Touch by Claire North
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first time that Kepler discovered that he could jump from one body to another was when he was first murdered. As he was viciously beaten by the killer, he reached out and grabbed him and was suddenly looking at his own broken body in the dark alleyway. Kepler has not died, instead, he has become a ghost with the ability to flit between people at the slightest touch. There he lives their lives, experiences their feelings, sometimes for a few moments, sometimes for a whole lifetime. He values them as hosts and ensures that his experiences from others are shared with them to leave them something after he moves on.

He is not the only one who has this ability, as he discovers by accident one day as he tries to jump to another person. His own existence is threatened as his host is assassinated and it is only by jumping fast that he is able to save himself; once again he ends up seeing through the eyes of the person who has just killed him. This time though he is seeking vengeance for the murder, and his search for the answers will force him to find out who Aquila are and to once again face his nemesis, Galileo.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August was a book that turned your concept of time travel inside out and with this North has done it again with the ghosts that travel the world in their hosts. On top of that, there is a reasonably plotted thriller with fast pacing and good twists. I particularly liked the way that she used the concept of amnesia to explain how the hosts couldn’t always explain what had happened when the presence departed. It can get a little confusing as they flit between each body so very quickly and I didn’t really get why there were parts of the story that took us back in time to past experiences, it was enough to keep up with the regular characters. Dramatic ending too. Looking forward to reading more of her books.

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Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie by Andrew P. Sykes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

Europe is a place of great variety. There are all sorts of terrains and climates, as well as cultures, languages and a common history that stretches back millennia. On his third adventure across the continent, Andrew Sykes decides that travelling from its furthest southerly geographic point, Tarifa in Spain, all the way up to its most northerly, Nordkapp in Norway would be a good way to experience them. He is back on his faithful bike Reggie for the ride along the western side of Europe.

He rides through eight countries and thirty-five degrees of latitude including crossing the Arctic Circle. The 5000 odd miles takes him past the edge of Portugal, over the Pyrenees and along the Atlantic coast, before cutting inland past vineyards and the French countryside to reach Paris, where he foolishly takes his life in his hands and cycles along the Avenue des Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. Surviving that, he carries on to a whistle stop tour of Belgium and the Netherlands before reaching Germany, his final country before the final leg of the trip. Even though he reached Scandinavia in the summer, it was still going to be a challenge to reach his final destination.

Sykes is not trying to set any records, this is riding for the hell of it, to venture out, meet people, see places and for the pure pleasure of being on a bike. And enjoy it he does, even though he battles through rain, relentless headwinds and some near misses with very large trucks. He meets various friends in certain towns and cities on the route as well as cycling with random cyclists who were sharing some of the same journeys. Sykes writes with infectious enthusiasm and it is a really enjoyable read. Hopefully, this will inspire some to make their own journeys of discovery.

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Blackbird: The Untouchable Spy Plane by James Hamilton-Paterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

Of all the aircraft ever developed the SR-71 ‘Blackbird’ is probably one of the most distinctive. Conceived by Clarence ‘Kelly’ Johnson along with a team of brilliant engineers at ‘Skunk Works’, Lockheed Martin’s highly secret military development site, the design first saw the light of day in the late 1950’s. That is seventy years ago and it still looks futuristic now. Built to replace the U2 spy plane, it was designed to be the fastest and highest flying aircraft. When development finished in the mid-1960’s it was the pinnacle of aero and jet development, it could fly at 85,000 feet at a speed of Mach 3 (approximately 2000mph) for a range of 3200 miles. The various versions of the plane flew missions over the world from then until the end of the nineties and it was never shot down. It was only retired as the job it was designed to do could now be done better with satellites.

The Blackbird is an engineering marvel. The engineering team had to solve so many problems in using titanium, then an exotic material, even finding that the cadmium plating on their tools would affect it. The pilots had to be dressed as astronauts as the plane flew so high and the fuselage was mostly fuel tanks. They had a reputation for leaking fuel all over the place, but that was not entirely true. The plane holds various speed records including one for travelling from New York to London in just 1 hour 54 minutes, which is just staggering. It is a plane that looks fast even on the ground.

