Book Launch: A History of the World in 47 Borders by Jonn Elledge

Last night we hosted the launch of a very “Stanfords’ book; A History of the World in 47 Borders: The Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps by Jonn Elledge.

Book Launch: The Innocents by Bridget Walsh

Last week we hosted the launch of The Innocents by Bridget Walsh

Stanfords Staff Selects: Books for Earth Day

To commemorate Earth Day, seven members of our Stanfords team have picked one thought-provoking book that celebrates the environmental global movement and highlights the importance of protecting our planet.

Faye picked:

The Joyful Environmentalist

by Isabel Losada

£12.99

“This book was immensely liberating for me. It was the first time I felt like knowledge is power. I am excited to spread the word of Isabel Losada.”

Happy Trig Week/ Our bestselling OS Explorer Maps

On 18 April 1936 a group of surveyors gathered around a white concrete pillar in a field in Ashby and began the retriangulation of Great Britain.

That trig pillar is still standing 88 years on, along with thousands more around the country. Still much loved by walkers today, Trig Bagging is a growing hobby. Just search for the red triangles on your Ordnance Survey maps.

If you fancy going Trig Bagging, here are our bestselling Ordnance Survey Explorer Maps of 2024 (so far):

Book Launch: Family Adventures by Bex Band

Last night we hosted the launch of Family Adventures by Bex Band.

A practical guide to involving babies and children in all sorts of adventures, whether it be cycling, camping, paddling, hiking, swimming or outdoor holidays.

Book Launch: Why We Travel by Ash Bhardwaj

Last week we hosted the launch of Why We Travel by Ash Bhardwaj.

Why We Travel is a smart-thinking travel book, which uses travel as a window into human motivations. It explores what we can gain from venturing out into the world.

Book Launch: Running on Empty by Guy Deacon

Last week we hosted the launch of Running on Empty by Guy Deacon.

Happy Nepalese New Year

Happy 2081

Did you know that the official calendar used in Nepal is the Bikram Sambat or Vikram Samvat calendar, which is 56 years and 8 months ahead of the western calendar. Each year begins on the first day of the month Baisakh, which usually falls on April 13th or 14th in the western calendar.

To convert a Nepali date to a Gregorian date:

Subtract – 56 Years – 8 Months – 17 Days. There are 12 months, but the number of days in each month changes each year and can go up to 32. This means there is no need for a leap year.

Visiting Nepal soon? Discover our full range of books, guides, maps, maritime charts in store or at Stanfords.co.uk.

Here are some ideas:

Can we travel better?

We spend more on travel than on any other leisure activity. But Ash Bhardwaj believes that we can make travel more fulfilling by thinking about our motivations for doing it. He explores this in his book, Why We Travel, through a blend of travelogue, memoir, research, and advice.

Because of my work, people often ask me for travel recommendations. But as I wrote and researched Why We Travel, I realised that destinations are the wrong place to start our travel-plans, because different places suit different motivations at different times.

Extract: Running on Empty by Guy Deacon

At the age of sixty, and having lived with Parkinson’s disease for over ten years, Guy Deacon CBE set out on one last adventure: to drive solo from his home in the UK 18,000 miles and through twenty-five countries to Cape Town on the southern tip of Africa. Running on Empty is the story of this incredible journey, across Europe and down the full length of Africa, took the former British Army officer over twelve months. Along the way, he broke down five times, underwent one emergency evacuation, and took 3,650 prescription pills.

There are only a handful of vehicles each year which attempt this difficult journey; many never complete it. Ongoing conflicts in Libya, South Sudan, Mozambique and many other countries make any journey exceptionally dangerous. In central Africa, road conditions, particularly in the rainy season, often make the going treacherous.

Further hazards include illegal checkpoints, extortion, contaminated fuel and a lack of services. Guy drove, lived and slept in his VW Transporter, often in remote spots, hundreds of miles from the nearest village or town. Reliant on patchy GPS, he often got lost.

His journey was, quite simply, an incredible feat by a man travelling alone with Stage 3 Parkinson’s disease, when simply putting on a pair of shoes can take half an hour. But not only did Guy’s journey fulfil a childhood dream to drive the length of Africa, his mission was also to raise global awareness of Parkinson’s disease, for which there is currently still no cure.

Here is an extract: