Top 5 Watery Walks This Christmas

Tomorrow marks the start of the Christmas holidays, and with a few days to go until the festivities begin in earnest, now’s the time to plan the obligatory family walk. Here’s our top five water-themed suggestions to inspire a festive amble in the English countryside:

Marlow winter1. Marlow

This Buckinghamshire town has the enviable location of being more or less equidistant from London and Oxford, located right on the banks of the River Thames. This is where England’s longest river is at its prettiest, gently flowing through Marlow’s impressive Georgian splendour and under its Grade I-listed suspension bridge, which dates back to 1832. Best explored on a crisp winter’s morning when the frost is beginning to thaw, the beauty of Marlow and the Thames is encapsulated at Higginson Park, which borders the High Street and the riverbank. On the western edge of the park is a designated wetland area; the perfect spot to watch ducks, swans and other waterfowl. You may even be lucky enough to spot a water vole!

> Discover more of Marlow with Discovering Britain’s ‘Tales of a riverbank’ walk

All Souls College Oxford2. Oxford

Approximately 30 miles upstream from Marlow is Oxford, a city famous for its university and riverside location. But relatively few people know that the city of gleaming spires is built on a series of islands, with Oxford also accommodating the River Cherwell, a waterway that joins the Thames south of the city centre. Interestingly, most locals refer to their stretch of the Thames as the Isis, particularly among Oxford’s rowing community (cartographers of old have suggested the Thames should only be referred to as such downstream of Dorchester-on-Thames, where the smaller River Thame and Isis meet). Oxford and its riverbanks are super pedestrian friendly – families can walk in the footsteps of Lewis Carroll from Folly Bridge or explore Bodleian Library, Christ Church and New College – locations from the Harry Potter series of books and films.

> Explore Oxford’s waterways with Discovering Britain’s ‘City of streams and spires’ walk

Faversham house3. Faversham

Established on Faversham Creek, this Kent market town’s history can only be described as explosive – after all, it was here that England’s explosives industry was born. Faversham is also at the heart of the country’s hop-growing trade, with its Shepherd Neame Brewery claiming to be the oldest brewery in the world; its roots traceable to 1698. Closer to the town centre is a collection of wonderfully-preserved original medieval houses, particularly along Abbey Street, where its buildings were saved from destruction as recently as 1958. Faversham can be easily explored on foot – from its impressive Victorian station it’s a short stroll to the medieval centre and onwards to the empty expanses of Kent marshland – the inspiration behind Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

> Find out more about Faversham with Discovering Britain’s ‘Boats, bangs, bricks and beer’ walk

Leamington Spa4. Leamington Spa

Royal Leamington Spa, to give it its full title, is named after the River Leam – and close to here in 1814 the famous Royal Pump Rooms and Baths were opened. They quickly grew in popularity, with the salty spa water said to cure everything from rheumatism to gout, and to accommodate the new wave of wealthy visitors numerous Georgian townhouses were constructed. It was so loved by the well-to-do crowd that Queen Victoria felt compelled to grant it a Royal prefix in 1838, and indeed she visited the town herself, both as a princess and later as queen. Intersected by the River Leam, its floodplain is adorned by a number of picturesque open spaces and pleasure gardens for Georgian and Victorian ladies and gentlemen, all of which are perfect for exploring.

> Learn more about Leamington Spa with Discovering Britain’s ‘Taking the waters’ walk

Bradford on Avon5. Avon Valley

Aside from its natural beauty, the Avon Valley’s claim to fame is that four types of ground transport can be found there: canal, river, rail and road (the Kennet and Avon Canal is part of the through route between Bristol and London; the Avon Valley Railway attracts 80,000 visitors per year on a three-mile heritage route from Bitton Station, with special Santa routes operating over the festive period). A perfect stop-off on an Avon Valley walk is the village of Saltford, where you can sup a hard-earned glass of mulled wine in one of its four cosy pubs. There’s also a number of old buildings to explore, from the 18th century Old Brass Mill, which is Grade II listed, to Saltford Manor House – England’s oldest continuously-occupied house, dating from 1160.

