167. The Wealden Iron Industry by Jeremy Hodgkinson

A very accessible and well illustrated history of ironmasters and gunfounding in the Weald from Roman times to the 18th Century. Hodgkinson explains the processes used to make iron and the workforce, buildings and transportation aspects of production.

162. The Piltdown Mystery by Donald Miller

In 1912, the discovery of skull fragments near the village of Piltdown, Sussex caused a great stir in the scientific world. It appeared to be the skull of the "missing link" between ape and man. For decades few questioned the find and it wasn't until 1943 that it was proved a fake. Was it a hoax or a forgery? And who was in on the act?

156. The Pirate Prince: Discovering the Pricelss Treasures of the Sunken Ship Whydah by Barry Clifford

Written with Peter Turchi, this book has two timelines - 1717 when the Whydah Gally sunk off the coast of Wellfleet, Massachusetts and the 1980s when Barry Clifford and his team find the wreck after years of searching. The financial, legal and ethical battles faced by private salvors also makes for interesting reading. Clifford concludes with, "The real treasure is the story".

153. Disasters at Sea: A Visual History of Infamous Shipwrecks by Liz Mechem

An interesting collection of shipping disasters both natural and man made - from storms and ice bergs to casualties of war and poor design. Many maps, historical paintings, photos and diagrams put these tragic events on a human scale

122. Spirit Dive: an African American's Journey to Uncover a Sunken Slave Ship's Past by Michael Cottman

Cottman, an African-American journalist and scuba diver, relates his experiences diving at the wreck of a slave ship called the Henrietta Marie. His research takes him to London, Jamaica and Sierra Leone. This is a very personal journey for Cottman and he brings home the horrors of the "middle passage" and the cruel and abhorrent treatment of African slaves.

121. The History of St. Cadwaladr's Church, Llangadwaladr by Morfudd Jones

Written by the wife of a former rector of the church, this book was published in 1986 with the proceeds from sales going to church funds. There has been a church on this site since the early 600s. The current stone building was built in the 12th century and added to in the 14th and 19th centuries.

120. The Llangwaladr Glass by Richard B. White

This book explains the history of stained glass windows in St Cadwaldr's Church, Llangwaladr, Anglesey, Wales. Some of the technical language, Latin and Welsh make the details a bit difficult to read, but it is interesting nonetheless.

89. Sugar: A Bittersweet History by Elizabeth Abbott

A well researched and well written history of sugar that explains how the taste for sweets literally changed the world. From slavery in the West Indies to indentured labour in Mauritiaus to deforestation and environmental degradation in Brazil and Florida sugar plantations have left their scars.

82. The Turkish Embassy Letters by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

This book is a collection of letters written to family and friends, by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, between 2 August 1716 and 1 November 1718. It seems she was the first woman to see and write about the private lives of women in Turkey at that time. She records an early form of inoculation against smallpox and describes animals, plants and food that would seem exotic to the letters' recipients.

33. Code Name Habbakuk: A Secret Ship Made of Ice by L.D. Cross

When we visited Jasper, AB I read about Project Habbakuk at the Jasper Yellowhead Museum. A prototype was constructed at nearby Lake Patricia. Eccentric inventor Geoffrey Pyke proposed that the allies construct aircraft carriers made of ice to shield convoys from German U-boats crossing the Atlantic during World War II. As one can imagine, the plan was fraught with technical difficulties.

53. Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Hochschild

ISBN-13: 978-0-618-61907-8 - Houghton Mifflin, 2005

Hochschild has written a compelling account of the abolition movement in Eighteenth Century Britain that paradoxically manages to be scholarly and readable at the same time. In contrast to the recent film Amazing Grace, Hochschild doesn't glamourize William Wilberforce or overstate his role in the campaign to stop the slave trade in the British Empire which lasted nearly fifty years.

