THE HUNT FOR MOUNT EVEREST by Craig Storti, read by John Pirkis - audiobook extract

04/30/21 • 4 min

The height of Mount Everest was first measured in 1850, but the closest any Westerner got to Everest during the next 71 years, until 1921, was 40 miles. The Hunt for Mount Everest tells the story of the 71-year quest to find the world's highest mountain. It's a tale of high drama, of larger-than-life characters - George Everest, Francis Younghusband, George Mallory, Lord Curzon, Edward Whymper - and a few quiet heroes: Alexander Kellas, the 13th Dalai Lama, Charles Bell. A story that traverses the Alps, the Himalayas, Nepal and Tibet, the British Empire (especially British India and the Raj), the Anglo-Russian rivalry known as The Great Game, the disastrous First Afghan War and the phenomenal Survey of India - it is far bigger than simply the tallest mountain in the world. Encountering spies, war, political intrigues and hundreds of mules, camels, bullocks, yaks and two zebrules, Craig Storti uncovers the fascinating and still largely overlooked saga of all that led up to that moment in late June of 1921 when two English climbers, George Mallory and Guy Bullock, became the first Westerners - and almost certainly the first human beings - to set foot on Mount Everest and thereby claimed the last remaining major prize in the history of exploration. With 2021 bringing the 100th anniversary of that year, most Everest chronicles have dealt with the climbing history of the mountain, with all that happened after 1921. The Hunt for Mount Everest is the seldom-told story of all that happened before.

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KNOW THYSELF by Stephen M. Fleming, read by George Weightman - audiobook extract

You've probably had that baffling experience of trying and failing to remember someone's name - even you when you know you know it. Or maybe you've pulled into your driveway and realised you had no recollection of the drive you just took. Or perhaps you've failed a test that you were certain you'd ace. Why are we so often wrong about what we know? How can we do something as difficult as driving without thinking about it? And how is it possible to know you've forgotten something? Underlying these experiences is a complex process called metacognition - the ability to think about what we and others do or don't think and know. Though you may not have heard of it, metacognition is the key to bridging our understanding of consciousness and intelligence and enables our astonishing abilities both as individuals and as a group. Know Thyself is Cognitive Neuroscientist Stephen Fleming's unprecedented, definitive and endlessly fascinating examination of this essential human ability. Drawing on his own pioneering studies as well as exciting new insights from computer science, psychology and evolutionary biology, Fleming explores why we so often think we're amazing at tasks that we're terrible at, what role computers and AI should play in our lives and how we can harness the science of metacognition to think more clearly, make better decisions and optimise learning inside and outside of the classroom. Not only will understanding metacognition make you less likely to misplace the car keys, but, as Fleming demonstrates, it has far-reaching implications for the use of eyewitness accounts in courtrooms, combating misinformation and our understanding of what it means to be human in the age of intelligent machines. For fans of Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, Know Thyself is a groundbreaking work of scholarship that sheds new light on how to be a self-aware human in our modern world.

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LOCH DOWN ABBEY by Beth Cowan-Erskine, read by Eilidh Beaton - audiobook extract

Who killed Lord Inverkillen? Lockdown meets Downton Abbey in this playful, humorous mystery set in 1930s Scotland. No one in. No one out. Family can be murder.... It's the 1930s, and a mysterious illness is spreading over Scotland. But the noble and ancient family of Inverkillen, residents of Loch Down Abbey, are much more concerned with dwindling toilet roll supplies and who will look after the children now that Nanny has regretfully (and most inconveniently) departed this life. Then Lord Inverkillen, earl and head of the family, is found dead in mysterious circumstances. The inspector declares it an accident but Mrs MacBain, the head housekeeper, isn't so convinced. As no one is allowed in or out because of the illness, the residents of the house - both upstairs and downstairs - are the only suspects. With the earl's own family too busy doing what can only be described as nothing, she decides to do some digging - in between chores, of course - and in doing so uncovers a whole host of long-hidden secrets, lies and betrayals that will alter the dynamics of the household for ever. Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey, Agatha Christie and Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club, Loch Down Abbey is a playful, humorous mystery that will keep you guessing!