Bright Tracks

In 1959, nearly 60 years ago, four friends from Cambridge University decided that they would take a six week backpacking holiday to Greece.

Unlike today when tourists merely board a jet and get out at their destination only several hours later, in 1959 they joined a party of travellers who were heading to Greece, by train.

The train was called the Tauern Express and it took three days to travel through Europe from Ostend.

The four friends discovered a way of life that was vastly different from their own home lives, as they find themselves in a country still dealing with the aftermath of having been occupied by the German Army during World War Two, a decade ago.

They travel throughout Greece exploring the rich variety of places of historical importance and significance and meet a range of highly colourful characters.

The author, Richard Pike, took copious notes during the trip of a lifetime and he and his three companions took many photographs.

But Richard's notes were allowed to be stored away as he got on with the more pressing demands of establishing himself as an educationalist and a teacher.

He also wrote and published several books but the notes of his adventure remained pretty much undisturbed until Richard decided to dust them off and read through them.

The result is a highly personal account of a journey to and through a place that sadly, for the main part, no longer exists, the Greece and Europe of a different century and a vastly different milieu.

It is wonderfully illustrated, including many photographs taken by Richard and his companions during their epic journey. There are also some wonderfully evocative sketches by Mike.

From the dour officials of Eastern Europe to the attractive girl they met, to the disappointment of old ruins that were, after all, only some old ruins, to the limousines of Athens to the live hens tied by their feet to the roof rack of a wheezing, ancient bus, all life is here and faithfully recorded by Richard and his three compatriots.

It's published by Matador at a remarkably reasonable £9.99 and will make an excellent gift for the traveller, armchair or otherwise, or the lover of well-written socio-history of the past, post long and recent.

You can buy it here at the That's Book bookshop https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

The Fortunes at War

The Fortunes at War is a novel set against the backdrop of The Crimean War.

Captain James Fortune and Sergeant John Finch both hail from the same village in rural Hampshire.

They are both from vastly different backgrounds, but there are links between them. They are both from the same place and they both join the famed Rifle Brigade.

But there is also another, deeper link that binds them together. The link of family, as they are blood relatives. But this salient fact is not known to both of them.

The are both posted to the Crimea and see action in a variety of locations, the Battle of Alma and the fall of Sevastopol.

The two men are entrusted with a highly secret and very dangerous mission.

Will the two men succeed in their allotted tasks on the mission?

Will they survive the war and return home? Will they both become aware of the fact that they are more than just fellow villagers, although from different social stratas? That they are family?

Tony Foot's novel is extremely well researched and is also very well written. He takes the reader back to the time of the Crimean War, yet as he takes the reader back to the time of the funeral of Wellington (I had not realised what a disaster it had turned into) he only uses enough research to paint you a picture, not baffle you with too many facts.

It's an intriguing book, covering the horrors of war, family life at the time of the Crimea and all told in a charmingly realistic, yet romantic way.

It's published by The Book Guild at £7.99 and is worth every penny.

You can purchase it at the That's Book bookshop, here https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

In the Doghouse!

In the Doghouse! is new book for children from published author David J. Robertson.

His first children's book, Dognapped! was published by Matador in 2016 and is nominated for the People's Book Prize, 2017.

And now he has reunited his gang of crime fighting pooches for more canine shenanigans and crime fighting.

Rascal is a giant of a German Shepherd. Although he might look a bit scary, the truth is that Rascal is a bit of a cowardly lion type, rather than a ruff tuff canine.

He has grown so large that his kennel can no longer accommodate him, so he very kindly allows his three muttly mates, Misty, Bertie and One-Eyed Rose to have it for their own den.

But one day, the rains come and once they came, they didn't know when to stop! So poor Rascal becomes soaked right through to his skin.

His friends are worried about him catching a chill, so they put their heads together to see if they can find him a new home.

The gang, under the guidance of One-Eyed Rose, end up on the other side of their town, because that, she knows, is a place where they sell kennels.

It's a place that sells a wide range of wooden structures like summerhouses and sheds, but, unfortunately, the gang arrives on a day that it is not open for business!

This doesn't put plucky Rose off, she manages to wriggle her way through a hole in the fence.

There are a group of men working within the compound, loading wooden sheds onto a lorry, using a forklift truck. The men, a gang of robbers, notice the dogs and in the ensuing melee, the summerhouses end up being smashed!

The dogs are chased away, but cowardly Rascal goes the wrong way and becomes lost in the middle of the compound.

When they realise Rascal is lost, the friends go back to find him, but then the alarms are triggered!

What will happen to them? Will they be in a lot of trouble? Where will Rascal be able to live?

The book is wonderfully illustrated by Ian Ward and will be a great book for any child and also for the adults lucky enough to read this story to them!

It's published by Matador at £8.99 and will make a wonderful book to be read by and with children.

You can buy it here at the That's Books bookshop:- https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

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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.