Posts

The Rollings Stones – Across The World

Image
  Running to standstill! The Stones in a photoshoot from 1976. The band at this point of their career were starting to play some of the largest shows and biggest venues.  ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! John Stanley If anyone tells you they saw the Rolling Stones on their first tour of America be prepared to either think they were very lucky or they may be confused. The Stones’ tour in June 1964 was a handful of gigs, watched by just a few fans. Yet, within less than a year, America became their second home, as the tours got longer and many of their iconic hits were recorded there. The Stones’ huge US tour in 1969 culminated in the fiasco of the Altamont Festival that could have finished a lesser band, yet it galvanized them into becoming a touring machine. Their 1970s shows became ever more lavish, decadent even, and their increasingly long tours of North America in the last three decades have taken touring to an industrial scale.  Today, “The greatest rock ‘n’ roll

Penguins

Image
  A group of King penguins swim near a melting glacier at Gold Harbor on the island of South Georgia. The King penguin is the second largest of the species and have four layers of feathers for insulation.  ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Lisa Hughes Penguins are aquatic, flightless birds, which live almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere. Antarctica, where a few species can be found, shows that these fascinating birds are highly adapted for life in the water. The majority of species are found in the temperate zone, and the Galapagos live close to the equator. Rather than wings, penguins have evolved dark flippers, which match their outer body color and complement their white plumage to the front.  They are expert “fishermen” who feed on fish, squid, krill, and other sea creatures while they swim underwater. About half their time is spent in the sea, while the other half is spent on land. The Emperor penguin is the largest species and can grow to around 1.1m or

Sharks

Image
Great white sharks often breach the sea, in their quest for prey. ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Jessica Toyne Sharks have existed on earth for more than 400 million years, surviving the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. They are highly evolved apex predators that are essential in keeping the balance of the ecosystem they thrive in.  Sharks are often characterized by their highly distinctive triangular dorsal fin and jaws lined with sharp teeth. They vary greatly between species and while some such as the tiger shark and bull shark deserve the reputation for being aggressive hunters, there are many species that are docile and peaceful, such as the whale shark, a gentle giant that feeds on plankton and krill. They have keen senses that make them extremely skilled hunters. Aside from their acute sense of smell, sharks are able to detect electrical signatures in the water through special electroreceptors called the ampullae of Lorenzini. Sharks have been a

Owls

Image
  An Eurasian eagle owl perched on a snow laden branch. This powerful owl is often referred to as the world's largest owl. ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Rebecca Martin These fascinating specialized birds with their rounds heads and “dished-shaped” faces, have forward-facing eyes, short hooked bills, and are mainly nocturnal. Some owls, however, are active at dawn or dusk and others may be seen during the day. Owls are found in temperate and tropical parts of the world. The barn owl is a popular countryside bird. It has a heart-shaped face, and pure white feathers on the underside of its body. It is at the heart of the countryside although it has suffered a decline since the 20th century. The long-eared owl is medium size, but smaller than a woodpigeon. Unlike other species it appears long and thin, and sports head feathers, known as ear tufts (although they are not ears), which it raises when alarmed. Short-eared owls are also medium in size. They have mottled

Classic Cars

Image
A workhorse through and through, Land Rover set the benchmark for four-wheel drive technology. Versatile, practical and efficient this 4 x 4 titan can do just about anything in challenging terrains. ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Devon Bailey The great thing about the classic car is that you don’t have to be a millionaire to join the club! You will recognise many of the cars featured in this book and you may even remember your parents or grandparents driving one from your childhood, that will invoke happy memories. There is no concrete classification for what constitutes a classic car but for many people it refers to a vehicle that harks back to a bygone age, which as a result means there are fewer specimens on the road. In addition some more up-to-date models are now being categorised as modern classics. This is a collection of some of some of the best classics around with informative backgrounds on their design and manufacture. From Aston Martin to Volkswagen, fro

Snakes

Image
A Burmese python in the Everglades. Pythons can grow anything between three and 30 feet, weight up to 170 pounds and live for a quarter of a century – depending on the individual species.  ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Charlotte Penhaligan Snakes are fascinating creatures that have lived on earth for millions of years. Through years of complex evolution, they have developed into legless reptiles with cylindrical elongated bodies that we know and recognize throughout the world today. More than 3,000 different species inhabit the Earth; snakes are found in every continent except Antarctica, and have adapted to survive in a broad range of habitats, from the arid deserts of Africa to the humid rainforests in South America and Asia. Some species have evolved to suit an aquatic lifestyle, and solely reside in the Indian Ocean and southwest Pacific, while others have developed unique skills, such as flying snakes that are able to glide between trees in the rainforest.  Al

The Who

Image
  Original members of The Who (from left to right): Keith Moon, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle. The group had attitude and ambition, which was fed by the creative forces of  Townshend. ––––––––––––––––––––––– Available now as an ebook! Adam Powley It’s been said of many bands that they spoke for a generation – and The Who merited that honor better than most. But there was more – much, much more – to these giants of British music than a fleeting success in capturing the spirit of a particular time and place. From young upstarts to stadium rock titans, The Who have shaped the course of music for nearly half a century.  Now you can relive the extraordinary career of the group with this superb book, from the power-packed vocals of Roger Daltrey, the eccentric windmill guitar playing (and guitar smashing) of Pete Townshend, the unmistakable bass lines from John Entwistle, to the unforgettable and mesmerizing drumming of the one and only Keith Moon. It tells the story of t