LEIGH FORBES: Books of all Sorts

19th December 2017
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on Island on Fire: the extraordinary story of Laki, the volcano that turned eighteenth-century Europe dark

Island on Fire: the extraordinary story of Laki, the volcano that turned eighteenth-century Europe dark

Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe. A brilliant book, which looks at the 1783 eruption of Laki, one of Iceland’s most damaging volcanoes, as well as others in Iceland and around the world. Drawing from the eyewitness account of local minister, … Continue reading

21st May 2017
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on Denali’s Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America’s Wildest Peak

Denali’s Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America’s Wildest Peak

by Andy Hall. A well-researched and well-written account of the 1967 disaster on Alaska’s Denali, the highest mountain in North America, drawn from contemporary records and reports from, as well as modern-day interviews with those involved. In the summer of … Continue reading

15th January 2017
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded

by Simon Winchester. The events surrounding the cataclysmic 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, a island in the Sunda Strait, make for fascinating reading. It might seem impossible to convey the immensity of the forces required to blow a 2,600’ mountain to … Continue reading

27th April 2016
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on Feet in the Clouds: a Tale of Fell-Running and Obsession

Feet in the Clouds: a Tale of Fell-Running and Obsession

by Richard Askwith. Richard Askwith introduces us to not only fell running, but also fell runners, fell races and long-distance challenges, and the remarkable story of fell-running history – all interwoven with details of the contemporary fell-running year as it … Continue reading

19th April 2016
by Leigh Forbes
Comments Off on At the Loch of the Green Corrie

At the Loch of the Green Corrie

by Andrew Greig. The most astonishingly thought-provoking narrative, which weaves together a biography of the poet Norman MacCaig, fishing, whisky, wild camping in the north west Highlands of Scotland, geology, and that link between the soul and what it means … Continue reading