For generations, coastal fishermen, working at the very fringe between land and sea, have fished salmon and herring using methods passed down from father to son. Some of these ancient traditions have been traced back as far as the days when the men from Scandinavia colonised these lands in the eighth and ninth centuries; others are simply nineteenth century in origin. Sadly, in recent years stocks have dwindled and regulations limit local fishing practices. Today, some surviving methods, such as haaf-netting, are in danger of dying out, whilst other traditional fisheries now lie abandoned. Though herring stocks have recovered from their late twentieth-century decline, the Atlantic salmon is now under immense threat and more danger of extinction than ever before. Tracing and describing his own journey from North Devon, through Wales and up to the top of Scotland, along with interviews with many fishermen, both retired and working, Mike Smylie explores the social history of these indigenous fishing traditions and communities, presenting a picture of their lives, past, present and future.

This is the most important technical bridge book published since Larry Cohen's To Bid or Not to Bid (60,000 copies in English alone), and may well reach an even bigger audience. There are two aspects to this book, both unique. First, Rodwell describes and explains a host of innovative ideas in cardplay, strategems that can be used as declarer or defender. Second, under the heading 'Common Mistakes', Rodwell talks about the mental side of the game: areas that mark the key differences between an average player and a successful one. The first draft of this book has been in existence for more than fifteen years, but it is only now that Rodwell is prepared to allow his 'secrets' to become public knowledge.

Runner-up in the beginner/novice category of the American Bridge Teachers Association 2020 Book of the Year Awards. Bridge is a hugely popular pastime enjoyed by millions, and yet whole books have been written about single aspects of the game, and learning the seemingly complex rules and language can be a daunting idea. So this is the essential guide to beginning your journey and getting in on the fun, covering everything you need to know to get started and progress, from bridge basics, language and no-trump declarer play to analysing hands and working with trump suits. Defence play is then covered before going into bidding essentials and further bidding techniques and conventions. Keeping score and advice on taking things further rounds off this invaluable guide for the beginner. Clear explanations and examples make learning easy, and fresh writing from seasoned expert Mark Horton keeps things interesting, while a glossary of terms is a handy at-a-glance reminder of the meaning of key words and phrases. Suitable for standard playing methods used worldwide.

Berkeley Castle Tales presents the outcomes of the 15-year-long University of Bristol excavations and landscape research at the Berkeley Castle estate in South Gloucestershire. The project, which in 2016 won the prestigious Current Archaeology award for the Archaeology Project of the Year, aimed at writing, through material culture and extensive archival and geophysical research, the narrative behind the construction of Berkeley Castle, the corresponding town, and the area of the Severn valley that overlooks the borders with Wales. By combining the results of archaeological fieldwork with information contained in the castle's impressive collection of 20,000 historical documents, the project adds greatly to our knowledge and understanding of the early medieval period and the subsequent changes in landscape and society that occurred with the coming of the Normans, with the erection of a castle on the former minster site. Throughout the publication the advances that the Berkeley Castle project offered to archaeological practice, to excavation and geophysics methodology, and to the community and public archaeology are evident, since the editors intend the volume to be a milestone not only for the study of a castle landscape but also for archaeological method and practice.

The life and career of Jocelin of Wells examined, with a particular emphasis on his role in the reconstruction of the Cathedral and Bishop's Palace. Jocelin, bishop of Wells [d. 1242], is an iconic figure in his native city; but his career as courtier and statesman moved far beyond the west country. From a family network which had produced bishops over several generations, heplayed a major role in a developing diocese and mother church, and in the growth of towns, fairs and markets in early thirteenth-century Somerset. He had a crucial influence on the completion of what was to become Wells Cathedral,and on the Bishop's Palace beside it. The essays in this volume look at Jocelin's life and career from a variety of perspectives, with a particular focus on his involvement in the building work to complete the Cathedral, aswell as the erection of the earliest part of the Bishop's Palace. Architectural, archaeological and even botanical approaches are used to explain the curious physical nature of the Palace site, the significance of the work still standing there from Jocelin's time, and the possible sites of other contemporary work. A final chapter studies the design and purpose of Robert Burnell's additions to Jocelin's work. Contributors: Robert Dunning, NicholasVincent, Jane Sayers, Diana Greenway, Sethina Watson, Tim Tatton-Brown, Jerry Sampson, Alex Turner, Christopher Gerrard, Keith Wilkinson, Mark Horton, David J. Hill, Matthew Reeve.

