The most complete guide to ancient Ireland on the market
Full color
Handy 5 x 7 format
Over 70 full-color illustrations from world-renowned artists including Jim Fitzpatrick, Barrie Maguire, Bob Eggleton and Jeff Dee
Hundreds of full-color photographs
Complete history of Ireland from ancient times to the present
Includes detailed descriptions of ancient Celtic myths, legends, deities, demigods, wizards, druids, creatures, cryptids and more
Readable travel section includes comprehensive detailed maps including all of Ireland, the four provinces, all 32 counties, every major site and several islands
Mysterious World: Ireland represents the next generation of travel guides. More than just an uninspiring listing of names, numbers and dates, as are most travel guides, Mysterious World: Ireland takes you behind the scenes to help you to understand the history, and the mystery of the sacred isle. Starting with The Mystery, you will delve deep into Ireland's legendary past, and the mysterious people who invaded Ireland time and time again in search of their destinies. In The History, you will discover Ireland's known history up to the present day, and receive a thorough understanding of what it is to be Irish. Finally, in The Journey, you will be taken along one man's journey throughout all the four ancient provinces of Ireland on a quest to rediscover mysterious Ireland.
For more information, visit http://ireland.mysteriousworld.com
Ian was more than a little apprehensive when his turn came to kiss the Blarney Stone. Not only had they just met, but it seemed this stone wasn't at all fussy as to who it allowed to kiss it. Kissing the Blarney Stone is Ireland's third most popular tourist attraction, so as well as the moral implications there were the hygienic implications too. Yet kissing the Blarney Stone is reputed to bestow upon you the Irish gift of the gab, a talent Ian would need if he was to seduce the Sisters of Murphy's; assuming he ever finds them.
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of "This is the Place" and "Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered" 13th March 2003. Read the whole review
"This book is funny. And perspicacious. And it will do the world some good-literally. Ian has an uncanny knack for spotting the way the universe provides coincidences and for characterization. Emerald Isle introduces us to more interesting characters than the average novel."
© Copyright 2003
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Over the past six years I have travelled through Australia, Mexico, North America, Spain, Ireland, South America, Cuba, New Zealand and Slovenia. In 1997 I started working on a series of travel books charting my adventures in these countries. They tell of my experiences and of the colourful characters I met along the way. The reason I started writing these books was to show people just how much fun and adventurous travelling can be, and how it is not as dangerous as many might perceive. I also wanted to show that travelling alone need not be as lonely as you might think. These books are a perfect example of that. Another reason is that I have a terrible memory, and so at least this way when I'm old and grey, sitting in my rocking chair with my pipe, slippers and incontinence pants, I'll be able to read my books and think, blimey did I do that?
In keeping with the emerging interest in ebooks, My third title is an e-book story of my second ever long solo journey. It tells of how, as a novice traveller, I set off on an amazingly profound and comical four-month journey around the whole of Mexico. My two paperbacks, To the End of the World and Back and Hot Footing Around the Emerald Isle have also been released as e-books complete with over a hundred full colour photographs from each journey, and Hot Footing now also contains 18 new articles from return journeys to the Emerald Isle.
My latest paperback is a collaboration with Douglas Elwell called Mysterious World: Ireland, a lavishly illustrated history book/travel guide focusing on the history and ancient mysteries of Ireland. Learn about the fairies, giants, leprechauns, ancient kings and the many Celtic deities that have all left their indelible mark upon Ireland's culture and traditions. Find out where many of the country's ancient megalithic structures, fairy trees, raths and other sacred places lie, and read what the archaeologists and tour guides won't tell you, the legends and folklore behind them. For example, if you take the tour of Newgrange, the guide will not tell you that according to Celtic mythology this, the greatest of all the burial mounds of Ireland, was once the fairy palace of the Dagda, the father god of the Tuatha de Danann, a magical race who once inhabited Ireland and were defeated by the Celts and driven from the land into the underworld to become known as the Sidhe (fairy folk) of Ireland.
As well as writing books I have also written for Backpacker Ireland, Walking World Ireland, Mysterious World USA, Take your Car UK, the Slovenia Times newspaper, Hackwriters and the Basingstoke Gazette. If you would like to read the articles published so far then please click here to visit the Articles section of my personal website. Please email me if you would like to offer me work, commissioned or not.
At the far southern tip of South America, surrounded by some of the world's roughest seas, lies the island of Tierra del Fuego. It's three days into the new Millennium, and Ian is about to set off on the journey of a lifetime.
This is the fascinating story of Ian's experiences as a lone backpacker on a not so lonely journey across South America. There are tales of the opulent cultures Ian encounters as he makes his way along the East Coast from Buenos Aires to the southernmost tip of South America and the inestimable experience of actually being at Tierra del Fuego, the end of the world. The geographer will enjoy the stories of how Ian experienced and handled the exotic climates of South America and sometimes found that he was not dressed for the weather. The historically-minded will relish Ian's deep insight into the culture and customs of the Titicaca Indians. Hikers will dig the stories of how Ian tackled the desolate and sometimes perilous landscape as he moved in to get the closest possible shot of the breathtaking scenery.
South East Voice, Ireland's Free Newspaper, 29 November 2001
In telling this story Ian brings many enviable gifts to his task; an ability to tell a multi-faceted story in a fluid, coherent narrative form; a sardonic wit; an eye for comic detail and gift for consistently transporting the reader to the heart of his experiences.
Angela Turnball, Salisbury Journal, 4 April, 2002.
This is a travel book that passes the ultimate test - you wish you were there too.