> Amble along the Avon Valley with Discovering Britain’s ‘Connecting cities’ walk

These walks are just a small selection created by the Royal Geographical Society. Its Discovering Britain project aims to create 100 new walks around Britain that tell the story of our rural and urban landscapes.

A Journey Through Maine

Maine New England HigwayIn his quest to complete The Lower 48, Gregor Swiderek arrived in Maine and discovered a state of pine trees, fishing villages and lighthouses.

Almost exactly five years after my first visit to New England, I landed in Boston again. Logan Airport hadn’t changed at all so I experienced a strange feeling of déjà vu. Fortunately, it quickly ended when I got my rental car and drove straight towards the beautiful state of Maine.

Why Maine? Well, it was one of the last two states among the lower 48 I hadn’t visited yet. More importantly, it’s also the state with the lowest population density east of the Mississippi, and one of the most heavily forested and wildest corners of the eastern United States (it’s called the Pine Tree State for a reason). Add a jagged coastline full of bays, rocky headlands and lighthouses, many wild rivers and lakes, small fishing towns and some of the oldest settlements in the US, and you have a recipe for a truly great holiday.

But I started my tour from the least wild southern section. My first proper stops (not counting the cheap motel on the New Hampshire border) were the lighthouses around Portland. I was heading towards the Portland Head Light (according to Maine travel guides one of the most accessible and convenient to visit lighthouses) when, totally accidentally, I came across two lighthouses at Cape Elizabeth. At first I thought I was in the right place but then one of the locals told me that Portland Head was actually located a couple more miles along the road. In the end it didn’t really matter as all three photogenic lighthouses are scenically located along the short stretch of coast. Portland Head is apparently one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world, while those at Cape Elizabeth are portrayed in several of Edward Hopper’s paintings.

Portland Head LighthousePortland itself is the largest ‘metropolis’ in Maine – a term that’s something of an exaggeration in this case. Sure, its metropolitan area is home to a third of the state population but it is still less than a half a million souls, and fewer than 70,000 of them live in the city proper. There is a nice walkable downtown, offering some good shopping, eating and drinking options but, to be brutally honest, it will never be a major attraction of New England.

Acadia National Park, on the other hand, is one of the gems of this region. Located about 160 miles north of Portland, it’s the only national park in New England. You can drive there in 3.5 hours or you can stop in countless gentrified, touristy towns and villages along the coast – in which case it might take you a week. I chose the fast straight route as I was eager to hit the trail.

The first hike I chose is called the Precipice Trail and it’s more of a climb than simply a hike. There is even a warning notice at the beginning saying a ‘non technical climbing route’ rather than a hiking trail. Whatever you call it, it is a great fun. In fact, it is one of the best trails I have done in many years. It ascends only about 300 metres but it often does it via a near vertical route, especially near the top. As I said, it is great fun but not for the faint-hearted nor those scared of heights. In many places you will scale exposed rock faces, traverse narrow ledges (luckily with the help of metal bars in the most challenging spots) or climb metal steps fixed to the vertical cliff faces. It definitely shouldn’t be tackled in bad weather or taken lightly. What it does offer, apart from thrill and adrenaline rush, is absolutely amazing views along the way and from the top. For me it is out there, together with Angels Landing trail in Zion NP and Orla Perc trail in the Polish High Tatras, with my best outdoor experiences.

Precipice TrailAfter the climb I chilled out by simply catching some sun and getting lazy on the rocky coast of the Acadia, which is scenic, rough and beautiful.

Acadia NP is very varied and has a lot to offer. Apart from the hikes there are also great cycling routes, running mostly along the car-free carriage roads which you can also tour by the horse carriage instead of bicycle if you are feeling lazy. There are also lakes, woodlands and even a sandy beach. It is a really great national park, especially during the peak foliage season.