45. Isobel Gunn by Audrey Thomas

ISBN 0864923317 - Penguin, 1999 (Audio Book)

In the summer of 1806, a young Orkney woman disguised herself as a man and signed on with the Hudson's Bay Company. For a year and a half she hid her identity and her deception was revealed only when she was giving birth to a baby boy. In less than an hour, she turned from John Fubbister into Isobel Gunn. Very little is known about the real woman. Audrey Thomas has taken the threads of Isobel Gunn's story and turned them into a compelling novel about an unusual woman, her short life, and the effect she had on those around her.

Narrated by Duncan Fraser.

40. Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder

ISBN 0-87113-717-8 Audio Book - Random House, 1998

Compelling yarn about the 1980s recovery of the cargo of the SS Central America , often referred to as the "Ship of Gold" by Tommy Thompson and the Columbus-America Discovery Group . "In September 1857, the SS Central America, a side-wheel steamer carrying nearly six hundred passengers returning from the California Gold Rush, foundered in a hurricane and sank two hundred miles off the Carolina coast. Over four hundred lives and twenty-one tons of California gold were lost. It was the worst peacetime disaster at sea in American history, a tragedy that remained lost in legend for over a century."
The value of the recovered treasure is inestimable - the gold alone being worth over $200 million US. The artifacts which include personal papers and belongings of the passengers and crew are priceless when one considers their historical significance.

36. Michael Faraday: Man of Simplicity by James Kendall

Faber and Faber, 1955
A biography of Michael Faraday that attempts to strike a balance between his personal and public lives. Much is made of the early influence of Sir Humphry Davy and Faraday's work at the Royal Institution. Interesting to read about his associations with other eminent scientists of his day which include: Ampère, Volta & Schönbein.
Faraday was a Sandemanian and his Christian values shaped his work ethic and social interactions. " This sect was named after Robert Sandeman, son-in-law and successor to John Glas, who was deposed by the Presbyterianan Courts in 1728 because he taught that the Church should be subject to no league or covenant, but be governed only by the doctrines of Christ and His Apostles. The Bible alone contained all that was necessary for salvation. Several tiny congregations were formed in Scotland and in England. Shortly after Faraday's death, [that] the London membership did not exceed twenty families, mostly quite poor." pp 170. "He (Faraday) held the position of elder, however, only for three years and a half. Trouble struck him in a most extraordinary way, as Thompson relates, ' One Sunday he was absent from church. When it was discovered that his absence was due to his having been "commanded' to dine with the Queen at Windsor, and that so far from expressing penitence, he was prepared to defend his action, his office became vacant. He was even cut off from ordinary membership. Nevertheless, he continued for years to attend meetings just as before." pp 172

33. Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot by Peter Brimacombe

ISBN 1-84165-161-3 - Pitkin Guides, Jarrold Publishing, 2005

This colourfully illustrated and informative guide probes into the failed attempt to blow up the British king and parliament in 1605. It provides biographical data on Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators and gives a step-by-step recount of the plot.

32. Lewes Bonfire Night by Jim Etherington

ISBN 1-85770-050-3 - S.B. Publications, 1993 (revised 2001)

This book provides excellent historical background to the November Fifth Celebrations and is written by an insider. Etherington, born in Lewes in 1947, was "brought up in bonfire" & served on the Cliffe society's committee for over twenty years. He traces the evolution of Lewes bonfire from its roots in the Gunpowder Plot through the centuries to present day controversy. In the last chapter, Etherington ponders the intriguing question - Why is Bonfire so big in Lewes when it has all but died out elsewhere in the country?

28. Across Sussex With Belloc: In the Footsteps of The Four Men by Bob Copper

ISBN 0-7509-0603-0 - Alan Sutton Publishing Limited, 1994
"Hilaire Belloc's The Four Men, published in 1912, tells the story of Grizzlebeard, the Sailor, the Poet and Myself walking across the Sussex countryside from Robertsbridge to South Harting. Belloc himself made the jounery in 1902. He foresaw vast changes and was convinced that a day would come when Sussex would never more be what it was. Bob Copper has retraced his steps and here recounts the journey."
"Bob Copper was born in Sussex where he still lives...He is a folk-singer of repute and has recorded numerous English traditional songs and made many appearances on radio, television and in live performances."