Bøger af Rob Godfrey

The Iberian Job, a mad business scheme designed by Rob Godfrey to get the £30,000 he needed to build Commuter, an installation piece. Commuter is a 50 foot long coffin with toy trains running up and down it, and also a serious attempt to create consciousness within a machine.This isn't 'artificial intelligence', but non-biological intelligence: a real mind outside of a messy biological structure like the brain.The Gods were angry, though, and while attempting to get Commuter built, Rob went through incredible hardship and misfortune, including serious injury, and on a number of occasions he ended-up homeless and penniless. The Iberian Job got Rob into a whole heap of trouble and left his reputation in tatters. This almost unbelievable tale spans the UK, France, Spain and Portugal.The Iberian Job is a journey into one man's quest to answer the most fundamental question of them all: what is the 'mind'? It's also a journey across western Europe and gives a rich insight into what it's like to live in places such as France and Portugal, particularly with regard to being down and out. After reading this book you'll never be afraid again.

In early 1990 the author travelled by train from Paris to Beijing, stopping off along the way and taking three weeks to make the journey. This was during the final days of the break-up of the Soviet Union and just as China was opening up to the rest of the world. It was a fascinating time to travel through these regions. However, having written a number of travel books, and because there's a plethora of non-fiction about the Trans-Siberian Railway, the author decided instead to do Paris to Beijing as a surreal novel. Some of what's recounted in Mr Jolly's Journey is based on events that did really happen, such as the fight in a Moscow restaurant, or the Red Army soldier pulling a knife on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Likewise, the author was quite seriously ill in Mongolia, but survived to write this book, which runs to approx. 40,000 words.

Rural France and a house renovation, a radio station and holiday rentals. Rob Godfrey's fourth memoir covers the years 2007 to 2017. Previous memoirs all involved travel to weird and wonderful places. This fourth memoir is quite static in that respect, taking place entirely in France. The latest episode of Rob Godfrey's life is set against the backdrop of momentous historical events which had a direct impact on him: the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

From California to communist eastern Europe, from Alaska to Arabia, from Paris to Peking, these travel tales span the globe and contain both high drama and small moments. A Red Army soldier pulls a knife on the Trans-Siberian Railway. A foggy evening in San Francisco and an arguement about what the word 'penultimate' means. A voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on a cargo ship. A girl met on a train while crossing the Iron Curtain. A record-breaking drive up to the Arctic Ocean in Alaska. Bicycling in Beijing. Arrest and interrogation by the Stasi in East Berlin. A Polish princess hitchhiking in the south of France. All this and more is recounted in When I Went Out One Summer's Morn, Rob Godfrey's memoir of 20 years of travels.

Mid-pandemic, 2021 began darkly, full of worry. Light began to enter with the first vaccines in February. This effort is a poet's diary of 2021 in the form of haiku. It is my contribution to an effort organized among poets all over the country to meet a simple challenge to create one haiku each week of the year:"Haiku-one per week-nothing is expected"I enjoyed finding the images, feelings, words to express the moments that shaped each week, sometimes moments from long ago and far away. As months passed, the work captures my world emerging from that terrible place to embrace adventure and joyful events. As an exercise in thoughtful writing, it helped immensely in capturing the joy that can be found in the darkest times.

20 circular walks, covering what we reckon to be the very best places to walk your dog in the Yorkshire Dales.