My time in Acadia was limited but I couldn’t leave before getting to the highest point in the park, the 470 metres-tall Cadillac Mountain. Apparently, it is also the tallest spot on the whole Atlantic coast of the US. Fortunately for those short of time, and for lazy folks as well, you can drive right to the top of it. It might be sort of cheating but the amazing panorama from the top will kill your guilt in no time.

Driving from the south to the park you will encounter many B&Bs, good restaurants, art galleries and other businesses clearly geared towards the rich folks from Boston or New York City. North of the Acadia the coast of Maine turns much wilder. Gone are the gentrified cute towns and villages as well as (more importantly) most of the cars – especially the slow-moving ones with the Massachusetts and New York plates. This is the coast of hard-working fishing communities, down to earth locals driving pick-up trucks, gas stations selling hunting gear and lobster along the fuel and even some blue collar industrial towns like Bath with its shipyards building destroyers for the US Navy. And crucially, it’s also the land of wide and empty roads running along the coast.

West Quoddy HeadBeing a geographer I couldn’t resist the pull of West Quoddy Head which is the easternmost point in the US mainland as well as the closet place to Europe (and Africa) in the contiguous 50 states. There is a lighthouse (one of only two in the US painted, like in Canada, in red and white stripes to be more visible in snowy conditions), but apart from that there is not much else to see or do. It didn’t matter. I just like such extreme points where you are aware of your location on the map. Usually you can look towards the distant horizon and imagine far lands on the other side of the ocean. A bit disappointingly, from West Quoddy Head you can’t stare towards the horizon as, just off the coast, there is an island blocking any romantic vistas. But that’s Canada, so it didn’t spoil my experience too much. I was still standing on the easternmost bit of Yankee soil.

Accordingly I spent the night in the easternmost town of the US, Lubec (incorporated in 1811). With a population of less than 1,400 it was a small place indeed but luckily it still had a decent motel. It was one of the small privately-run establishments which you can find all across America in places too small, or too out of the way, for the big corporate chain hotels. I could skip mentioning it altogether if not for the absolutely fantastic home-baked blueberry muffins for breakfast.

LubecObviously there was only one way from Lubec: west. This time I skipped the coast and headed inland towards the capital of Maine, Augusta. If the coastal road was already quiet it was still nothing comparing to the emptiness of inland Maine. It was almost four hours of relaxing driving, especially as the two-lane highways cutting through the endless forests were practically deserted. But even the interstate highway from Bangor to Augusta was one of the emptiest motorways I have ever driven.

Augusta is a small place but after wandering in the under-populated east of the state for a while it felt much bigger than it actually is. However, the Maine State House was a let-down. It was one of the least impressive state capitals I have seen so far; and believe me, I have visited a fair share of them. But still, I couldn’t resist even just a brief visit inside.

From Augusta I headed towards the next state, New Hampshire, where I arrived in no time via some small local roads for which my map reading skills were really helpful, as New England doesn’t really follow a grid system like other parts of the US do. No, I still don’t use sat-navs. They dumb the journey down and I’m also too stingy to pay for their rental. Besides, map reading is fun (even if you have to do it on a steering wheel) and I wouldn’t change it to listening some annoying voice leading you like a child; no way.

I might have visited Maine just because it was on my list of not yet visited states but I’m glad I did. It is a truly fascinating place and I can recommend it to anyone who likes travelling on the slightly more wild and unusual side.

> Discover more of Maine with our range of New England maps and travel guides.

The Not-So Relaxing Hot Springs of Lares

Hot Springs LaresFollowing an eventful but spectacular journey, Rachel Ricks arrived in Lares, a village approximately 40 miles north of Cusco, to take a dip in its famous hot springs.

Living in Peru’s Sacred Valley for a few months, I had heard about Lares’ hot springs from many people, to the point that they’d become almost legendary in my mind. They are one of the most popular in the Sacred Valley area around Cusco in south-western Peru. The only problem is, they’re situated in an isolated valley and most people reach them via a multi-day trek, otherwise it’s a good four hours away by public transport. But finally one weekend, Carlos and I decided to make the trip. Continue reading The Not-So Relaxing Hot Springs of Lares

Jerry Brotton: A History of the World in Twelve Maps

Jerry Brotton mapsJerry Brotton, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London, delivered a talk at Stanfords on his latest book, A History Of The World In Twelve Maps.

