The Curious World Of Christmas

A humorous, joyful and enlightening look at the largest religious festival on the planet.

Niall Edworthy is an author and journalist who has written 18 books under a variety of guises and noms de plumes, covering a wide range of subjects from military history, biography, sport, general humour, outdoor survival and -- to the unceasing amazement of his friends and family -- gardening. His enthusiasm for Christmas remains undimmed in spite of an unsettling experience when he took a student holiday job, working as one of Santa's workshop elves, in a well-known department store.

Drawing on over 2,000 years of writing and experiences from all over the world, The Curious World of Christmas covers every remarkable aspect of the largest religious festival on Earth. This is a unique treasury of amusing and poignant anecdotes, heart-warming stories, ancient customs, forgotten traditions, historical insights, practical tips, bizarre practices, recipes, quotations and a scattering of jaw-dropping statistics. And while it shuns cloying sentimentality, it is never cynical or contemptuous - The Curious World of Christmas wears its paper hat with pride. 
Chapters include: 
Pagan roots of Christmas; Christmas with our ancestors; Christmas around the world; the origins of Santa Claus; Christmas at war; Christmas presents: shopping and DIY; at work on Xmas day; reunions and tantrums; volcanoes, earthquakes and train crashes; Xmas traditions; Xmas weather and Food and Drink - all with a liberal sprinkling of great quotations, and some statistics for good measure.

A companion to hope and despair

The Optimist's/Pessimist's Handbook

The very first feel good/feel bad handbook, providing both inspiration and antidote with quotations, proverbs, statistics and diary extracts.

A compendium of enlightening snippets . . . Just looking at the quirky cover made me wonder if the book had been shelved in the Hogwarts' library . . . worth the book's price for anyone tasked with running positive school assemblies. I hadn't met all the quotes before and the information was entertaining.

Niall Edworthy is is the author of The Curious Gardener's Almanac and eighteen previous books under a variety of guises and noms de plume, covering military history, biography, sport, general humour and gardening. He lives in West Sussex with his wife and two children. 
 
Petra Cramsie worked as an editor for puzzle magazines, then as a writer/researcher making documentaries for TV, and then as an editor at Allison and Busby. After leaving London, she studied for degrees in Human Ecology (which taught her to be pessimistic), and Philosophy (which taught her how to be, if not optimistic, then at least philosophical). She lives in Herefordshire with her family.

Are optimists just reckless dreamers? Are pessimists miserable doom-mongers or just erring on the side of caution? Is the glass half empty or half full? 
 
Brilliantly compiled and beautifully written, this is a rich anthology of evidence from both sides of any argument. Covering everything from Beauty to Happiness, Patriotism to Walking, it is the perfect tool for squabbling families, a counterbalance for arguing couples and a mine of detail for the quarrelsome. 
 
The Optimist on the Afterlife: My heaven will be filled with wonderful young men and dukes. (Dame Barbara Cartland) 
And the Pessimist: 'That's what Hell will be like, small chat to the babbling of Lethe about the good old days when we wished we were dead. (Samuel Beckett)

Centuries Of Practical Garden Wisdom

The Curious Gardener's Almanac

Celebrating the garden in all its splendid diversity and rich history: a collection of remarkable facts, curiosities, ancient wisdom and customs, tips, recipes, lists, quotations and ephemera.

Celebrating the garden in all its splendid diversity and rich history, discover a treasury of gardening wisdom, myths, recipes & timeless tips from centuries of horticultural tradition. 
 
The Curious Gardener's Almanac contains over 1000 entries of remarkable information about flowers, vegetables, fruits, trees, herbs, insects, birds, water, soil, tools, composts, climate, recipes, gardens and gardeners, myths, superstitions, and so much more. In short, it is a collection as profuse and variegated as gardening itself. 
 
Woven into this wealth of knowledge are famous quotations, anecdotes, traditional sayings, lines of verse, and words of rural wisdom. While the focus of the Almanac is on British gardening, the wider picture is international as so much of our gardens originated from overseas. 
 
Containing a treasure-trove of interesting and practical information, The Curious Gardener’s Almanac is a must-read for gardening beginners or green-thumbed experts, and anyone who finds joy in the natural world. 
 
Praise for The Curious Gardener’s Almanac: 
 
‘Packed full of recipes, sages, tips and histories, it is a perfect addition to any greenhouse collection... this book has the capacity to encourage, inform and inspire... A perfect present for the green-fingered’- The Ecologist 
 
‘[A] collection of nuggets and ancient wisdom related to gardening’ The Sunday Times 
 
‘The Curious Gardener's Almanac is a beautifully written and produced gem of a book. Just the right size to fit into the pocket of a raincoat it is full of helpful hints garnered over the ages’ Living North 
 
‘Calling on curiosities, wisdom, customs, tips, recipes and quotations spanning hundreds of years, The Curious Gardener's Almanac contains enlightening facts and useful hints for the gardener’ Lancashire Evening Post 
 
‘[A] quite amazing collection of time-honoured wisdom, gathered from diverse sources... This almanac is a definite must for the dabbler as much as for the dedicated gardener’ Western Mail Series

