1969: Man is the Prey – a personal investigation into the methods and motives of man-eaters and man-killers. (Andrew Deutsch, London, 1969; Panther Books, London, 1969; Stein and Day, New York, 1969; Pocket Books, New York 1970)
1970: Bottero’s African Wildlife Gallery. (Wildlife Feature Corp, Johannesburg) a catalogue, with comments, of Giuseppe Bottero’s extraordinary collection of wildlife oil paintings.
1972: Focus on Fauna. (Keartland Press, Johannesburg) A look at the wildlife of South Africa with photographs by John Pitts.
1974: Our Fragile Land – South Africa’s Environmental Crisis. (Macmillan, Johannesburg) A review of the global and national state of the environment.
1975: The Bushman. (The Museum of Man and Science, Johannesburg) The physical and cultural evolution of the San people.
1976: The Environmental Crisis. With PW Wheeler. (The Star, Johannesburg) An illustrated guide to global environmental challenges.
1983: Mountain Odyssey. – with David Coulson. (Macmillan, Johannesburg) The history, biology and geology of the mountain ranges of Southern Africa.
1984: Roof of Africa. (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York) – with David Coulson. US version of Mountain Odysey.
1987: Survival Guide to the Outdoors. (Earthlink, Johannesburg) A textbook on survival in the African bush.
1987: Like it Was. (Argus, Johannesburg) A history of Johannesburg to mark the city’s centenary. This was the city’s story as seen, decade by decade with cuttings and commentary, by The Star which had moved to Johannesburg (“The Camp”) six months after the goldfields were proclaimed.
1988: The Bedside Star (Argus, Johannesburg) An anthology of “relaxed reading” from The Star.
1989: Back to Bed (Struik, Cape Town) More “relaxed reading” from The Star.
1990: Bedtime Again (Argus, Johannesburg) Even more relaxed reading.
1990: Sabi Sabi. (Struik, Cape Town, 1990) A history of the Sabi Sand, the block of private game reserves bordering southern Kruger Park.
1991: Back to Earth (Southern, Johannesburg) South Africa’s Environmental Challenges.
1995: The Yellow Six (Penguin, Johannesburg, 1995; Brewin, Birmingham, 2006) – the humorous half-true story of how half-a-dozen Boy Scouts, led by their self-important leader, the author, helped win World War 2.
1996: The Search for the Great South African Limerick. (Penguin, Johannesburg, 1996) A collection of Limericks lampooning the towns and cities of South Africa resulting from a competition launched in The Star.
1997: S*x for the Extremely Shy. (Penguin, Johannesburg) A send-up of women’s magazines sex advice columns – plus some collected humour columns by the author.
1999: Enclosed Please Find. (Wild Dog Press, Johannesburg) Collected humour columns by the author.
1999: An Extraordinary 20th Century. (Independent Newspapers, Johannesburg) The story of Johannesburg and South Africa told with cuttings and commentary – from the Boer War through the apartheid era to the dawn of the “new South Africa”.
2002: Coming Back to Earth. (Jacana, Johannesburg) A comprehensive review of the state of the South African environment.
2003: Laugh, the Beloved Country. With Harvey Tyson (Double Storey, Cape Town) An anthology of South African humour dating back to the 18th century.
2005: Great South African Limericks. (Zytek, Johannesburg) A collection of South Africa limericks lampooning South African places – including the newly re-named places.
2005: The Funny Side of Golf. (Zytek, Johannesburg) A spoof history of the evolution of golf including golfing jokes.
2005: Clarke on Your Stoep. (Zytek, Johannesburg) A collection of Stoep Talk columns.
2007: Blazing Saddles – The True Story of the Tours de Farce. (Jonathan Ball, Cape Town) The totally irreverent story of how five retired newspapermen and a confused photographer – average age 70 – decide to explore “Darkest Europe” on bicycles – although none had ridden a bike since childhood.
Hi James,
My mom is your number one fan and clips out your column for me to read as she thinks it ir required reading.
Surprisingly enough we are living in the house in Parkview of the late Giuseppe Bottero who willed it to my mother-in-law. If I can coordinate it I think my mom would make the trip from Benoni to join us for tea if you were to be available some time. We should be able to arrange a print or two if you are interested.
My wife is a bit of a natural birth activist and if you find the time you can see what she gets up to at the linked web site. Did you know that the private hospitals in South Africa have one of the highest caesarean rates in the world, over 90% in places compared to the WHO recommendation of under 20%?
Nice blog you have.
Fond Regards
Kalle
Thanks Kalle, it all sounds most intertesting.
Let’s fix something for December. I am in and out of town until then.
James
Gee, ‘Yellow Six’ was published in 1995. It’s the first of your books I ever owned. I was reading ‘Stoep Talk’ way back in high school.
In fact I recall The Search for the Great South African Limerick being run in The Star.
Oh, how I have missed your irreverent wit James. I’m so excited to be catching up on some lost years of humour.
And if you’re ever in London, do let me know. It’d be lovely to sit down for a cup of tea and a chat (alright, tea is a thing of the past… a Starbucks instead).
Thank you Jason, it’s always nice to know somebody appreciates my nonsense.Mind you, with your weather I would also be inclined to curl up somewhere and read just about anything!
I may be in London in September and would enjoy meeting you. Let’s stay in touch.
James
Hi James, I read your book Man is the Prey as a kid and it was a big part of my fascination with animals. Thankyou for that
Hi Ricky, hey, that message makes me feel very old. Mind you I suppose I am! Thanks for it all the same –
james
Please could you forward a copy of your articile. Grandpa got lost in the computer.
Granddad Robert is visiting from SA and he forgot to pack it in his bag.
I have replied via my blog but this is probably faster. (Gosh, another reader in Oz!) I hope Granddad Robert is as impressed by Australia as I have been in my few visits. James
The computer swallowed grandpa.
Yes, honestly it’s true.
He pressed ‘control’ and ‘enter’
And disappeared from view.
It devoured him completely,
The thought just makes me squirm.
He must have caught a virus
Or been eaten by a worm.
I’ve searched through the recycle bin
And files of every kind;
I’ve even used the internet,
But nothing did I find.
In desperation, I asked Jeeves
My searches to refine.
The reply from him was negative,
Not a thing was found ‘online’.
So, if inside your ‘Inbox,’
My Grandpa you should see,
‘Copy’, ‘Scan’ and ‘Paste’ him
And send him back to me!
Box 876 Lone Hill. S Africa 2062 Fax 011 465 4564 Blog: http://stoeptalk.wordpress.com
Sure, here it si:
- (itals)The computer swallowed grandpa.
- Yes, honestly it’s true.
- He pressed ‘control’ and ‘enter’
- And disappeared from view.
- SPACE
- It devoured him completely,
- The thought just makes me squirm.
- He must have caught a virus
- Or been eaten by a worm.
- SPACE
- I’ve searched through the recycle bin
- And files of every kind;
- I’ve even used the internet,
- But nothing did I find.
- SPACE
- In desperation, I asked Jeeves
- My searches to refine.
- The reply from him was negative,
- Not a thing was found ‘online’.
- SPACE
- So, if inside your ‘Inbox,’
- My Grandpa you should see,
- Please ‘Copy’, ‘Scan’ and ‘Paste’ him
- And send him back to me!
-