Author:Hugh Thomson
In the Middle Ages, mules were used to transport goods across Britain. Strong, sturdy and able to carry a good 160lbs of weight, they made ideal walking companions – as long as you didn’t ask them to do anything they didn’t want to do!
So when Hugh Thomson decides he wants to revive this ancient tradition, but with a mule who is only willing to carry sandwiches, water and a map, his father can’t quite comprehend why: “Taking a mule across England? Really? Whatever for?”
Using old drovers’ roads that have largely passed into disrepair, Hugh and his trusty mule Jethro set out to travel across England, from the Lake District to the Yorkshire Moors. Along the way, they discover a landscape rich in history, and encounter the charismatic people who bring it to life.
One Man and Mule is a lovely, good-natured and highly informative journey through the hinterland, emphasizing the human scale of England in all its peculiarities - evocative and wonderfully observed.
—— Paul Theroux[I]t marks rivers, county boundaries, towns and villages relevant to the story, and the route the author took from St Bees on the Irish Sea, the most westerly point of northern England, to Robin Hood’s Bay on the North Sea. The remote, random, meandering nature of this hugely enjoyable peregrination could not have been better expressed… there is evocative writing of nature and landscape beyond the entertainment.
—— Anthony Sattin , ObserverA thoroughly readable and discursive ramble through visually stimulating and historically fascinating countryside… A perfect book to take on your next holiday
—— Country LifeTerrific fun
—— Eileen Battersby , Irish TimesThomson’s gently blokeish bonhomie is never less than diverting and his gently meandering account the ideal easy-going beach read
—— The LadyThomson writes beguilingly
—— Daily MailLike all travel books, it is a potpourri of journey log, historical notebook, social observation and agricultural and rural comment. Thomson writes wittily, his deep understanding of landscape and nature coupled with a powerful descriptive capacity and good ear for dialogue.
—— Country & TownhouseAn enjoyable refuge from everyday life
—— The TimesA wonderful witty and personal journey, this paints a vivid and beautiful picture of Britain and its history
—— NFU CountrysideCompanionable account of a coast-to-coast walk across England
—— TelegraphEntertaining
—— Deskbound Traveller BlogI will never again look at a hedgerow or dyke in the same way. This is a beautifully crafted book which elegantly explains why and how our UK landscape has comes to look like a patchwork quilt – with each section of the quilt joined together by human-created needlework in the form of hedgerows, ditches, dykes, paths, green lanes, canals, roads etc. The creation of these ‘lines’ and their unintentional consequences for biodiversity, is something that everyone should take note of – some good, some bad. In a time when attention is increasingly turning towards the question of how can we conserve UK biodiversity alongside other competing demands for land from urbanization and travel infrastructure to food production, this is book is both timely and essential reading. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
—— Kathy WillisPoetic, humorous, and down-to-earth... There are many lines of wisdom entering the book and leaving the book...the author's wide reading and learning is put at the service of this book to our benefit as readers
—— Shaun Lambert , Baptist TogetherThe most important and influential Canadian thinker since Marshall McLuhan. His bold synthesis of psychology, anthropology, science, politics and comparative religion is forming a genuinely humanistic university of the future
—— Camille PagliaSomeone with not only humanity and humour, but serious depth and substance ... Peterson has a truly cosmopolitan and omnivorous intellect... There is a burning sincerity to the man
—— SpectatorA rock-star academic, a cool, cowboy-boot-wearing public thinker who directs tough love at overprotected youth ... Peterson twirls ideas around like a magician
—— Melanie Reid , The TimesJordan Peterson is a Canadian psychologist whose seemingly overnight ascent to cultural rockstar comes after years of deep scholarship in many disciplines
—— Psychology Today12 Rules for Life hits home - from identifying the deeply engrained hierarchical ladder that motivates our decision making to asking indispensable and sometimes politically unpopular questions about your life and suggesting ways to better it
—— Howard Bloom, author of 'The Lucifer Principle'Peterson has become a kind of secular prophet who, in an era of lobotomised conformism, thinks out of the box ... His message is overwhelmingly vital
—— Melanie Philips , The TimesIn a time of unrelenting connection, solitude becomes a radical act. It also becomes an essential one. Michael Harris makes a thoughtful and deeply felt case for why the art of spending quality time with oneself matters now more than ever – and the steps we can take to reclaim it.
—— Brian Christian, author of ALGORITHMS TO LIVE BYShe often finds herself dealing with the most macabre cases of murder. But the no-nonsense Scot is an upbeat character with a dry sense of humour, clearly identifiable in her memoir.
—— Hannah Stephenson , Daily RecordIdeal reading if you're a cheerful soul who likes to think about death. And think how it'll brighten your conversation on holiday.
—— The TimesBooks of the Year
—— The TimesBest of the Year: Memoir
This book captures the profundity of human life while displaying a sense of humour, and peels back the skin to reveal a world few of us ever discover
Dame Sue Black, the woman who inspired the hit television show Silent Witness and has done for forensic science what Strictly has done for ballroom dancing, is an unlikely but deeply worthy national treasure.... Black's memoir, like her story, is curiously vibrant and life-affirming.
—— Alex Massie , Scottish FieldYou can't help but warm to this retired professor of anatomy and forensic anthropology who chose "the many faces of death" as her medical speciality, yet is herself so vividly alive. Like [David] Nott, Black travelled the world at times, sifting maggots, bullets and human body parts in war zones. Despite it all, she remains convinced that our humanity transcends the very worst of which our species is capable.
—— Rachel Clarke author of forthcoming Dear LifeAll That Remains provides a fascinating look at death - its causes, our attitudes toward it, the forensic scientist's way of analyzing it. A unique and thoroughly engaging book.
—— Kathy Reichs, author of TWO NIGHTS and the Temperance Brennan seriesThis fascinating memoir, dealing with everything from bodies given to medical science to the trauma caused by sudden, violent ends, offers reassurance, and even hope, to the fearful and cynical.
—— Alexander Larman , The ObserverA gripping natural-history detective story. Was Rist a cunning con-artist who more or less got away with the perfect, albeit clumsy crime? Or was he hopelessly addicted to feathers, to his hobby, and to his status as a young fly-tying protégé without the economic means to realise his dreams and potential?
—— Caught by the RiverThis well written account of the known facts is well worth a read
—— birdwatch MagazineIt was hard to put the book down… Read it yourselves, enjoy it and learn from it!
—— British Birds