4 out of 5 stars

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

Amber has captivated people for the past 12,000 years. The golden coloured fossilised tree resins were first made into beads in the Neolithic time and have been highly sought after ever since. The lumps of amber can be cut and polished and turned into beautiful jewellery. Because of its value it has been highly sought after and as it doesn’t weight much it has been easy to transport for trade.

Since the Roman times, there has been a route from the north of Europe that bought this precious material from the beaches of the Baltic Sea all the way down to the Mediterranean. This is the beginning of a 2500 kilometre journey that will take him from the northern shores of Europe where a lot of the amber can be picked off the beaches of the Baltic Sea if you have sharp enough eyes to spot it.

Heading along the Baltic Coast, he passes through the countries of Estonia, Latvia, briefly into Russia and then Lithuania. While he is that far north, he has a go at finding it on those beaches though takes a sharp eye and after spending a little while looking, Schüler gets his eye in and finds his first piece, a cylinder about the size of a fingernail that still had an impression of the bark of the tree it came from 50 million years ago.

While in Russia he goes to visit the Amber Room in the Catherin Palace in St Petersburg. This is a replica of the original room which was looted in World War II and taken to Königsberg. It was thought to have been damaged when bombed, but there were rumours that it might have survived. This magnificent room glows in the light.

Turning inland the journey takes him to Poland next. There are two main routes here that archaeological evidence suggests could have been in use at the same time. He is bowled over by the amber collection in Marienburg which has pieces that go back to 2000bc but the centrepiece is the Renaissance and Baroque collections. In the Czech Republic, he heads to the town of Olomouc where he is hoping to find more amber in the museum.

Just over the border into Hungary, he is in the city of Sopron to visit the city museum in Fabricius House where they have some finely carved amber which showed that the raw amber that had headed south would work its way back north as finished pieces. His journey is almost at an end as he approaches southern Europe, where there are still people creating jewellery from amber.

I really liked this book following alongside Schüler down the Amber Route. It was good to read about very different parts of Europe than I usually do. Woven throughout the book is his own personal family history, of relatives who survived the holocaust in the second world war and tribute to those that tragically didn’t. Coupled with that is a fascinating history over 2000 years of the people and places that were obsessed with this precious material. If there was one tiny flaw, I would have liked to have had some photos included of the places that he visits.

4 out of 5 stars

Adam Kay had come from a family of medics, so becoming a doctor was inevitable. He knew some of what he was going to have to do as a junior doctor, but he didn’t quite realise how much doing that job would take out of him. This book is the diary that he kept of his time working on the maternity ward.

Naturally, he has changed names and significant details to anonymise the events, but what he recounts here dealing with the general public is very very funny at times!

There are sad moments too, which you are naturally going to get in any hospital that is caring for any really ill people.

There are times when he brushes off near-death moments as a seasoned pro and other times when he needs to sit a cry for an hour having not being able to help a particular individual. Just when you think that you have heard it all, then comes another person in with an object inserted literally where the sun doesn’t shine. The funniest one was the candle…

He is an eloquent writer who is not scared to get angry about things when it comes to the NHS. I do feel that the whole system is broken if they are having to push doctors to the point where they can make life-changing mistakes. This is an NHS that has been worn down by successive governments and just at the moment where we have a pandemic hit us it is at its lowest point.

3 out of 5 stars

Science works by asking questions and then seeking answers to those questions and modifying as you go along until you learn more about the thing that you asked the question about. In this book, a plethora of authors have looked at some of the most imagination-stretching, brain-staggering questions in the universe and have set about trying their best to answer them.

It is wide-ranging in its choice of subject matter, from the tiny quantum world to the vast chasms of space, trying to understand why lightning shouldn’t exist and how we can read each other minds all the time. It ventures into the seriously weird world of quantum physics and heads beneath the surface of the earth to discover creatures that somehow are managing to live without oxygen. There are people who can see time, some seriously odd materials and details on why we all need to take an acid trip every now and again.

It had some interesting stuff that I didn’t know, but did it blow my mind though? No. Though there were some articles that I had not come across, a fair number of them I had had some prior knowledge of. If you read widely you will have almost certainly come across some of these stories already. Not a bad book if you want to introduce someone to a broad range of science.

4 out of 5 stars

Arthur Grimble was fresh out of Oxford and was interviewed by the colonial office for a post overseas. He got the job and was despatched to the other side of the world to work on the Gilbert Islands in the pacific. This was the time of colonialism and he was starting there as a cadet officer. Coming from the UK this was a form of paradise and it was going to be a place that he was to fall in love with over the next three decades.

You probably think, Grimble, that you’re here to teach these people our code of manners, not to learn theirs. You’re making a big mistake.

