Biography (243)

The Real James Bond

ISBN: 9780764359026

Author: Jim Wright    Publisher: Schiffer Books

Whatever happened to him actually outshines anything I’ve had my James Bond do. —Ian Fleming James Bond: author, ornithologist, marksman, and . . . identit...


Whatever happened to him actually outshines anything I’ve had my James Bond do. —Ian Fleming James Bond: author, ornithologist, marksman, and . . . identity-theft victim? When James Bond published his landmark book, Birds of the West Indies, he had no idea it would set in motion events that would link him to the most iconic spy in the Western world and turn his life upside down. Born into a wealthy family but cut off in his early twenties, James Bond took off to the West Indies in search of adventure. Armed with arsenic and a shotgun, he took months-long excursions to the Caribbean to collect material for his iconic book, Birds of the West Indies, navigating snake-infested swamps, sleeping in hammocks, and island-hopping on tramp steamers and primitive boats. Packed with archival photos, many never before published, and interviews with Bond’s family and colleagues, here is the real story of the pipe-smoking, ruthless ornithologist who introduced the world to the exotic birds of the West Indies.


Bind: hardback


Pages: 144


Dimensions: 153 x 230 mm


Publication Date: 20-02-2020


$55.00
Uncle John Watson Resident Magistrate

ISBN: 9780473501013

Author: Colin Amodeo    Publisher: The Caxton Press

Colonial Akaroa was surprisingly cosmopolitan with enclaves of speakers of Maori, English, French and German. Migration and ship-jumping further added to the cu...


Colonial Akaroa was surprisingly cosmopolitan with enclaves of speakers of Maori, English, French and German. Migration and ship-jumping further added to the cultural mix. Shipping kept Akaroa and other Banks Peninsula settlements in contact with the rest of New Zealand, supporting its trade and commerce. Despite all this worldliness, it was an isolated place. Almost an island, Akaroa evolved as a little world unto itself. John Watson has always appeared as a man for his time and place but exactly who that man was, up until now, had only been lightly outlined. Colin Amodeo presents a much fuller portrait. In these pages, we see not only a clearer picture of John Watson but also of colonial Akaroa.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 224


Dimensions: 210 x 297 mm


Publication Date: 22-11-2019


Tags: History   Biography   New Zealand
$49.95
Passages

ISBN: 9780473437077

Author: Linda Trubridge    Publisher: Hornpipe Press

Passages is a personal, yet universal story of a life in harmony with nature. When Linda, her husband David, and their two small boys, Sam and William, bought a...


Passages is a personal, yet universal story of a life in harmony with nature. When Linda, her husband David, and their two small boys, Sam and William, bought a yacht called Hornpipe and set sail for tropical waters, they cast off from all security. So began a nomadic adventure when they had to depend on their own resources, navigating by the sun and stars. This beautifully illustrated book presents a thrillingly honest, yet poetic reflection on the challenges of fulfilling a dream, as seen from a mother's perspective. Those ocean passages were a non stop roller coaster ride: "There were times when they plunged into the deepest trough of the wave and there were times when they rode, in exhilaration, the highest crest". Linda's literal and metaphorical passages braid together both past and present to reveal how her family's extraordinary voyages inspired their future accomplishments. "This story is for all explorers. The passages we weave through our lives find their truth in those we touch along the way: - Linda Trubridge


Bind: paperback


Pages: 441


Dimensions: 155 x 230 mm


Publication Date: 02-11-2019


Tags: Biography   Travel   New Zealand
$39.99
Rescue : One New Zealander's Crusade to Save Endangered Animals

ISBN: 9780995105348

Author: Michael Willis    Publisher: Quentin Wilson Publishing

Michael Willis was ten years old, already keeping rabbits, guinea pigs, frogs, possums and birds in his parents’ garden and dreaming of running a zoo of his o...


