B.J. Harrison Reads The Gods of Mars

"Yes, I was a fool, but I was in love, and though I was suffering the greatest misery I had ever known I would not have had it otherwise for all the riches of Barsoom...

This is the second edition of the authors' groundbreaking Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (1998) and covers all the bird species found in India, Pakistian, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The plates face the descriptions and maps for quick at-a-glance reference. Many of the plates have been repainted for this edition and a number of new species added. This guide also provides tables, summarising identification features of particularly difficult groups such as nightjars, warblers and rosefinches.   "[...] Overall, Birds of the Indian Subcontinent is an excellent piece of work and a very welcome field guide, and I am greatly looking forward to using it on my upcoming trip to Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Comprehensive and authoritative, this is an indispensable guide for anyone birding anywhere in the Indian Subcontinent." - Frank Lambert (22-02-2012), read the full review at The Birder's Library   "The Indian subcontinent, always exciting for visitors, is no less…

Een fascinerend boekwerk met de grootste mythes, leugens en blunders die ooit op kaart zijn verschenen. In een luxe hardcover uitgave met mooie stofomslag. The Phantom Atlas is an atlas of the world not as it ever existed, but as it was thought to be. These marvellous and mysterious phantoms - non-existent islands, invented mountain ranges, mythical civilisations and other fictitious geography - were all at various times presented as facts on maps and atlases. This book is a collection of striking antique maps that display the most erroneous cartography, with each illustration accompanied by the story behind it. Exploration, map-making and mythology are all brought together to create a colourful tapestry of monsters, heroes and volcanoes; swindlers, mirages and murderers. Sometimes the stories are almost impossible to believe, and remarkably, some of the errors were still on display in maps published in the 21st century. Throughout much of the 19th century more than 40 different mapma…

To be confronted with the variety and complexity of the cycling routes, trails and paths in Suffolk can be a bewildering experience.  For it appears that the Suffolk County Council and the three District Councils are all trying hard to promote their areas. This is indeed encouraging for the growth of cycling, but it can be confusing.  Our purpose is to provide clear, easy to use and easy to follow, cycling maps, and to illustrate these in a comprehensive form.    Suffolk must be one of the most charming of counties to explore by bicycle. When Al Churcher delivered his routes to us at Goldeneye we couldn’t keep him quiet, such was his enthusiasm and wonder at Suffolk’s country lanes and byways. He has cycled all over the UK, Canada, Mallorca, New Zealand and Sicily, but Suffolk remained a firm favourite.    The inland scenery is not spectacular for the county’s main glory lies with its attractive villages; the local architecture jealously preserved from modern depredation. There is an …

Helen Turrell is a young and well-off single woman, living a the countryside village. But one day, she decides to travel to southern France and returns home with a baby called Michael...

Een degelijke kaart met aanduidingen van o.a. nationale parken, vliegveld, benzinepomp, dirt-roads en kleine plattegrond van hoofdstad. Well, it’s about time, eh?!? ITMB, after only thirty years on the go, finally gets around to publishing a map of Canada. When we first started mapping, there was a pressing need for good maps of Central and South America, then of Africa, then etc etc and we never found time to concentrate on our own country until fairly recently. This map was prepared by Natural Resources Canada and is, as a result, as accurate a map as one could hope to have. We are very proud of it, and very pleased to be able to use such top-rate cartography. The map covers all of the land mass of Canada, from its southernmost point to the top of Ellesmere Island and from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific. It’s an excellent map, but I’m going to give one proviso. Canada is the second-largest country on the face of the planet and there is no way that a single-sided sheet can portray…

Guidebook to walking and trekking the high mountains of Crete. The largest of the Greek Islands, Crete's mountains provide breathtaking walking and wilderness to this popular island. The routes in this guidebook are graded for difficulty and range from short, easy strolls to challenging, multi-day treks and summit climbs, so there are options for walkers of all abilities.    All the mountain ranges of Crete feature high plains, gorges and ravines, but in the heart of the Lefka Ori there is something else. High above the treeline snow thaws by July to reveal a great circle of massive barren peaks, interspersed with ‘moonscape’ outcrops, or depressions, of sinkholes in black, grey or red rock. This high desert wilderness is seldom visited but covers some 960sqkm.   In central Crete, where the island is at its widest, the huge mass of Psiloritis (Mount Ida) dominates the whole region. Covering about 560sqkm this massif is different in that a single huge, partly scree-surfaced summit ridg…

Have you been caught in a long and meaningless conversation of which you want to sneak out but somehow find it difficult to do so? Simon Wheeler was sitting quietly in a tavern in a small mining town...

Norway is one of the most popular countries for visitors in Europe. We spent an interesting time researching this map in Norway, travelling all the way north to Nordkapp, a trip that took a week. We were actually on a cruise ship for much of the travel time. We also discovered a bookstore in Narvik that sells travel maps and obtained valuable research material there. Norway, as a country, is one of the prime travel destinations in the world – lots of wide open spaces, all the mod-cons, and fantastic scenery. Obviously, Nordkapp is a huge attraction, being the most northerly part of Europe one can access, but Norway has lots of other attractions. Roads in Norway tend to be of a very good quality, but are mostly two-laned and winding. There are coastal ferries joining isolated communities from south to north, and lots of ferries for car crossings of fiords. We took a local ferry from Alesund into the interior of Stor Fiord. It took all day to make the trip, but it was a great experience…

With over 1,800 species, Peru has the second richest avifauna of any country in the world. As a consequence it is one of the most popular birding destinations in South America.   This is the first comprehensive and fully illustrated field guide to the birds of Peru. The text is arranged opposite the plates, in conventional field guide manner. Each species account includes a distribution map, distribution, abundance, length, elevation, habitat, behaviour, and extensive notes on vocalisations. English and scientific bird names are given.   "[...] Birds of Peru is a field guide worthy of the country it covers. However, if you have no plans to bird in Peru or nearby regions and have no interest in neotropical birds, then you have no reason to get this field guide (if that’s you, why are you reading this?). Likewise, if you have the previous edition and aren’t planning to visit Peru anytime soon, then there is not a compelling reason to upgrade. But everyone else should have a copy of this…