Adam Nicolson Books

'A feast for mind and soul, a treasure trove of insights into the enigmatic and enchanting world of the birds we share our lives with but barely notice. I have learnt so much. Every page is a thrill. Bird School has opened my eyes' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding Step into the hide for a glorious new encounter with the British wild Close to Adam Nicolson's home in Sussex, there is a forgotten field overrun by bracken and thicketed by brambles. It is the haunt of deer and many birds - nightingales, the occasional cuckoo, ravens, robins, owls and in summer the sweet-singing warblers that come north from Africa to breed in English woods. This gorgeous book charts his attempt to encounter birds, to engage with a marvellous layer of life he had previously almost ignored. He wanted to look and listen, to return to 'bird school' and see what it might teach him. He built a small shed amongst the trees with nesting boxes and bird feeders. Cocooned inside, season after season, he got to know the birds: where they nest, how they sing, how they mate and fight, what preys on them, what they are like as living things. Beautifully written and woven through with philosophy, literature, science and a sense of wonder, always conscious that that this is an age in which the natural world is under siege, Bird School pulls back the curtain on seemingly ordinary birds, taking a long, careful and concerned look at our relationship with the wild.

In almost 150 images Waite illuminates a new way of looking at the landscape in Britain while Nicolson provides perceptive essay on the different ways in which we respond and attempt to understand the landscape.

Small villages steeped in charm and majestic mansions surrounded by lush lawns. The moody, mysterious Yorkshire moors and Cornwall's coast, dotted with colorful flowers. From the London skyline to ancient Stonehenge, these panoramic photographs capture more of England's natural and manmade beauty than the naked eye can see. The vast and varied views show diverse landscapes, including the sublime glacial valley of Wastwater in Cumbria and the grandly baroque Castle Howard in North Yorkshire. 160 pages (all in color), 11 3/4 x 7 1/2.

Just over five years ago Windsor Castle was devastated by fire. In this book Nicolson charts the years since the fire through to the final rebuilding, including dealing with the fire, the finances of restoring the Castle and the decisions on whether simply to restore or make changes.

The writing is characterized by its complexity and depth, offering a bold exploration of personal themes. It vividly evokes the brutal imagery reminiscent of the Iliad, showcasing the harsh realities of conflict and the emotional turmoil that accompanies it. The piece stands out for its fearless approach, inviting readers to confront the raw and often painful aspects of human experience.

The Battle of Trafalgar can claim to be one of the most known of the great human events. In Men of Honour, Adam Nicolson takes one of the greatest identifiable heroes in British history, Horatio Nelson, and examines the broader themes of heroism, violence and virtue. Trafalgar gripped the nineteenth century imagination like no other battle: it was a moment of both transcendent fulfilment and unmatched despair. It was a drama of such violence and sacrifice that the concept of total war may be argued to start from there. It finished the global ambitions of a European tyrant but culminated in the death of Admiral Horatio Nelson, the greatest hero of the era. This book fuses the immediate intensity of the battle with the deeper currents that were running at the time. It has a three-part framework: the long, slow six hour morning before the battle; the afternoon itself of terror, death and destruction; and the shocked, exultant and sobered aftermath ...

Reveals the contradictions of Tudor life: homes combined luxury and squalor; fashions were exotic but hygiene non-existent: and death and disease struck fear into the hearts of rich and poor alike.

From Land's End to Cape Clear, past Roaringwater Bay and Cod's Head, on past Inishvickillane and Inishtooskert, up through the Hebrides, to Orkney and on to the Faeroes stretches the richest and wildest coastline in Europe. Adam Nicolson decided to sail this coast in the "Auk," a 42-foot wooden ketch, embarking on a 1,500-mile voyage through what he hoped would be a sequence of revelatory landscapes. He was not disappointed."Seamanship" is more than a travel journal. It describes an inner journey as much as an outer one--disasters and discoveries, powerful landscapes and modern visionaries, and encounters with the animals living on the wild edge of the Atlantic. Above all, it is about the gaps that open up between those who go and those who stay at home."Seamanship," in the end, is not about the sea. It's about being alive.

A fascinating, lively account of the making of the King James Bible.

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR What is the nature of things? Must I think my own way through the world? What is justice? How can I be me? How should we treat each other?