The Dark One (The Wild Wulfs of London)

Book Description

Rosalind Rutherford knows full well the scandal she courts when she attempts to seduce the notorious Armond Wulf—in fact, she’s counting on it as a means to escape her sadistic stepbrother’s control. Unfortunately, Lord Wulf’s better instincts prevail...although not before he gives Rosalind a tantalizing taste of what she’s missing. And when the opportunity arises to rescue Armond from a grim fate while changing her own, Rosalind knows she must seize it...

Armond can no more ignore the Rutherford woman than his ancestor could resist the temptress who cursed the Wulf men with a terrifying transformation that occurs at the appearance of the full moon—and is set in motion by love. Now, to save her reputation and his freedom, Armond must marry Rosalind. But he vows that while they may share the pleasures of the marriage bed, she will never have his heart...

Yet as strange and mysterious events bring them closer in body and soul, Armond finds it increasingly difficult to keep his feelings for his new wife locked away. Especially when the reality of unquenchable desire—and certain danger—burn stronger than ever by the light of a full moon...

Customer Reviews:

we all want a wulf like this.......2007-08-23

the entire book was hot, read it from beginning to end without stopping,it was hard to put down....

Kudos to a Master of Paranormal Romance.......2007-07-15

Ronda,

You were always one of the best, one of the first to teach me the joys of paranormal and werewolves. I shall always remember you for that, and for your kindness when we met online. Your work is flawless, and original in ways that other authors envy. You will definitely be missed! Condolences to your family, should they read this, and I hope you are looking down on us from above, and enjoying all the great memorials being posted out there for you, because you deserve it!

a little to howl about...........2007-06-13

as other reviewers mentioned this is a fairly good paranormal romance set in a historical time period. As someone who reads primarily historical romances I really liked that it was set in regency times as most paranormals are set in modern day-which I'm not that interested in.

The book does have some problems-my main problem being the situation between Rosalind and her lady's maid Lydia. Lydia was raped and brutalized by Rosalind's stepbrother (Rosalind was also being beaten by him), was begged not to confront him, but Rosalind does anyway, causing Lydia's death. I don't understand why female authors have to make female characters act so stupidly like this-doing something that would obviously cause pain to the person who took them into their confidence.

Besides the above stupid action-the book was exciting and I enjoyed the fact that the villains were truly villainous-very cruel and sadistic-but that makes their overthrow all the better:). I found Rosalind to be a strong heroine-she behaves a bit stupidly a couple of times-but redeems herself in the end by literally standing by her man. Armand is everything a paranormal or Gothic hero should be-dark and brooding that hides a wounded facade that the heroine must uncover. The love scenes are highly sensual but interspersed with enough romance to take the "edge" off.

The storyline is interesting done as the 4 brothers are not werewolves in the traditional sense but under a curse. The secondary characters are what make the story and have interested me enough that I want to read the others in the series.

All in all-not the best paranormal I've read but exciting enough that I would recommend it to Historical Romance fans and Paranormal fans looking for something a bit different.

3.5 stars.

Originally Posted on Romance Junkies in 2005.......2007-05-14

Ronda Thompson has always been a master at the paranormal, but she's taken it to a new level with her new "The Wild Wulfs of London" series. Beginning with THE DARK ONE, we're immersed into a paranormal regency world where nothing is what it seems, and where the choices you make might not have the outcome that you had proposed.

For Lady Rosalind Rutherford, things have gone from bad to worse. Her stepbrother, Franklin Chapman, has incurred large gambling debts that he cannot pay off. He's unable to sell the estate he's been living in, since it was a gift to his late mother from her late husband, the Duke of Montrose. Even if he'd been able to find a way to get around the fact that the estate wasn't his own, now that his stepsister Rosalind has come to live in the home, there's no discernible way to erase his debt. So Franklin, in typical evil-rogue style, decides to marry his dear stepsister off to the highest bidder, and use the acquired funds to clear his gambling debts.

