The Story of the Year

The new year had begun and January was already nearing its end, but it was still very cold...

Ted Simon is the author of the classic travel book JUPITER'S TRAVELS. It documents his four-year journey round the world by motorbike, travelling through Europe, Africa, South and North America, and Asia. A number one bestseller in the late 1970s, it is still regarded as one of the greatest motorcycle books - indeed, one of the greatest travel books - ever written. In 2001, at the age of 69, Ted Simon decided to retrace his journey, and DREAMING OF JUPITER is the result. It took him two and a half years - during which time he revisited all the countries he had travelled through in the 1970s. He found much had changed, and he reflects upon the increased poverty, political upheavals, environmental issues and indeed the changes in himself. But ultimately, DREAMING OF JUPITER is a hugely inspiring read with a positive message at its heart - that even at the age of 70 you can still set off on an adventure, and be surprised and excited by what life throws at you along the way. *'Gloriously l…

Ted Simon is the author of the classic travel book JUPITER'S TRAVELS. It documents his four-year journey round the world by motorbike, travelling through Europe, Africa, South and North America, and Asia. A number one bestseller in the late 1970s, it is still regarded as one of the greatest motorcycle books - indeed, one of the greatest travel books - ever written. In 2001, at the age of 69, Ted Simon decided to retrace his journey, and DREAMING OF JUPITER is the result. It took him two and a half years - during which time he revisited all the countries he had travelled through in the 1970s. He found much had changed, and he reflects upon the increased poverty, political upheavals, environmental issues and indeed the changes in himself. But ultimately, DREAMING OF JUPITER is a hugely inspiring read with a positive message at its heart - that even at the age of 70 you can still set off on an adventure, and be surprised and excited by what life throws at you along the way. *'Gloriously l…

A 2024 literary highlight in the Sunday Times, Grazia, Dazed, Sunday Express, GQ, i-D, Stylist, Bookseller and Literary Friction 'Holy smokes this novel is an absolute cut above! Exciting, surprising, intellectually provocative, weird, radical, tender and moving. I missed it when I was away from it. I will hurry to re-read it. Make room on your bookshelves for a new classic' MAX PORTER, AUTHOR OF SHY 'An outrageously brilliant debut . . . This is already the best new book I will have read next year' ELEANOR CATTON, AUTHOR OF BIRNAM WOOD 'Hugely enjoyable . . . Your next crush is a long dead Arctic explorer'' JOANNA QUINN, AUTHOR OF THE WHALEBONE THEATRE 'Kaliane Bradley writes with the maximalist confidence of P. G. Wodehouse, but also with the page-turning pining of Sally Rooney. It's thought-provoking and horribly clever - but it also made me laugh out loud' ALICE WINN, AUTHOR OF IN MEMORIAM 'A fantastic debut: conceptually brilliant, really funny, genuinely moving, written in t…

Een degelijke kaart met aanduidingen van o.a. nationale parken, vliegveld, benzinepomp, dirt-roads en kleine plattegrond van hoofdstad. Als overzichtskaart goed te gebruiken. Albania is the latest addition to ITMB's European map series. Lan and I visited the country last October to ground-truth our artwork before publishing and were pleasantly surprised to find good quality roads, friendly people, attractive scenery, and a quiet 'get-ahead' attitude. Although still underdeveloped, tourism in Albania is amongst the fastest growing in Europe. With its Greek, Roman and Ottoman architecture and its natural beauty, including Mediterranean beaches and the Albanian Alps, this is not at all surprising. The country had a reputation during the Cold War of being rather secretive and unfriendly, but it is the only formerly-communist-run country to have its totalitarian government hold a referendum on future governing systems (in 1992) and respected the will of the people as expressed and arranged …

