Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Humanitarian and visionary

This is the biography of a man who was born into fantastic wealth, yet who gained a reputation in his own right of being a humanitarian, a man of vision and of a deep and abiding concern for matters involving conservation and the environment.

He was the son of the once very well known figure the Aga Khan III.

He was born in France and spent several years living in Switzerland and studied at the prestigious Harvard University.

In her biography. Diana Miserez, who first became acquainted with the Prince whilst she was an employee of the UN High Commissioner's Office for Refugees and he was the working with UNESCO and as the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, writes of his childhood and his early years.

She also focuses on his deep concerns over the North-South divide and the consequences that he was able to foresee.

He was at the heart of many world issues and concerns such as the continuing plight of refugees, nuclear proliferation,  Alpine conservation, seal cub massacres, the genocide in Rwanda, globalisation and so much more.

It is a deft and thoughtful profile and biography of a man who many thought should have been appointed UN Secretary-General, but never was.

The book is copiously illustrated and will help people get to know much more about this charming, urbane and vitally important figure in recent world history.

It is 390 pages in length and published in hardback by The Book Guild. It is available from the That's Books books shop, which you will find here https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

Caught in the Act

Caught in the Act is a series of masterful short stories.

Unlike some short story authors who always seem unable to resist the urge to cram a whole novel's worth of ideas into the very restricted space of a short story and end up rather like Uncle Ivo's overstuffed leather chair. (If you want to find out about Uncle Ivo's chair, you can do so in one of the 26 short stories contained in this anthology.)

We read of the sea cruise that never was or probably never would be, of cups with cracked glazes,  the problems of concentration when you didn't want to, of sea fishing, of dances and of school days and of murder in the vicarage which, the author points out, is based on a real event.

There are stories of lost ideals, of broken promises, of remembered past experiences and of those who are lonely and those who are alone, which is not always the same thing.

It is a thoughtful book and a truthful book and there is much to commend the work of the author, David Spiller.

The stories are well-written with a clear and concise tone and with beautiful phrasing and colours.

The book is published by the Book Guild at £7.99 and is heartily recommended to all lovers of the genre of short stories.

You can purchase it here at the Thats Books bookshop https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

The Weathermen, their story

The Weathermen, their story, is an absolutely riveting read by Gordon Tripp OBE, MA.

It relates how the arts ands science of weather watching and forecasting dates back at least two Millennia, with written records of weather dating back to the third century BCE,there is also evidence, reports Tripp, that the Babylonians were making efforts to both understand and predict the weather.

Cloud patterns were viewed as being of significance and weather lore began to develop when observers began to match what they could see to the weather that always seemed to follow them.

The Chinese, as one might expect, were also deeply involved with the study of the weather and putting into practice what they had learned.

The scientists of the Arab world were also keen to learn about the weather with people such as Ibn Wahshiyaa who began to predict weather based upon their observations of wind directions in about 900 CE, or 900AD as it is also known.

The book covers a variety of weather-related instruments that were developed by scientists such as Galileo and Torricelli.

We learn of Daniel Fahrenheit, of Celsius, and of the amazing work of John Dalton who kept a stunning amount of weather observations, 200,000 of them, over a period of 57 years.

In order to do this he had to design and make his own instruments to record temperature, air pressure, humidity and wind speed.

In America Benjamin Franklin was also keen on weather watching and recording.

We read of the pioneering, but often ignored due to commercial interests, of Admiral Fitzroy and of the importance of weather forecasting in maritime safety, and how wicked vested interests destroyed Admiral Fitzroy and his efforts to use weather forecasting to improve maritime safety.

The efforts of meteorologists to improve weather forecasting during World War 2 are covered as are later developments, including weather satellites and so forth.

It is a truly remarkable book and will make an excellent present for everyone who is interested in the weather.

It costs £7.99 and can be bought at the That's Book bookshop, here https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

Colour Sergeant Chesney V.C.

Colour Sergeant Chesney V.C. is a novel by Steven Baker.

With many accounts of the First World War, both fictional and factual, being published to mark the 100th anniversary of that terrible conflict, author Steven Baker has taken us back to an earlier and perhaps simpler time.

Like many of his contemporaries in Victorian Britain, Harry Chesney had a hard and tough childhood.

His mother died from tuberculosis and his father underwent what could be described as the living death of the alcoholic, unable to cope with the loss of his wife, he took his escape via the well known route of the bottle. Eventually he was overcome by the physical death that such an escape all too often brings.

As a result, Harry ends of in the place of last resort for many of the lower orders, the workhouse.

