Ken Smith

Coming soon The Way of the Hermit by Ken Smith will be available Apr 28, 2026.

The International Bestseller 'A love story to the mountains in the mist, the pulsating northern lights and the red deer at dawn. And to independence' – The Washington Post'A Thoreauvian account of solitary life in the Scottish Highlands . . . delightful' – Kirkus Reviews'Ken Smith’s advice for staying alive in inclement conditions could equally be applied to achieving hard-won dreams' – Geographical'Ken Smith comes across as a thoughtful, resourceful and above all humane man . . . inspiring' – BBC Countryfile Magazine*****Could you leave behind the bustle of modern society and spend your days immersed in nature? In The Way of the Hermit, seventy-four-year-old Ken Smith recounts a life he has chosen to spend alone with the wilderness.Ken Smith has spent the past four decades in the Scottish Highlands. He lives alone, with no electricity or running water. His home is a log cabin nestled near Loch Treig, known as 'the lonely loch', where he lives off the land: he fishes for his supper, chops his own wood, and even brews his own tipple. He is, in the truest sense of the word, a hermit.For the first time, Ken shares the story of his life. From his working-class origins in Derbyshire, to the formative years he spent travelling in the Yukon and finally how he came to be the Hermit of Loch Treig. Looking back through decades of diary entries, Ken reflects upon the reasons he turned his back on society, the vulnerability of old age and the awe and wonder of a life lived in nature. The Way of the Hermit is a humorous, transcendent and life-affirming memoir.

The extraordinary story of a true hermit, an alternative way of life, endless islation and an unforgettable journey of discovery, as one man pits his wits against the wilderness for four decades

The North East Coast presents a selection of true-life accounts from the region's fascinating maritime and seafaring history. Including some of the best stories from his previous books, Newcastle author Ken Smith throws the spotlight on such exciting episodes as Grace Darling and the rescue of survivors from the Forfarshire, the birth of the first purpose-built lifeboat and the career of the illustrious Tyne-built liner Mauretania.

A compiled collection of the mostly World War 2 art of Ken Smith, most of which has been published as game box or magazine covers for the Advanced Squad Leader game series. Includes historical summary of each painting as well as occasional notes from behind-the-scenes.

Newcastle's colourful and sometimes dramatic history is brought to life in this series of varied tales spanning several hundred years. Including some of the most fascinating accounts from his previous books, Newcastle author and historian Ken Smith presents a selection of truelife stories from the city's stirring past.

You can have a lot of laughs in ten years, which is why we have collected the very best of the amusing stories encountered by the readers of The Herald Diary column over the past decade.There was even a Scottish Labour Prime Minister all those years ago, Celtic fans could only dream that their team would begin its quest for 10 titles in a row, and the word Covid was simply a typing error for David or cove.So as everyone could really do with a smile just now, we have combed well over two thousand Diary columns to bring the best of what made Scots laugh over the last ten years, whether it is the sharpest humour from pubs, the daft things children say or the humour from all sides of Scottish courts, the very best are here.

Perhaps the greatest story ever written is the story of man and his best friend the dog. Its pages abound with tales of adventure, courage, and loyalty - pages that continue to be written every day by both man and dog.Cookie Crumbs is the story of the author's dog, Cookie, a female black Labrador retriever. Her life was spent adventuring into the great outdoors and the great indoors.In her thirteenth year, Cookie set off on her adventure into the great unknown. Native legend tells us that the Milky Way is where the spirits and souls of animals go after they pass away from their life here on earth.From the Milky Way, Cookie is calling.

Comprehensive guide to what remains of the North East's Mining Heritage

Ken Smith is a successful fine art photographer and artist who has sold his artwork across the US and in 37 countries during the course of his career. He has watched artists struggle to make ends meet while other artists thrived quickly. During his observations, he determined what it was that separated the successful and thriving 2-D artist from those who eventually failed and folded up. Ken put together those secrets that are now in book form and ready for you.This is not some easy quick rich method. In fact, it is the exact opposite. This is hard work and you will get your hands dirty in the process, but the rewards of your elbow grease and Ken's methods will produce positive results if you apply them.

An annual favourite, The Herald Diary takes a selection of the funniest stories of the year that appear in The Herald's `Diary' column. From the political trials and tribulations of the year, sports and celebrity scandals and triumphs, and hilarious stories overheard on the street, The Herald Diary has it all, and is a perfect summary of the year.

