Books 2026 #14

  1. Dishonesty Is The Second-Best Policy and Other Rules to Live By” by David Mitchell
  2. “Michael Palin In Venezuela” by Michael Palin
  3. “Happiness: Lessons From A New Science” by Richard Layard
  4. “The People on Platform 5” by Clare Pooley
  5. “Encyclopaedia of  Narrow Gauge Railways of Great Britain and Ireland” by Thomas Middlemiss
  6. “Moscow Coup: The Death of the Soviet System” by Martin Sixsmith
  7. “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged Thirteen and Three-Quarters” by Sue Townsend
  8. “The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole” by Sue Townsend
  9. “Adrian Mole: The Collected Poems” by Sue Townsend
  10. “How To Live Like A Stoic” by Tom Hodgkinson
  11. “The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass aged 37 3/4” by Adrian Plass
  12. “This Present Darkness” by Frank Peretti
  13. “Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes” by Daniel Everett
  14. “Brutal Scotland” by Simon Phipps

Started: 6th April 2026
Finished: 6th April 2026

5/5 stars

There’s currently a fantastic photo exhibition running in Glasgow to launch this book, and that’s where I picked up my copy. I’ve long been a huge fan of Brutalist architecture, and this book does a great job of cataloguing the best examples in Scotland.

The book doesn’t contain much text – it’s mainly devoted to very high quality black and white photographs that really speak for themselves, with a helpful index of all the buildings featured. It’s split into three main sections, the north of Scotland, the Central Belt and the Lowlands/South.

Highly recommended. I very rarely give books five stars, but it’s beautifully designed and put together, and I’m sure I’ll leaf through it often.

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