But Harry is made of tougher stuff than most and he decides to leave the workhouse in search of a better life through joining the British Army.

He rises through the ranks form a common private to the illustrious position of being the Regimental Colour Sergeant and the holder of the Victoria Cross.

His army career takers a sudden and catastrophic hit when, after there is an uprising on the North-West Frontier, Harry is the sole survivor from his platoon.

After a time he makes his way back to England and obtains in the position of being the guardian of Ravi, the illegitimate son of Captain Shervington, a now deceased hero of the regiment.

But then the Boer War comes and Ravi decides that he, too, must join up and fight for Queen and Country.

The novel is redolent of the Boy's own Story books, yet is sympathetically written and draws characters that are full and very believable.

It is published by The Book Guild at £8.99 and can be bought at the That's Books bookshop at https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

The Dream Factory

The Dream Factory is a rare debut novel in that it is obvious that, from the very introduction of the book, that the author has already got an established and very powerful voice.

It's a comedy thriller of a book and it is aimed at young people, though adults will also find much to recommend this book to them.

Written educationalist John Simes, The Dream Factory tells the captivating, yet enchantingly bizarre, story of three youngsters, Hendrix, Page and Clapton.

There was Peter, dubbed Pi, by a less than kindly teacher, Peter who could lose himself in The Dream Factory at will.

There story is multi-layered. There are betrayals that are grievous yet so utterly thoughtless that it actually makes them far worse than they might otherwise have been.

The story is set within the small and apparently peaceful English village of Dingwall.

But the village is only apparently peaceful.For there are violent kidnappings, escapes, love, between Peter and Navinda,  a spinster who is either an ordinary spinster or a gun-carrying spy, a Frenchman who could well be a criminal mastermind, the vicar who has a somewhat shady and secretive
history, a police force that fails to see the urgency of a call reporting a shooting incident: "I know a bullet when I hear one, Sergeant!" and there were dogs, and cats (but especially cats) and Om and the calming presence of Savaric, the ghost.

This is a curious book, the author has imbued each page with a dreamlike quality that helps to move the narrative onward.

It's published by Matador at £7.99.

John Simes is a name to watch out for in the future. It's to be hoped that this is the first of many novels.

You can buy the book at the that's Books Bookshop, here:- https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

Dorris Morris and the invasion of the neighbours

Doris Morris and the invasion of the neighbours is a truly wonderful book for children (and the adults in their life, too!) from author Janet Kelly.

It playfully and enchantingly tells the story of Doris who is an elderly cat who lives with the Morris family.

The Morris family includes Amy and Ted, aged just over four and eight, respectively.

Sadly for Doris whenever her family goes out her peaceful existence is shattered by the visits of Gangsta Cat and Lizzie.

These two scurrilous villains bully poor Doris and make her life a misery by stealing her food, bullying her and making a terrible mess.

Unfortunately poor doris gets the blame for their wicked ways.

However, Amy and Ted are not as gullible as their parents and they soon cotton on to what is happening, they realise who is really causing the problems so they decide to set a trap for the two miscreant moggies!

Their determination saves the day as their mother realises that it was not Doris who was being a naughty cat, after all!

This is a large format hardback book and it is sumptuously illustrated and is ideal for children from 4 to 6, though older children and adults will find something to love in this lively and thought-provoking book.

It will be published on 28 May and should be available for preorder at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, here https://goo.gl/tn8Kiq.

It will cost £12.99.

Gay in the 80s

Gay in the 80s is a debut non-fiction book for author Colin Clews.

It is an historical and non-fiction account of what it was like to be gay in the 1980s in the UK, Australia and the USA.

It covers contentious issues such as Section 28 in the UK, the resurgence and growth of the New Right in the USA and the fact, astonishing though it might appear from the year 2012, that throughout a number of the States in the Commonwealth of Australia, Homosexuality was still illegal.

The 1980s was truly a dramatic decade for members of the gay community and what has now become known as the LGBT community.

There was the fight for the recognition of the rights of gay people and also the looming problem of AIDS which was, unfairly, stigmatised as a "gay plague."

As well as touching on these and similar issues, the book looks at the politicisation of the LGBT community and their involvement in a number of quite disparate issues such as the miner's strike, issues of policing, freedom of speech and so on.

The book will be a worthy addition to the bookshelves of people who are interested in gay history, the history of a decade that was a contentious and troubled time for a variety of reasons.

It is published by Matador at a very reasonable £14.99 and it will be available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop which you can find here https://goo.gl/tn8Kiq.

Colin Clews is to be congratulated on a book that is both academically sound but also eminently readable.