Ken Smith (1938-2003) was a major voice in world poetry, his work and example inspiring a whole generation of younger British poets. His politically edgy, cuttingly colloquial, muscular poetry poetry shifted territory with time, from rural Yorkshire, America and London to the war-ravaged Balkans and Eastern Europe (before and after Communism). His early books span a transition from a preoccupation with land and myth to his later engagement with urban Britain and the politics of radical disaffection. The pivotal work marking this shift was his long poem Fox Running (1980), brought to recent attention when an archive recording of him reading it was broadcast by BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Please in 2016. His Collected Poems brings together poetry from four decades, including all the work from two earlier retrospectives, The Poet Reclining: Selected Poems 1962-1980 (1982) and Shed: Poems 1980-2001 (2002), together with the posthumously published You Again: last poems & other words (2004). The book is introduced with essays by Roger Garfitt and Jon Glover. Publication coincides with his 80th birthday and with the 40th anniversary of the publication of Bloodaxe’s first title, Ken Smith’s Tristan Crazy (1978).

Ken Smith is an experienced insurance sales and marketing executive who knows firsthand the challenges of the sales profession. He speaks hundreds of times a year in front of agent groups, and therefore he also understands how so many of today's agents are missing out on the accumulated wisdom of some the best sales minds in the business. For these reasons, Ken has written Sales Lessons from the Masters. The "masters" who provide the lessons here are Frank Bettger, W. Clement Stone, Ben Feldman, and Joe Gandolfo. By reviewing their lives and the challenges they overcame, along with the sales principles they used to guide their practices, Ken passes along their sales wisdom to a new generation of agents.

There has been a lack of reliable academic studies regarding Filipino martial arts (FMA) that have uniquely developed in the Philippine archipelago. This anthology assembles pioneering scholarly materials valuable for any interested in the Filipino combatives, as well as chapters specifically on the practice. Mark Wiley stands out as a leading scholar/practitioner of the Filipino arts. This book contains three chapters by him. In the first, he conducted linguistic and historical research to present the developmental background of the ancient Filipino kali and European fencing systems, thus illuminating the evolution of classical eskrima. In chapter two, Wiley attempts to classify Filipino martial arts and explore the ethos of Filipino martial culture by deriving information directly from the contemporary grandmasters who have maintained an oral transmission of information concerning the evolution and development of their respective martial systems. Part of Wiley's research also led him to seek out special repositories of artifacts. Museums collections rarely include much on Southeast Asian weapons. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has nearly 1,000 martial artifacts in storerooms from the Philippines, including swords, knives, spears, shields, helmets, and armor discussed in Wiley's third chapter. On a practical side, Steven Dowd presents the art of Carlita La ada who studied martial arts as passed down within his own family in the Philippines. He calls his rendition Kuntaw Lima-Lima, an art whose techniques are reminiscent of Okinawan karate styles, with hints of Chinese gongfu. Presented are the underlying principles, and a sayawan (form) with applications. Majia Soderholm's chapter is about Visayan Corto Kadena Eskrima and some of its concepts and training methods with regard to free-sparring with swords. It is a Filipino martial system encompassing empty-hand and non-bladed and bladed weapons. Peter Hobart presents a wonderful tribute to Remy Presas, the founder of Modern Arnis. This retrospective is comprised of the stories and memories of many of those who knew him. Topics include Presas' theory and practice of arnis, such as importance of flow, and memories of his last seminar. The chapter by Ruel Macaraeg dives into the topic of piracy in the Philippines. His study reconstructs the pirates' martial practices through comparative historical analysis of their weapons, costume, and organization in order to draw conclusions about their relationship to martial cultures in the Philippines and across the region. In the final chapter, Ken Smith discusses a few of his favorite techniques from Modern Arnis. His insights-as well as the information found in the previous chapters-contribute to the academic understanding of Filipino martial traditions as well as the actual practice of kali, escrima, and arnis. We hope you'll enjoy the reading.

The story of beer and brewing in Britain is a diverse tale. Like a deep, amber ale, the development of the brewing industry is rich and full of depth. The history of brewing in Britain is a cornerstone of the country’s culture. Dating back to the Domesday Book, where more breweries were recorded than wineries, through to the glory days of the Victorians, the industry and the popularity of brewing in Britain has sky-rocketed in the past twenty years with the rise of the micro-brewer. Proving that real ale will never die, the huge number of small craft brewers across Britain show that demand for the industry is still high. In this illustrated book, the Brewery History Society divulge images from their extensive archive to tell the intriguing story of the growth of this significant industry. First setting the scene with the foundation of Sumerian brewing, detailed chapters look at the development of the industry during the medieval period through to the Victorians and the modern brewers of today. Filled with anecdotes and interesting facts, they explore the history of the industry and its important role in the national heritage of Great Britain.