1 comments about Louis: A Life of Robert Louis Stevenson.

1. This biography of the life of Robert Louis Stevenson reveals a man who escaped his Scottish town and family and went overland to California in poverty to reach his love, where he became a nomad, dreamed of being an explorer, and became instead a noted author. The myths and realities surrounding Stevenson's life and adventures are revealing and vivid in Callow's fine portrait.

No comments about West Highland Way XT40 (Route Map) (Route Map).

No comments about The PIP Travel Photography Guide to Scotland (Travel Photography Guide).

No comments about Tartan: The Highland Habit.

No comments about Jules Verne's In Search of the Castaways.

1 comments about Rock & Roll Traveler Great Britain and Ireland, 1st Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Famous Rock Hangouts Past and Present (Fodor's Rock & Roll Travellers Great Britain and Ireland).

1. The obsessive who knew every stop on every single bus route in Manchester has written...er...an obsessive book....

No comments about Travels in Galloway: Memoirs from Southwest Scotland.

1 comments about The Ancient Monuments Map of Scotland.

1. Excellent map on what appears to be tear-resistant paper. The front of this item is the map; the back is a legend for the map. Lots of good detail. My only gripe is that the cover is glued to a portion of the map legend, so some information is not visible. Although I have not yet tried it, I think that with much care, the two can be separated. Now, if only international travel weren't so expensive...

No comments about Scotland's Far West (Cicerone British Mountains).

1 comments about In Search of Scotland.

1. I have to say at the start that I've read and reviewed maybe a half-dozen H.V. Morton books, and I've yet to find one that's not well-written, interesting, and entertaining. But as with any author, some books are better than others. I started reading "In Search of Scotland" right after finishing Morton's wonderful "In Search of England," and I have to admit I found "...Scotland" something of a letdown.
   
   I've been trying to decide why exactly that is, and I think it may simply be because "...England" was a diverse, you might say, book, with a wider variety of personalities, encounters, and generally interesting things to do and see. It may be, too, that Morton was more familiar with England and so could write about it more broadly and confidently. One of the things I found most surprising about "...Scotland," in fact, was Morton's discussion of how unknown most of Scotland -- particularly the Highlands -- still was to the majority of English people, even as late as the time Morton was writing (1929). Scotland was in many senses a foreign land, making "In Search of Scotland" Morton's first piece of "foreign" travel writing (all his previous books had been about England, and mostly about London).
   
   While parts of "...Scotland" dragged for me, there were still many times when Morton's descriptive skill shined through, and the reader comes away with a strong sense of the role history plays (or played?) in the average Scot's understanding of himself and his place in the world. As with so much of Morton's writing, it would be fascinating to know how much of what he found still remains, eight or so decades later.