The Chapman estate sits next to that of the Wulf's, a family of brothers cursed by an ancient witch many years ago. Love was their downfall, and now, whenever there's a full moon, the Wulf's turn into something much more dangerous than mere men. But when Lord Armond Wulf is introduced to Lady Rosalind at the first ball of the season, he's immediately smitten-or, more accurately, immediately filled with lust for the raven-haired beauty. Armond, however, knows that he's doomed to live a life of solitude, a life without the warmth and love of a woman. A woman caused their family's downfall, and he's determined to now allow the same to happen to him.

However, Lady Rosalind has other ideas. She has no plans to sit idly by while her stepbrother sells her off like cattle, so she sets out to do the one thing that might foil his plan-ruin her reputation so far beyond repair that no one will want to marry her. And she's found the perfect way towards this sinful fall from grace-Armond Wulf, a man who already has the type of reputation she wishes for herself.

Unfortunately, even though Armond has no desire to marry, he does desire Rosalind, and now that scandal threatens them both he has no choice but to offer her marriage. But what will happen when the full moon rises over London, and Rosalind discovers exactly what type of man she's fallen in love with? And as for Lord Wulf, what happens when a man destined by a curse to never love fully finds himself heading in that direction-even though he's vowed to never allow his heart to rule his emotions? As mysterious happenings surround Armond and Rosalind, as their hearts move ever closer to a full unity, and as the full moon approaches, you'll never guess of the surprises that are in store for you.

Ronda Thompson has created a delightful new series with her Wulf family, and I for one can't wait to see which brother will be featured next. Set in 1800's London, THE DARK ONE is a romantic paranormal romp that's sure to delight readers of the genre. Kudos to Ms. Thompson for this unique and exciting new series!

THMBS UP FOR THE WULF BROTHER'S!!.......2007-05-01

I TRULY ENJOYED THIS DELIGHTFUL TALE ABOUT LADY ROSLIND AND ARMUND WULF.I HAD IT AWHILE BEFORE I READ IT AND WAS ACTUALLY KICKING MYSELF FOR WAITING SO LONG TO READ IT..LOL
I AM DEFINITLEY LOOKING FORWARD TO READING THE NEXT SEQUEL!

Beyond the Wild Wood: The World of Kenneth Grahame, Author of the Wind in the Willows

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Beyond the Wild Wood: The World of Kenneth Grahame, Author of the Wind in the Willows
Peter Green
Manufacturer: Book Sales
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Tower Menagerie: The Amazing 600-Year History of the Royal Collection of Wild and Ferocious Beasts Kept at the Tower of London

Average customer rating:

A Casual History
Not for History Buffs
A great read!
Lions and Tigers and Bears- OH MY!

The Tower Menagerie: The Amazing 600-Year History of the Royal Collection of Wild and Ferocious Beasts Kept at the Tower of London
Daniel Hahn
Manufacturer: Tarcher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

The strange six-hundred-year history of the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London.

From a polar bear who fished the Thames nightly for his dinner to elephants who drank only wine, the inhabitants of the southwest corner of the Tower of London were a strange and rowdy bunch. No less strange was the cast of characters that visited them: William Blake, Chaucer, and Samuel Pepys, to name a few. Daniel Hahn's fascinating history of the Tower of London's Royal Menagerie tells the story of the thousands of exotic creatures who found a home in one of the world's most forbidding and infamous fortresses.

The Royal Menagerie began with a wedding gift: three leopards from King Henry III's new brother-in-law, Frederick the Holy Roman Emperor, in 1235. Soon after, a huge Norwegian polar bear joined them. Over the next six hundred years, the Tower played host to lions, ostriches, elephants, and other unusual animals that astonished London. Brimming with unforgettable stories (the lion who kept a spaniel as a pet; ostriches who were fed a steady diet of rusty nails; lions who, their keepers claimed, could tell whether a woman was a virgin) and beautiful historical illustrations, The Tower Menagerie provides an intriguing, lively survey of our changing attitudes toward animals, as well as a hugely entertaining journey through six centuries of British history.

