In Bed with an Elephant

In Bed with an Elephant
Author: Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy
Publisher: Corgi
Total Pages: 436
Release: 1995
Genre: History
ISBN:

This book is not exclusively a history book, a travel book, a political tract or another slice of autobiography, rather a blend of all four. Ludovic Kennedy writes about the aspects of Scotland that excite him and in particular Scotland's rather stormy relationship with England over the centuries. From the prehistoric settlement of Skara Brae on Orkney, Kennedy moves to a gripping retelling of the story of the '45 rebellion in which Bonnie Prince Charlie emerges as a less than heroic figure. Other highlights include Boswell's and Johnson's Highland jaunt and the adventures of the Stone of Destiny, its capture by Edward I and subsequent recapture from Westminster Abbey by Scottish patriots in 1950. Ludovic Kennedy illuminates both the famous and the less well-known people and incidents from Scottish history.

Hell of a Journey

Hell of a Journey
Author: Mike Cawthorne
Publisher: Birlinn
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2013-03-08
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 0857906275

Hell of a Journey describes what is arguably the last great journey to be undertaken in Britain: the entire Scottish Highlands on foot in one winter. On one level it is a vivid and evocative account of a remarkable trek - never attempted before - on another it celebrates the uniqueness of the Highlands, the scenery and ecology of 'the last wilderness in Europe'. The challenge Mike Cawthorne set himself was to climb all 135 of Scotland's 1,000-metre peaks, which stretch in an unbroken chain through the heart of the Highlands, from Sutherland to the Eastern Cairngorms, down to Loch Lomond, and west to Glencoe. His route traversed the most spectacular landscape in Scotland, linking every portion of wilderness, and was completed in the midst of the harshest winter conditions imaginable. Acclaimed on its first publication in 2000, this edition contains an epilogue in which Mike Cawthorne reflects on his trek and wonders what has changed since he carried it out. He warns that 'wild land in Scotland has never been under greater threat'. Hell of a Journey is a reminder of what we could so easily lose forever.

Journey to the Hebrides

Journey to the Hebrides
Author: Samuel Johnson
Publisher: Canongate Books
Total Pages: 520
Release: 2010-07-01
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1847675387

Samuel Johnson and James Boswell spent the autumn of 1773 touring the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland. Both kept detailed notes of their impressions, and later published separate accounts of their journey. These accounts of their great tour contain some of the finest pieces of travel writing ever produced: they are magnificent historical documents and also portraits of two extraordinary personalities. In the vivid prose of these two famous men of letters, the Highlands and the Western Islands spring to life. The juxtaposition of the two very different accounts creates an unsurpassed portrait of a society which was utterly alien to the Europe of the Enlightenment, and which was straining on the brink of calamitous change. These great masterpieces, entertaining, profound, and marvellously readable are also our last chronicles of a lost age and people.

In the Footsteps of Sheep

In the Footsteps of Sheep
Author: Debbie Zawinski
Publisher:
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2016
Genre: Knitting
ISBN: 9780942018387

"In the Footsteps of Sheep details the completion of a mission the author, a Welsh-born Scot, set for herself: to travel and camp throughout Scotland, find cast off tufts of wool from 10 Scottish sheep breeds, then spin the wool on her spinning stick while walking (or waiting for ferries), and finally design and knit one pair of socks to represent each breed ... all the while writing about her adventures and taking plenty of photographs. Debbie has written beautifully about her journey; the hills, shorelines, and bogs explored; the sheep and people she met along the way; weather both foul and fair, and a particularly exciting chapter about the intriguing St. Kilda archipelago and its feral Soay and Boreray sheep. The eleven sock patterns, one at the end of each chapter, are a bonus and, for those of us unable to gather and spin our own fleece, all were test-knitted with commercial wool. The designs are knitted from top to toe with different motifs, among them color-patterns, cables, spirals, stripes, Kilt Hose with top-turnovers, and a pair of baby booties."--Provided from Amazon.com.

