30th April 2019
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on The Translator: a tribesman’s memoir of Darfur
by Daoud Hari. A chilling first-hand account of the Darfur genocide wreaked by the Sudanese government in 2003. But coincidence, Sudan’s President, Omar al-Bashir, was finally ousted as I was reading this book in 2019, news which did much to … Continue reading
29th April 2019
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on The Voices Within: the history and science of how we talk to ourselves
by Charles Fernyhough. A compelling and fascinating look at the inner workings of our minds and the many conversations that go on there: from such everyday experiences as the inner voice, silent reading, and the writer’s muse, through to voice-hearing … Continue reading
27th March 2019
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on Stuffocation: living more with less
by James Wallman. Stuffocation begins with a look at the current “clutter crisis” as experienced by the western middle-classes. Research shows that this newly-wealthy section of society breeds a new kind of disease (albeit a first-world one): too much stuff. … Continue reading
26th February 2019
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on Henry Winstanley and the Eddystone Lighthouse
by Adam Hart Davis and Emily Troscianko This book is about Henry Winstanley the man whose life (and death) became intractably linked with the first Eddystone Lighthouse. The Eddystone rocks – an outcrop of slippery, sloping gneiss that barely pokes … Continue reading
24th February 2019
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on Last Train to Zona Verde
by Paul Theroux. Paul Theroux returns to Africa after ten years away, and travels overland from Cape Town to Angola for what he expects to be his final visit. The book begins on a bush-hike with the traditionally dressed Ju/’hoansi … Continue reading
12th January 2019
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on The Secret Teacher: dispatches from the classroom
by The Secret Teacher. The Secret Teacher is just starting out in an English secondary school. He is optimistic, and idealistic, characteristics that would be damped by most jobs in time; but he is quickly put in his place by … Continue reading
10th January 2019
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on Born Liars
by Ian Leslie. As an autistic, I have long been fascinated about why people lie. Of course, I have lied (yes, I love your hat), but as a skill, it’s only come to me later in life, and I find … Continue reading
31st December 2018
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on The Diary of a Bookseller
by Shaun Bythell. Shaun Bythell recounts – in the form of diary entries – his life as owner of The [secondhand] Bookshop in Wigtown, and I say “life” because and it’s so much more than a mere job). His observations of customers, … Continue reading
5th October 2018
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on This is Going to Hurt
by Adam Kay. Adam Kay is a junior doctor in the UK’s National Health Service. (“Junior” in this context means highly qualified, but overworked and underpaid.) Anyone who has followed the news in recent years will know that junior doctors … Continue reading
27th December 2017
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on The Swordfish and the Star: Life on Cornwall’s most treacherous stretch of coast
by Gavin Knight. A fascinating account of life for those on Cornwall’s far-west peninsular, this book covers fishing, art, a bit about mining and smuggling, incomers, poverty, family, feuds, fighting, alcohol, and drugs. I enjoyed this book well enough, but … Continue reading
