The opening few chapters.
Timothy and Samuel grow up in the 60s and 70s of disappearing railways, First Division football, pop and rock music, television and the Counter Culture. And girls... More > (birds).
These will hinder the boys’ attempt at seeing all 512 of the Brush Type 4 diesel locos. “Clearing” them. Can they fit it all in?
Forty years later Timothy casts a Proustian eye over the past and tries to cope with work and, still, birds – women and feathered ones.
“...intriguing... highly polished... it reads beautifully.”
“...a waltz down memory lane.”
"Novel, quirky and fun. I enjoyed this a lot."
“...many a chortle.”< Less
DON'T BUY THIS BOOK unless you want a work in progress.
With apologies to Simon Barnes, but this does not even intend to turn you into any sort of poker player. It should warn you off by listing a... More > sample of the traps I've fallen into on my way to becoming a poor poker player. If it doesn't, then follow my advice to play a worse game than I do. And, please, end up playing on my table. Please.< Less
New to, or just recently started birding? Wonder which are the birds you're most likely to see? The first part of this book lists 250+ species in just that order. Now you have a plan to make a solid... More > start on your British list.
The next part lists likely sites for the species towards the end of the order. An appendix gives early and late dates for most of our migrants.
If you don't like the book, I'll buy it back off you at List Price.< Less
DON'T BUY THIS BOOK unless you want a work in progress: this is two-thirds of the story only.
Timothy and Samuel grow up in the 60s and 70s of disappearing railways, First Division football, pop and... More > rock music, television and the Counter Culture. And girls (birds).
These will hinder the boys’ attempt at seeing all 512 of the Brush Type 4 diesel locos. “Clearing” them. Can they fit it all in?
Forty years later Timothy casts a Proustian eye over the past and tries to cope with work and, still, birds – women and feathered ones.
“...intriguing... highly polished... it reads beautifully.”
“...a waltz down memory lane.”
"Novel, quirky and fun. I enjoyed this a lot."
“...many a chortle.”< Less
Many problems, especially those whose solution is multi-valued, have no way of finding the answer except by trying every combination. A classic example is the Travelling Salesman Problem or any... More > route-planning puzzle. As the number of values in the solution grows, so the number of trials must grow exponentially and soon take an unreasonable time to evaluate.
Yet other questions have only a best-fit or fuzzy solution. Search, especially for image or video, on Google and other search engines is one such, and now hugely important. A perennial challenge continues to be finding good investments in financial markets. And on a more leisurely note, search, rather than heuristics, may benefit computer game strategies and their artificial intelligence (AI) opponents.< Less
A diary of written sketches celebrating the avian and natural spectacle of Britain. The birdwatcher travels the length of the country to record birds in flux. The weather changes too and a long-term... More > trend emerges, also affecting the lives of birds.
Plus a checklist ordered by Britain's most common birds and our migrants' early/late dates.< Less
Short stories and sketches of Bristol, Edinburgh and... er, San Francisco.
Andy Gibb is not the Andy Gibb but his website would beg to differ and he did have the name first so he's sticking to it.... More > In Portishead (the town outside Bristol, not the trip hop band) since 2009, writing since 2004 and a birder since 1995, Andy first came to Bristol as a student in 1974. Yup, he's ancient as Hell and has been around a bit – Italy, Arizona, California, Australia and New Zealand. And what's it taught him? Not a lot but he has seen 1,073 bird species.< Less
Four sites across the UK over four days should net you close to 100 species. At the right time of year Britain’s only endemic, the Scottish crossbill, should be possible. Much easier will be... More > red grouse, an endemic subspecies of willow ptarmigan.< Less
In 4 or 5 days four sites through the UK should net you 90 to 100 species. Outside the main passage season Britain’s only endemic, Scottish crossbill, should be possible. Much easier will be... More > red grouse, an endemic subspecies of willow ptarmigan. The highlight will be breeding seabirds, for which the country is internationally important.< Less