A “massive shift” in the direction of mapping is underway, with cartography’s transformation to the digital sphere causing as profound a reaction as when maps moved from manuscripts to print – especially now the online map has become essential to web navigation and search.

This is according to A History Of The World In Twelve Maps author Jerry Brotton, who believes there are parallels between today’s anxieties surrounding online mapping and the attitudes of some in the 15th and 16th centuries, when the printing press suddenly allowed people en masse to have a visual appreciation the world around them.

But what is it about maps that touches the nerve of so many? And with maps now more ubiquitous than ever, what does the future of cartography have in store?

“People are fascinated about maps, and I want to explore why that might be by looking at a wider historical context,” Brotton explains. “What happens when you go back to the Greeks, or further, to see how maps have gone through different forms of representation? Firstly scratched on a cave wall, then moulded on clay, then drawn on papyrus, then paper, then print, then lithography, then online. I want to see what endures with mapping – what is it that makes us so fascinated?”

Babylonian World Map

This is the aim of A History Of The World In Twelve Maps, a book that takes 12 maps and asks whether there are abiding mapmaking principles that can be traced back to prehistoric times. The first, the Babylonian World Map, dates from 750 BC; the last, Google Earth, was updated in 2012.

“Interestingly, neither looks much like a map despite being at opposite ends of the historical scale,” Brotton says. “The Babylonian World Map – the first known surviving map of the entire world – has only recently been seen as an incredibly important object. When it was discovered, people didn’t know what it was. Google Earth, because it’s a sphere, doesn’t look like a map either.”

His book is about maps of the world – not local or regional maps – and how different historical cultures, from Europe to north Africa and south-east Asia, represented the planet in different ways. By looking beyond Greco, Roman and western traditions, Brotton was able to document lesser known but equally important mapping methods. He discovered that each approach was logical, consistent and coherent to its culture but that each, inevitably, had to make omissions.

“Any map of the world that attempts to transform the globe onto a flat piece of paper will also make distortions – quite simply, you cannot square the circle,” Brotton explains. “Choices and decisions will always be made about what will be put in and left out. I’m interested in what happened at this point – it opens up the possibility for prejudices, religious beliefs and political ideologies. I wanted to track how this happened.

Google Earth“Maps are a way of categorising the world – we look towards the horizon and wonder what’s out there. We want to abstract the world around us and make it understandable. We want to make it contained, and both the Babylonian World Map and Google Earth do this. While the latter is photo-real satellite imagery from above, once you click on or off the geopolitical boundaries it starts to become more abstract.

“Another striking parallel is the view of the world from above. Google Earth asks you to be 11,000 km above the Earth, as though you were in orbit. The Babylonian map does the same – by providing access to this view, you’re offered a divine perspective of the Earth. But as we all know, the first thing people do on Google Earth is find where they live and zoom straight in.”

World maps, then, have always responded to humans’ basic existential questions: Where am I? Why am I here? What am I doing here? “We ask the map to answer these questions for us,” Brotton continues. “Google is clever enough to know where you are so it will tilt the globe to make sure you’re at the centre of it. The Babylonian map does exactly the same thing – it’s the whole world, surrounded by the ocean. The idea is that the Earth is round, but it’s also flat. At its centre is Babel, or Babylon. Babylon is the centre of the world, everything beyond it is immaterial. There’s an enduring power in that image, which takes us all the way through to Google Earth.”

Between the Babylonian World Map and Google Earth, Brotton has compiled a collection of other important maps and publications, from Ptolemy’s Geographia to the Peters’ projection via the Hereford Mappa Mundi and the Mercator projection.

Jerry Brotton at StanfordsOn Ptolemy:

“What he basically concluded is that you can’t accurately map the world; that you have to make certain compromises and decide what you want on your maps. His basic grid served as a toolkit for how to take things forward. It was additive – if more land was discovered, it could simply be added in.”

