A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks
An interesting book but I haven’t got anything insightful to say about it that hasn’t been said by others — see for example this review in The Guardian.
Continue reading →The Man Who Cycled The Americas by Mark Beaumont
A journey is not always a challenge, nor is a challenge always an adventure. An episode in a life can be none, one, two, or all three of these things. In his previous book “The Man Who Cycled The World” … Continue reading →
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California and grew up near the Pacific coast where many of his earlier successful novels and stories are based. He later moved to New York and by 1960 had been living there for some … Continue reading →
An Atheist’s Guide to Christmas by Various Authors
This is a compilation of short essays by a variety of people – comedians, philosophers, Ben Goldacre – who have one thing in common: they are atheists. That doesn’t mean they don’t like Christmas, just that it means different things … Continue reading →
Guardians of Power by David Edwards & David Cromwell
David Edwards and David Cromwell are the founders of campaigning journalism team Media Lens. Their mission is to respond to "the unwillingness, or inability, of the mainstream media to tell the truth about the real causes and extent of many … Continue reading →
Magnetic North by Sara Wheeler
Fourteen years after her excellent book on Antarctica, Terra Incognita, Sara Wheeler is back among the ice floes, but this time at the other end of the Earth’s axis, the Arctic. The world has changed in that time. She now … Continue reading →
The Ghost by Robert Harris
A conspiracy theorists’s delight! An unpopular ex-Prime Minister who took the UK into a war in the Middle East, now staying in the USA earning big money from lectures and personal appearances, employs a ghost writer to produce his autobiography. … Continue reading →
Sum by David Eagleman
This is a strange little book, but in a good way. The author is described as "neuroscientist & writer" (find him on Wikipedia) but this is not about neuroscience. The book consists of 40 short pieces each describing a different … Continue reading →
The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
Originally written in Swedish and set in Sweden, these three books deserve their reputation as ranking among the best modern crime fiction. They are dark and at times disturbing to read, dealing with violence, sexual abuse, trafficking of women for … Continue reading →
Midges in Scotland by George Hendry
Mountaineers, climbers, Munro-baggers and walkers are not alone among visitors to the Scottish Highlands to be interested in the pesky midge. This little book, deservedly a best-seller, is now in its fourth edition. The author is an academic who has … Continue reading →