The official book of the 2021 World Bridge Championships in Salsomaggiore, Italy, will be published to coincide with the start of the 2022 World Bridge Series in Wroclaw. The principal contributors are Brian Senior, Barry Rigel, Mark Horton, Marek Wojcicki, Daniel Gulyas and Ron Tacchi. The book is in full colour thoughout, featuring many photographs from the championships, sample hands and games, a full list of results and extensive coverage of the major championship events.

Why aren't you an expert bridge player? What makes a bridge expert, and why does he or she always come out on top compared to the average club player? No, it's not the ability to execute esoteric squeezes and endplays - they simply don't come up enough to account for the way the experts consistently win against weaker opposition. It's much more basic than that. This book contains a collection of deals that illustrate the difference between the expert player and the would-be expert. These illustrate the kinds of decisions that will come up in every club game, situations in bidding, play and defense where the amateur will often go wrong, but the expert never will. A study of the concepts in this book will take the reader a long way from amateur status towards actually becoming an expert player.

The late Terence Reese, perhaps the greatest bridge writer of all time, introduce the "over-the-shoulder" style of bridge writing in his classic "Play These Hands With Me." In this wry homage to the master, Horton leads the reader through a plausibly logical line of play on each instructive deal, but usually a line that ends in failure. In each post-mortem, the "expert" realizes how he could have improved on his play, and (usually) made his contract. The deals are all from top-class events, which prove to be a remarkably fertile source of such material. A book filled with subtle humor and great bridge.

If you're like most beginning bridge players, you want to know more about bidding systems, and especially conventions. Even if you just play socially, it can't hurt to add a few choice gadgets to your bidding arsenal. This book describes and explains 25 basic conventions that you can easily assimilate into your own bidding. Each one is clearly and simply explained, and you'll see how it fits in the ACOL system if you decide to use it. Each chapter includes a helpful summary of key points and a quiz with full explanations of all the answers.

Brian Senior and Mark Horton are experienced international players, and also two of the world's top bridge journalists. In one or the other capacity they have attended every World Championship and major international tournament in the last twenty years, and in this book they share their unique knowledge and experience, as well as the stories only they can tell. The reader will share the excitement of the key hands and plays that made the difference between winning and losing -- the successes and the disasters. In addition, the authors afford us a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a bridge journalist, as we see them following the top players around the world in search of stories and adventure. Do they do it for love or money -- or is it something else? Read the book and find out! The illustrations draw on the authors' personal collection of candid photographs.

In 2007, Mark Horton wrote Misplay These Hands with Me, (Master Point Press, ISBN 9781897106280, now out of print) a deliberate homage to Reese's classic Play These Hands with Me. The difference was that the declarer in Horton's book always made an error, sometimes obvious, sometimes not so much. This successful book was the basis of a long-running column in the American Contract Bridge League’s Bridge Bulletin, a sequel in 2019: Misplay More Hands With Me (published by Honors ISBN 9781771402019), and last year, Misdefend These Hands with Me (Master Point Press, September 2021, ISBN 9781771400633). Now the same author turns to the topic of bidding, and once again gives the reader a chance to learn from someone else's mistakes. All the deals are taken from top-level play.

Close Encounters is a two-book series that describes some of the most memorable bridge matches of the last fifty years. It features titanic struggles for World and National titles, involving the greatest players from Europe and North America. There are amazing comebacks, down-to-the-wire finishes, overtime victories, and an insight into how the game has changed over the last half century. Book 2 starts with Italy losing a world title in bizarre fashion on the final board, and ends with the USA’s nail-biting 2-IMP victory over France in Lyon in 2017.

A fascinating collection of the 'best of the best', selected by one of the world's top bridge writers. Taken from nearly a hundred years of bridge history, these deals will provide any bridge player with hours of fascinating reading. Each of them has its own unique point of interest, sometimes deriving from a brilliant maneuver in the play or bidding, sometimes from the historical circumstances surrounding the deal or its consequences. Some of these deals decided a world title, some were important only to those who took part, and at least one ended in murder.