Books by Adam Nicolson

Longlisted for the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction`A thrilling and complex book, enlarges our view of Homer ... There's something that hits the mark on every page' Claire Tomalin, Books of the Year, New StatesmanWhere does Homer come from? And why does Homer matter? His epic poems of war and suffering can still speak to us of the role of destiny in life, of cruelty, of humanity and its frailty, but why they do is a mystery. How can we be so intimate with something so distant?`The Mighty Dead' is a magical journey of discovery across wide stretches of the past, sewn together by some of the oldest stories we have - the great ancient poems of Homer and their metaphors of life and trouble. In this provocative and enthralling book, Adam Nicolson explains why Homer still matters and how these vital, epic verses - with their focus on the eternal questions about the individual versus the community, honour and service, love and war - tell us how we became who we are.

The full story of seabirds from one of the greatest nature writers. The book looks at the pattern of their lives, their habitats, the threats they face and the passions they inspire - beautifully illustrated by artist Kate Boxer. 'I was entranced... It is a work that takes wing in the mind' ROBERT MACFARLANE

When we read the book of nature, what do we read there? ¿All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all,¿ says a well-known hymn. This issue of Plough celebrates the creatures of our planet ¿ plant, animal, and human ¿ and the implications of humankind¿s relationship to nature.But if nature can be read as a book that reveals the wisdom of its Creator, it also reveals things less lovely than stars and singing birds ¿ a world of desperate competition for survival, mass extinctions, and deadly viruses. Is such a world a convincing argument for the Creator¿s goodness? Turns out Christians and skeptics alike have been asking such questions since long before Darwin added a twist.Are we moderns out of practice at reading the book of nature? And if we forget how, will we fail to read human nature as well ¿ what rights or purposes our Creator may have endowed us with? What then is there to limit the bounds of technological manipulation of humankind?This issue of Plough explores these and other fascinating questions about the natural world and our place in it.In this issue:- Sussex farmer Adam Nicholson evokes centuries of handwork that shaped the landscape of the Weald.- Gracy Olmstead revisits the land her forebears farmed in Idaho.- Ian Marcus Corbin tries walking phoneless to better note the beauty of the natural world.- Amish farmer John Kempf, a leader in regenerative agriculture, foresees a healthier future for farming.- Leah Libresco Sargeant offers a feminist critique of society¿s war on women¿s bodies.- Iván Bernal Marín visits Panama City¿s traditional fishermen.- Maureen Swinger recalls to triumphs of second grade in forest school.- Edmund Waldstein questions head transplants and the limits of medical science.- Kelsey Osgood says it¿s natural to fear death, and to transcend that fear through faith.- Tim Maendel lifts the veil on urban beekeeping along the Manhattan skyline.You¿ll also find:- An essay by Christian Wiman on the poetry of doubt and faith- New poems by Alfred Nicol- A profile of Amazon activist nun Dorothy Stang- An appreciation of Keith Green¿s songs- Insights on creation from Blaise Pascal, Julian of Norwich, Francis of Assisi, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Christopher Smart, Augustine of Hippo, The Book of Job, and Sadhu Sundar Singh- Reviews of The Opening of the American Mind, and Kazuo Ishigurös Klara and the SunPlough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus¿ message into practice and find common cause with others.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD 2019 Wordsworth and Coleridge as you've never seen them before in this new book by Adam Nicolson, brimming with poetry, art and nature writing. Proof that poetry can change the world.

The Smell of Summer Grass is based partly on the long out of print 'Perch Hill'. It is the story of the years spent in finding and building a personal Arcadia, sometimes a dream, sometimes a nightmare, by writer Adam Nicolson and his wife, cook and gardener, Sarah Raven.Adam Nicolson was determined to leave metropolitan life but the rundown farm in the Sussex Weald was not quite what he bargained for. The scenery was breathtaking and the rural neighbours charming but the hard end of real farming life was another matter - mud, cold, planning regulations and unco-operative livestock.But for the reader the whole enterprise is full of delight thanks to Adam Nicolson's writing: frank, witty and touching, it is a testament to the importance of holding on to your dreams and turning them into reality.

Adam Nicolson tells the story of England through the history of fourteen gentry families - from the 15th century to the present day. This sparkling work of history reads like a real-life Downton Abbey, as the loves, hatreds and many times of grief of his chosen cast illuminate the grand events of history.We may well be 'a nation of shopkeepers', but for generations England was a country dominated by its middling families, rooted on their land, in their locality, with a healthy interest in turning a profit from their property and a deep distrust of the centralised state. The virtues we may all believe to be part of the English culture - honesty, affability, courtesy, liberality - each of these has their source in gentry life cultivated over five hundred years. These folk were the backbone of England.Adam Nicolson's riveting new book concentrates on fourteen families, from 1400 to the present day. From the medieval gung-ho of the Plumpton family to the high-seas adventures of the Lascelles in the eighteenth century, to more modern examples, the book provides a chronological picture of the English, seen through these intimate, passionate, powerful stories of family saga. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished archive material, here is a vivid depiction of the life and code of the gentry.'The Gentry' is first and foremost a wonderful sweep of English history, shedding light on the creation of the distinctive English character but with the sheer readability of an epic novel.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be given your own remote islands? Thirty years ago it happened to Adam Nicolson.Aged 21, Nicolson inherited the Shiants, three lonely Hebridean islands set in a dangerous sea off the Isle of Lewis. With only a stone bothy for accommodation and half a million puffins for company, he found himself in charge of one of the most beautiful places on earth.The story of the Shiants is a story of birds and boats, hermits and fishermen, witchcraft and catastrophe, and Nicolson expertly weaves these elements into his own tale of seclusion on the Shiants to create a stirring celebration of island life.Due to the level of detail, maps and diagrams are best viewed on a tablet.