Customer Reviews:

A Casual History.......2007-05-26

This is certainly not the most compelling of books. I rather doubt that many people have lain awake at night, tormented at their ignorance about the history of the proto-zoo that used to be kept at the Tower of London. Nevertheless, if you really MUST know the background of the royal collection, this is where you should turn to.

The problem is, there are about 15 unique facts to be uncovered about the menagerie, because of such records as still exist, apparently most are in the vein of "Dear Diary: Today I fed the lions, as I did yesterday and the day before and the day before that." There are some striking anecdotes and incidents here and there, and we learn that your medieval types were fairly certain that elephants drank nothing but wine and ostriches loved to eat iron. The high mortality rate amongst the animals should therefore not be surprising.

As a general survey of the changing attitudes towards zoos and the care of captive animals, this is a mildly interesting book. But it really comes across as an expanded research paper by a wiseacre college student in a sophomore literature class. It's exceptionally casually written with a very informal and chatty tone. Probably a precursor of the kind of scholarship that we can expect from the upcoming MySpace generation. At any rate, if you stumble across it and need to kill a couple of hours, it's okay, but otherwise I'd skip it.

Not for History Buffs.......2004-06-27

Apparently the author had an inspirational idea for a story...Problem apparently is that there simply aren't enough records / detailed accounts to create a book based on this topic. How much time did the writer spend researching this book? Even anecdotal evidence is severely limited. The information is meandering, sometimes frustrating in its lack of relation to the supposed theme of the book. Out of the entire book, only two references to actual animal anecdotes were interesting. How disappointing.

A great read!.......2004-06-09

This isn't really a book about a zoo. Amazingly, it's more of a trip through various years of human history with the zoo as a recurring reference. Daniel Hahn manages to weave in and out of people, ideas and events and pulls them together in a way you wish your history teacher had done back at school.

In a sprightly fashion, we get a complete picture of six centuries of human development and man's relationship with animals. This is done through various stories linking culture, science and politics.

As a quick sample: we learn how John Wesley had flute music played to the animals to determine if they had a soul; we cover the continuous links between lions and the British monarchy; there is political intrigue and concern at Darwin's theory of evolution; and we find out the origin of bull and bear stock markets.

This brings me to, what I call, the information-on-the-side in this book, which acts as a wonderful source of interest. Daniel Hahn gives Oliver Sacks a run for his money with his fascinating asides and footnotes and then wins hands-down by making them some of the funniest things ever written.

This book is a delight from start to finish. It's thoughtful, fascinating and packed with history, insight and wonderful observations. I urge you to read it - you'll love it!

Lions and Tigers and Bears- OH MY!.......2003-09-17

Funn. The animals and the characters each seem to have a personality. Different periods of history without allowing hte book to drag. Famous people are woven seemlesly into a consistent story.

The Forbidden Experiment (Kodansha Globe)

Average customer rating:

A Thoughtful Narrative of What It Means to Be Human
Thoughtful, Sympathetic Story of What It Means to be Human
Thoughtful, Sympathetic Story of What It Means to be Human
A beautiful, poignant account

The Forbidden Experiment (Kodansha Globe)
Roger Shattuck
Manufacturer: Kodansha Globe
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1568360487

Amazon.com

On a cold morning just a few days into the year 1800, the citizens of the southern French village of Saint-Sernin awoke to a strange vision: a hairy boy, naked, who appeared as if by some witchcraft from the nearby woods. Captured while digging up vegetables from a tanner's garden, the boy did not--could not--speak. Instead, he emitted a few weird cries, trying to hide himself from his puzzled captors.

