RICHARD BATH
The Blackhouse – Peter May
I’m not a great revisitor of books, but I happily re-read Peter May’s wonderful The Blackhouse, the opening salvo in his Lewis trilogy. I still loved it as much as ever even if, perhaps because it was a retread, I found it to be less fast-paced than some of May’s later books, like the delectable Coffin Road. Not that The Blackhouse is in any way diminished for that – it remains an epic tale that at its core contains a superb whodunnit and flawed characters in whom we instinctively want to invest, and which is elevated by May’s obvious love of Lewis and its people.
Business For Punks: Break All the Rules the BrewDog Way – James Watt
A rare foray into the world of business books provided a real change of pace, especially as this was no ordinary business manual. Written by one of the beer company’s founders, James Watt, it has a deliberately on-brand and anarchic edge. The frenetic prose style is lean, shouty, jargon-free and punch-you-inthe-face blunt, but it nevertheless provided food for thought and gave a useful insight into the energy and dedication needed to turn a small brewery in Ellon into one of the shooting stars of Scottish business. The selfconsciously hip tone means this will be a bit Marmite, but I am a fan of the black stuff and thoroughly enjoyed Watt’s challenging, no-nonsense approach.
The Old Ways – Robert Macfarlane
Robert Macfarlane’s The Old Ways is a sublime book that’s been winking at me from my bookshelf for several years. The final part of a triptych that began with the stunning Mountains Of The Mind, this is a beautifully written and gloriously languid meditation on the author’s journey by foot along the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads and sea paths of Britain. It’s a journey whose aim is enlightenment, and it fulfils that end for both Macfarlane and the reader. A wonderfully contemplative and educational book that gently makes you think about your place in life’s grand design.
Richard Bath is the editor of Scottish Field and has written 13 non-fiction books.