I Bought a Mountain

Author: Thomas Firbank
Publisher: Short Books
ISBN: 1780725574
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
WITH A FOREWORD BY PATRICK BARKHAM And an essay by Welsh hill farmer, Dafydd Morris-Jones 'I first saw Dyffryn in a November gale... the old house was quivering under the thrusts of the wind, and the wild, remote setting had already captured my fancy, and I will hold it till I die.' So begins the remarkable story of a 21-year-old man who, with no experience in agriculture, visited a sheep farm on a near barren Welsh mountainside in 1931 and that same day bought all 2,400 acres along with its 3000 sheep for £5,000. Set amidst the rugged grandeur of Snowdonia, I Bought a Mountain follows the struggles and triumphs of this impulsive but hard-working man and his every-bit-as-tough wife, Esme, as they fight to build the farm into prosperity. Firbank's writing is guileless and immediate and ruthlessly honest. His paean to the traditional, Welsh hill-farming way of life, transports you to a disappearing world, one ruled by the age-old rhythms of work, weather, livestock and a love of the land, and offers precious insights into conservation and sustainability.

How to Make a Mountain

Author: Amy Huntington
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1797217380
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 36

Book Description
Geology and earth science made easy (to learn) and super quick (to read about). You, too, can make a mountain—just grab this nonfiction picture book and start today! DO IT YOURSELF! START TODAY! From shaping peaks and crafting a glacier to nurturing your own plants and animals, these nine simple steps cover everything you need to know to make your very own mountain. In this book, you'll learn how to • Crush a piece of continent into a mountain range; • Freeze and melt glaciers; • Carve ravines, valleys, rivers, and mountain lakes; • Foster plants and develop a fertile layer of soil; and • Fill your mountain with a wide variety of animals that will work together to keep your mountain ecosystems healthy YES—YOU, TOO, CAN MAKE A MOUNTAIN! It is a big job, but it's also a thrilling adventure! Pack your snacks, load up your gear, and get ready for the challenge of a lifetime! *Tectonic plates, tools, and wildlife not included. Some restrictions apply. The authors assume no responsibility for frostbite, landslides, or accidental volcanoes. SCIENCE WITH A PLAYFUL, DIY TWIST: This fun and funny nonfiction picture book humorously encourages readers to get busy making their own mountain ranges. By the end, they will have learned the many steps that ultimately turn a rock into a peak, a slope into a gorge, snow into a glacier, and much more! GREAT FOR BUDDING ENVIRONTMENTALISTS: Once readers have "built" their mountains, their jobs aren't over—because the environment needs caretakers and stewards, of course! With rich back matter and lush illustrations accompanying an engaging text, this picture book is perfect for instilling a love of the natural world in budding scientists, environmental activists, and nature enthusiasts. STRONG CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS: Earth science is a staple classroom subject in all elementary school grades. With a depth of research and an engaging, highly visual narrative, this book is an excellent resource for librarians and primary school educators. Perfect for: • Teachers and librarians • Parents, grandparents, and caregivers • Anyone who loves or collects rocks • Lovers of fun, unique approaches to nonfiction and STEM topics • Gift-givers looking for a one-of-a-kind gift that's both funny and educational

My Side of the Mountain

Author: Jean Craighead George
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593115007
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Book Description
"Should appeal to all rugged individualists who dream of escape to the forest."—The New York Times Book Review Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods—all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, forty dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever. “An extraordinary book . . . It will be read year after year.” —The Horn Book

I Bought a Star

Author: Thomas Firbank
Publisher: John Jones Pub
ISBN: 9781871083965
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
Now back in print, Thomas Firbank's memoirs about his experiences in the Second World War have achieved a classic status. The book starts in the Basque region of Northern Spain in 1938. Firhank drives his faithful Bentley car back to England. He joins the Guards regiment, with the help of a relative in London, where he buys his regimental badge (featured on the book's cover), hence the book's title, I Bought a Star. The book follows Firbank's exploits through the rigorous army training in Scotland and in North Africa. He is rapidly promoted to the rank of Major, having seen active service in Italy and the Nijmegen sector, a key strategic clashpoint located between the Netherlands and lower Rhine. This first-hand account is told with wry humor and an engaging lack of melodrama.