The next day, the gendarmes took the boy to a hospice in a nearby town. From there, writes the historian and literary scholar Roger Shattuck, his path took this "prisoner without a crime," now called Victor, into the studies and laboratories of revolutionary France, where the boy presented a rare homegrown instance of Rousseau's "noble savage" to the civilized world. Much scholarly and scientific debate surrounded him. Finally, Victor, now famed as the "wild boy of Aveyron," came under the care of a sympathetic young doctor who concluded that Victor was in fact an abandoned deaf-mute, intelligent but forlorn, who had somehow been able to survive on his own. Dismissed in a contemporary encyclopedia as "half wild" and "incapable of learning to speak in spite of all efforts to teach him," Victor was eventually forgotten. "A state pension kept him alive, like an animal in a zoo," writes Shattuck, "and when he died no one noticed." Scientific debate about his condition was renewed from time to time, however, and the story of the wild boy was influential in the development of several theories of language learning and human evolution. Shattuck's slender narrative is a fine work of scholarly detection, yielding an instructive episode in the history of science. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

Just before dawn on January 9, 1800, a mysterious creature emerged from a forest in southern France. Although he was human in form and walked upright, his habits were those of a young male animal. He was wearing only a tattered shirt, but did not seem troubled by the cold. Showing no modesty
about his nakedness, he ate greedily, seizing roasted potatoes from a hot fire. He seemed to have no language skills, only grunting occasionally. A cause celebre developed over the question of what should be done with this puzzling wild boy. People wondered: Could he learn to speak? Or be taught to
eat with a knife and fork?

In THE FORBIDDEN EXPERIMENT, the award-winning cultural historian Roger Shattuck offers a captivating account of this fascinating episode in intellectual history. He examines the relationships that developed among the boy, soon named Victor; Madame Guerin, the woman who fed and washed him; and
Itard, the tutor who defiled his colleagues who believed the boy was hopelessly retarded. Shattuck helps modern readers form many of the questions that still haunt parents, special education teachers, guidance counselors, and all students of human behavior to this day: How do children acquire
language? How do deaf and mute children learn? Can children who have been neglected or abused ever learn to trust the world? Like a true-life tale of adventure rolled into a detective story, Roger Shattuck's riveting account of the Wild Boy of Aveyron is an unforgettable telling of one of history's
greatest mystery stories.

Customer Reviews:

A Thoughtful Narrative of What It Means to Be Human.......2002-08-11

...

"The Forbidden Experiment: The Story of the Wild Boy of Aveyron" is a fascinating exploration of what it means to be human and how our humanity is, in a sense, created by the society in which we live, defined by our communications and relationships with others. In telling this story, Roger Shattuck has thoughtfully and sympathetically interwoven the factual story of the Wild Boy with the philosophical, psychological and historical background that ultimately makes this story so interesting. Thus, Shattuck explores the historical peculiarities of the Languedoc region from which the Wild Boy came (known for the poetry and song of the troubadors, as well as the Albigensian heresy), the historical forces which made him such a topic of interest (he was a boy seemingly straight from Rousseau's state of nature at a time when the French Revolution had given way to Napoleon), and the philosophical and psychological forerunners (Locke, Condillac, Rousseau) that provided the intellectual impetus for marking this "tabula rasa" of humanity. Shattuck's book also provides interesting appendices containing other published accounts of the Wild Boy of Aveyron, other cases of isolation and deprivation (including Kaspar Hauser, Peter of Hanover, The Elephant Man, and Helen Keller), and a short essay on Francois Truffaut's 1970 film, "The Wild Child," which is based upon the story of the Wild Boy of Aveyron.

While simple in the telling, "The Forbidden Experiment" is a book which poses the deepest and most enigmatic of questions, the question of what it means to be human. Read it, ponder it, learn from it.

Thoughtful, Sympathetic Story of What It Means to be Human.......2002-07-27

In January, 1800, a boy of about eleven or twelve years old walked out of the woods near the village of Saint-Sernin in the Languedoc region of southern France. Except for a tattered shirt, he was naked. He had no shame or concern for his nakedness and had no ability to speak. He made only strange and apparently meaningless sounds and cries. While human in appearance, he lacked any qualities which otherwise would suggest that he was part of any human society.

