When is an island not an island? Peter Caton takes us to all four corners of Engl&, Scotland & Wales to find out. Sharing our nation`s fascination with islands, Peter sets out to be the first person to visit all 43 tidal islands which can be walked to from the UK mainl&. Along the way he faces many challenges: precipitous cliffs, vicious dogs, disappearing footpaths, lost bus drivers, fast tides, quicksand & enormous quantities of mud, but also experiences wonderfully scenic journeys by road, rail & on foot. He contrasts the friendly welcome from most islanders & owners with the reluctance of others to permit visits, & tells how he was thrown off one secret isl&. An entertaining narrative illustrated with colour photographs, No Boat Required contains a wealth of information as the author unearths many little known facts & stories. It tells of the solitude of the many remote islands & the difficulties of balancing the needs of people & wildlife. We learn of the islands` varied histories
- stories of pirates, smugglers, murder & ghosts, of battles with Vikings, an island claimed by punks & another with its own king. He writes of the beauty of the islands & our coast, & reflects on how these may be affected by climate change. In No Boat Required Peter Caton takes us to explore islands, some familiar but most which few of us know exist & even fewer have visited. He finds that our tidal islands are special places, many with fascinating & amusing stories & each one of them different. It adds up to a unique journey around Britain.
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SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION 2002 A stunning debut novel about a little girl growing up in Belfast, from the ...

Llewelyn Moss, hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, stumbles upon a transaction gone horribly wrong. Finding bullet-ridden bodies, several kilos of heroin, & a caseload of cash, he faces a choice -- leave the scene as he found it, or cut the money & run. Choosing the latter, he knows, will change everything. & so begins a terrifying chain of events, in which each participant seems determined to answer the question that one asks another: how does a man decide in what order to abandon his life? ` No Country for Old Men is a severed head & shoulders over anything else written in America this year` Independent on Sunday `A Western thriller with a racy plot & punchy dialogue, perfect for a lazy Sunday` The Times `[ An] utterly absorbing, chilling tale.. . One of the most sinister characters in modern American fiction` Herald `A fast, powerful read, steeped with a deep sorrow about the moral degradation of the legendary American West` Financial Times ` It`s hard to think of a contemporary writer more worth reading` Independent ...

Sir Tony Robinson is a much-loved actor, presenter & author with a stellar career lasting over fifty years. Now, in his long-awaited autobiography, he reveals how the boy from South Woodford went from child stardom in the first stage production of Oliver!, a pint-sized pickpocket desperately bleaching his incipient moustache, to comedy icon Baldrick, the loyal servant & turnip aficionado in Blackadder. It wasn`t all plain sailing though. Along the way he was bullied by Steve Marriott, failed to impress Liza Minnelli & was pushed into a stinking London dock by John Wayne. He also entertained us with Maid Marion & Her Merry Men (which he wrote & starred in) & coped manfully when locked naked outside a theatre in Lincoln during the live tour of comedy series Who Dares Wins. He presented Time Team for twenty years, watching countless gardens ruthlessly dug up in the name of archaeology, & risked life & limb filming The Worst Jobs in History. Packed full of incident & insight, No Cunning Plan is a funny, self-deprecating & always entertaining read. ...

No Dig, No Fly, No Go: How Maps Restrict & Control, by Mark Monmonier, demonstrates how much the concept of the boundary, & therefore the power of prohibitive mapping, influences our daily lives in examples ranging from the home ownership to voting, from car insurance to fishing, from prohibiting students going to school in particular places to banishing certain industries & individuals to the periphery of society, & from settling the American West to claiming slices of Antarctica. ...

Beloved American hero Buzz Aldrin reflects on the wisdom, guiding principles, & irreverent anecdotes he`s gathered through his event-filled life
- both in outer space & on earth. No Dream Is Too High whittles down Buzz Aldrin`s event-filled life into a short list of principles he values, each illustrated by fascinating anecdotes & memories, such as: Second comes right after first. NASA protocol should have meant he was first on the moon, but rules changed just before the mission. How he learned to be proud of being the second man on the moon. Look for opportunities, not obstacles. Buzz was rejected the first time he applied to be an astronaut. Failure is an opportunity to learn to do better. Always maintain your spirit of adventure. For his 80th birthday, Buzz went diving in the Galapagos & hitched a ride on a whale shark. He stays fit, energetic, & fascinated with life.
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In the summer of 2011, Charlie found the school he taught at could not afford to renew his teaching contract. With no job & no money, but suddenly all the time in the world, he decided to travel from Cornwall to London in a peculiarly old-fashioned, quintessentially English & remarkably cheap way
- as a tramp, on foot, sleeping rough. The journey was filled with colour, surprise & danger, & a range of memorable encounters
- from Stan who once saved a boy from being raped but whose homelessness stemmed from a paralysing addiction, to Ian, who lived in a tent on Parliament Square. With a striking mix of travel & current affairs writing, No Fixed Abode sheds light on a side of the UK few ever see from within.

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Using the post-war Iraqi-Kurdish rebellion as a starting point, this book provides a history of the Kurds which touches particularly on the period since the break-up of the Ottoman Empire. The book

Includes:: discussion of who the Kurds are, historically, culturally & anthropologically, as well as a brief account of Kurdistan during the Middle Ages, under the dynasty of Saladin. The bulk of the book describes the troubled history of the Kurds since World War I.

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Simon Calder’s _ No Frills_ is the highly acclaimed story of a modern-day travel phenomenon, told by a leading expert with exclusive access to the airline’s main players. Low cost air-travel has become one of the biggest business success stories in the world in the last few decades & in this intriguing read Calder explore the reasons behind its rise. With innovative characters such as easy Jet’s Stelios Haji-Ioannou & Ryanair’s Michael O’ Leary, airline passengers across the world
- & particularly in Europe
- have been the ones to benefit. Calder’s investigative journalism leads him to discover the secrets behind the budget airlines & discover the secrets of their success, ” Everything you need to know about slumming it in the skies...”_ Evening Standard_

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India`s Westernized elite, cut off from local traditions, `want to write a full stop in a land where there are no full stops`. From that striking insight Sir Mark Tully has woven a superb series of `stories` that make up “ No Full Stops in India”, which explores Calcutta, from the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad (probably the biggest religious festival in the world) to the televising of a Hindu epic. Throughout, Tully combines analysis of major issues with a feel for the fine texture & human realities of Indian life.` The ten essays, written with clarity, warmth of feeling & critical balance & understanding, provide as lively a view as one can hope for of the panorama of India`
- K. Natwar-Singh in the ” Financial Times”.
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