TWO TILEHUSRT authors are pleased to be sharing their interests with others after publishing their latest books.
Neil Somerville and Rob Stallard are members of Thames Valley Writers’ Circle. The group supports budding authors of fiction and non-fiction of any genre.
Neil’s book, The Cycling Puzzle Book, came from his love of both cycling and puzzle books.
He is a keen cyclist who has ridden many of Berkshire’s cycle routes during the 40 years he has lived in Tilehurst.
“Cycling is one of life’s great pleasures,” he says. “It is a great way to get around and exercise at the same time.”
His love for cycling meant that Neil enjoyed compiling this set of puzzles.
“But rather than exercising the body, this book is a chance to let cycling exercise the brain,” he added.
The book has a variety of puzzles for readers to solve, each with a cycling-related theme. Puzzlers can figure out sudokus, word searches and criss-crosses. They will also be challenged to work out what famous cyclists have said and the meaning of cycling terms such as bonk and squirrel.
Neil has been a puzzle compiler for newspapers and magazines, and has had more than 50 books published.
Rob’s book, Cracking China, is the result of a long held interest in Chinese culture and tradition.
It goes back to being a Cambridge University student. The renowned sinologist Jospeh Needham was master of Rob’s college, Gonville and Caius.
His interest deepened when he moved to Reading.
“I attended a course on Chinese culture and language at the Meadway Centre in 1988,” Rob explains. “And I’m now vice president of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding.”
The main aim of the book is to give readers an insight into a country they may not know much about, other than its recent political history.
Rob said he is keen for readers not to judge China entirely on it.
“There are millennia of Chinese history, and so much science and culture originated there,” he says. “Martial arts like Tai Chi are the most well known.”
There are signs that Rob’s mission to promote understanding is working. His website China Sage, which is the basis for the book, gets much of its traffic from education settings in the United States.
Both books are available from bookshops and online.
For more information, visit: www.neilsomerville.com or log on to: crackingchina.info