The boy was captured by a villager, transported and kept for several months in an orphanage in a nearby town, and eventually transferred to Paris in June, 1800, where "The Wild Boy of Aveyron" was claimed "for science and humanity" by the newly-formed Society of Observers of Man. In Paris, the boy was given over to the Abbe Sicard, a famous educator and the head of the Institute for Deaf-Mutes. "Miracles were expected of Sicard, for some of his deaf-mute pupils had made a reputation by their intelligence and wit in answering written questions before large audiences." Sicard, however, apparently believed that he could never train the seemingly wild creature and made no efforts to do so. Instead, he left the boy to run wild at the Institute and a commission appointed by the Society of the Observers of Man subsequently declared him to be an incurable idiot.

It is at this point, however, sometime in the summer or fall of 1800, that the course of the Wild Boy's life took a different course. A twenty-five year old medical student, Jean-Marc Gaspard Itard began working at the Institute and became interested in the boy. More or less simultaneously with the declaration by the Society of the Observers of Man that the boy was an incurable idiot in November of that year, Itard was hired and given a room at the Institute for the sole purpose of working with the boy. Itard named the boy Victor and went on, over the course of the next six years and with the able assistance of a motherly figure by the name of Madame Guerin, to train the boy in accordance with principles Itard had derived from the writings of Locke and Condillac. These principles were intended to give the boy the ability to respond to other people, to train his senses, to extend his physical and social needs, to teach him to speak, and to teach him to think and reason logically. While Itard was never fully successful in achieving all of his objectives, his work was remarkably original and his observations and experiments have left the world with a fascinating picture of the Wild Boy of Aveyron.

Thoughtful, Sympathetic Story of What It Means to be Human.......2001-08-30

A beautiful, poignant account.......1999-07-11

Shattuck writes a beautiful, poignant account about an event that forever influenced the course of modern day psychology. Shattuck not only discusses "Victor" himself (behavior, reactions, etc.), but also discusses the recupercusions his capture, attempted treatment, and attempted enculturalization had philosophically, morally, and psychologically. This is definitely a well written, well researched, 3-dimensional book. It explores the subject on every level possible.

The East India Company: Trade and Conquest from 1600

Average customer rating:

Excellent, well illustrated
History that is Informative and Relevant

The East India Company: Trade and Conquest from 1600
Antony Wild
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Here is a historical chronicle of the most powerful corporation in world history, beautifully illustrated with full-color paintings, photographs, and maps. Established by Royal Charter in 1600, the East India Company was, and remains to this day, the largest and most powerful multinational business the world has ever seen. It controlled over half the world's trade and a quarter of its population. It singlehandedly ruled India, raised its own army and navy, minted its own currency, and traded with every corner of the globe. It also trafficked in opium, greed, and brutal oppression, sowing the seeds that would lead to its downfall-and absorption by the British Crown.

The East India Company describes how "the Honourable Company" created its extraordinary trading empire by introducing an exotic cache of tea, silks, porcelain, cashmere, and spices to a luxury-starved England. It also explains how the company conducted its day-to-day business at home and in the East, through colorful figures such as Captain James Skinner and John Nicholson; how the opulent daily life of East India Company rulers amongst the ruled led to "the Mutiny"; and why India's first war of independence spelled an end not only to the company itself, but, eventually, to an entire empire.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent, well illustrated.......2005-05-26

This lavishly illustrated volume gives an excellent view of the East India Company - the experiences of the British in India, the spices and goods of interest to the West, and the history of the company over the centuries.

History that is Informative and Relevant.......2000-08-09

This book is deserving than more than just 5 stars.

As a historian myself, the biggest problem in expressing yourself is making "old" topics informative and interesting to modern generations. Antony Wild has succeeded beyond any scale of recognition in his book The East India Company: Trade and Conquest from 1600.

This book, which details the English East India Company's history will appeal to anyone with an interest in British, Indian, Asian, American, military, nautical, or commerical history-- it is that wide-ranging. This book is also a must-read for anyone interested or concerned over the so-called modern phenomenon of "globalization." After reading Wild's account, one can see that globalization has been around for nearly four hundred years, if not longer.