On Islamic maps:

“An Islamic world map from 1086 had south at the top. Why? The Arabian Peninsula was the key inclusion – Mecca was the centre of this world. In the 10th and 11th centuries, cultures that converted to Islam were due north, so they would understand Mecca as being due absolute south. This was a theological response to how to represent the world rather than being about geometry or maps.”

On the Hereford Mappa Mundi:

“It’s a weird, amazing object made from an enormous calf skin – it’s literally a rumpled dead animal, and really the equivalent of the Islamic theological roll map. It has east at the top with the Garden of Eden. Right at the centre of the map is Jerusalem, with the idea that theological Christian time starts in the east and moves westward, with the surrounding legend describing scenes from the bible. Everything is moving westwards – this is a map about time, not space. Rather than being about finding your way from A to B, it’s about finding your way from the terrible sinful world you’re in to heaven.”

On the emergence of Chinese maps:

“In China, the emperor always faces the south. In subjection to the emperor, you look to the north. That’s why Chinese maps have traditionally had north at the top, a trend that began not long after the Islamic and Hereford theological world maps, both in China and Korea.”

On the first maps of the New World:

“Martin Waldseemüller’s map of the world from 1507 was the first to put the name ‘America’ on a separate continent surrounded by sea. Vespucci [who first demonstrated that America was a separate landmass] is seen looking down at his new continent, while Ptolemy is depicted glancing down at his old world. The map contains a weird distortion – America almost looks like a wedge of cheese with its unrealistic coastline, though what’s happened is consistent with how the world is projected. It has to be stretched and elongated to accommodate the new continent.”

On the Mercator projection:

“The distortion in Waldseemüller’s map is why you get Mercator and his very famous 1569 new projection. He called for a rectangular map to plot the spherical globe so cartography could move on from the days of Ptolemy. He knew that compromises had to be made – the image of the globe was stretched north-south until the North and South Poles were stretched to infinity. He was very open about this distortion, but because trade travelled east to west rather than north and south, it didn’t really matter.”

A History Of The World In Twelve Maps

On the Peters projection:

“Peters’ world projection from the early 1970s, which is all about equality, is the big challenge to Mercator. A socialist historian, he argued that Mercator’s map massively privileges the developed northern world as opposed to, say, Africa. He championed equality of landmass, though his map wasn’t universally welcomed. Somebody once famously said the continents resembled long, wet ragged pieces of underwear hanging off the North Pole.”

On Google:

“I was initially absolutely seduced by what they were doing. But Google’s innovative use of mapping has become about monetising geography, and this is my big concern. Over one third of all Google searches have some geographical content to them – Where is my nearest Chinese restaurant? Where is the best hotel in Madrid? – which has seen the online map become an actionable platform for selling things.”

Jerry Brotton was speaking at our Long Acre store. To keep up to date with future talks, check out our events page.

Click here to buy A History Of The World In Twelve Maps!

Top 10 Christmas Gifts for Her

We once again delve into the Stanfords online Christmas store to reveal our top 10 Christmas gift ideas for her:

Postcards from Penguin

1. Postcards from Penguin

Penguin books have been around since the 30s; over the last 80 years the publisher has grown into a national institution and a name associated with some of Britain’s favourite reads: from crime to classics and award-winning novels to reference titles, all featuring the three iconic horizontal stripes. Now, 100 of Penguin’s most iconic book covers are immortalised (The Great Gatsby, The Case of the Dangerous Dowager and A Room of One’s Own to name but three) in postcard form; a celebration of a British design classic – one with so many memories among all generations. They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but if these postcards are anything to go by, you probably should.

> Buy Postcards from Penguin! Continue reading Top 10 Christmas Gifts for Her

Interview: Michael Palin on Brazil

Michael Palin BrazilHe’s trekked to the North and South Poles, traversed the Sahara Desert and climbed the Himalayas. But despite visiting all seven continents, there was one glaring omission on Michael Palin’s visited-countries map: Brazil. So why had it slipped through the net for so long?

