On Leopard Rock

Author: Wilbur Smith
Publisher: Zaffre
ISBN: 9781499861259
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
The first ever memoir from the Number One global bestselling adventure author Wilbur Smith has lived an incredible life of adventure, and now he shares the extraordinary true stories that have inspired his fiction. I've been writing novels for over fifty years. I was lucky enough to miss the big wars and not get shot, but lucky enough to grow up among the heroes who had served in them and learn from their example. I have lucked into things continuously. I have done things which have seemed appalling at the time,disastrous even, but out of them have come another story or a deeper knowledge of human character and the ability to express myself better on paper, write books which people enjoy reading. Along the way, I have lived a life that I could never have imagined. I have been privileged to meet people from all corners of the globe, I have been wherever my heart has desired and in the process my books have taken readers to many, many places. I always say I've started wars, I've burned down cities, and I've killed hundreds of thousands of people - but only in my imagination! From being attacked by lions to close encounters with deadly reef sharks, from getting lost in the African bush without water to crawling the precarious tunnels of gold mines, from marlin fishing with Lee Marvin to near death from crash-landing a Cessna airplane, from brutal schooldays to redemption through writing and falling in love, Wilbur Smith tells us the intimate stories of his life that have been the raw material for his fiction. Always candid, sometimes hilarious, and never less than thrillingly entertaining, On Leopard Rock is testament to a writer whose life is as rich and eventful as his novels are compellingly unputdownable.

On Leopard Rock

Author: Wilbur Smith
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1499861281
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 293

Adventures in Solitude

Author: Grant Lawrence
Publisher: Harbour Publishing
ISBN: 1550176471
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Book Description
From Captain George Vancouver to Muriel “Curve of Time” Blanchet to Jim “Spilsbury’s Coast” Spilsbury, visitors to Desolation Sound have left behind a trail of books endowing the area with a romantic aura that helps to make it British Columbia’s most popular marine park. In this hilarious and captivating book, CBC personality Grant Lawrence adds a whole new chapter to the saga of this storied piece of BC coastline. Young Grant’s father bought a piece of land next to the park in the 1970s, just in time to encounter the gun-toting cougar lady, left-over hippies, outlaw bikers and an assortment of other characters. In those years Desolation Sound was a place where going to the neighbours’ potluck meant being met with hugs from portly naked hippies and where Russell the Hermit’s school of life (boating, fishing, and rock ’n’ roll) was Grant’s personal Enlightenment—an influence that would take him away from the coast to a life of music and journalism and eventually back again. With rock band buddies and a few cases of beer in tow, an older, cooler Grant returns to regale us with tales of “going bush,” the tempting dilemma of finding an unguarded grow-op, and his awkward struggle to convince a couple of visiting kayakers that he’s a legit CBC radio host while sporting a wild beard and body wounds and gesticulating with a machete. With plenty of laugh-out-loud humour and inspired reverence, Adventures in Solitude delights us with the unique history of a place and the growth of a young man amidst the magic of Desolation Sound.

The Leopard Hunts in Darkness

Author: Wilbur Smith
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction Ltd.
ISBN: 1785765922
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 551

Book Description
BOOK 4 IN THE BALLANTYNE SERIES, BY INTERNATIONAL SENSATION WILBUR SMITH 'Best historical novelist' - Stephen King 'A master storyteller' - Sunday Times 'Wilbur Smith is one of those benchmarks against whom others are compared' - The Times 'No one does adventure quite like Smith' - Daily Mirror A FAMILY'S PAST. A COUNTRY'S FUTURE. Bestselling author Craig Mellow is tired of fame and wants only to return to his family's old home in Zimbabwe. When the World Bank recruits Craig to investigate ivory poaching and corruption it is the opportunity he so desperately craves to return. Under the guise of writing a new book on Africa, Mellow returns to his family's old ranch, Rholands, accompanied by beautiful young photographer Sally-Anne Jay. Although it's now derelict, Craig wants to rebuild and turn Rholands into a tourist safari, but he finds his way unexpectedly blocked by his old friend, now government minister, Tungata Zebiwe. With the corrupt government blocking his plans and new conflict on the horizon, Craig and Sally must fight not only for their lives, but for the very future of a country. The fourth book in the epic Ballantyne Series and the final instalment in the first sequence. Join a new generation of Ballantynes in Book 5 of the Ballantyne series, The Triumph of the Sun, available now.

Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes

Author: Alastair Humphreys
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0007548044
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 472

Book Description
‘Enthusiastic, pleasingly madcap’ Geographical Adventure – something that’s new and exhilarating, outside your comfort zone. Adventures change you and how you see the world, and all you need is an open mind, bags of enthusiasm and boundless curiosity. Recommended for viewing on a colour tablet.