The English East India Company, acting under a royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I, sought entry into the Spice Trade in Asia. Soon, however, it found itself involved with Indian piece trade and trade from the Middle East and Arabia. Its trade interests in India eventually led to de facto conquest and colonization on that subcontinent-- all with the tacit support of the crown. The company reached into China and even North America-- it was East India Company tea that got dumped into Boston Harbor during the Tea Party.

The company exported and imported goods, laid the foundations for three important Indian cities, fought land wars and naval battles with other European merchant powers or local natives, and brought a host of new products and new words into the consciousness of the English-speaking world.

India proved to be the company's lasting legacy, and not always a positive one. However Wild provides a well-balanced account that does not paint the company as either completely ethical traders or imperialistic devils. No matter one's opinion, India proved to the company's (and Britain's) largest asset and also the cause for the company's eventual dissolution.

Amazon.com

Set against a backdrop of crumbling buildings--the result of hasty, cheap efforts at "urban renewal" after the Great Fire of 1666--and beautifully illustrated with William Hogarth's moralistic woodcuts, The Thieves' Opera charts the meteoric rise and fall of two of early-18th-century London's more colorful characters. The ruthless "lawman" Jonathan Wild was an early mastermind of organized crime who operated more or less within the boundaries of official approval; the slippery, mischievous Jack Sheppard had a knack for prison escapes and defiance of pompous authority that made him a sort of burglar-hero among the commoners of London.

Lucy Moore shows how Wild became London's unofficial "Thief-Taker General." Working under the auspices of London's lackadaisical officialdom, he made his career returning stolen goods to their proper owners for a fee; unknown to the victims, he negotiated directly with the robbers and often oversaw the original thefts. He discouraged competition, with punishments and reprisal that evoke contemporary Mob hits. On the other side of the coin is Sheppard, who lacked the ambition of Wild, but performed his crimes with a flair that in many cases robbed his victims of even the desire to hold a grudge against him.

Moore excels at supplying crucial illuminations of early-18th-century London street life with descriptions of coffee houses and public plazas so vivid you feel you've visited them. She emancipates the era from the quaint, manneristic drawing-room notions of ritualized emotions and unrequited love portrayed by modern-day "historical" fiction and film. Moore's London is filthy, chaotic, and hellish, a black den thick with thieves and "protected" by agents of law barely more scrupulous. With its large cast of cutpurses, highwaymen, footpads, prostitutes, and jailers (and jailed), The Thieves' Opera evokes more the Wild West of 19th-century America than it does refined British society. --Tjames Madison

Book Description

The criminal underworld of Georgian London, the notorious “Thief-Taker” Jonathan Wild, and infamous housebreaker Jack Sheppard are the subjects in this deftly told history.

Customer Reviews:

Criminal Social History Rather than Historical True Crime.......2003-11-12

I bought this book because I have a weakness for accounts of historical crimes. Luckily I also have a weakness for social history because this book is more about the (mainly) London social conditions of the early 18th century than the crimes of the Jack Sheppard and Jonathan Wilde.

It was interesting to be reading about the accused Jacobite who spent 30+ years in prison although he was not proved to be a traitor because he would not swear allegiance to the King of England-- Sheer stubbornness?-- at the same time that the Supreme Court has agreed to look at the case of the Guam detainees who have yet to be charged or tried by any legal body.

The author makes an argument that Jack Sheppard turned to crime because he was foreclosed from lawfully practicing his trade (carpenter) while Jonathan Wilde utilized a certain genius for organization to create the best organized thieves' gang of the era because that was the only opportunity open to him. While I am unable to buy her theory wholesale, the tidbits she provides about life in the early 18th century are well worth acquiring. I would wish that the Hogarth illustrations were larger and clearer but they provide a nice addition to the text.

However, I do have questions about the reliability of some of her sources. A couple of the things she mentioned as fact sound more like pure male fantasy or at best urban legends.

Not badly written and not boring.

Subject only skimmed.......2001-09-27

The lives of Johnathan Wild and Tom Sheppard could have been told with so much more color. For the most part, I steadfastly plowed through this mostly boring book just to absorb some facts. It was rarely entertaining. The author mostly writes in a formal style. But, then occasionally she will throw in a zinger using conversational English. These breaks with formality were refreshing, interesting and I appreciated it. The most interesting parts of the book were the descriptions of the times, such as the laws, customs, homes, prisons, bribery and corruption, hangings, etc. The author gave an altogether graphic picture of what happens when a person is hanged.

Not nearly as good as I expected.......2001-08-25

I was disappointed in this book. Even though the author succeeds in painting quite a clear canvas of eighteenth-century London's underworld, she fails to make her subject - the two famed criminals - interesting. I didn't find their personalities gripping, or their stories attractive in the least. The narrative is reiterative, the same things being mentioned again and again, and disjointed, lacking cohesiveness. Curiously, the most interesting parts were those which were accessory to the main story, such as the description of the legal system and medical practice. I wouldn't completely dismiss Lucy Moore as a historian, though - she undoubtedly has done a thorough research, and is not totally ungifted as a writer - but I still think this material would have merited a better rendering.

Crime and Punishment.......2001-01-21

Lucy Moore, in The Thieves' Opera, has explored an interesting topic that takes the reader through the world of London from the slums to, on occasion, the mansions. Using the characters of Jonathan Wild and the folk hero/criminal Jack Sheppard, the author expands the narrative to show the entire world of crime and punishment that existed at this time. Very little seemed, at times, to separate those committing the crimes from those prosecuting the criminals and it is easy to see why Jack Sheppard, with his numerous escapes, could become such a hero in such a corrupt system. The story is told in a way that leads the reader from the beginnings of a system that would lead to crime to the execution of the criminal. The two lead criminals sometimes fall by the wayside in their own story but interest is maintained nonetheless by looking at the larger canvas. An interesting read.

History has never been this enjoyable!.......2000-12-29

This fabulously written historical account is put together so well, you forget you're actually getting a history lesson. As a historical romance writer who is often looking to devour books on certain subjects, I find it very difficult to find books that portray history in a vivid manner which makes it easy to swallow several years of history in one sitting without pausing to think 'what in heck is this person talking about?'. The most wonderful aspect of this book on 'criminal' subjects of the 18th century, is that Lucy Moore (the author, of course!) weaves history through the means of beautiful, but simple story telling. And what this means for anyone picking up this book is that history not only can be finally understood, but also re-lived.

Seamanship : A Voyage Along the Wild Coasts of the British Isles

Average customer rating:

A book for sailor wannabees...like me
seamanship
Do NOT Sail with this guy!
More philosophy than travelogue
Not A Travel Story, A Love Story About a Trip

Seamanship : A Voyage Along the Wild Coasts of the British Isles
Adam Nicolson
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: B000EGEYZ2

Customer Reviews:

A book for sailor wannabees...like me.......2007-05-16

I picked this book up before leaving on a cruise and sat on my balcony deck to read much of it.

When I got home, I read in it each night before bed.

It's a beautifully written book, has much adventure and describes the landscapes and ocean well. These men had to reach down deep to do the things they did and I admire them.

I enjoyed the book and am glad I got to read it.

Now I'm going to read Capt. Joshua Slocum's book..."Sailing Alone Around the World."

seamanship.......2007-01-04

an excellent book for anyone who is fascinated by the outer hebrides as i am.

