Product Description

The Shetland Islands sit where the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea meet, closer to the Arctic Circle than to London. Over the centuries they have been a vital staging post for Vikings, Hanseatic traders and merchant sailors from faraway lands. Yet somehow, the same islands remain off the map of British consciousness. Ron McMillan spent weeks on the unbeaten Shetland tourist path, braving the weathers to explore scenic landmarks, archaeological treasure troves and remote islands so under populated that for centuries they have lived with the threat of abandonment. A travel writer for more than twenty years, McMillan cast an inquisitive and witty eye over present-day Shetland to interweave the Islands history, archaeology and 400-million-year-old geology with observations of a remarkably hospitable society that remains intricately connected to the outside world. His warm and generous narrative is the first original Shetland travelogue since 1869. Set amidst fascinating locations and soaked in history, filled with stories skilfully told, this is a book for lovers of lyrical travel writing delivered with informed authority and irresistible humour.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #146485 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-15
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Synopsis
A travelogue of Shetland. It is a witty account of landscape and people as they are at the start of the 21st century.

About the Author
Ron McMillan has been travelling since 1979, when he spent time in Germany working on Formula One cars. This was not quite as glamorous as it sounds, particularly since the workshop was a grimy factory in Bavaria -- and the cars were toys. The following summer saw him in Germany again, where demolishing the roof of a metals factory sixty feet above swimming-pool-sized vats of boiling acid was only slightly less perilous than working with three psychotic Liverpudlians, all of whom were called Frank. After two years in Australia and New Zealand (funded by dishwashing, driving and digging ditches), came fifteen years in the Far East. He began in Korea as a part-time English teacher and full-time student of Tae Kwon-do; then, amidst the flying rocks and tear gas shells of nationwide student demonstrations in the run-up to the 1988 Seoul Olympics, became a freelance writer and photographer for newspapers and magazines in Asia, Europe and America. During a decade based in Hongkong, he visited Mainland China nearly fifty times, lied to men carrying guns in at least a dozen different countries, and made five tourist visits to isolated North Korea. The resultant photographs from North Korea graced the covers and inside pages of Time, Newsweek, L Express and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. On his return to Scotland in 1998, he took on a domestic travel column for The Herald. He also wrote and photographed travel and business stories for magazines including the inflight titles of Cathay Pacific Airways, Korean Air, Thai Airways and Japan Airlines. In the autumn of 2005, he spent five weeks in Shetland researching the first travel narrative to be written about the islands since 1869. Between Weathers Travels in 21st Century Shetland is the result. Ron McMillan is now a correspondent based in Bangkok, Thailand, where a vibrant live music scene allows him to indulge his passion for playing blues harmonica rather badly.

Customer Reviews

A very enjoyable travelogue
A nicely written, warm, humane, and informative account of a recent trip to Shetland by a Scottish journalist who has spent most of his career working in Asia. McMillan visits just out of season, and he takes the time to mix with locals to try to get a feel for life in the islands. Being Scottish, yet still an outsider, gives him a good perspective from which to take in Shetland. This seems to be McMillan's first book of travel writing, and I'm looking forward to more from him in the future. The Sandstone Press is also looking increasing interesting as a publisher of quality Scottish non-fiction.

Welcome Gem
every now and then a life-affirming feelgood pops up from nowhere-and this is one of the best.Filled with impressive research and love of its subject,this is a triumph in the finest tradition of travel writing.A rare combination of wistful and forceful it is a humourous journey of self-discovery we can only hope McMillan continues in Orkney,Islay and the WesternIsles.Is the new Neil Munro in our midst?

First-rate travel writing
This is a superb piece of travel writing -- no surprise, then, that it has been nominated for a Saltire Society Literary Award. Finely-honed prose from a likeable, engaging narrator exploring the scenery, history, geology and more besides of what sounds like a fascinating part of the world, it reflects beautifully and very positively on Shetland and Shetlanders. I have never been to the islands, but this book has convinced me of the need to put that right.