Below Another Sky

Author: Rick Ridgeway
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780786233656
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 546

Book Description
A renowned mountaineer chronicles his journey to Tibet with the daughter of a friend who had died in his arms in a Himalayan avalanche twenty years earlier.

Hubert's Hair Raising Adventure

Author:
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780395282670
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 44

Book Description
A haughty lion accidentally loses his mane. His friends find a remedy, but it creates a new crisis.

Cathedral of the Wild

Author: Boyd Varty
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1400069858
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description
“This is a gorgeous, lyrical, hilarious, important book. . . . Read this and you may find yourself instinctively beginning to heal old wounds: in yourself, in others, and just maybe in the cathedral of the wild that is our true home.”—Martha Beck, author of Finding Your Own North Star Boyd Varty had an unconventional upbringing. He grew up on Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa, a place where man and nature strive for balance, where perils exist alongside wonders. Founded more than eighty years ago as a hunting ground, Londolozi was transformed into a nature reserve beginning in 1973 by Varty’s father and uncle, visionaries of the restoration movement. But it wasn’t just a sanctuary for the animals; it was also a place for ravaged land to flourish again and for the human spirit to be restored. When Nelson Mandela was released after twenty-seven years of imprisonment, he came to the reserve to recover. Cathedral of the Wild is Varty’s memoir of his life in this exquisite and vast refuge. At Londolozi, Varty gained the confidence that emerges from living in Africa. “We came out strong and largely unafraid of life,” he writes, “with the full knowledge of its dangers.” It was there that young Boyd and his equally adventurous sister learned to track animals, raised leopard and lion cubs, followed their larger-than-life uncle on his many adventures filming wildlife, and became one with the land. Varty survived a harrowing black mamba encounter, a debilitating bout with malaria, even a vicious crocodile attack, but his biggest challenge was a personal crisis of purpose. An intense spiritual quest takes him across the globe and back again—to reconnect with nature and “rediscover the track.” Cathedral of the Wild is a story of transformation that inspires a great appreciation for the beauty and order of the natural world. With conviction, hope, and humor, Varty makes a passionate claim for the power of the wild to restore the human spirit. Praise for Cathedral of the Wild “Extremely touching . . . a book about growth and hope.”—The New York Times “It made me cry with its hard-won truths about human and animal nature. . . . Both funny and deeply moving, this book belongs on the shelf of everyone who seeks healing in wilderness.”—BookPage

Letter To My Younger Self

Author: Jane Graham
Publisher: Kings Road Publishing
ISBN: 1788702336
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 383

Book Description
A Sunday Times Book of the Year All royalties from sales of this book go to The Big Issue If you could write a letter to your younger self, what would it say? Over 10 years ago, The Big Issue began to ask some of the best-known, most interesting and most successful figures in entertainment, politics, food, sport and business to give advice, offer hope and share a few jokes with their younger selves. They opened up, in ways they never had, to interviewer Jane Graham, reflecting on their lives and themselves with affection, sympathy and sometimes disbelief. This collection of 100 of the most incredible letters includes Paul McCartney on how he found inspiration, Olivia Colman on overcoming confidence problems, Mo Farah on the importance of losing, Arianna Huffington on knowing your motivations, Jamie Oliver on trusting your instinct and many, many more, including Rod Stewart, Margaret Atwood, Buzz Aldrin, David Cameron, Eddie Izzard, Desmond Tutu, Neil Gaiman, Ruby Wax, Ranulph Fiennes, Tracey Emin, Ian McEwan, Michael Palin, Melanie C, Tim Peake, Dionne Warwick and Ewan McGregor. Letter to My Younger Self is a revelatory and profound exploration into the wit and wisdom that age brings, and of the unique insights that looking back can reveal. Proceeds from the sales of this book go to The Big Issue to continue their work dismantling poverty and promoting social justice. "A truly wonderful book ... a gateway to intelligent, learned and genuinely inspiring stories, moments and people ... We would highly recommend it ... It's a fab cause and put together seamlessly." Magic Radio - October Book Club Pick 'The answers make for great reading.' Sunday Mirror 'This collection is full of insightful stories that will make you think about how you live your own life, and how you want to live it in the future.' Woman's Weekly

Assegai

Author: Wilbur Smith
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 149986115X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 582

Book Description
A Courtney series adventure - Book 1 in the Assegai sequence For King and Country. No matter the cost. With the backing of his uncle, General Penrod Ballantyne, young Leon Courtney joins the King's Rifles of Nairobi. When he becomes discouraged by the dishonesty of army life, his uncle recruits him for a special mission - spying on the Germans in East Africa, whom the General suspects are preparing for the Kaiser's war. Posing as a professional game hunter Leon is tasked with gathering information on one is his clients, a wealthy industrialist Otto Von Meerbach. Leon finds himself falling for von Meerbach's beautiful mistress but never forgets that his real mission is to destroy the enemy. But how easy will he find his task when his true enemy is closer to home than Leon ever expected?