Packed full of recipes, sages, tips and histories, it is a perfect addition to any greenhouse collection... this book has the capacity to encourage, inform and inspire... A perfect present for the green-fingered

Crammed with weird facts and ephemera, time-honoured tips and old sayings... this charming book defies categorisation. It'll come in handy for the pub quiz, though

Collection of nuggets and ancient wisdom related to gardening

The Curious Gardener's Almanac is a beautifully written and produced gem of a book. Just the right size to fit into the pocket of a raincoat it is full of helpful hints garnered over the ages

Calling on curiosities, wisdom, customs, tips, recipes and quotations spanning hundreds of years, The Curious Gardener's Almanac contains enlightening facts and useful hints for the gardener

Perhaps this book should come with a warning to all aspiring horticulturalists: Niall Edworthy is not a gardener! After moving house, and finding himself with a plot to call his own, he decided to get his hands dirty. However, he knew absolutely nothing. After mistaking garlic for asparagus under the watchful and surprisingly tolerant gaze of his neighbour, he decided to seek semi-professional help. The result is this quite amazing collection of time-honoured wisdom, gathered from diverse sources, and covering subjects like good and bad bed-fellows (plants, that is), recipes for all your wonderful home-grown goodies, and titbits like the fact that aubergines were once thought to be poisonous to Christians! This almanac is a definite must for the dabbler as much as for the dedicated gardener

[A] quite amazing collection of time-honoured wisdom, gathered from diverse sources... This almanac is a definite must for the dabbler as much as for the dedicated gardener

The British garden is not just a haven of peace and tranquility, or a mere plot of land for vegetables, fruit and flowers; it is a living encyclopaedia of curious and fascinating knowledge, the roots of which spread deep into human experience and culture. 
 
The Curious Gardener's Almanac is a collection of remarkable facts, curiosities, ancient wisdom and customs, time-honoured tips, traditional recipes, lists, quotations and general ephemera, celebrating the British garden in all its splendid diversity and rich history. Dry or dull information has no place in the Almanac. The choice of entries is neither categoric nor random: what has found its place here has done so on the merit of its curiosity or genuine use, and nothing else. The topics covered are as profuse and variegated as the world of gardening itself. 
 
Delve in and be intrigued, amused, surprised, delighted and inspired.

The Curious Gardener's Almanac contains over 1000 entries of remarkable information about flowers, vegetables, fruits, trees, herbs, insects, birds, water, soil, tools, composts, climate, recipes, gardens and gardeners, myths, superstitions, biodynamics..In short it is a collection as profuse and variegated as gardening itself. Woven into this wealth of knowledge are famous quotations, anecdotes, traditional sayings, lines of verse, and words of rural wisdom. The spirit and focus of the Almanac is British but the wider picture is international as so much of our gardens originated from overseas. 
Dry or dull information has no place in the almanac and its presentation is as appealing as the content.

Niall Edworthy

Fascinating for anyone with an inquisitive mind and a love of wildlife in general

A revelation for anyone with the slightest interest in the feathered friends visiting their gardens... With more than 1,000 facts, figures and fables, it's an ideal stocking filler for bird lovers.

'A revelation for anyone with the slightest interest in the feathered friends visiting their gardens' - Garden News 
 
You don't have to be a dedicated birdwatcher to be a bird lover. Millions of us love the sight and sound of them. And yet most of us know very little about their remarkable behaviour, incredible diversity and the story of their evolution. This handbook sets about answering every interesting question there is to ask about birds. 
 
How do migrating birds know where to go? 
Are birds really descended from dinosaurs? 
How do birds have sex? 
 
There are over 10,000 species in the world, including over 500 in Britain, some rare and endangered, some bizarre and beautiful, others common and familiar. As this captivating and often humorous handbook reveals, all of them are fascinating. 
 
Filled with beautiful illustrations, The Curious Bird Lover's Handbook is perfect for experienced twitchers and those who are simply captivated by the beauty of birds and would like to learn more about them. 
 
- 
 
The hardback edition titled "Bald Coot and Screaming Loon" was published in 2009. This paperback edition has been updated and includes a new foreword from the author.

Niall Edworthy

Praise for The Curious Bird Lover’s Handbook

Fascinating for anyone with an inquisitive mind and a love of wildlife in general

An irresistible package

A revelation for anyone with the slightest interest in the feathered friends visiting their gardens... With more than 1,000 facts, figures and fables, it's an ideal stocking filler for bird lovers.

Fascinating for anyone with an inquisitive mind and a love of wildlife in general

An irresistible package

A revelation for anyone with the slightest interest in the feathered friends visiting their gardens... With more than 1,000 facts, figures and fables, it's an ideal stocking filler for bird lovers.

Fascinating for anyone with an inquisitive mind and a love of wildlife in general

An irresistible package

A revelation for anyone with the slightest interest in the feathered friends visiting their gardens... With more than 1,000 facts, figures and fables, it's an ideal stocking filler for bird lovers.

Books by Niall Edworthy

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