Snapper
Established Member
Here's an unashamed plug for a friend's book:
Academic spends life on a slow train
Commute for UCLan Senior Lecturer provides inspiration for new book
Time spent travelling up and down the countrys rail networks has been the inspiration for a new book by a University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) academic.
Senior Journalism Lecturer Michael Williams, from the School of Journalism, Media and Communication, has penned On The Slow Train, which was released earlier this week.
He was commissioned by the publishers Random House to travel around the branch lines of Britain to mark the coming 50th anniversary of the Beeching Report.
The national news and magazine journalist, who is also a specialist writer on the railways, said: The book is a celebration of the joys of rail travel in the 21st century. Several of my journeys were through Preston and other parts of Lancashire as I commute to my job in Preston by rail from my home in London.
The book will take the reader on the slow train to another era when travel meant more than hurrying from one place to the next, the journey meaning nothing but time lost in crowded carriages, condemned by broken timetables. On The Slow Train will reconnect with that long-missed need to lift our heads from the daily grind and reflect that there are still places in Britain where we can stop and stare. It will tap into many things: a love of railways, a love of history, a love of nostalgia.
He added: The 12 spectacular journeys will help free us from what Baudelaire denounced as the horrible burden of time.
Michael writes widely for many publications, including the Daily Mail, The Independent, the Independent on Sunday, the New Statesman, The Oldie and the railway specialist press. He is a veteran Fleet Street journalist, having held many senior positions, including Deputy Editor of the Independent on Sunday, Executive Editor of the Independent and Head of News at The Sunday Times.
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=1848092075
Academic spends life on a slow train
Commute for UCLan Senior Lecturer provides inspiration for new book
Time spent travelling up and down the countrys rail networks has been the inspiration for a new book by a University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) academic.
Senior Journalism Lecturer Michael Williams, from the School of Journalism, Media and Communication, has penned On The Slow Train, which was released earlier this week.
He was commissioned by the publishers Random House to travel around the branch lines of Britain to mark the coming 50th anniversary of the Beeching Report.
The national news and magazine journalist, who is also a specialist writer on the railways, said: The book is a celebration of the joys of rail travel in the 21st century. Several of my journeys were through Preston and other parts of Lancashire as I commute to my job in Preston by rail from my home in London.
The book will take the reader on the slow train to another era when travel meant more than hurrying from one place to the next, the journey meaning nothing but time lost in crowded carriages, condemned by broken timetables. On The Slow Train will reconnect with that long-missed need to lift our heads from the daily grind and reflect that there are still places in Britain where we can stop and stare. It will tap into many things: a love of railways, a love of history, a love of nostalgia.
He added: The 12 spectacular journeys will help free us from what Baudelaire denounced as the horrible burden of time.
Michael writes widely for many publications, including the Daily Mail, The Independent, the Independent on Sunday, the New Statesman, The Oldie and the railway specialist press. He is a veteran Fleet Street journalist, having held many senior positions, including Deputy Editor of the Independent on Sunday, Executive Editor of the Independent and Head of News at The Sunday Times.
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=1848092075