Iain Gately Bücher

Each working day 500 million people across the planet experience the miracle and misery of commuting. Whether undertaken by car, bus, train or bicycle, the practice shapes our days and creates a time and a space for a surprisingly diverse range of activities. In RUSH HOUR, Iain Gately traces the past, present and future of commuting, from the age of Dickens to the potential of the driverless car. He examines the contrasting experiences of commuters in Britain and elsewhere in the world: from the crush-loaded salarymen of the Tokyo metro to the road-rage afflicted middle managers of America. Notwithstanding its occasional traumas, commuting emerges as a positive aspect of modern life. It has dictated the growth of cities; been proving ground for new technologies; and given countless people freedom of movement and the opportunity to improve their lives.

The author, recovering from an operation to fit him with a titanium hip joint, sets out to catch a tube. This is no London Underground train, but rather that evanescent space, inside the unfolding wave, of which the surfer's dreams are made. The ultimate experience for the surfer is to ride inside a tube as it closes behind them. Most rides last between five and fifteen seconds; the record is thirty. In twelve years of surfing, Iain Gately has never caught a tube, but, before he gets old, he yearns to do so. The Secret Surfer is an alternative travel book; an exploration of an activity that attracts loners, obsessives and eccentrics; a lyrical evocation of places in Cornwall, Galicia, Portugal, Andalucía, Morocco and Ireland; and a rousing call to all of us not to give up too soon. Gately's quest, whether it ends in triumph or in failure, will offer a similar mixture of introspection and adventure, of a search for self-knowledge and of physical endeavour.

Investigates the history of alcohol as a controversial and ubiquitous part of western culture and Christianity, tracing its use in ancient civilizations, profiling famous drinkers, and evaluating the role of alcohol in such events as the Revolution and the Prohibition. 20,000 first printing.