The Northern Highlands

About the Book: 

The Empty Lands are that great area of northern Scotland between Ullapool and Cape Wrath, and between Bonar Bridge and John O'Groats. It is truly the land of the Mountain and the Flood, where land and sea mingle in unsurpassed glory.

From the pier-head at Ullapool to the Smoo Caves at Durness and from Dornoch Cathedral to Dounreay Nuclear Establishment, Tom Atkinson describes it all, with his usual deep love for the land and its people.

Myths and legends, history, poetry and a keen eye for the landscape and all its creatures make this book and essential companion for all who travel to that magnificent part of Scotland.

Reviews: 

Here, you will find that curious pastiche of myths and legend and history that the Scots use to describe their heritage... A lively counterpoint to the more standard, detached guidebook... Intriguing. THE WASHINGTON POST

Gentlemen, we have just returned from a six-week stay in Scotland. I am convinced that Tom Atkinson is the best guidebook author I have ever read, about any place, any time. EDWARD TAYLOR, Los Angeles

About the Author:

TOM ATKINSON had a very interesting life. After serving in the RAF throughout WWII, he spent the next twenty years in the diplomatic service of the Republic of Indonesia, having been in a position to help the young Republic to become established, during the latter part of his RAF service. This is described in his contribution to this book. 

Tom left Indonesia just before the horror of the military take-over in 1965, when a million or so Indonesians were slaughtered. Since then he has been a hotelier in the remote north-west of Scotland, followed by ten years on a small self-sufficient farm in west Wales.

Returning to Scotland, he founded Luath Press, and wrote a series of guide books to his beloved West and North of Scotland.

Later he helped his herbalist daughter to breathe new life into Napiers of Edinburgh, a herbal consultancy established in 1860, and he operated Napiers Mail Order business for three years, before retiring for the third time.