Whittles Publishing: 120 books

A lively, at times hilarious, first-hand account of a lighthouse keeper's life in the last traditional years before the introduction of helicopter reliefs and automation. Arthur Lane entered the Service in 1953 as a fugitive from the Birmingham branch of a large insurance company, who seem to have...

After joining the Australian Merchant Navy at the age of sixteen, Dick Jolly trained as an engineer before joining the Australian National Line as a cadet. After a four-year apprenticeship, he gradually gained promotion while travelling around the Australian coast. Fascinated by the world of commercial...

Tony Hunt spent the six decades of his professional and personal life interacting with the élite in the fields of engineering, architecture and industrial design – this is his story. His life and career are described, showing how he formed lasting relationships with architects, patrons, artists,...

Duncan’s curiosity has got him into a lot of tight spots – quite literally! As a teenager, Duncan really wanted to be an astronaut but took to the exploration of inner space instead. Only a dozen men might have stood on the moon but Duncan has squeezed into many places that no one has ever been...

The trials and tribulations experienced while sailing two old and tired American tugboats halfway around the world. An entertaining and greatly enjoyable read.

Simon Hall’s second book is set in the mid-1970s during the closing years of the golden age of British shipping, when cargo carriage at sea saw radical change and the romance of being at sea in old-style cargo ships came to an end. Hall’s account is of five years during which he worked as a junior...

In the 19th century, the Stevenson engineers pioneered marvellous lighthouses around the coasts of Scotland – lighthouses which inspire with their architectural elegance, and speak of compassion for sailors and fishermen risking their lives in these notoriously dangerous waters. But what was it...

After an initial visit of three months to the Atlas Mountains in 1965, well-known travel writer, climber and photographer Hamish Brown has been back every year since, and this book is something of a love story about one man's lifelong devotion to the Atlas Mountains and the Berber Highlanders who...

In his introduction, Don MacCaskill wrote modestly, 'I think I became a naturalist'. He was, in fact, one of Scotland's foremost naturalists and a remarkable wildlife photographer as well. In a flashback to his early years in Kilmartin, a village in Argyllshire, we learn of his awakening interest...

Ospreys are one of our best known and best loved birds and the name Roy Dennis is not only synonymous with the successful return of the osprey to Scotland, but is also renowned for his international work with a variety of species. From the time he saw his first osprey, back in 1960, Roy has worked...

Simon Hall went to sea in search of a way of life that he believed was glamorous, adventurous and disciplined, a life where smartly-uniformed men ran ships in a tightly organised manner. At this time the British fleet was still one of the largest in the world and the Red Ensign a common sight in most...

From the best-selling author of four classic UK diving books, comes The Darkness Below - a collection of absorbing adventures gained from a lifetime in diving. As one of the UK's leading Technical Divers, Rod takes the reader on a spellbinding and gripping journey, from first beginnings as a novice...

Scotland's Global Empire is one journalist's tribute to some of the lesser-known great Scots and their contribution to the world. Jock Gallagher was encouraged in his epic enterprise by a quote from Voltaire: We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation. ‘Voltaire may have over-egged the...

This is the engrossing story of the seasons the author spent climbing 4000m mountains in the different regions of the Alps. It is also about the people with whom he climbed who found time out of their day-to-day routine for this extraordinary activity. He explains the reason for this fascination which...