Do NOT Sail with this guy!.......2005-08-09

The text recounts a voyage that the author undertakes from the southwest of England, to the Atlantic coast of Ireland, northward to the Hebrides and the Orkneys, and finally to the Faroe Islands.
This is a genuinely annoying book. As others have noted, there is, with a few exceptions, very little description of the lands and coasts traveled to. Mostly the author waxes philosophical about this or that aspect of our relationship with nature, embodied here by the sea. But that's not the problem. The problem is that, ultimately, the author proves to be a very un-admirable individual - someone that you would NOT want to sail with, much less depend on, in challenging circumstances. The real hero of the voyage (in my opnion) is George Fairhurst, an experienced professional sailor whom the author employs to skipper his boat, the Auk. By the end you come to sympathize with Fairhurst's assessment that the author is merely a "plucker": the sort of individual who floats from experience to experience, depending entirely on others to keep the boat sailing (Fairhurst), or the home and family going (the author's wife Sarah), while assuming none of the risk. You may consider it brave of Nicolson to reveal enough about what happened on Auk to allow the reader to form such a negative judgment of him. Personally I find this simply a species of the same instinct that causes him to climb three miles barefoot over sharp rocks to a hilltop holy place, despite being an avowed agnostic. It's self-indulgence masquerading as self-revelation. It's solely about the personal experience, and not about the truth.

More philosophy than travelogue.......2005-05-29

SEAMANSHIP is author Adam Nicolson's account of his 1,500-mile voyage along the outer fringes of the British Isles aboard the 42-foot ketch "Auk".

Perhaps I should have realized the thrust of Nicolson's narrative sooner. Indeed, as soon as I opened the front cover, seen the extent of the voyage as depicted on two end page maps, and then noted that this small hardcover is only 177 pages long with relatively large print. I mean, if one is sailing from Falmouth in Cornwall across the Celtic Sea to Ireland's southern tip, then back across to Cornwall, north to southwestern Wales, across the Celtic Sea again, up along Ireland's west coast, across to Scotland, up through the Inner and Outer Hebrides, east to the Orkney Islands, and finally ending far to the northwest in the Faeroes, how much description of so many places can be jammed into such a small space? Disappointingly little, if that's what you're looking for.

Rather than a travelogue in the traditional sense, SEAMANSHIP is more a ruminative consideration of Sailing Man's relationship to the Sea and his Ship, and, in this volume specifically, Adam's success (or not) in manly bonding with the Auk's skipper, George. Nicolson's philosophical bent is well represented by the following passage:

"The nature of the voyage is set before you cast off. A sea passage is shaped by the boat's time attached to the land. Every moment at sea is dependent on, and even twinned to, a moment in harbor. What a boat sails on and in is not only the ocean and the wind but the days, weeks, and months tied up alongside."

And, using a mixed metaphor:

"That is why death at sea is such a casual affair. Death has no need to approach ... It doesn't come rolling on like a swell, proceeding grandly towards you with its bosom before it and its intentions clear. Death is already there, a few feet away, resting beneath the table, its head on its paws and a smile in its eyes, happy to accept the scraps that fall."

I love the landscape of the British Isles more than any other place on Earth, especially its wild, wave and wind-ravished margins. Here, the author's description of the ancient monastic island off the Irish coast, Skellig Michael, almost brought tears of longing to my eyes. I wanted to visit the place myself - now. But, for me, there wasn't enough of such descriptive power between this book's covers to satisfy a raging wanderlust.

SEAMANSHIP is far from being a bad read. Whereas I'm only awarding 3.5 stars (translated to four by an inadequate rating system), one more in tune with Nicolson's lyrical prose will emphatically award five and excoriate me for my shallow obtuseness. This is a book you must read and decide upon for yourself.

Not A Travel Story, A Love Story About a Trip.......2005-05-13

This book is not, as you might expect from the title, a book on how to make the boat go where you want it. Instead it is a love story. It's about a love for the sea, for the boat, for life itself.

Nominally it's the story of a voyage along the Atlantic coasts of England, Ireland, Scotland, and the islands north of there. It's partly the story of the trip; it's partly a philosophy of life, of man putting himself and his wind propelled boat against the elements.

Mr. Nicolson has a way with the written word that makes his prose almost like poetry or music in the hands of another. I'm not a boating person, but it almost makes me want to go find a sailboat.

Delightful story.

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