“I can’t think how I managed to miss the fifth-biggest country in the world,” Michael says, “and I wasn’t really planning to do another series after New Europe. We’d done all seven continents and thought that was a fair place to stop. But then everybody started talking about Brazil, partly because the World Cup is going to be there in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, then there’s the huge economic boom that has put its economy above the UK’s.”

Brazil was fast becoming one of the most talked-about countries in the world, but what provided the spark for the comedian-turned-explorer’s latest trip, one that would inspire a book and a four-part BBC TV series? Continue reading Interview: Michael Palin on Brazil

Working in China: Top 5 Customs to Learn

Working in ChinaTim Neesham, who’s spent the last 18 months living and working in Shanghai, reveals his top five customs to learn ahead of emigrating to the next world superpower.

As more and more western-educated Chinese return to the motherland, the opportunities for expats considering a move to the Far East are changing. Rumour has it that so-called ‘expat packages’ are on the way out as the newly-developed China focuses more on employing from within.

So what could this mean for westerners looking to relocate to the world’s most populous nation? Could the influx of Chinese employees in western companies lead to more western employees in Chinese companies? Here are a few customs to become familiar with should that be the case:

1. Guanxi 关系

Probably the most difficult Chinese custom for westerners to understand, guanxi, literally translated, refers to a person’s relationships, both personal and professional. However, as a concept guanxi is perhaps best translated as ‘saving face’. It’s decided by things such as age and rank and is the notion of maintaining the view by which others see and judge you; it forms a significant part in many aspects of Chinese culture.

There exists a very strict chain of command in the Chinese workplace and any attempt to circumvent the chain and talk directly to a boss or senior staff member, thus ignoring guanxi, is not only viewed as gross misconduct, but also a blatant show of disrespect to your superiors and can be punishable by termination of contract.

It can be particularly frustrating when, as a subordinate employee, you are made to take the fall for something that was quite obviously not your fault in order that the senior staff are not seen to lose face.

2. Communication

Communication in a Chinese company is a totally different animal to that in the west and often ties in with guanxi, as both are largely to do with how colleagues interact among themselves.

For example, the western cliché of the chat by the water cooler doesn’t really apply; in fact office banter in general is more or less non-existent and any attempt to initiate it is often greeted with furrowed brows. It is also not uncommon for colleagues sitting side by side to communicate with each other on a computer – normally via an IM service – rather than actually talking.

In cases of communication, being the foreigner has its advantages as we are more or less left alone to do whatever it is our colleagues think we do. However, this causes a lack of direction, constructive criticism, praise or advice which can sometimes leave you feeling a little isolated.

3. Medical

For many of us the idea of undergoing a medical before starting an office job seems a trifle excessive, but in China you don’t get a choice. Essentially the employer is simply looking for any infectious diseases and the like, which I suppose is fair enough.

But this medical reminded me more of something between an Easter egg hunt and one of those adventure puzzle books for kids, except in this case all the explorers were confused-looking foreigners wandering around desperately trying to understand what was going on. Solve the riddle, go to room 205; don’t solve the riddle, go back to room 201 – but instead of Easter eggs it was needles, weird looking X-rays and an ultrasound!

The Chinese often claim to have invented things long before western nations. To us, the X-ray machine was pioneered by Wilhelm Rontgen in the late 19th century; judging by the looks of the medical centre’s radiology department however, the Chinese may actually have a point.

4. Idiosyncrasies

A multitude of quirky habits operate in a Chinese office situation, such as everyone eating lunch at their desk or fines for not closing the office door in the proper manner. However, my personal favourite is nap time. As soon as the allocated lunch period is over – for the record, what time you eat lunch is not up for debate – someone comes along, turns the office lights off and everyone goes to sleep for an hour. It’s just like being back in nursery school.

