This is a book for anglers who know there is something more to fishing than technique alone. Fishing, at its heart, is an act of attention. In this thoughtful and deeply personal book, John Bailey reflects on a lifetime spent watching fish and the waters they inhabit, revealing how true understanding, patiently acquired, can transform both the angler and the act of fishing itself. There was a time when anglers sought not simply to catch fish but to understand them. In The Nature of Fishing...

On 14 May 1858, an expedition of discovery led by John McDouall Stuart departed from a copper mine located on the very edge of the known world in the North Flinders Ranges. The Australian continent stretched for another 2,000 kilometres to the north and 2,500 to the west and no white man had the slightest idea of what was there. It was to be the first of six expeditions mounted by Stuart, then aged 42, as he sought to uncover the mysteries of the interior and forge a path to the north....

Ludwig Leichhardt is Australia's most intriguing explorer. Born and educated in Prussia in the early 19th century, Leichhardt was a polymath, a man fascinated by the natural world and possessed by a longed for adventure and exploration. Australia was then almost completely unexplored apart from the colonies clustered on its coastline-the interior a vast and mysterious blank. It was a continent and a time ripe for amateur naturalists and explorers, and Leichhardt took up the challenge....

Élan - Half Eldridge. Half Castalian. Total outcast.Helpless witness to the butchering of his parents by the invading Satyr forces, Élan is unwillingly saved and mentored by his DragonLord Uncle, Leavenstar — that is, only after Leavenstar is persuaded not to kill the boy instead. Fear, revulsion, hatred and prejudice — Élan is met with these violent provoking, unforgiving emotions time and time again from all quarters, but no one seems to want to explain to him why.What Él...

In the tradition of Longitude and The Surgeon of Crowthorne comes a gripping work of narrative history, set in Australia's far north-west.In 1912 Broome was as much Asian as Australian, filled with the smell of unfamiliar spices and a babel of competing languages. It was a frontier town, where racial tensions simmered uneasily between whites, Asians and Aborigines; age-long inhabitants of the land around Broome who had been originally forced to skin-dive for shells, but who were no...

Paul Whitehouse and fishing expert John Bailey celebrate the timeless joy of fishing.Paul Whitehouse and John Bailey have been devout fishermen for longer than they care to remember. A hobby, past time or sport – call it what you want – they have felt the pull of the water ever since they were kids and have never missed the chance to set up on the bank and try their luck.In this wonderful book, the two fishermen collaborate to celebrate the rich tapestry th...

"He was my ancient master, my earliest and best friend; and to him I am indebted for first impressions which have had the most salutary influence on the course of my life." —Thomas Jefferson on George Wythe, 1806This is the story of George Wythe, a man determined, steadfast and courageous, described by Benjamin Rush as possessing "dove-like simplicity and gentleness of manner." From his humble beginnings as a circuit lawyer in Virginia, Wythe was a prominent oppone...

"John Bailey's Complete Guide to Fishing" brings to the fore a deep appreciation of the behaviour of fish. Demonstrating a genuine concern for the environment, as well as a broad knowledge of fishing and a real sense of fun, John Bailey guides the expert and novice alike through all aspects of angling. "John Bailey's Complete Guide to Fishing" covers the philosophy of fishing and the role of the fisherman-naturalist, before considering more practical issues of fishing such as clothing, tac...

A Spring morning in New Orleans, 1843. In the Spanish Quarter, on a street lined with flop houses and gambling dens, Madame Carl recognises a face from her past. It is the face of a German girl who disappeared teenty-five years earlier, the daughter of her closest frienf. But the young woman is the property of a Frenchman who owns a nearby cabaret. She is a slave, with no memory of a 'white' past. And yet her resemblance to her mother is striking, and she bears two tell-tale birthmarks...

Was Teddy Roosevelt a cute kid in his Throwback Thursday photos? Whose no-shave November facial hair is better, Lincoln's or Taft's? And just how many selfies did JFK take in the oval office? From how they grew up to how they led, learn what historians know about these incredible leaders and find out what they're saying to each other! Follow the leaders!