The Westbourne Press – The Bell Bookshop

Walking on Thin Air

Emma — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Geoff Nicholson has been walking his whole life. Wherever he is and wherever he goes in the world, he walks and writes about what he sees and feels. Here he reflects on the nature of walking, why we do it, how it benefits us and, in some cases, how it can damage and even destroy us. His recent diagnosis with a rare, incurable form of cancer has made him all too aware of his own mortality. Sooner or later there will be a last step, a last excursion, a final drift, for him just as there will be for all of us.Geoff vows to continue to walk for as long as he can. This moving, vital book describes his own walks and relates them to the walks of street photographers, artists and writers, such as Garry Winogrand, Diane Arbus, Sophie Calle, Jorge Luis Borges and Virginia Woolf, among many others. Walking on Thin Air is a book about mortality and, above all, a celebration of being alive.

The Century of Deception

Emma — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In 'The Century of Deception', Ian Keable tells the engrossing stories of eighteenth-century hoaxes, and those who were duped by them. The English public were hoodwinked time and time again, swallowing whole tales of a woman who gave birth to rabbits, a levitating Frenchman in a Chinese Temple and outrageous astrological predictions. Not only were the hoaxes widely influential, drawing in celebrities such as Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Swift, but they also inflamed concerns about 'English credulity'. 'Fake news' and 'going viral' may be modern terms, but as this eye-opening book shows, these concepts have been with us for centuries.

Birds They Sang: Birds and People in Life and Art

Emma — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Here, LubieÃnski sheds light on some of history's most meaningful bird and human interactions, from historical bird watchers in a German POW camp, to Billy and Kes in 'A Kestral for a Knave'. He muses on what exactly Hitchcock's birds had in mind, and reveals the true story behind the real James Bond. Undiscouraged by damp, discomfort and a reed bunting's curse, LubieÃnski bears witness to the difficulties birds face today, as people fail to accommodate them in rapidly changing times.

Wally Funk’s Race Space Extraordinary

Emma — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

In 1961, Wally Funk was among the Mercury 13, the first group of American pilots to pass the 'Women in Space' programme. Wally sailed through a series of rigorous physical and mental tests, her scores beating many of the male candidates', including those of John Glenn, the first American in orbit. But just one week before she was due to enter the final phase of training, the programme was abruptly cancelled. A combination of politics and prejudice meant that none of the women ever flew into space. In this offbeat odyssey, journalist and fellow space buff Sue Nelson travels with Wally, now approaching her 80th birthday, as she races to make her giant leap - before it's too late.