a refuge for those without friends and family conveniently nearby. The hotels we visit all began life in different circumstances and each faced a different set of challenges. We begin in the Americas, move to the United Kingdom, circumnavigate Europe, briefly visit Russia and Turkey then northern Africa, India and Asia. Australia, it seems, does not go for the grand. Full Review

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Review of

Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie

5star.jpg History

Sometimes when people suggest that you read a certain book, they tell you this one has your name on it. Mostly we take them at their word, or not, but rarely do we ask them why they thought so unless it turns out that we didn't like the book. That's a rare experience. People who are sensitive to hearing a book calling your name, rarely get it wrong. In this case, I was told why. The blurb speaks of the author considering an older, less tethered sense of herself. Older. Less tethered. That's not a bad description of where I am. Add to that my love of the natural world, of those aspects of the poetic and lyrical that are about style not form, and substance most of all, about connection. Of course, this book had my name on it. It was written for me. It would have found its way to me eventually. I am pleased to have it fall onto my path so quickly. Full Review

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Review of

O Joy for me! by Keir Davidson

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Oh Joy for me! gives Coleridge credit for being the first person to walk the mountains alone, not because he had to for work, as a miner, quarryman, shepherd or pack-horse driver, but because he wanted to for pleasure and adventure. His rapturous encounters with their natural beauty, and its literary consequences, changed our view of the world. Full Review

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Review of

The Great Horizon: 50 Tales of Exploration by Jo Woolf

3.5star.jpg History

Jo Woolf has compiled a brilliant set of fifty short insights into the lives and achievements of some amazingly brave people. Their fearless journeys have helped us unlock many of the mysteries of the wildest parts of our world, and also given us an understanding of what it is like to be faced with the most terrible conditions and still have the determination and grit to carry on. This book could be viewed as a taster which encourages us to seek out and read more about some of the most iconic explorers. Their stories are pretty incredible and Woolf does them justice. Full Review

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Review of

Berlin in the Cold War: 1959 to 1966 by Allan Hailstone

4star.jpg History

Berlin in the Cold War: 1959-1966 contains almost 200 photographs taken by author/photographer Allan Hailstone in his visits to the city during this period. The images provide an insight into the changing nature of the divide between East and West Berlin and a glimpse into life in the city during the Cold War. Full Review

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Review of

The Marches by Rory Stewart

5star.jpg History

The Observer quote on the front of the paperback edition of Stewart's latest book observes This is travel writing at its finest. Perhaps, but to call it 'travel writing' is to totally under-sell it. This is erudition at its finest. Stewart has the background to do this: he had an international upbringing and followed his father in both the Army and the Foreign Office, and then (to his father's, bemusement, shall we say) became an MP. Oh, and he walked 6,000 miles across Afghanistan in 2002. A walk along the Scottish borders should be a doddle by comparison. Full Review

link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/Bristow China/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21

Review of

China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser by Michael Bristow

4star.jpg Autobiography

Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese history. Having been learning the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in the early fifties, offered Bristow a compelling picture of life in Communist China - but added to that, Bristow was greatly surprised to find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the tale told here is immensely personal - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most intriguing nations. Full Review

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Review of

On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks by John Hurst

4star.jpg Art

It was pure serendipity: after a five-hour drive, we were, annoyingly, left with an hour to fill in Blakeney before we could have the keys to our holiday cottage. There was an art exhibition in the church hall, so we went in - and found a display of the most gorgeous pictures. I'd cheerfully have bought every one and hung them on our walls, but thought that I would have to make do with a couple of greetings cards when I saw On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks and I couldn't resist buying it. Full Review

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