Hamilton-Paterson has managed to bring us a distilled history of an aircraft that is eminently readable and full of details and anecdotes on the development and challenges that the creation of this aircraft too. There is a limited amount of detail on the operations that the SR-71 undertook, probably because most are still classified. It is a good introduction to the aircraft, with some interesting photos as well, but if the book has one flaw, it was that it was too short.

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A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The church in Oxgodby has a medieval wall painting that is need of uncovering and restoring. For Tom Birkin, a survivor of World War 1, it offers a place of peace and tranquillity to contemplate the past years and to recover from his failed marriage. He is not the only stranger in the village, a man called Charles Moon is also employed to look for a grave on the un-consecrated ground just outside the church.

As Birkin contemplates the events that took place over that idyllic summer, he remembers an English countryside that had undergone little change. It was a time that the nation drew a collective breath after the horrors of the war and had started to return to a pre-war pattern. His acts of rising, talking to Moon and then working on the artwork soothed his nerves and calmed his soul, and the season ground inexorably towards autumn.

Carr has written a book full of subtle nuances and symbolism. By taking these men who have seen things that no man ever should experience, he uses the serenity of an English summer in a small village to dissipate their fears and anger. In this short book, he ventures deep into the roots of happiness and how both joy and sadness are closely linked and form your very person. It is difficult to pin down exactly what makes this such a good book, some of it is its brevity, there is not a wasted word in here, but I think for me it is the way that Carr has captured that very essence of summer distilled it and woven it throughout the book. Will definitely be reading this again.

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The Magic and Mystery of Birds: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human by Noah Strycker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Noah Strycker has been utterly besotted by birds for as long as he can remember. This passion has taken him to some of the remotest parts of the world, Antartica and the Falklands, to the Galápagos, one of the richest for all sorts of wildlife. His travels mean that he has seen a vast number of species from the ubiquitous pigeon that can travel vast distances to the same place each time, huge murmurations of starlings, magpies that can recognise themselves and bower birds that construct the most amazing structures to procreate. His studies and thoughts show that we have as many similarities as we do differences.

Strycker has drawn together a lot of interesting analogies and observations of our feathered friends. There is a lot of recent cutting-edge science in here too and subjects as varied as game theory and intelligence. He has made it easy to read as he peppers the text with lots of personal anecdotes and humorous stories about some of the mad things he has done in the name of research. Quite impressed by this and will definitely be reading his latest when it is out on breaking the record of spotting the most number of species in a year. 3.5 stars.

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The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Recently widowed from an unpleasant husband, Cora Seaborne has moved from London to the Essex parish of Aldwinter with her son and friend Martha. It is a time of exciting scientific change and discovery as people realise that fossils pose as many questions as they answer. Women have started to play a limited role in the discovery of these almost supernatural creatures finding the bones scattered below cliffs as they erode. Her arrival in the wilds of Essex happens around the time that a folktale has come back to life and the village and people of the Blackwater estuary are living in fear of the Essex serpent once again.

The fear is brought to life with the discovery of a drowned man, naked with his head rotated almost 180 degrees and a look of terror in his eyes. One man who sees the parish crumbling in their faith is the vicar, Will Ransome, they start to resort to pagan superstitions and pure cold fear of what may lurk in the waters. Cora arriving in his parish adds to his challenges as she declares that science offers as many explanations as religion does to their present threat. Their relationship sparks fierce debate and unspoken attraction, but Cora has another that is besotted by her, Luke Garrett, a surgeon of some note, who affection is not returned. Will they be able to understand what lurks in the Blackwater, and will they resolve the relationship to something more amiable?

