**'This may conceivably be Barnes’s best work yet' Marcus Berkmann, Daily Mail‘For 30 years I was the voice of sport at The Times – but that’s enough about me. What matters is sport.’**This is an autobiography from which the author, award-winning writer Simon Barnes, has been surgically removed. He has reported on six World Cups, seven Olympic Games, cricket on five continents and more tha...

We are all wild. It's just that civilisation keeps getting in the way. And the more civilised we become, the more we need the wild: wild places, wild creatures, and wild experiences. As every one who has patted a dog, smelled a rose, taken a walk, or even had a drink in the garden well knows, humans have a soul-deep need for non-human forms of life. This book is about pushing our birthright of wildness just that little bit further. In "How to be Wild", Barnes takes us on a journey through ...

The Horsey Life is a book which takes you right to the heart of the world of horses and those that love them.

From the acclaimed author of Rewild Yourself comes a brilliant new book that reveals the natural joys to be discovered on your doorstep.In the autumn of 2020, Simon Barnes should have been leading a safari in Zambia, but Covid restrictions meant his plans had to be put on hold. Instead, he embarked on the only voyage of discovery that was still open to him. He walked to a folding chair at the bottom of his garden, and sat down. His itinerary: to sit in tha...

Memories of expat life in pre-handover Hong Kong.Lyrical, wry, amusing, deceptively gentle, Simon Barnes’s second novel packs a powerful punch after it has crept up on the reader with the narrator’s fond reminiscences of expat life in pre-handover Hong Kong. The hazy and often hilarious memories of work and play in the heartstopping beauty and pulse-racing commercialism of the colony is suddenly flooded by darker memories of tragedy and loss, although Barnes, the most optimistic an...

'He does write beautifully, especially of his greatest love — our wild birds...On The Marsh is a delightful read.' – Christopher Hart, Daily MailHow the rewilding of eight acres of Norfolk marshland inspired a family and brought nature even closer to home.When writer Simon Barnes heard a Cetti's warbler sing out as he turned up to look at a house for sale, he knew immediately that he had found his new home. The fact that h...

THE BESTSELLING BIRDWATCHING CLASSIC - 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION'A delightful ode to the wild world outside the kitchen window - leaves you with the warm feeling that a shared love conquers all' - The Daily Telegraph'A witty, perceptive book; thoughtful, instructive and full of simple wisdom' - The Daily MailLook out the window. See a bird. Enjoy it. CONGRATULATIONS! You are now a bad birdwa...

A wonderfully engaging novel about a man and the horse he falls in love with – the idiosyncratic Miss Chance.‘Get a motorbike. Get laid. The order doesn’t matter.’When teacher Mark Brown’s celebrated wife leaves him, his best friend Callum prescribes a swift return to adolescence.Mark does indeed turn back the clock, but not towards motorbikes. He returns to his first passion – horses. Getting back into the swing of riding after twelve years, Mark begins to put toge...

A funny, romantic, evocative novel set against the safari tourism business in East Africa, written by an award-winning journalist.After the death of his beloved, bankrupt gambler of a father, Dan Lynch follows his university degree in zoology to a run-down safari camp, where he can work as a trainee guide and, most important, be near George Sorensen, the owner. George is a wildlife genius, but no great businessman, and the camp is threatened by lack of visitors, competition from th...

In 1915 the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (later to become The Wildlife Trusts) published a list of 284 places in Britain and Ireland 'worthy of preservation' as permanent nature reserves. The list was the brainchild of the Society's founder Charles Rothschild. It included shingle beaches, highland mountains, ancient woods, stretches of coastline, unspoilt heaths and marshes where Rothschild and his colleagues would search for rare insects and plants. It was the first list o...

Simon Barnes is one of Britain’s leading bird writers and humorists. His weekly column in The Times, his essays for the RSPB magazine and his two books on bad bird-watching have made him one of the characters of the bird world. Here he reads his own illuminating introductions to the fifty main birds of Britain, supported by the distinguishing bird song of each species. He not only gives helpful identifying features, but enriches them with whimsical observations on their characters and tend...

Fork Them! is a cheeky, laugh out loud story about feeling left out, finding your confidence, and discovering that everyone has something special to offer... even a Fork! Packed with giggles, fart noises, and heart, Fork Them! is a delightful reminder that being yourself is more than enough, it’s what makes you shine. Perfect for kids who love silly humor and adults who enjoy a playful wink, this story celebrates belonging, bravery, and the joy of finding your place at the table.