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Biography
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About this book
From Gavin Pretor-Pinney retracing a canoe trip his grandfather made 60 years ago to Jon Savage describing a trip down the Thames with the Sex Pistols, Roger Deakin on the history of ice skating in the fens to Chris Yates on a life spent on the river bank, this is a truly unique collection of nature writing - the perfect companion to a lazy afternoon. With Edwyn Collins hilarious descriptions of being taken fishing by his grandfather, this is an extrordinary collection about the way rivers have shaped our nation, its pysche and leisure time.
In an age of blackberrys, mobiles, and time is money, fishing is an increasingly eccentric sport. We often sit for hours and nothing happens. There really is no point to it. Coarse fisherman don't even ever eat their catch. However, if you fish, you have the time to think again, to appreciate and savour the moment. Fishing enables you to take stock, gain perspective, remember great books, hum a tune you haven't thought of in years. It makes you human again. Sitting with your own thoughts is good for the soul, and you never know, a float might go under, an alarm sound and there'll be a flurry of activity. Then again, maybe not. It doesn't matter, you've taken time out of the rat race. That's the key.
Contents
FOREWORD ...JEFF BARRETT, ROBIN TURNER, ANDREW WALSH THE LANGUAGE OF RIVERS ...SUE CLIFFORD & ANGELA KING THE RIVER ALNESS ...JOHN BERRY THERE IS NOTHING IN THE WATER ...FRANK COTTRELL BOYCE THE RIVER CARY ...GAVIN PRETOR-PINNEY THE RIVER COQUET ...CHRIS WATSON LAZY CRAY-SY DAYS OF SUMMER ...KEVIN PEARCE 13 ...LAURA BARTON JACK FROST ...ROGER DEAKIN THE BLACK RIVER ...IRVINE WELSH PALM-READING THE HELFORD ...PETER KIRBY TO FISH THE BURNS ...EDWYN COLLINS & GRACE MAXWELL NOT CAUGHT BY THE RIVER ...JOHN NIVEN THE KENNET & AVON CANAL ...JOHN MOORE BABYLON ...JOHN ANDREWS VALLEY OF THE DEAD CARS ...BOB STANLEY A RAINBOW IN FLIGHT ...JUDE ROGERS THE MERSEY: LIVERPOOL ...MATTHEW DE ABAITUA THE MERSEY: MANCHESTER ...JEMMA KENNEDY FISHING WITH JAKUB ...JEFF BARRETT RIVER MAN ...HANNAH HAMILTON ENDLESS SUMMER ...ROBIN TURNER THE OUSE BURN ...KATHRYN WILLIAMS THE PENKILN BURN ...BILL DRUMMOND ACRYLIC AFTERNOONS ...JARVIS COCKER BITTER LIMEN ...DEXTER PETLEY SEVERN BY SEVERN ...KARL HYDE RIVER AT THE END OF AUTUMN ...CHRIS YATES CORACLE MAKER ...BERNARD THOMAS WAY ACROSS THE RIVER ...JOHN SAVAGE THE POETRY OF SMALL AMBITIONS ...PAUL KINGSNORTH TICKLING FISH ...LORD PEREGRINE ST GERMANS THE LOWER TRENT ...JW MARTIN THE RIVER WANDLE ...ROY WILKINSON THE DIRT WATERFALL ...BEN MYERS UNDER WATER ...MATHEW CLAYTON SOURCED IN THE WEST ...KURT JAKCSON DART ...ALICE OSWALD
Customer Reviews
Biography
Jeff Barrett, Robin Turner and Andrew Walsh are the team behind the angling and music blog Caughtbytheriver.net. Their day job is running the independent record label Heavenly Recordings. The book is illustrated throughout with the woodblocks of the artist and writer Robert Gibbings. One time owner of the Golden Cockerel Press and author of numerous books about rivers such as Sweet Thames Runs Softy Gibbings work perfectly completes the mood of the book.