The Jay The Beech And The Limpetshell

Author : Richard Smyth
Publisher : Icon Books
Page : 188 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2023-03-30
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781785788048

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The Jay, The Beech and the Limpetshell by Richard Smyth Pdf

'Generous, moving and alive. A gift' - Tim Dee, author of Greenery ' Intelligent, thought-provoking and always, always interesting ' - Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment 'Smyth writes with warmth and engaging perception about our relationship and understanding of the natural world on our doorsteps' - Jon Dunn, author of The Glitter in the Green 'Fresh and tender and playful' - Patrick Galbraith, author of In Search of One Last Song Weren't they richer, rock pools, wasn't the seashore busier, when I was a kid? Richard Smyth had always been drawn to the natural world, but when he became a father he found a new joy and a new urgency in showing his kids the everyday wild things around them. As he and his children explore rockpools in Whitley Bay, or the woods and moors near his Yorkshire home, he imagines the world they might inhabit as they grow up. Through different objects discovered on their wanderings - a beech leaf, a jay feather, a limpetshell - Smyth examines his own past as well as that of the early natural historians, weaving together history, memoir, and environmentalism to form a new kind of nature writing: one that asks both what we have lost, and what we have yet to find.

Author : Richard Smyth
Publisher : Souvenir Press
Page : 112 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2012-10-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780285641204

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Bum Fodder by Richard Smyth Pdf

This is the hidden history of an invention that we use every day but seldom dare to speak of. In medieval China it was cutting-edge technology. For 19th-century Americans it was a newfangled alternative to dried corncobs and the Sears & Roebuck catalogue. Wits in Georgian London preferred pages of bad poetry. The sages of ancient Athens were content to wield the xylospongion instead. It's the tale of toilet paper; the biography of bumfodder. From its origins at the Imperial court of Emperor Hongwu to its reinvention as a quack remedy for haemorrhoids in 1870s New York city; from the Dutch and their mussel-shells to Henry VIII and his Groom of the Stool; from Madame de Prie's pioneering bidet to the space-age Washlet; from leaf-wielding chimpanzees to Mr Thirsty Fiber and the world's first three-adjective loo-roll - it's a story of necessity and invention, luxury and squalor, experiment and tradition. What does a submarine crew do when it runs out of toilet paper? Who stole the Pope's loo-roll? Does printer's ink cause piles? How do you fold a sheet of toilet paper in half more than seven times? What did 'bumphleteers' do, and why? Richard Smyth answers the questions you never thought to ask about the product we can't live without.

Author : Mark Forsyth
Publisher : Icon Books Ltd
Page : 295 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2011-11-03
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781848313194

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The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth Pdf

'Witty and erudite ... stuffed with the kind of arcane information that nobody strictly needs to know, but which is a pleasure to learn nonetheless.' Nick Duerden, Independent. 'Particularly good ... Forsyth takes words and draws us into their, and our, murky history.' William Leith, Evening Standard. The Etymologicon is an occasionally ribald, frequently witty and unerringly erudite guided tour of the secret labyrinth that lurks beneath the English language. What is the actual connection between disgruntled and gruntled? What links church organs to organised crime, California to the Caliphate, or brackets to codpieces? Mark Forsyth's riotous celebration of the idiosyncratic and sometimes absurd connections between words is a classic of its kind: a mine of fascinating information and a must-read for word-lovers everywhere. 'Highly recommended' Spectator.

Author : RICHARD. SMYTH
Publisher : Uniformbooks
Page : 112 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2020-02-14
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1910010227

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An Indifference of Birds by RICHARD. SMYTH Pdf

Author : Richard Smyth
Publisher : Fairlight Books
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2022-04
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 1912054752

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The Woodcock by Richard Smyth Pdf

When an American whaler arrives to a British coastal town, the peace of its inhabitants is disrupted. It's 1920s England, and the coastal town of Gravely is finally enjoying a fragile peace after World War I. John Lowell, a naturalist who writes articles on the flora and fauna of the shoreline, and his wife Harriet, lead a simple life, basking in their love for each other and enjoying the company of John's visiting old school friend, David. But when an American whaler arrives in town with his beautiful red-haired daughters, boasting of his plans to build a pier and pleasure-grounds a mile out to sea, unexpected tensions and temptations arise. As secrets multiply, Harriet, John, and David must each ask themselves: what price is to be paid for pleasure?

Author : Lucy Caldwell,Rory Gleeson,Georgina Harding,Danny Rhodes,Richard Smyth
Publisher : Comma Press
Page : 98 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2021-09-13
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781912697601

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The BBC National Short Story Award 2021 by Lucy Caldwell,Rory Gleeson,Georgina Harding,Danny Rhodes,Richard Smyth Pdf

A group of teenage boys take turns assessing each other’s changing bodies before a Friday night disco… A grieving woman strikes up an unlikely friendship with a fellow traveller on a night train to Kiev… An unusually well-informed naturalist is eyed with suspicion by his comrades on a forest exhibition with a higher purpose… The stories shortlisted for the 2021 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University take place in liminal spaces – their characters find themselves in transit, travelling along flight paths, train lines and roads, or in moments where new opportunities or directions suddenly seem possible. From the reflections of a new mother flying home after a funeral, to an ailing son’s reluctance to return to the village of his childhood, these stories celebrate small kindnesses in times of turbulence, and demonstrate a connection between one another that we might sometimes take for granted. The BBC NSSA is one of the most prestigious prizes for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000, and four further shortlisted authors £600 each. James Runcie is joined on the judging panel by a group of acclaimed writers and critics including: Booker Prize shortlisted novelist Fiona Mozley; award winning writer, poet and winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize, Derek Owusu; multi-award winning Irish novelist and short story writer, Donal Ryan; and returning judge, Di Speirs, Books Editor at BBC Radio.