He was given the piece of advice above and he took it completely to heart. He was fascinated by the islanders, their history and just how they managed to eke a living in the middle of the vast ocean. Not only did they survive by developing unique ways of catching food from the ocean but they also developed a sophisticated pagan culture that was full of legends, folklore, rituals and spells. It was a way of life that was vanishing as the Catholic and Protestant religion was being draped over the culture. But if you knew where to look you could still see their earlier pagan culture shining through and as the people began to trust him they began to share their stories.

I really liked this, he is an eloquent author and a sensitive observer of the culture of these islands. He is prepared to get involved in the activities too, learning to catch octopus seeing men face tiger sharks with only a spear and witnessing the initiation rituals of the clans. I think if he hadn’t have taken that small piece of advice then this would have been a much poorer book. A great read of a part of the world that I have never heard of.

3.5 out of 5 stars

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

Death: ‘THERE ARE BETTER THINGS IN THE WORLD THAN ALCOHOL, ALBERT.’

Albert: ‘Oh, yes, sir. But alcohol sort of compensates for not getting them.’

Terry Pratchett

I have always liked this quote from Pratchett, not only is it amusing, but it contains so much truth in it. I like a drink, a few pints down the pub with some friends every now and again, a couple of glasses of wine over dinner or a contemplative whiskey while reading a book late on a Friday night. However, alcohol has earned its moniker, demon for a number of reasons. It is very easy to go from a modest drinker to a heavy drinker to an alcoholic without yourself or anyone noticing your dependence on the bottle. Owning up to this to your self and others takes an immense amount of

courage.

That time when

I was so bad

When I said

Hahahaha, I’m fine

Of course I’m not fine though —

drinking too much

Horan has that courage to face up to the things that she has been doing and part of facing that has been to write her thoughts down on the page. She pours out her feelings and actions in these verses at her very lowest points. This raw and emotive prose makes this a very tough read at times and there are subjects that are about some very dark moments in her life. It is difficult to like poetry like this given how bleak some of the poems are, that said there is immense power in her words that will help someone facing some of the same issues that she has.

Favourite Poems

The It Girl

The Light Was Not for Me

5 out of 5 stars

I have been a follower of the Tour de France for three decades now. It never ceases to amaze me the limits that these guys can push themselves to, just to complete the course. Some have used artificial aids, but even with that, it is still a mammoth achievement to complete the 3000 or so kilometres.

There is another cycle race across Europe though that is twice the length of the Tour. The race is called the Transcontinental and rather than having the luxury of team members and lots of support, the entrants must cycle their way without support in the fastest time possible. Whilst the Tour takes place over three weeks and is a very fast race, the Transcontinental has one stage and four checkpoints. You’d think that they would struggle to find people to take part in this, but they do find people and those that do must be utterly mad.

Emily Chappell is one of those. She began as a cycle courier in London, but her taste for adventure transformed her into an ultra cyclist and she decided to enter this. To get across a continent in the fastest time on a bike means that you have to ignore things like sleep and sensible diets, push so far through the pain barrier that you are on the limit of doing permanent damage to your body. She made it halfway before bailing the first year that she entered. Undaunted by this, she trained hard with the guy who founded the race, Mike Hall and entered the next year.

It took her 13 days and 10 hours to cycle the 4000 miles and she won the women’s prize. She consumed countless calories every day, existed on little or no sleep and pushed her body beyond any sensible limits. As staggering as that sounds, she was still five days behind the overall winner, Kristof Allegaert. A substantial part of the book is about the platonic relationship that she had with the founder of the race, Mike Hall and the rides that they used to go out on. It is a tribute to him too and the disciple that he founded as he was tragically killed on another race in Australia.

This is one of the best cycling books that I have read in a long while. Not only is it lyrical with a strong narrative, but Chappell is searingly honest about the few highs and many lows of pushing her body well beyond any limits in this most extreme of sports. Superb book and possibly one of the best cycling books I have ever read.

4 out of 5 stars

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

I first came across Edward Ragg’s work when I saw that one of his poems had been awarded Highly Commended poem in The Forward Book of Poetry 2014. I thought it was a wonderful piece of work, short and packed with some much meaning.

Fast forward a couple of years and I had joined Twitter. Just happed to post a link to this short piece for #NationalPoetryDay and tagged him. He followed me back and he offered to send me both his collections which duly arrived three years ago and got buried on a shelf… (Sorry Edward!).

Finally got to pick the first, A Force That Takes recently and now regret not doing so earlier. It is a delightful collection that covers his new life in China and his old life in the UK. There are poems on silence, spices, philosophers and art galleries.

Ragg has a beautiful way with language, his sparse writing, devolves so much meaning from so few words. It feels easy to read, but I guess that it takes some effort to reach this point. It is a collection that demands a re-read at some point in the future.

Three Favourite Poems:
Declaration
The Philosopher and the Lake
And my all-time favourite poem, Anthem at Morning

3.5 out of 5 stars

El Capitan, also known as El Cap, is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite. The granite monolith is about 914m high and is a legendary mountain for rock climbers. It took 47 days to climb it the first time, and it was considered amongst the community of climbers that a ‘free solo’ attempt would be so far beyond human limits and endurance that it was virtually impossible.