Perry has set the story in a time where society is undergoing huge social changes and scientific understanding is growing and challenging the status quo of the state. There is a lot to like about this, the story is richly imagined, full of detail and with a gothic sub note all the way through, the strained relationship between Cora and William adds greatly to the story too. However, I did feel that there were too many characters in the story as it flipped back and forward between London and Essex. The plot had a little too much going on as well, but the various sub plots did add the necessary depth. Glad I have read it and would suit those that like Victorian dramas.

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Until We Are Free: My Fight For Human Rights in Iran by Shirin Ebadi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Iranian people that I have met have been generally warm, friendly and welcoming. The country that they come from though is one of the most authoritarian on the planet with the invasive and pervasive monitoring of the population by the Ministry of Intelligence and draconian religious enforcement by the countries spiritual leaders. This powerful and emotive book is the part of the life story of Dr Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian activist and human rights lawyer. She is a strong willed and a lady of immense personal integrity and she has challenged every step of the way the total power that Iranian state thinks it should have.

She has fought tirelessly over the years for the elements in society that we take for granted; democracy, freedom of speech and most importantly in that country equality. Her work for those at the very bottom of society, the plight of Baha’is and women has been an inspiration across the globe, so much so, that she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her relentless work. This did not go unnoticed by the authorities and the Ministry of Intelligence. They bugged her offices and home and made sure that her activities were disrupted and her and her staff and family were intimidated frequently. One man, Mahmudi, seems to have made it his personal mission to hound her to the end of the earth. Little did she know at the time, but a trip to Majorca would be the last time she saw her beloved country.

This book is very moving, not only do we get to see the side of Iran that few of us know about, but we see just how fractured it has become under the continuing despotic leadership. Ebadi writes with a passion and eloquence about her circumstances, the constant hounding that her husband and daughters have had to endure because of the stand that she has taken and the situation in the country. She is even intimidated by them whilst in exile. I would urge people to read this, not just to get an insight to another country in turmoil, but to see what the true face of humanity is and the courage of a woman who has chosen to stand up for her beliefs.

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Linescapes: Fragmentation and Connection in the Natural World by Hugh Warwick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Since the last Ice Age mankind has shaped and changed our landscape in a multitude of ways. Some of these layers of history have vanished and can only be detected by the latest in archaeological techniques. However, there are other changes that we have made that are still visible even thousands of years after they have been created. It is these lines of roads, hedges, walls, canals and railways that criss-cross our landscapes and have sliced and diced them into ever smaller fragments that Warwick is interested in. Modern agriculture has decimated the wildlife across our land, a theme picked up by John Lewis-Stempel in the Running Hare and Stephen Moss in the Wild Kingdom, thankfully it is these linescapes that can offer a sanctuary to our much-beleaguered wildlife.

To discover how our wildlife is faring Warwick takes to the highways and byways, climbs the high grounds by the walls, peers into the hedges, wades through the ditches, floats lazily along a canal, treads carefully along our railway lines and walks warily under the pylons. Some of these lines, the roads in particular, is utter carnage for mammals and birds in particular, in other places wildlife is just about clinging onto existence too. There are some success stories, the industrial might of the canals faded long ago, and rather than being grubby dirty places as Warwick is expecting, they are now havens for all sorts of aquatic creatures and even the exotic blue darts that are kingfishers have made their home there. Simple changes can have a massive effect, just by not cutting a verge can improve life for invertebrates and the birds that feed off them immeasurably. The power lines that stretch across our landscapes claim a fair number of causalities but the space below them is being used to create something called the Natural Grid. Inspired by the report Making Space for Nature by Sir John Lawton this concluded that SSI’s were too dislocated and were accelerating the decline of wildlife generally; where the Natural Grid comes in is to ensure that the land beneath the power lines is managed effectively with wild flowers and plants to act as feeding stations.

Linescapes is a timely book, Warwick pulls together a lot of disparate elements of the landscape and tries to make us think about them in a cohesive way. There are examples of where good practice can make such a difference and he even visits the Devil’s Punchbowl in Surrey to see what a properly planned change can be like. The time is now to make properly considered changes, and they need not be big changes to make a real difference to our beautiful countryside and natural world.

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