Every year since 2018, I've kept a list of every book I read. Read previous versions of this theme here and here. I've fallen behind on my average of one book per week this year, mainly because I wrote a 35,000-word master's thesis in the meantime, which took most of my attention away from pleasure-reading … Continue reading My year in books: October 2020-October 2021
Scotland is famous for many things - gorgeous scenery, whiskey, bad weather, Loch Ness, kilts - but less so for its status as a global hotspot for the planet's second-largest fish. The basking shark can grow up to 11 metres long, ceding the gold medal only to the tropical-dwelling, much more famous whale shark. Every … Continue reading On the hunt for basking sharks in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland
As someone who has only learned to surf in the past eight months, I'm not the person to go to for advice about technical skill or the precise curve of a good wave. However, I've taken in a thing or two during my time in the Algarve region of Portugal, in which I packed up … Continue reading Surfing in the Algarve: 7 of the best beaches for beginners
It's been a long old winter. One positive discovery has been finding that even when everything is shut, this is a city made for walking - albeit with some effort required, since the hills are almost San Francisco-esque in their proportions and frequency. For what else can you really do during a pretty hard lockdown, … Continue reading Lisboa is a flâneuse’s city
Humans should, as the philosopher maintains, be willing to burden themselves in order to be free. If you always choose the path of least resistance, the alternative that offers the fewest challenges will always take priority. Your choices will be predetermined and you will not only live un-freely, but also lead a dull life.Erling Kagge, … Continue reading Lisboa and lockdowns
Once upon a time in a Paris loft... It's finally time to publish it. I started keeping this list - of every book I have read cover to cover - in October 2018, as I was nearing the end of my transformational time at the Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris. Being there with the … Continue reading Every book I’ve read in the last two years
What do you think of when you think of Norway? A land of fjords slicing into its frayed coastline, one of the longest in the world; cosy fires, endless summers, and snow beneath the northern lights. Norway is a country of just five million people, but it is huge, and diverse in dialects and industries. … Continue reading Five great books about…Norway
In the middle of the North Sea, north of the German coast, is a small island (well, archipelago really). Inhabited by around 1,100 people, it sits in an area of sea called German Bight. Best of all, it has its own grey seal colony. This island is Helgoland in the German spelling, Heligoland in English. … Continue reading Heligoland: North Sea island with its own seal colony
Some research I worked on for months came to fruition at last this summer! This mysterious deep-sea shark is built to live for centuries. Will it survive to tell the tale of the Anthropocene? I consider the Greenland shark, nuclear waste, and ocean plastics, showing how their scales of time and space converge. Please read … Continue reading Atomic bombs and 500-year-old sharks…
As Storm Ciara raged across the UK and the Netherlands this weekend, I found myself battling across Amsterdam to get to the cinema as everyone else seemed to be hiding inside. For the first time since moving here, I had decided to shun my beloved bicycle for weather reasons when I realised I would struggle … Continue reading ‘Your Name’ is a cosmic masterpiece
no cash on the highway 