Jude Brosnan

Book of the Month: Otherlands

Our Book of the Month for February 2022 is ‘Otherlands: A World in the Making’ by Thomas Halliday.

‘Otherlands’ is an epic, exhilarating journey into deep time, showing us the Earth as it used to exist, and the worlds that were here before ours. Travelling back in time to the dawn of complex life, and across all seven continents, award-winning young palaeobiologist Thomas Halliday gives us a mesmerising up close encounter with eras that are normally unimaginably distant.

Walking Safaris in the Wild Heart of Kenya

Author Denis Costello follows the tracks to Kenya’s finest walking safari destination

-By Denis Costello, co-author of Walking Safaris of South Africa

If setting out with the right attitude is the first step to a successful journey, then travelling to the right altitude is the key to walking safari heaven. Nowhere proves this better than Kenya, where most safaris are at a higher elevation than Ben Nevis, and in Kenya the perfect intersection of biodiversity and walking conditions is found in the country’s heartland on the Laikipia Plateau.

The Fairy Tellers’ Trail

The Stanford Dolman Award winning author, Nicholas Jubber’s new book The Fairy Tellers: A Journey into the Secret History of Fairy Tales looks at the global origins of the fairy tales we all know so well.

Here, Nicholas takes us on a brief fairy tellers’ trail:

How to Live Icelandic

How to Live Icelandic is the ultimate insider’s guide to the northerly nation of Iceland. Written by Icelanders Nína Björk Jónsdóttir and Edda Magnus, this book is your one-stop guide to all things Icelandic,so the world can benefit from the special blend of old Norse wisdom with liberal modern attitudes. This beautiful book is full of inspiration and insight into this progressive and peaceful nation that has freedom, community and equality at its core, revealing why Iceland remains one of the happiest countries in the world.

Nina and Edda have put together their Top 5 insights that everyone should know about Iceland.

Children’s Book of the Month: The Last Bear

Stanfords Children’s Book of the Month for January 2022 is The Last Bear by Hannah Gold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold.

There are no polar bears left on Bear Island. At least, that’s what April’s father tells her when his scientific research takes them to this remote Arctic outpost for six months. But one endless summer night, April meets one. He is starving, lonely and a long way from home. Determined to save him, April begins the most important journey of her life…

Map of the Month: ST&G’s Great British Wildlife & Environment Map

Stanfords Map of the Month for January 2022 is the ST&G’s Great British Wildlife & Environment Map .

Biodiverse Britain is a natural phenomenon to be reckoned with, the perfect environment for swanning about on wild adventures. From Orkney’s orcas to the seals of Scilly, Britain’s kaleidoscope of natural wonders is ripe for exploring, adoring and – most definitely – restoring. Enter this map, a semi-feral celebration of Britain’s species, habitats and the efforts being made to protect them.

Featuring over 1,500 wildlife hotspots, conservation projects, eco events and gloriously green days out, with handy summaries of key environmental issues and steps you can take to help address them, it’s the grassroots guide to having a whale of a time around wild Britain.

Book of the Month: Time on Rock

Stanfords Book of the Month for January 2022 is Time on Rock: A Climber’s Route into the Mountains by Anna Fleming. Available for £16.99.

This is a rock-climber’s eye view of the natural world, tracing a geological and personal journey across the British Isles over ten years. In Time on Rock Anna Fleming charts two parallel journeys: learning the craft of traditional rock climbing, and the new developing appreciation of the natural world it brings her.

Brilliant Maps

Maps that help put the last 12 months in some context

-by Ian Wright

I’m honoured that Brilliant Maps An Atlas for Curious Minds has been selected for Stanfords December book of the month. I really enjoyed writing it and hope you’ll enjoy reading it just as much.

Since December is the last month of the year, I thought I’d choose a few maps that help put the last 12 months in some context. And given Christmas is coming I can’t resist including a couple of Christmas themed maps too.

Monumental Tribute to Pioneer of Investigative Journalism: Nellie Bly

-by Rosemary J Brown

Journalist Nellie Bly made history on Roosevelt Island in New York City in 1887. On 10 December 2021 she did it again. I was there.

The Girl Puzzle monument, honouring the life and legacy of Nellie Bly, was unveiled steps away from the scene where she pioneered a brave new journalism. Investigative reporting was born when Bly feigned madness to investigate the brutality suffered by vulnerable women committed to the insane asylum on the island bordering Manhattan. Her accounts in The New York World and book Ten Days in a Mad-House horrified the public and brought about sweeping changes.

Mapping the North Wood

by C.J. Schüler

Hard though it may be to imagine today, until the end of the 18^th century oak woodlands stretched for seven miles along the range of clay hills that runs through southeast London from Brockley to Selhurst, straddling what was the Kent-Surrey border until the Local Government Act of 1889. Since a substantial part of the wood lay in the northern reaches of the manor of Croydon, it was known for much of its history as the North Wood, or Norwood, a name it bequeathed to the South London suburb that replaced it.