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Review
An engaging and often very funny book (SUNDAY TIMES )
A wonderfully eccentric study (OBSERVER )
One of those simple yet brilliant ideas (DAILY MAIL )
If listening to 'Sailing By (to the bitter end every night is the surest sign of a Radio 4 addict, then buying Charlie Connelly’s new travel book runs it close’ )
A wonderfully eccentric study (OBSERVER )
One of those simple yet brilliant ideas (DAILY MAIL )
If listening to 'Sailing By (to the bitter end every night is the surest sign of a Radio 4 addict, then buying Charlie Connelly’s new travel book runs it close’ )
Book Description
*Abridged on 3 CDs * Running time: over 3 1/2 hours
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a great book! If you have ever wondered where North Utsire is or what it may be like to have a North Easterly Gale force 8 blowing across Lundy, then this is the book for you. Connelly reveals each of the sea areas of the shipping forecast in turn in a very easy to read format. He is quite ready to share with us his failings but he also tells the reader about life on the edge of the coast with a gentleness lost in some others writings. If you liked Bryson, Hawks etc then you will like this book, even if you don't know your Bailey from your Viking.
36 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ever since I was a lad, I've wanted to read the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4. Which is why I'm now an engineer. But there remains a great charm and poetry to the forecast which, since its first broadcast in 1911, has become a fixture of British radio. For me, there's the comfort of shutting up the shop, drawing in the curtains, as the announcer makes his (or her) way around this island and its territorial waters, starting in the north-east and working clockwise to Iceland. At twelve minutes to one in the morning, it's comforting; a precise definition of all of the land, and sea, that Britain encompasses. As I've grown older, the coastal reports mean more to me, as I recognise places I've been, headlands I've stood upon. As sleep rushes over me, I try to picture the island and tick the places off - Channel Light Vessel Automatic; Aberporth; Sangette Automatic; and so on.
Charlie Connelly's book is like a manifesto for Shipping Forecast Aholics Anonymous. He starts with the same love of the thing and attempts to visit all of the areas, to better make the mental pictures in later life. It's a fantastic piece of scheduling to have this as the Late Book on Radio 4 - how post-modern! A book reading about the very next programme!
Connelly's book has kinsmen in the Tony Hawks triology, Pete McCarthy's books, and others like 'Tilting at Windmills' but, for me, it is so much better than those. He explores the areas wittily, and there's a fair amount of personal experience built into his tales, but there's also a real care and passion in the histories he tells of each area. In short, it's great fun but really interesting too - highly recommended.
Two very minor quibbles. First, why no photographs? In the chapter about the Isle of Man, Connelly talks about having a photographer with him - a few plates would be excellent. Second, twice, when quoting the forecast in reported speech, Connelly writes '...And now the shipping forecast as issued by the Met Office at 0048...'. But, as all afficianados know, 0048 is when the forecast starts; never when it's been prepared - that's usually around midnight. Gr.
But overall, a really good book - it rattles along, it's good fun, and it's about something that matters. What more could you want?
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The idea behind "Attention All Shipping: A Journey Around the Shipping Forecast" is so ingenious you wonder why nobody has ever done it before. Whereas many globe-hopping travel writers struggle desperately to come up with increasingly outlandish odysseys, Charlie Connelly has accomplished a much more impressive feat: revealing the extraordinary diversity that exists right here in the British Isles and their near neighbours. In a book brimming with characters and anecdotes, my favourites are the Crown Prince of Sealand (a rusty World War Two military platform in the North Sea) and the Pythonesque women who cheerfully bully their customers into buying Belgian waffles in the Choxaway Café at Land's End Aerodrome.
Whether you view the shipping forecast as a dry, nautical roll call or get all misty at the mere mention of Dogger, Fisher and German Bight, you will find plenty to enjoy in "Attention All Shipping". From beginning to end, Connelly proves a funny and self-deprecating guide, the kind of guy you'd be happy to be stuck on a remote island with-provided he had recovered from his latest bout of seasickness. Five stars.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent service & Value
Good book for an amazing price. Will definately use this service again. Not sure if the author appreciates me buying on the second hand market.
Published 3 months ago by Me
a funny and imformative book
I enjoyed this read as it is funny and engaging. I learned lots of facts about the shipping forecast, its areas and the maritime stories attached to those areas. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Lucinda Stern
Not a sailing book, Amazon!
Amazon recommended this to me because I'd been reading sailing books, and I foolishly assumed without checking that this was a *sailing* journey around the shipping forecast. Read more
Published 3 months ago by K. Hartnett
Book Review!
Very good story, skirting with shipping-forecast locations but visiting the most-interesting places and people! Give it a whirl and enjoy it as much as I did
Published 3 months ago by BigMac
And now it's time for 'Just a Minute....'
Is this guy one of those "comedians" that the Beeb inflict us with after the evening news? he's about as funny as most of the acts on that time slot ie. not funny at all. Read more
Published 3 months ago by K. N. Tole
A good read for a wet summers day
Was a bit unsure when buying this book - heard the author plugging it on a Radio show and thought I would give that a try - glad I did - well writtem with some funny antidotes -... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Andy Bloodworth
What a joyful jaunt
This has to be one of the most surprising books that I have ever picked up. Who would have thought that a travel book taking the reader around the shipping areas of the British... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Veronica Guy
Simple and brilliant idea - loved it
Well done Charlie Connolly for coming up with such a great idea. I enjoyed every page of this book. Well-written, highly informative and very funny. A journey well enjoyed.
Published 12 months ago by Alan Pearce
But....did it all really happen ? and ...where's Katie ?
I have actually read this book twice, mainly to see if I had missed anything. I found it informative in that I learned a whole lot about a lot of places that to me, like so many... Read more
Published 12 months ago by M. Garvey
Leisure read
A splendid book, with a very quirky title. I actually purchased this book a few years ago, but having enjoyed the read, I decided to loan it out, hoping the recipient might enjoy... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. E. Clewes
Listmania!
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