Colors of the Mountain

Author: Da Chen
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 1400075947
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
"I was born in southern China in 1962, in the tiny town of Yellow Stone. They called it the Year of Great Starvation." In 1962, as millions of Chinese citizens were gripped by Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution and the Red Guards enforced a brutal regime of communism, a boy was born to a poor family in southern China. This family—the Chens—had once been respected landlords in the village of Yellow Stone, but now they were among the least fortunate families in the country, despised for their "capitalist" past. Grandpa Chen couldn't leave the house for fear of being beaten to death; the children were spit upon in the street; and their father was regularly hauled off to labor camps, leaving the family of eight without a breadwinner. Da Chen, the youngest child, seemed destined for a life of poverty, shame, and hunger. But winning humor and an indomitable spirit can be found in the most unexpected places. Colors of the Mountain is a story of triumph, a memoir of a boyhood full of spunk, mischief, and love. The young Da Chen is part Horatio Alger, part Holden Caul-field; he befriends a gang of young hoodlums as well as the elegant, elderly Chinese Baptist woman who teaches him English and opens the door to a new life. Chen's remarkable story is full of unforgettable scenes of rural Chinese life: feasting on oysters and fried peanuts on New Year's Day, studying alongside classmates who wear red armbands and quote Mao, and playing and working in the peaceful rice fields near his village. Da Chen's story is both captivating and endearing, filled with the universal human quality that distinguishes the very best memoirs. It proves once again that the concerns of childhood transcend time and place.

I Bought a Mountain

Author: Thomas Firbank
Publisher: Leicester : Ulverscroft, [196-?]
ISBN:
Category : Country life Wales
Languages : en
Pages : 255

Book Description

About a Mountain

Author: John D'Agata
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393076695
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Book Description
Named One of the 100 Best Nonfiction Books Written by the New York Times Magazine, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, and a New York Times Editors' Choice. When John D'Agata helps his mother move to Las Vegas one summer, he begins to follow a story about the federal government's plan to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain; the result is a startling portrait that compels a reexamination of the future of human life.

First There is a Mountain

Author: Elizabeth Kadetsky
Publisher: Little Brown & Company
ISBN: 9780316890960
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
The author chronicles her lifelong battle with eating disorders and starvation diets, her journey to India to study at the yoga institute of the renowned B. K. S. Iyengar, and her discovery of a spiritual discipline that helped her find peace. 25,000 first printing.

In Sight of Yellow Mountain

Author: Philip Judge
Publisher: Gill & Macmillan Ltd
ISBN: 0717178765
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 347

Book Description
'This is The Good Life meets A Year in Provence'. Sue Collins, The Nualas 'A luminous, funny and profound reading experience.' Sebastian Barry First, a dream of escaping the city... and then a century-old cottage to match the dream. Moving to a small village in the heart of the countryside was the beginning of a new life for Philip Judge and his Beloved – the beginning of life In Sight of Yellow Mountain. Judge describes the season-by-season charms and frustrations that he, his Beloved, and eventually, his two growing boys experience as they adapt to life in the countryside. There are highs and lows. Wellies and tweeds are bought. Vegetable patches cultivated. Lambs are born, calves die. There is weather: good and bad; health and happiness; illness and sadness. The city slicker fails miserably at Name That Grain! and makes many faux pas along the way, but ultimately, this is the story of one man, and his growing family, experiencing the pleasure that is finding home.

Snow Mountain Passage

Author: James D. Houston
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 030742782X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Book Description
Snow Mountain Passage is a powerful retelling of the most dramatic of our pioneer stories—the ordeal of the Donner Party, with its cast of young and old risking all, its imprisoning snows, its rumors of cannibalism. James Houston takes us inside this central American myth in a compelling new way that only a novelist can achieve. The people whose dreams, courage, terror, ingenuity, and fate we share are James Frazier Reed, one of the leaders of the Donner Party, and his wife and four children—in particular his eight-year-old daughter, Patty. From the moment we meet Reed—proud, headstrong, yet a devoted husband and father—traveling with his family in the "Palace Car," a huge, specially built covered wagon transporting the Reeds in grand style, the stage is set for trouble. And as they journey across the country, thrilling to new sights and new friends, coping with outbursts of conflict and constant danger, trouble comes. It comes in the fateful choice of a wrong route, which causes the group to arrive at the foot of the Sierra Nevada too late to cross into the promised land before the snows block the way. It comes in the sudden fight between Reed and a drover—a fight that exiles Reed from the others, sending him solo over the mountains ahead of the storms. We follow Reed during the next five months as he travels around northern California, trying desperately to find means and men to rescue his family. And through the amazingly imagined "Trail Notes" of Patty Reed, who recollects late in life her experiences as a child, we also follow the main group, progressively stranded and starving on the Nevada side of the Sierras. Snow Mountain Passage is an extraordinary tale of pride and redemption. What happens—who dies, who survives, and why—is brilliantly, grippingly told.