Een degelijke kaart met aanduidingen van o.a. nationale parken, vliegveld, benzinepomp, dirt-roads en kleine plattegrond van hoofdstad. Als overzichtskaart goed te gebruiken. Albania is the latest addition to ITMB's European map series. Lan and I visited the country last October to ground-truth our artwork before publishing and were pleasantly surprised to find good quality roads, friendly people, attractive scenery, and a quiet 'get-ahead' attitude. Although still underdeveloped, tourism in Albania is amongst the fastest growing in Europe. With its Greek, Roman and Ottoman architecture and its natural beauty, including Mediterranean beaches and the Albanian Alps, this is not at all surprising. The country had a reputation during the Cold War of being rather secretive and unfriendly, but it is the only formerly-communist-run country to have its totalitarian government hold a referendum on future governing systems (in 1992) and respected the will of the people as expressed and arranged …

An account of a trip through war-torn and poverty-stricken Afghanistan, this remarkable book could have been titled "An Unexpected Beauty." Elliot, who first traveled to the country as a 19-year-old enthusiast of the mujahedin, has no illusions about the inherent shortcomings of travel writing ("a semi-fictional collection of descriptions that affirm the prejudices of the day"). He also dismisses the journalistic method, which relies on a single bombed-out street in Kabul to monolithically represent an entire nation. So it is not without some self-deprecation that he offers his own strange and improbable adventures in the country's lawless stretches and perilous mountain passes. "I had in mind a quietly epic sort of journey," he explains. "I had given up on earlier and more ambitious schemes and was prepared to make an ally of uncertainty, with which luck so often finds a partnership." Humorous, honest and wry, a devotee of Afghanistan's culture, Elliot strives to debunk the myth of "t…

An account of a trip through war-torn and poverty-stricken Afghanistan, this remarkable book could have been titled "An Unexpected Beauty." Elliot, who first traveled to the country as a 19-year-old enthusiast of the mujahedin, has no illusions about the inherent shortcomings of travel writing ("a semi-fictional collection of descriptions that affirm the prejudices of the day"). He also dismisses the journalistic method, which relies on a single bombed-out street in Kabul to monolithically represent an entire nation. So it is not without some self-deprecation that he offers his own strange and improbable adventures in the country's lawless stretches and perilous mountain passes. "I had in mind a quietly epic sort of journey," he explains. "I had given up on earlier and more ambitious schemes and was prepared to make an ally of uncertainty, with which luck so often finds a partnership." Humorous, honest and wry, a devotee of Afghanistan's culture, Elliot strives to debunk the myth of "t…

Driven to the brink of madness by the merciless lashings of its vile Orc overlords, there lumbered forth a Cave Troll, a behemoth of dim wits yet endowed with the strength of a legion. Its skin was nigh impervious to weapons forged of iron, a testament to the unforgiving nature of the dark places of the world where it dwelt. Clutched within its colossal three-fingered grasp was a mighty stone hammer, a fearsome instrument of destruction that it wielded with blind fury. With each thunderous swing, friend and foe alike were laid low, crushed beneath the indiscriminate wrath of the beast as it stormed through the chaotic melee, seeking out its quarry with a relentless fervour that echoed the darkness of its masters' hearts.The Cave Troll was the first creature to be designed for the iconic film trilogy, and Weta Workshop sculptor Jamie Beswarick played a key role in its overall design. In those early days, the look and feel of Middle-earth's inhabitants were still being defined, with arti…

Birds of Central Asia is the first field guide to include the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, along with neighbouring Afghanistan. This vast area includes a diverse variety of habitats, and the avifauna is similarly broad, from sandgrouse, ground jays and larks on the vast steppe and semi-desert to a broad range of raptors, and from woodland species such as warblers and nuthatches to a suite of montane species, such as snowcocks, accentors and snowfinches. Birds of Central Asia includes 141 high-quality plates covering every species (and all distinctive races) that occur in the region, along with concise text focusing on identification and accurate colour maps. Important introductory sections introduce the land and its birds. Birds of Central Asia is a must-read for any birder or traveller visting this remote region.   "For a long time, there's been something of a gap in field-guide coverage across the Palearctic. Europe is we…