Michael Willis was ten years old, already keeping rabbits, guinea pigs, frogs, possums and birds in his parents’ garden and dreaming of running a zoo of his own. Then came a life-changing present: a copy of naturalist Gerald Durrell’s The Bafut Beagles. Suddenly the idea of working with animals became more than just a fantasy. A lot of hard work and ingenuity later, the dream came true in 1974, when Michael opened Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, on the outskirts of Christchurch. An immensely popular and prize-winning tourist attraction, Willowbank is home to a rich collection of exotic and native animals, from kiwi and kea to otters, camels and monkeys. But that has been only part of the story. Over the years Michael has been increasingly driven to save and conserve rare livestock breeds, many of them far more endangered than some of their familiar native counterparts. He has travelled New Zealand, and the world, in his quest to save these often forgotten animals from extinction. Whether it is rediscovering the tasselled and beguiling kune kune pig, saving the goats of remote Arapawa Island, capturing wild pigs on the forbidding Auckland Islands, bringing back to life the lost wild cattle of Enderby Island or travelling to the Galápagos in search of threatened wild donkeys, his has been a life full of adventure, and full of the animals he loves. And the search continues. Just as he did in his delightful, best-selling first book, Some of My Best Friends are Animals, Michael Willis recounts his sometimes perilous and always riveting experiences with warmth, passion and infectiously laconic humour. Rescue will make you laugh and gasp, and think. For, as he reminds us, in an uncertain world, the saving of these animals could be the saving of us all.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 304


Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm


Publication Date: 31-10-2019


$45.00 $19.99
Forgotten Philanthropist - The Life of Robert McDougall 1860-1942

ISBN: 9780473477202

Author: Jennifer Haworth    Publisher: Translations Worldwide Limited

‘Forgotten Philanthropist’ — these two words summarise this book. Robert McDougall was one of Christchurch’s most generous benefactors. His gift to Chri...


‘Forgotten Philanthropist’ — these two words summarise this book. Robert McDougall was one of Christchurch’s most generous benefactors. His gift to Christchurch in autumn 1928 of the art gallery that bears his name is, in today’s monetary terms, the largest gift ever given to the city, yet today he and that gift are virtually forgotten. Robert McDougall built up his biscuit and confectionery company, Aulsebrooks, to become possibly the largest employer of staff in Christchurch in the early 1900s. It was this success and Robert’s ongoing business acumen that allowed him to exercise his philanthropy to the extent that he did. He was also heavily involved in all aspects of manufacturing and industry in Christchurch and New Zealand, participating in and helping organise trade fairs and exhibitions throughout the country. Although by nature a reserved man, Robert was a man before his time. He cared about his employees’ welfare, building sports facilities for them and helping them when in need, and he was responsible for many other acts of generosity in both Christchurch and beyond. He was also a family man, who spent far more time than a father usually did with his children in those days. This biography provides not only a welcome insight into Robert’s life and the times in which he lived—a time when Christchurch was rapidly developing—but also a return to prominence of one of New Zealand’s most accomplished businessmen and unassuming philanthropists.


Bind: hardback


Pages: 400


Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm


Publication Date: 18-10-2019


Tags: Biography   History   New Zealand
$49.95
The Paper Nautilus

ISBN: 9781988531793

Author: Michael Jackson    Publisher: Otago University Press

The Paper Nautilus is about loss – the forms it takes, how we go on living in the face of it, and the mysterious ways that new life and new beginnings are bor...


The Paper Nautilus is about loss – the forms it takes, how we go on living in the face of it, and the mysterious ways that new life and new beginnings are born of brokenness. The paper nautilus provides a vivid image of this interplay of death and rebirth since, for new life to begin, the angelically beautiful but fragile shell that sustained a former life must be shattered. Michael Jackson has recourse to his ethnographic fieldwork among the Kuranko of Sierra Leone, as well as autobiography and fiction, in exploring his theme. This book crosses and blends genres most engagingly. Beginning as a series of essays, it gradually morphs into a mesmerising work of the imagination in which the boundary between author and other becomes blurred, and the line between fact and fiction erased.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 224


Dimensions: 130 x 198 mm


Publication Date: 01-11-2019


$35.00
Have A Cigar

ISBN: 9781846893087

Author: Bryan Morrison    Publisher: Quiller Publishing

When the music impresario Bryan Morrison died aged 66 in 2008, after two years in a coma following a polo accident, he left behind his unpublished memoir. As a ...


When the music impresario Bryan Morrison died aged 66 in 2008, after two years in a coma following a polo accident, he left behind his unpublished memoir. As a music publisher, manager and agent, Morrison had represented the Pretty Things, Pink Floyd, T. Rex, The Jam, Wham! and many others. He was also the founder and owner of the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club. In this candid and outspoken book, Morrison reveals the true stories behind why Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd once bit his finger to the bone, the Pretty Things were banned for life from New Zealand, and he became involved with the Kray Twins. He also tells how The Jam kissed goodbye to success in the USA, he received death threats when Robin Gibb left the Bee Gees, and signing a publishing deal with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as Wham! Spanning the golden age of British rock ’n’ roll from the 60s to the 80s, this is the extraordinary story of a cigar-chomping, East End entrepreneur, with a passion for art and design, fashion, music and polo.


