books

HOW DO YOU FIGHT A HORSE-SIZED DUCK?    by William Poundstone (Oneworld £16.99, 320pp) Jack is looking at Ann. Ann is looking at George. Jack is married, but George is not. Is a married person looking at an unmarried person? If, like me and virtually everyone else who hears this question, you replied ‘It depends on … Read more

NATURE  THE WOOD AGE  by Roland Ennos (William Collins £20, 336 pp) If your surname is Cooper, Carpenter, Wheelwright, Wainwright, Shipwright, Bowyer, Fletcher, Turner, Bowler, Sawyer or Forester, then one of your ancestors worked with hand tools and wood. One thing this wonderful book reminds you of is the resourcefulness of our forebears, who grew … Read more

Juicy tales of the world’s smelliest fruit! Poet whose husband begged her to throw away a durian, examines the most challenging produce to grow and cook U.S. poet Kate Lebo is the author of two cookery books about fruit piesReveals the most difficult to grow and challenging fruits to cook in a new bookRecounts her … Read more

WHAT BOOK would novelist Wilbur Smith take to a desert island? Wilbur Smith is currently reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah HarariNovelist would take The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck to a desert islandHe said that anything by H Rider Haggard first gave him the reading bug By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 22:01 BST, 29 … Read more

Dr Cat Jarman has penned a new book about the Vikings, after being inspired when she discovered a small orange bead found in a mass grave in Derbyshire had come from India.

MEMOIR The Wild Track by Margaret Reynolds with Lucy Reynolds (Doubleday £16.00, 320pp)    Mothers frazzled, exasperated and (let’s be honest) often bored at the demands of looking after small children might have surveyed Professor Margaret Reynolds’s life with envy. She was — and still is — a leading academic, a writer and editor, a broadcaster, … Read more

The Panic Years by Nell Frizzell (Bantam £14.99, 336 pp)  On the morning of her 28th birthday, writer Nell Frizzell woke up in a single bed in her mother’s spare room and remembered that the man with whom she’d shared the previous six years was no longer her boyfriend. ‘As I lay there, pinned by … Read more

WHAT BOOK would children’s author Francesca Simon take to a desert island? Francesca Simon is reading Last Train From Liguria by Christine Dwyer HickeyShe would take The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope to a desert island American author said Mary Poppins by P L Travers gave her the reading bug By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 22:01 GMT, 28 January 2021 | … Read more

SEED TO DUST: A GARDENER’S STORY   by Marc Hamer (Harvill Secker £14.99, 416pp) For more than two decades, Marc Hamer has tended a garden that he doesn’t own. Now he has published what feels more or less like his private gardening journal, in sections with titles such as Pruning Roses, Swifts Arrive and Solstice. But … Read more

All wrapped up: Bel Mooney reveals the best art books you can find for gifting those who love creativity Bel Mooney rounded up a selection of this year’s must-read art booksBritish literary critic selected tomes to suit all budgets this ChristmasHighlights include Spirit Of Place: Artists, Writers And The British Landscape By Bel Mooney for the … Read more

Why we’re all working MORE, and not less: Cambridge professor reveals how technological developments can be a threat to humanity Cambridge professor suggests advances in technology could be detrimentalSuggests rise in Britain’s population leads to productivity being cancelled outSays famines, wars & pandemics are ‘imminent & severe correction’ of disorder By Roger Lewis for the … Read more