It may also be tradition not to wear outdoor shoes in the workplace, which means removing them at the door and replacing them with ‘slippers’. This was particularly interesting on the day of my interview as I was unaware of the rule and thus arrived at the office, suited and booted, only to be told I had to remove my shoes. I asked them what I was supposed to wear, they looked puzzled and finally found the only spare pair of ‘slippers’ that was knocking around, which happened to be a pair of size four pink flip flops. Together with a grey suit it really looked rather fetching.

5. Hidden extras

In June 2012, the Chinese government imposed a new law aimed at stemming the flow of foreigners coming to work in China. It stated that any foreigner seeking employment within the country would have to return to their home country first to pick up the working visa, at their own expense.

This combined with the cost of the visa (£66), the medical (£58) and the residence permit required to live and work legally within China (£40) can add up to some costly start-up expenses.

On the bright side, it’s rumoured that the new Chinese government, which assumed power in mid-November, will take countermeasures to further open the country up to foreign investment and therefore relax the newly tightened immigration employment laws.

Want to find out more about living and working in China? Discover our range of China living and working guides:

Dubrovnik: A Wanderer's Paradise

Dubrovnik cityscapeCaroline Sandes continues her Balkans adventure in Dubrovnik, exploring the city’s old town, staying in rather questionable accommodation and meeting a lost puppy.

Dubrovnik is, of course, beautiful in a sort of quaint, picturesque fashion. The historic old town with its trademark red-tiled roofs is contained within its city walls, keeping it apart from the more modern town that sprawls around it. It sits on the edge of the Adriatic, and for the couple of days I was there the sea was doing what it is known best for here, radiating blueness with rippling waves twinkling in the sun. Continue reading Dubrovnik: A Wanderer's Paradise

Christmas Holiday Reading: Our Top 5 Tips

With holiday season fast approaching, we reveal our top five Christmas reading recommendations:

A Street Cat Named Bob1. A Street Cat Named Bob, James Bowen

Back in 2007, recovering drug addict James Bowen arrived at his Tottenham home to find a stray ginger cat on his doorstep. The author, who makes his living busking on the streets of Covent Garden and Islington, didn’t fancy looking after the ginger tom – by his own admission it was enough of a challenge looking after himself. But it soon became apparent that the moggie, which Bowen christened Bob, wasn’t any old cat – intelligent, loving and loyal, the pair quickly bonded and became inseparable. And rather than being a burden, Bob provided the encouragement and incentive James needed to stay clean.

A Street Cat Named Bob is Bowen’s heart-warming account of his five years and counting with Bob, who regularly accompanies him busking in central London and Angel. Not everything has been plain sailing for the pair – they’ve been separated twice and had to contend with yobbish drunks – but they’re now a regular sight on the streets of Covent Garden, with Bob – ever the crowd pleaser – providing the purrfect accompaniment to Bowen’s rock covers.

Above all, this is story of hope and a tribute to people’s bonds to their cats, even if this pair’s relationship doesn’t begin on the most conventional of footings.

> Buy A Street Cat Named Bob!

On The Map2. On The Map, Simon Garfield

Simon Garfield’s tribute to the map is one of the most lucid and accessible histories of cartography ever written, and almost certainly the most fun. He begins the journey in Egypt at the time of Claudius Ptolemy and his celebrated Geographia – a collection of what was known about the world’s geography in the second century, and a work that inspired generations of geographers and cartographers – before moving onto the discovery of the New World and the planet according to Gerardus Mercator, the Flemish cartographer whose 1569 projection of the planet is still widely used.

Garfield later brings the reader bang up to date with the development of the sat nav and the goings-on at California’s Googleplex, interspersed by visits to Hereford during the city’s Mappa Mundi crisis in the late 1980s, and a revealing insight into the life of Phyllis Pearsall, the woman responsible for the first London A-Z in the 1930s.

This breadth of cartographic history – and a visit or two to Stanfords’ Long Acre store – has allowed Garfield to take an objective view on the future of maps. Has the Apple Maps debacle encouraged a renewed appetite for paper maps? Or is it time for traditional cartographers to surrender to the digital mapping revolution?

> Buy On The Map!