Bind: hardback


Pages: 224


Dimensions: 156 x 234 mm


Publication Date: 13-09-2019


Tags: Biography   Music
$49.99
The Silk Road and Beyond

ISBN: 9781912158355

Author: Ivor Whiiall    Publisher: Old Pond

The hair-raising true adventures of a long-distance trucker in the Middle East. The Silk Road and Beyond covers the career, adventures and anecdotes of Ivor Whi...


The hair-raising true adventures of a long-distance trucker in the Middle East. The Silk Road and Beyond covers the career, adventures and anecdotes of Ivor Whittall, one of the early pioneers of long distance trucking to the Middle East. Written in an engaging style, the book encompasses stories from the beginning of Ivor’s career, from qualifying as an articulated-truck driver, his first overseas trip to Kuwait, the desert trek between Jordan and Saudi Arabia and the journey over the infamous Tahir Pass in Eastern Turkey, which claimed many trucks and the lives of some of their drivers. The book is edited and revised by Paul Rowlands, himself an experienced trucker and published book author, and includes many amusing and hair-raising tales. It covers subjects such as the recovery of broken down trucks and trailers and the delights of custom formalities and cross-border negotiations, not only providing a fascinating insight to this important period in transport history, but demonstrating the important qualities of determination and self-reliance, applied by the author to many challenging situations.


Bind: hardback


Pages: 240


Dimensions: 210 x 297 mm


Publication Date: 16-08-2019


Tags: Biography   Transport
$65.00
Riding With Ces Gledhill 1925 to 1952

ISBN: 9780908573936

Author: Ces Gledhill    Publisher: New Zealand Railway & Locomotive Society

Ces Gledhill hired on with New Zealand Railways in 1925. Forever the rolling stone in search of better money, overtime and promotion, Ces transferred around New...


Ces Gledhill hired on with New Zealand Railways in 1925. Forever the rolling stone in search of better money, overtime and promotion, Ces transferred around New Zealand seeking out opportunities within the railway service. Starting as a cleaner, he worked his way up through the ranks of fireman and eventually first-class enginedriver. Working through the Depression years and the boom of war-time rail traffic, Ces recounts with interest his time living at the various towns and cities, working on both isolated sections, branch lines and main trunk trains. Told with passion are many of his footplate escapades. After a wartime absence, he returned from railway military service in the Middle-east, he settled down on the West Coast of the South Island, both operating and keeping operational, run-down locomotives on the post-war railway. This work is well illustrated with images of the period, many taken by the author.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 115


Dimensions: 210 x 296 mm


Publication Date: 16-08-2019


Tags: Biography   Transport   New Zealand
$44.00
The Aeronauts

ISBN: 9781911545477

Author: James Glaisher    Publisher: Melville House UK

In 1862, ambitious scientist James Glaisher set out to do the impossible: ascend higher into the skies than ever before. A pioneer of weather forecasting and of...


In 1862, ambitious scientist James Glaisher set out to do the impossible: ascend higher into the skies than ever before. A pioneer of weather forecasting and of photography, he wanted to take ground-breaking research measurements from different altitudes. Before aeroplanes, the only unpredictable available method of air transportation was the hot air balloon. Embarking on several journeys between 1862 and 1866, sometimes with co-pilot and experienced aeronaut Henry Coxwell, Glaisher would pack his compass, thermometers and bottles of brandy and head skyward, hoping for hospitable conditions.On 2nd September 1862, the pair undertook what is now viewed as one of the greatest daredevil stories in the history of aviation. Rising higher and higher above the town of Wolverhampton, Glaisher started to experience balloon sickness'. At first his vision clouded over. His limbs began to feel heavy, and before long, movement was impossible. Coxton's hands turned black. And eventually, the pair lost consciousness. They peaked at 37,000 feet (7 miles or 11km), a height now almost always undertaken by mechanical probes and somehow together, on the verge of death, they managed to regain control of their own bodies, even record their observations, and begin their descent. They were lucky to be alive.Written in his own words, The Aeronauts chronicles Glaisher's incredible flights and discoveries first hand, as well as his observations on those pioneers who came before and inspired him. His death-defying journey forms the story of the forthcoming MajorMotion Picture The Aeronauts, with Eddie Redmayne playing Glaisher opposite Felicity Jones as his balloon companion, Amelia Wren.


Bind: paperback


Pages: 128


Dimensions: 129 x 198 mm


Publication Date: 05-09-2019


Tags: Biography   History
$22.99
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