Author : Nancy Tucker
Publisher : Icon Books Ltd
Page : 365 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2015-03-26
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781848318311

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The Time In Between by Nancy Tucker Pdf

When Nancy Tucker was eight years old, her class had to write about what they wanted in life. She thought, and thought, and then, though she didn't know why, she wrote: 'I want to be thin.' Over the next twelve years, she developed anorexia nervosa, was hospitalised, and finally swung the other way towards bulimia nervosa. She left school, rejoined school; went in and out of therapy; ebbed in and out of life. From the bleak reality of a body breaking down to the electric mental highs of starvation, hers has been a life held in thrall by food. Told with remarkable insight, dark humour and acute intelligence, The Time in Between is a profound, important window into the workings of an unquiet mind – a Wasted for the 21st century.

Author : Richard Smyth
Publisher : The History Press
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2014-07-07
Category : Reference
ISBN : 9780750954976

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English History: Strange but True by Richard Smyth Pdf

This book is a treasure trove of English oddities, crammed with the most curious stories, remarkable facts and unexpected goings-on from the country’s long and convoluted history. From frogs’ legs at Stonehenge to knicker elastic in the Blitz, this is England – the unauthorised biography.

Author : Cordelia Fine
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2017-01-24
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780393253887

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Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society by Cordelia Fine Pdf

“Beliefs about men and women are as old as humanity itself, but Fine’s funny, spiky book gives reason to hope that we’ve heard Testosterone rex’s last roar.” —Annie Murphy Paul, New York Times Book Review Many people believe that, at its core, biological sex is a fundamental force in human development. According to this false-yet-familiar story, the divisions between men and women are in nature alone and not part of culture. Drawing on evolutionary science, psychology, neuroscience, endocrinology, and philosophy, Testosterone Rex disproves this ingrained myth and calls for a more equal society based on both sexes’ full human potential.

Author : Matt Wilkinson
Publisher : Icon Books Ltd
Page : 474 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2016-05-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781785780462

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Restless Creatures by Matt Wilkinson Pdf

A billion-year history of movement, from bacteria to Olympic athletes. 'Packed with revelations, scholarly but clear, Restless Creatures carries you from the kinetics of the amoeba to that of the blue whale, from the swim-cycle of spermatozoa, to why skipping works best on the moon. A pop-science treat.' Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being Despite the overwhelming diversity of life on earth, one theme has dominated its evolution: the apparently simple act of moving from one place to another. Restless Creatures is the first book for a general audience telling the incredible story of locomotion in human and animal evolution. Evolutionary biologist Matt Wilkinson traces this 4-billion-year history, showing why our ancestors became two-legged, how movement explains why we have opposable thumbs and a backbone, how fish fins became limbs, how even trees are locomotion-obsessed, and how movement has shaped our minds as well as our bodies. He explains why there are no flying monkeys or biological wheels, how dinosaurs took to the air, how Mexican waves were the making of the animal kingdom, and why moving can make us feel good. Restless Creatures opens up an astonishing new perspective – that little in evolution makes sense unless in the light of movement.

Author : ANITA. MARLAND ROY (PIPPA.),Pippa Marland
Publisher : Hodder Paperbacks
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2022-03-11
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1529363195

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Gifts of Gravity and Light by ANITA. MARLAND ROY (PIPPA.),Pippa Marland Pdf

Author : Ezra Horbury
Publisher : Boydell & Brewer
Page : 299 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Drama
ISBN : 9781843845423

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Prodigality in Early Modern Drama by Ezra Horbury Pdf

Examination of the motif of the prodigal son as treated in early modern drama, from Shakespeare to Beaumont and Fletcher.

Author : Richard Smyth
Publisher : Elliott & Thompson
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2018-03
Category : Birds
ISBN : 1783963778

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A Sweet, Wild Note by Richard Smyth Pdf

In this fascinating account, Richard Smyth asks what it is about birdsong that we so love. Exploring the myriad ways in which it has influenced literature, music, science, and our very ideas of what it means to be human, Smyth's nuanced investigation shows that what we hear says as much about us, our dreams and desires, as it does about the birds and their songs. At a time when our birdsong is growing quieter, with fewer voices, more thinly spread, A Sweet, Wild Note is a celebration of the complex relationships between birds, people, and the land; it is also a passionate call to arms lest our trees and hedgerows fall silent.

Author : Richard Smyth
Publisher : Strange But True
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2017-07-03
Category : History
ISBN : 0750983647

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English History by Richard Smyth Pdf

Under the Sumptuary Laws of 1363, merchants were forbidden to wear pointy shoes in excess of 61/2in in length.One of Henry VII's most prized possessions was the preserved leg of St George, a gift from Louis XII of France.In February 1789, George III pursued a best-selling lady novelist in a high-speed chase through Kew Gardens.This book contains hundreds of 'strange but true' facts and anecdotes about English history. Arranged into a miniature history of England, and with bizarre and hilarious true tales for every era, it will interest and delight readers everywhere.

Author : Katharine Lee Bates
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
Page : 186 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2020-07-24
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9783752333831

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From Gretna Green to Land’s End by Katharine Lee Bates Pdf

Reproduction of the original: From Gretna Green to Land’s End by Katharine Lee Bates