Last Call for the Dining Car: The Telegraph Book of Great Railway Journeys, edited by Michael Kerr

The trip, rather than its end, is the thing.


These days, air travel is easily the fastest way to travel, and with the rise of low cost airlines, it can be the cheapest. Increasingly we are using short-haul flights as an alternative to rail travel. A rail journey however can be about so much more than just getting from A to B. As travel writer Paul Mansfield states in his account of a five day rail journey from London to Lisbon; “I could have made this journey by plane in about two hours – and missed everything”.

A train can still take us on a genuine journey, whether it weaves through vertiginous mountain passes, across expansive planes, or indeed whether the adventure itself is in being thrown together with a motley array of other travellers. Could it lead to a romantic encounter in the dining car? Or will you be sharing your sleeping car with a sinister stranger?

When Paul Theroux’s The Great Railway Bazaar was first published in 1975, its tenet was the travellers’ mantra ‘the journey is the goal’. Theroux defied traditions of travel literature as he sought not to report on unfamiliar cultures, but to submit himself to chance experiences along the way. The book became an instant classic of travel literature, and an inspiration to a generation of rail travellers.

Last Call for the Dining Car, too, tackles these themes. Michael Kerr, the Daily Telegraph’s deputy travel editor, has waded deep into the Telegraph archives to compile a riveting anthology of all the best railway travel to have appeared in the paper. Here are epic journeys across India, high over the Andean Altiplano, from Moscow to Peking, on the Sunset Express across America to California, and from Leicester Square to Charing Cross on the Piccadilly Line.

With contributions from Michael Palin, Nicholas Crane and John Simpson amongst others.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/journeysbyrail/5159915/Ten-spectacular-train-journeys.html

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Call-Dining-Car-Telegraph/dp/1845134974

Outlaw Journalist: The Life & Times of Hunter S. Thompson by William McKeen

· ‘This is the Great Red Shark of Hunter biographies… Read it or die’ Greg Palast

Hunter S. Thompson changed the way we think about journalism. One of the pioneers of New Journalism, he wrote books that continue to entertain decades after they were published, melding fact and fiction in a supercharged Gonzo prose style to chronicle his drink- and drug- fuelled adventures. His major work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is now a bestselling classic. Requesting his ashes blasted into the blue Colorado sky to drift slowly back over the crowd at his funeral was typical of his menacing humour. There was no one better at capturing America, from the presidential campaign trail to the Hell’s Angels’ lair.

William McKeen became friends with Thompson after writing a monograph on his work. He has interviewed many of the writer’s associates who would not speak before, from childhood friends to assistants at his Colorado home, getting behind the drink and drugs to reveal a charismatic figure who was happy to be considered an outlaw but took the calling of journalism as his vocation. Outlaw Journalist is the definitive biography of this compelling American icon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Outlaw-Journalist-Life-Hunter-Thompson/dp/1845133986

Bounder!: The Biography of Terry Thomas

Bounder!: The Biography of Terry Thomas by Graham McCann, is available now. The fascinating story of one of England's most beloved comics, follows his life from his regular childhood in North Finchley to his extravagantly dressed celebrity lifestyle and final decline from Parkinson's Disease. The gap-toothed 'dandy' saunters from page to page in this book, his swagger and perfectly tailoured suits never failing to entertain but it is his tragic illness (that would render him virtually penniless) that is captured sensitively and empathectically shining a light on Thomas's private life and true persona. For a quick snap-shot of his life, click on the link below. So juicy is his life, you won't be able to resist buying the book!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1052851/I-say-What-bounder--All-dandy-comic-legend-Terry-Thomas-really-liked-jolly-eager-girls.html

"Music seems to have an almost wilful, evasive quality, defying simple explination, so that the more we find out, the more there is to know, leaving its power and mystery intact, however much we dig and delve. Daniel's book is an eloquent and poetic exploration of this paradox." Sting.

If what Sting has said about Daniel Levitin's second book,The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature, sounds complicated, rest assured it is more entertaining than anything else! Following on from his best selling book This is your Brain on Music, Levitin, the session musician turned neuroscientist, now blends art and science together and explores how music is perceived both culturally and scientifically.

Dipping in and out of personal musical memories ("I'm standing right next to the bed where Jon and Yoko launched this protest, where they sang the song. I hear it playing in my head..."), Levitin floats from The Supremes to Beethoven, The Beatles to Ella Fitzgerald in his quest to truly understand music and its meanings. Split into six categories: Friendship, Joy, Comfort, Knowledge, Religion and Love, music is the puzzle Levitin passionately pieces together.

Have you ever wondered why certain melodies stick in your head or why gushy love-songs make you feel emotional? Have you ever argued with someone over what gets played on the radio? If so, this book might really relate to you. With suggestions that music has been an evolutionary necessity (Levitin believes that it was music and dance which aided communication and self-protection before the spoken word), our love for music is not as new as we think.

"...how might these different functions of music have influenced the evolution of human emotion, reason and spirit across distinct intellectual and cultural histories? What role did the musical brain have in shaping human nature and human culture over the past fifty-thousand years or so? In short, how did all these musics make us who we are?" Levitin.

Levitin invites us to join him on a journey of musical re-discovery and enlightenment and by answering some of these questions, we can start to learn about ourselves along the way.

David Levitin's The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature is priced at £14.99 and available now.

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=6506459

Dave Whelan: Playing to Win

Dave Whelan talks about Manchester Utd, his childhood and the beginnings of his business empire with Jim White from The Independent:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/dave-whelan-i-could-have-bought-united-20-years-ago-1775720.html

Dave Whelan Playing to Win: The Autobiography available from http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=6708033

Me: The Authorised Biography, by Byron Rogers

Book review from The Indepedent















http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/me-the-authorised-biography-by-byron-rogers-1764848.html

Coming Soon - The Most Dangerous Enemy

Almost seventy years since Spitfires, Merlins and Hurricanes fought to protect Britain’s skies, it is surprising how little is publicly known about the Battle of Britain. Many people may not even be aware that the RAF’s triumph in this battle was integral in saving our country from German invasion in the Second World War. What collective memory exists at all undoubtedly features a soaring Spitfire as the hero of this epic battle, with little more detail than the faint sound of air-raid sirens. However, in the 1980s and 90s, scholars began to counter this image, publishing works which devalued Churchill’s leadership and the quality of the Spitfire’s engineering. Not sure who to believe, Stephen Bungay set out to discover the truth behind these myths. The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain contains his surprising revelations. The book brings to light stories of first-hand experience, compiled from extensive research and interviews, one of which reveals how oblivious some fighter pilots were about the significance of their actions. Outnumbered, and with little previous experience of air warfare, it appears that British pilots managed an astounding victory.

The Most Dangerous Enemy has been described as “the most exhaustive and detailed account of the Battle of Britain”, but the book is far from an alienating history textbook. Bungay manages to make an event over sixty-nine years old accessible to a modern reader by establishing the background to the battle without patronising the knowledgeable or veering into dull statistics. We learn how the Battle of Britain may not have happened, had Churchill not have been elected as Prime Minister, and how Churchill’s military confidence and sense of moral obligation stood alone against government and public calls for peace.

For the avid historian there is still much to learn about the Battle of Britain, and Bungay weaves his newfound knowledge into an exciting and compelling narrative. This is a thoroughly readable account of one of the most important battles in British history, finally providing a comprehensive and thoughtful insight into our country’s past.

The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain by Stephen Bungay will be available from August in paperback at £8.79
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=6708044