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
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
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
17th September 2017
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on Dr Johnson’s Dictionary: The Extraordinary Story Of The Book That Defined The World
by Henry Hitchings. This is a story of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary – the first comprehensive dictionary of English, which was published in 1755. We start with a brief history of Johnson’s early life: his very modest upbringing in Litchfield; his education – and … Continue reading
26th May 2017
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on The Great Explosion
by Brian Dillon. Brian Dillon’s “The Great Explosion” takes us on exploration of the north Kent marshes, through the site and history of a munitions accident that killed 108 people in 1916. In the middle of WWI, weapons manufacture was … Continue reading
24th May 2017
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on The Surgeon of Crowthorne: a Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
by Simon Winchester. Simon Winchester introduces us to two of the most important characters in the making of the Oxford English Dictionary: the then editor, James Murray, and one of his most prolific volunteer contributors, a retired US army surgeon … Continue reading
22nd May 2017
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on Restoration: 1666, a Year in Britain
by Alexander Larman. Restoration details the day-to-day, the politics, culture, and dangers of English life in the mid 1660s. Charles II has retaken his father’s throne after 12 gruelling years of Cromwellian rule. His lavish lifestyle delights many (after the … Continue reading
22nd May 2017
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on Rain: Four Walks in English Weather
by Melissa Harrison. In Rain, Melissa Harrison takes us on four walks in the English weather, visiting Wicken Fen in January, Shropshire in April, Kent’s Darent Valley in August, and Dartmoor in October. Harrison points out so many things she … Continue reading
