Category Archives: Non fiction

Colour by Victoria Finlay (Random)

Posted on October 15, 2018 by drewsmith28

“I had thought, when I set out on my travels – when I first tumbled through that paintbox – that I would somehow find, in the original stories of colours, something pure.” THE many journeys Finlay undertakes in search of … Continue reading →

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The Hungry Empire by Lizzie Collingham (Bodley Head)

Posted on July 17, 2018 by drewsmith28

“Saturday 18 July 1545 was a fish day on the Mary Rose” I SUSPECT if you went back in time the most difficult thing you would encounter might be the food, an argument given more than a little weight by … Continue reading →

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A long and messy business by Rowley Leigh (Unbound)

Posted on June 28, 2018 by drewsmith28

“I have been doing this sort of thing for quite a while now.” I am not sure anyone should write a cookery book until they reach a certain age. It is quite possible to open a food business with a … Continue reading →

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A short book about painting by Andrew Marr (Quadrille)

Posted on April 2, 2018 by drewsmith28

“What is painting for?” THE painter Patrick Heron said it takes 20 times longer to explain his paintings than a cursory glance can reveal. Words just don’t do it. At heart this is where Marr is taking us in this … Continue reading →

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Vodka politics by Mark Lawrence Schrad (Oxford Uiversity Press)

Posted on August 31, 2017 by drewsmith28

“Nikita Khrushchev was an oddly disarming fellow: five foot three and nearly as wide, with a face that seemed to be made from putty”. THE big argument in this lush, brutal academic history of Russia is how vodka has fashioned … Continue reading →

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The Third Plate by Dan Barber (Abacus)

Posted on April 21, 2017 by drewsmith28

“A corn cob, dried and slightly shriveled, arrived in the mail not long after we opened Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Along with the cob was a check for $1,000” THE best place to read this book would be on … Continue reading →

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Homo Deus by Yoav Noah Harari ( (Penguin)

Posted on February 16, 2017 by drewsmith28

“At the dawn of the third millennium, humanity wakes up, stretching its limbs and rubbing its eyes. Remnants of some awful nightmare are still drifting across its mind.” HOWEVER awful events might have been through history, it is over. It … Continue reading →

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On writing by Stephen King (Pocket)

Posted on November 17, 2016 by drewsmith28

“This is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit.” BEFORE you are tempted to take out your feather plume and dip it in the black ink, before you type in the password on your computer, … Continue reading →

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1491 by Charles C. Mann (Knopf)

Posted on August 31, 2016 by drewsmith28

“The plane took in weather that was surprisingly cool for central Boliva and flew east, toward the Brazilian border.” THE symbolism of the plane is that we now take for granted what people less than 100 years ago would never … Continue reading →

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The American plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby (Berkley)

Posted on July 26, 2016 by drewsmith28

“The rain came in west Africa. A massive wind blew in from the Atlantic coast bringing the deluge of water known as the south-west monsoon.” IT is fitting that there is quote early on here from Edgar Allan Poe. Before … Continue reading →

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