Climbing with a rope is pretty dangerous stuff, but climbing without is borderline insane in my opinion. People have been doing it for a while though, and Synnott’s book takes us back to the origins of free climbing with Royal Robbins and Warren Harding as well as potted histories of the men known as the Stonemasters who made the Yosemite peaks their own. But this book is primarily about the rise and rise of Alex Honnold, who took the discipline of free solo climbing to another level literally.

In June 2017, Honnold surpassed himself, by ascending El Cap without a rope in under four hours.

This achievement was seen as staggering across the climbing community and brought numerous accolades for this. For those watching, it was a constant heart in mouth moment though.

In lots of ways I liked this book, Synnott is a climbing insider and knows all the people that were involved in this as well as being steeped in the history of climbing in that part of the USA. He writes well too. The very end of the book is incredibly fast-paced as describes the climb and the emotions going through all of those watching him ascend. However, I felt it was a little too stretched out as it took a long time to get to that point. Not a bad book overall.

4 out of 5 stars

The international DJ sounds the most perfect life; the glamour, jet setter heading off to exotic locations, headlining all the top clubs, being a household name and being wealthy, surrounded by the most beautiful people. Turns out it is not quite like that…

The Secret DJ was one of those who was at the top of his game for 30 odd years, but there is a chasm between how people perceived his life and the reality of it. Yes, he would fly into various places for the weekend to play to the crowds and get the place jumping, but he could only keep doing that with a regular supply of drugs and alcohol. These hedonistic weekends moving from flights to hotels to clubs and back to the airport. Sleep didn’t really exist in this drug-filled life.

Then there was his tour manager who he says took more drugs than anyone else that he knew and would always be late for the everything he attended, and from what I can make out didn’t really manage anything at all. Since he started the scene has changed dramatically, now it seems that any bedroom DJ with deep pockets can get themselves a set of CDJ’s and can become a DJ. They are obviously not as well known as the big guys, but the effect they have had is to drive the amount they get paid down. The common currency to be paid in seems to be exposures… Which will give you a lot of publicity but you can’t pay for groceries with them yet.

I had always liked dance music and can trace my love of that back to Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream and still listen to a lot of trance at the moment. However, the club scene has never really appealed, the introvert in me would much rather have a quiet drink in a pub. As well as being an interesting expose of the club scene, The Secret DJ is prepared to share his experiences to stop others making the same mistakes. He is not a bad writer either, fairly blunt and holds strong opinions and at times this was hilarious. There were nice touches too, it is split into two sections, A Side and B Side of course and Chapter 6 made me chuckle…

4 out of 5 stars

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

Back in 1874, a young man called Stevenson walked from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire to Tring in Hertfordshire across the Chiltern Hills over the course of three days. He wrote up his walk in an essay called Beechwoods. Ten years later he was writing a book called Treasure Island and would become famous for that and other works. He was a keen observer of the natural world, listening to the chorus of birds. This landscape, whilst being shaped by human touch, was still rich in abundant flora and fauna. People co-existed with the land rather than obliterate it into submission.

A century and a half later Gail Simmons decided to follow in his footsteps tracing the changes in the landscape since Stevenson first walked there. But it was also a time to take stock of the countryside before the ancient woodlands, historical monuments and drovers roads that will be obliterated soon by the pointless and controversial High Speed 2 (HS2) rail line that will smash through here soon.

It is also a walk down memory lane too, as this was the part of the country that her parents moved too after her father finished serving in the army and it was where she grew up. But even though she was familiar with it, there had been significant changes since that time, whole woodlands flattened to build on and villages that were once separate were now surrounded by the urban sprawl. Her walk takes her through villages that are now part of the commuter belt, where private roads with expensive price tags and driveways full of executive cars seem to be taking over. The juxtaposition between sleepy village greens where the cricket match is being played and walking past fields with PRIVATE KEEP OUT signs does jar a little.

I read this book knowing that HS2 had been given the go-ahead by the government. It is already way over budget, and that it set to escalate as they squander ridiculous sums of money of a train service that we don’t need. For the nominal extra expense in the total budget, a tunnel under this part of the country would still be the best solution. The project is a big white elephant, but sadly this government thinks that it will be useful. This was an enjoyable book to read, Simmons has a quite beautiful way of writing, and this book is a wonderful eulogy to the landscapes and woodlands that will be lost. There is so much crammed in here for a three-day walk (plus a little bit) and I’d thought she would be more furious about losing all this countryside. However, what comes across is more pain and anguish over what is going. When it has gone then it is lost forever. I liked that they had included Stephenson’s original essay at the back of the book and as a nice little touch, I thought the dictionary definitions that are liberally scatted throughout the book on all manner of country words and phrases worked well too.