Author: Richard Carter

by Hugh Thomson A Walk Through England. Näively judging this book by its cover (and title), I assumed it would be about walking through woods, waxing lyrical about trees, and so forth. Although trees do crop up in The Green Road Through the Trees, they are mainly incidental. This is a book about following the… Continue reading The Green Road Through the Trees

by Sarah Moss Strangers in Iceland. This book wasn't at all what I expected. It tells of Sarah Moss and her family's one-year transplant to Iceland. I was expecting it to be all about glaciers and volcanoes and the northern lights—all of which feature in this book—but Names for the Sea is far more about… Continue reading Names for the Sea

by Richard Dawkins Why Faith is not a virtue. Although I don't agree with everything he has to say, I greatly admire Richard Dawkins as a writer. But, when it came out, I decided not to read The God Delusion, because I didn't expect to get much out of it: I was already an atheist,… Continue reading The God Delusion

by Caspar Henderson A 21st Century Bestiary. The Book of Barely Imagined Beings is a modern take on the medieval idea of a bestiary of wonderful animals. As anyone interested in the natural world knows, all animals are wonderful in their own way, so Caspar Henderson's choices of which beasts should appear in his book… Continue reading The Book of Barely Imagined Beings

by John le Carré A would-be defector from the Russian mob. I don't tend to read much fiction. I enjoy it, but life's just too short to read stuff that isn't true. But I obtained several free unabridged John le Carré audiobooks a couple of years back as part of a promotional offer on the… Continue reading Our Kind of Traitor