Narcopolis3. Narcopolis, Jeet Thayil

Shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize, Jeet Thayil’s first novel is set in the squalor of 1970s Bombay – a city of gangsters, drug users and petty criminals. At the novel’s centre is Dimple, a eunuch who prepares pipes at Rashid’s, a notorious opium den. Her father figure is Mr Lee, a Chinese soldier who’s left the motherland in search of a better life. Thayil delves deep into the characters’ lives; his hallucinatory account of their personalities, ambitions and goals occasionally poetic. We’re also introduced to Rumi, an under-the-thumb husband with a penchant for drugs and violence, who’s forced to choose between rehab and prison – or in his words, “dying or death”.

All the while, Thayil uses his poetic proficiency to present a rich, vivid picture of Bombay’s underworld – a city that has since transformed into the subcontinent’s economic powerhouse. But in Narcopolis the gleaming high-rises are years away – instead the population have to contend with grinding poverty and the terrifying Pathar Maar, the stone killer, who ruthlessly slaughters his seemingly random victims under the cover of darkness.

Thayil certainly knows what he’s writing about – he’s quoted as saying that almost two decades of his life were lost to addiction. But his real-life experiences and poetic talent has resulted in arguably the most impressive debut novel of the year.

> Buy Narcopolis!

Into The Silence4. Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest, Wade Davis

In 1924, an expeditionary team headed by George Mallory attempted to climb Everest. Britain was reeling from the effects of the First World War, and there was a hope that scaling the world’s highest peak would hand a much-needed boost to the nation’s psyche.

It was to be the most challenging of expeditions – one in which the climbers suffered from frostbite and sunstroke at the same time, and in which the team’s Tibetan hosts couldn’t understand the point of climbing Everest for climbing’s sake – after all, the mountain was of huge spiritual significance and apparently capable of throwing them off the edge.

Sadly, it was to be a journey shrouded in mystery, for nobody knows if Mallory or Sandy Irvine, a fellow climber, made it. But rather than asking if Mallory and Irvine reached the summit, Into the Silence – the winner of this year’s Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction – contemplates what encouraged the pair to keep climbing on the day they lost their lives, when they must have known the perils that lay ahead.

Harking back to the Great War and its effects, Wade’s epic book – based on years of research – explains how Mallory and his disappearance became representative of the millions who died on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918, only a few years after Captain Scott and his companions lost their lives in the Antarctic.

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The Casual Vacancy5. The Casual Vacancy, JK Rowling

Forget any links to Harry Potter – this is JK Rowling’s first novel for adults, complete with swearing, sex and drugs. The setting, too, couldn’t be further removed – wave goodbye to Hogwarts and say hello to the quaint town of Pagford’s hosting of a small-scale parish council election.

But behind Pagford’s prettiness – it’s home to an ancient abbey and a cobbled market square – is a population at war with itself: rich versus poor, wives versus husbands, pupils (who, incidentally, get up to things Harry and co wouldn’t have dreamed of) versus teachers and teenagers versus parents. Things are bubbling up, but a catalyst is needed to make things bubble over. Step forward Barry Fairbrother, the book’s hero, who suddenly drops dead in the golf club car park. His departure leaves a ‘casual vacancy’ on the parish council; one that threatens to be taken over by the forces of darkness.

Dark it may be, but The Casual Vacancy is also funny – particularly when the passionate election campaign begins in earnest.

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Top 10 Christmas Gifts for Him

With the festive shopping season in full swing, we delve into the Stanfords online Christmas store to reveal our top 10 Christmas gift ideas for him:

World Map Hip Flask

1. World Map Hip Flask

There comes a time in a man’s life when having a meaningful hip flask becomes important. Effectively a rite of passage, a well-made, attractive hip flask is something to be treasured, loved and utilised on brisk country walks, football away days or long train journeys – no matter the choice of tipple contained within. Few can compete with the attractiveness of the World Map Hip Flask and its colourful, postal-themed map of the world. Featuring a captive screw top, the flask is presented in an equally-appealing branded box: the perfect gift for the discerning gentleman this Christmas.

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