Simon Barnes has 5 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 3 narrators. The most-rated is Rewild Yourself.
The Game's Gone
Summary
No one would call David Rose - or ‘Rosie’ as he’s known to one and all - a star, but he’s good at his job and proud of his work as a sportswriter for a national newspaper. He’s used to seeing flashier talents come and go - both on the field, and in the competitive world of the press. Football comes first in the way he spends his working life, but he’s happy to pitch in whatever the sport - from Formula 1 to Test cricket in the West Indies, the Olympics to a heavyweight championship bout in Japan. He’s used to the ups and downs of a journalist’s life and has learned to keep his own head safely down - until an especially venal boss pins his own misdemeanours on the entirely innocent Rose. Rosie’s revenge is slow but sweet, as he manoeuvres through a world where egos clash, money talks and you’re only as safe as your latest by-line. Not since Richard Ford’s classic novel, The Sportswriter, has a novel caught the world of sports journalism so vividly and so well. A marvellous listen - funny, touching and compelling. Simon Barnes was the Chief Sports Writer for The Times until 2014, having worked for the paper for 30 years, during which he covered seven Olympic Games and six World Cup finals. He writes about sports and wildlife and is the author of over 20 books, including the best-selling How to be a Bad Birdwatcher.
©2020 Simon Barnes (P)2020 Audible, Ltd
A Bad Birdwatcher's Companion
Summary
Simon Barnes is one of Britain's leading bird writers and humorists. His weekly column in The Times (London), his essays for the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) magazine, and his two books on bad bird-watching have made him one of the characters of the bird world. Here, he reads his own illuminating introductions to the 50 main birds of Britain, supported by the distinguishing bird song of each species. He not only gives helpful identifying features, but enriches them with whimsical observations on their characters and tendencies. It is a delightful text, superbly presented by the author himself.
©2007 Naxos Audiobooks (P)2007 Naxos Audiobooks
Epic
Summary
‘For 30 years I was the voice of sport at The Times - but that’s enough about me. What matters is sport.’ This is an autobiography from which the author, award-winning writer Simon Barnes, has been surgically removed. He has reported on six World Cups, seven Olympic Games, cricket on five continents and more than 20 Wimbledons, watching Diego Maradona, Usain Bolt, Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer at their peaks. Along the way he had soul-revealing conversations with Ayrton Senna and sat on Desert Orchid. His journalist’s experience gives him perspective - until the addictive madness of sport takes over. Epic is a stunning mosaic of some of the greatest sporting moments in recent years, which build up to provide the listener with a better idea of what sport is for and what differentiates winners from losers and reveal how sport teaches us how better to enjoy life. This is sport unplugged. Speaking for itself. Allowing the listener to understand sport with more clarity and depth than ever before.
©2018 Simon Barnes (P)2018 Simon & Schuster UK
On the Marsh
Summary
How the rewilding of eight acres of Norfolk marshland inspired a family and brought nature even closer to home. When writer Simon Barnes heard a Cetti's warbler sing out as he turned up to look at a house for sale, he knew immediately that he had found his new home. The fact that his garden backed onto an area of marshy land only increased the possibilities, but there was always the fear that it might end up in the wrong hands and be lost to development or intensive farming. His wife saw through the delicate negotiations for the purchase. Once they'd bought it, they began to manage it as a conservation area, working with the Wildlife Trust to ensure it became as appealing as possible to all species. For their son Eddie, who has Down syndrome, it became a place of calm and inspiration. In On The Marsh, we see how nature can always bring surprises and share in the triumphs as new animals - Chinese water deer, otters and hedgehogs - arrive, and watch as the number of species of bird tops 100 and keeps on growing. As the seasons go by, there are moments of triumph when not one but two marsh harrier families use the marsh as a hunting ground but also disappointments as chemical run-off from neighbouring farmland creates a nettles monoculture in newly turned earth. For anyone who enjoyed books such as Meadowland or the writing of Stephen Moss, Roger Deakin or Adam Nicolson, this is a vivid and beautifully told account of the wonders that can sometimes be found on our doorsteps and how nature can transform us all.
©2019 Simon Barnes (P)2019 Simon & Schuster UK
Rewild Yourself
Summary
We're not just losing the wild world. We're forgetting it. We're no longer noticing it. We've lost the habit of looking and seeing and listening and hearing. But we can make hidden things visible, and this audiobook features 23 spellbinding ways to bring the magic of nature much closer to home. Mammals you never knew existed will enter your world. Birds hidden in treetops will shed their cloak of anonymity. With a single movement of your hand you can make reptiles appear before you. Butterflies you never saw before will bring joy to every sunny day. Creatures of the darkness will enter your consciousness. And as you take on new techniques and a little new equipment, you will discover new creatures and, with them, new areas of yourself that had gone dormant. Once put to use, they wake up and start working again. You become wilder in your mind and in your heart. Once you know the tricks, the wild world begins to appear before you. For anyone who wants to get closer to the nature all around them and bring it back into focus, this is the perfect listen.
©2020 Simon Barnes (P)2020 Simon & Schuster UK