Love of Country

Love of Country
Author: Madeleine Bunting
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2017-04-11
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 022647173X

“Excellent . . . Almost the perfect marriage of travelogue to the inner landscape of political ideas and cultural reflections . . . a super read.” —New Statesman Few landscapes are as striking as that of the Hebrides, the hundreds of small islands that speckle the waters off Scotland’s northwest coast. The jagged, rocky cliffs and roiling waves serve as a reminder of the islands’ dramatic geological history. Facing the Atlantic, the Hebrides were at the center of ancient shipping routes and have a remarkable cultural history. After years of hearing about Scotland as a place interwoven with the story of her family, Madeleine Bunting went to see for herself this place so full of history. Over six years, Bunting returned again and again to the Hebrides, fascinated by the question of what it means to belong there. With great sensitivity, she takes readers through the Hebrides’ history of dispossession and displacement, a history that can be understand only in the context of Britain’s imperial past, and she shows how the Hebrides have been repeatedly used to define and imagine Britain. Love of Country is a revelatory journey through one of the world’s most remote, beautiful landscapes that encourages us to think of the many identities we wear as we walk our paths. “A remarkably thorough digest of the many histories of the Hebrides.” —Wall Street Journal “Moving and wonderful. . . . Both the author and reader of this book end up losing themselves not just in politics and history and the details of nature, but a sense of wonder” —The Guardian “Makes you feel you are there even if you have just left.” —Observer, Best Books of the Year

A Course Called Scotland

A Course Called Scotland
Author: Tom Coyne
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2019-06-04
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1476754292

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * “One of the best golf books this century.” —Golf Digest Tom Coyne’s A Course Called Scotland is a heartfelt and humorous celebration of his quest to play golf on every links course in Scotland, the birthplace of the game he loves. For much of his adult life, bestselling author Tom Coyne has been chasing a golf ball around the globe. When he was in college, studying abroad in London, he entered the lottery for a prized tee time in Scotland, grabbing his clubs and jumping the train to St. Andrews as his friends partied in Amsterdam; later, he golfed the entirety of Ireland’s coastline, chased pros through the mini-tours, and attended grueling Qualifying Schools in Australia, Canada, and Latin America. Yet, as he watched the greats compete, he felt something was missing. Then one day a friend suggested he attempt to play every links course in Scotland and qualify for the greatest championship in golf. The result is A Course Called Scotland, “a fast-moving, insightful, often funny travelogue encompassing the width of much of the British Isles” (GolfWeek), including St. Andrews, Turnberry, Dornoch, Prestwick, Troon, and Carnoustie. With his signature blend of storytelling, humor, history, and insight, Coyne weaves together his “witty and charming” (Publishers Weekly) journey to more than 100 legendary courses in Scotland with compelling threads of golf history and insights into the contemporary home of golf. As he journeys Scotland in search of the game’s secrets, he discovers new and old friends, rediscovers the peace and power of the sport, and, most importantly, reaffirms the ultimate connection between the game and the soul. It is “a must-read” (Golf Advisor) rollicking love letter to Scotland and golf as no one has attempted it before.

Anatomy Acts

Anatomy Acts
Author: Andrew Patrizio
Publisher: Birlinn Publishers
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2006
Genre: Art
ISBN:

Fusing history, imagination and the senses, Anatomy Acts explores the social, cultural and scientific significance of anatomy in Scotland over the past 500 years. How have we come to know ourselves through anatomical study? How has anatomy changed over the centuries and where is it heading? What contribution has Scotland made to the 'culture of anatomy'? How have the arts responded to the work of anatomists and surgeons? The range of Anatomy Acts is wide, setting the high points of Renaissance, Enlightenment and 19th-century enquiry alongside the latest medical imaging techniques and the work of contemporary artists and poets. Its publication coincides with a touring exhibition of the same name that opens in Edinburgh in May 2006. The exhibition draws entirely on Scotland's rare and historic medical and art collections. There is no comparable visual history of anatomical material from Scotland on the market. This publication gives a new focus, building on the more general overviews of the relationship between art and anatomy that have appeared in recent years. Essays have been commissioned from leading authorities across medicine and culture, selected for their authors' specialist knowledge of Scottish medical and visual history, as well as their original and provocative perspectives on this subject. This publication will be of interest to a wide public, including professionals and students in medical, cultural and historical areas, as well as gallery and museum visitors.

Poacher's Pilgrimage

Poacher's Pilgrimage
Author: Alastair McIntosh
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 471
Release: 2018-03-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1532634455

The islands of the Outer Hebrides are home to some of the most remote and spectacular scenery in the world. They host an astonishing range of mysterious structures - stone circles, beehive dwellings, holy wells and 'temples' from the Celtic era. Over a twelve-day pilgrimage, often in appalling conditions, Alastair McIntosh returns to the islands of his childhood and explores the meaning of these places. Traversing moors and mountains, struggling through torrential rivers, he walks from the most southerly tip of Harris to the northerly Butt of Lewis. The book is a walk through space and time, across a physical landscape and into a spiritual one. As he battled with his own ability to endure some of the toughest terrain in Britain, he met with the healing power of the land and its communities. This is a moving book, a powerful reflection not simply of this extraordinary place and its people met along the way, but of imaginative hope for humankind.