Other books that might interest you

• 

  The Draw of the Sea

  Wyl Menmuir

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Wyl Menmuir’s The Draw of the Sea is a beautifully written and deeply moving portrait of the Cornish Coast and the people who make their livings there, examining the ephemeral but universal pull the sea holds over the human imagination.‘A beautiful portrait of lives shaped by the swell of ocean and tide - a powerful salt-thread of connection’ -  Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path Since the earliest stages of human development, the sea has fascinated and entranced us. It feeds us, sustaining communities and providing livelihoods, but it also holds immense destructive power which can take all those away in an instant.   It connects us to far away places, offering the promise of new lands and voyages of discovery, but also shapes our borders, carving divisions between landmasses and eroding the very ground beneath our feet. In this beautifully-written meditation on what it is that draws us to the waters' edge, author Wyl Menmuir tells the stories of the people whose lives revolve around the sea in the Cornish community where he lives. In twelve interlinked chapters, Menmuir explores the lives of local fishermen steeped in the rich traditions of a fishing community, the beachcombers who wander the shores in search of the varied objects which wash ashore and the stories they tell, and all number of others who have made their lives on the beautiful Cornwall coast.  In the specifics of these livelihoods and their rich histories and traditions, Wyl Menmuir captures the universal human connection to the sea. Into this seductive tapestry, Wyl weaves the story of how the sea has beckoned, consoled and restored him. This book is a meaningful and moving work into how we interact with the environment around us, and how it comes to shape the course of our lives. As unmissable as it is compelling, as profound as it is personal, this must-read book will delight anyone familiar with the intimate and powerful pull which the sea holds over us.

  Show book

• 

  Strange People I Have Known - …...

  Andy McSmith

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  "As well as being one of the leading political journalists of his generation, Andy McSmith's varied life has brought him into contact with a huge variety of people, high and low, whom he describes with an acute eye for character. His book Strange People I Have Known is a fast-paced and entertaining read that brings deep insight into British political life." – Bill Browder
  "A fascinating memoir which gives a revelatory insider's account of the biggest political names from the past few decades, interwoven with evocative reflections on the many colourful characters who have peppered McSmith's own life." – Pippa Crerar
  "An addictive memoir that fizzes with anecdotes. If you like top-level political gossip and insights written with panache, look no further." – Gary Gibbon
  ***
  Westminster and Whitehall are secret worlds, hidden to most. But working as a lobby journalist, former Labour Party staffer Andy McSmith has had exclusive access to our top politicians for decades. Here, he shares his personal encounters with the great and the good of the British political landscape, revealing what they are really like behind the scenes.
  With witty and perceptive flair, he describes encounters such as flying to Tokyo with Margaret Thatcher, the last Prime Minister who would walk fearlessly into a room full of journalists, unprotected by special advisers; dining with Sir Edward Heath, a man who knew how to hold a grudge, in his home in Salisbury; observing Gordon Brown and Tony Blair as new MPs, sharing a cramped office in Parliament and collaborating like brothers; and working with Boris Johnson back when he had an ambition to be something more than just a journalist.
  Filled with vivid portraits of those at the heart of British politics over the past forty years, Strange People I Have Known is a memoir of a life well lived and an insider's account of the inner workings of government.

  Show book

• 

  Son of the Old West - The...

  Nathan Ward

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Born in Matagorda, Texas, in 1855, Charlie Siringo went on his first cattle drive at age twelve and spent two decades living his boyhood dream as a cowboy. As the dangerous, lucrative "beeves" business boomed, Siringo drove longhorn steers north to the burgeoning Midwest Plains states' cattle and railroad towns, crossing paths with such legendary figures as Billy the Kid and Bat Masterson. In his early thirties he joined the Pinkerton Detective Agency's Denver office, using a variety of aliases to investigate violent labor disputes and infiltrate outlaw gangs. 
   
   
   
  Siringo's landmark 1885 autobiography, A Texas Cowboy, helped make the lowly cowboy a heroic symbol of the American West. His later memoir, A Cowboy Detective, influenced early hard-boiled crime novelists for whom the detective story was really the cowboy story in an urban setting. Sadly sued into debt by the Pinkertons, who were determined to prevent their sources and methods from being revealed, Siringo eventually sold his beloved New Mexico ranch and moved to Los Angeles, where he advised Hollywood filmmakers, and especially actor William S. Hart, on their early 1920s Westerns. 
   
   
   
  In old age, Charlie Siringo was called "Ulysses of the Wild West" for the long journey he took across the western frontier. Son of the Old West brings him and his legendary world vividly to life.

  Show book

• 

  A Path with Psychedelics - A...

  Chris Becker

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  How did we get here and where are we going? How do we heal our wounds, grow and mature as human beings? Good questions! We weren’t born with a road map, so we have to figure this out ourselves—if we are up to the challenge. It does help to have a friend who is a few steps ahead on the path to guide us when needed. Chris writes about his own astonishing journey of psychic healing and spiritual exploration with the aid of mind-changing medicines. Although this is the story of his personal path, it is a useful example of the universal human journey; entertaining, encouraging and enlightening. 

  Show book

• 

  Freedom of Angels - Childhood in...

  Bernadette Fahy

  • 0
  • 1
  • 0

  'I entered Goldenbridge orphanage in my Communion outfit. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing there.'At age seven, Bernadette Fahy was delivered with her three brothers to Goldenbridge Orphanage. She was to stay there until she was sixteen.
  Goldenbridge has come to represent some of the worst aspects of childrearing practices in Ireland of the 1950s and 1960s. Seen as the offspring of people who had strayed from social respectability and religious standards, these children were made to pay for the 'sins' of their parents. Bernadette tells of the pain, fear, hunger, hard labour and isolation experienced in the orphanage.
  Can a person recover from such a childhood? How does the spirit ever take flight -- and gain the 'freedom of angels'?
  This is Bernadette Fahy's concern. Now trained and working as a counsellor, she has had to dig deeply into her past to understand the patterns laid down by her upbringing. She has had to rebuild her life, and now she helps others to do the same.
  This book is a story of triumph over the harshest of circumstances.

  Show book

• 

  Birding Under the Influence -...

  Dorian Anderson

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  At a personal and professional crossroads, a man resets his life and finds sobriety, love, and 618 bird species, cycling his way to a very Big Year. In Birding Under the Influence, Dorian Anderson, a neuroscience researcher on a pressure-filled life trajectory, walks away from the world of elite institutions, research labs, and academic publishing. In doing so, he falls in love and discovers he has freed himself to embrace his lifelong passion for birding. A North American Big Year—a continent-spanning adventure in which a birder attempts to see as many species as possible in twelve months—is a massive undertaking under any circumstances. But doing it on a bike while maintaining sobriety? That’s next level. As Dorian pedals across the country, describing the birds he sees, he confronts the challenges of long-distance cycling: treacherous weather, punctured tires, speeding cars, and injury. He encounters eccentric characters, blistering blacktop, dreary hotel rooms, snarling dogs, and an endless sea of smoking tailpipes. He also confronts his past struggles with alcohol, drugs, and risky behaviors that began in high school and followed him into adulthood. Birding Under the Influence is a candid, honest look at Dorian’s double life of academic accomplishment and addiction. While his journey to recovery is simultaneously poignant and inspiring, it is ultimately his love of birds and nature that provides the scaffolding to build a new and radically different life.

  Show book