The Snow Tourist: Press reviews

‘The story of Mr English's feeling for snow makes a book as delicious as a double chocolat liégeois.’

Celia Brayfield, The Times

‘The author is an accomplished snowboarder and he writes very well. These skills are not often combined.’

Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland

‘His humble, gentle tone… makes the book so refreshing, so different to the slew of recent travel books in which even the smallest event is hammed up for comic or dramatic effect. Here, combined with an audacious lack of incident, is a deliciously calm pace, a seriousness and honesty that couldn't be further from the silly quests we've grown accustomed to. English doesn't exaggerate; he's happy to give prominence to the experts he interviews as much as himself and, above all, to leave centre stage to the subject of his obsession - the snow itself.’

Observer

‘Like individual sparkles in a homogenous whole, each chapter is a self-contained travelogue with a distinct destination and a linked snow-related subject or history… engaging, thoughtful and well balanced.’

Guardian

‘Snow is magical stuff and this is a guide to its allure.’

Telegraph

'The childlike enchantment that most of us feel at the sight of a snow-filled sky is what drives Charlie English on his journey around the world's chilliest parts, in search of the perfect glacial landscape and why we find it so magical; global warming adds urgency to the mission. English's glee is infectious.'

Observer

‘This isn’t simply the latest hand-wringing eco-polemic to hit our bookshops – it’s both more subtle and more personal than that… English makes some interesting forays into snow history and snow culture.’

Scotsman

‘An engaging book that tells you all you want to know about snow… Charlie English has the good journalist's ability to absorb a great deal of information and pass it on in a vivid and intelligent way, combining it with his own experiences. He describes the natural world very well… compelling and paradoxically heart-warming.’

Irish Times

‘English writes wonderfully about his anxieties and his travels, and if he does not always find what he is looking for, that is down to the increasingly elusive nature of his subject.’

Telegraph

‘Conveyed with clarity and ease … English’s passion for snow is more than a mere hobby arising from ennui. Embedded within the narrative is an emotional quest.’

Judith Rice, Guardian

‘A series of quixotic essays ranging from a lesson in igloo-building in a remote, blizzard ridden settlement on Baffin Island to a meditation on the origins of skiing in ancient China.'

Edward McGown, Daily Telegraph

‘The book leaves the impression of a man who thought travelling to learn more about snow would be fun, but in the process learned a lot about himself and wrote a thoughtful book.’

Scotland on Sunday

'An engaging read.'

Sunday Telegraph

'Nostalgic, seductive and deadly, snow is a great subject to roll around in. English, who has a clear journalistic prose style and a boyish enthusiasm for the stuff is an engaging guide... As a seasonal gift this may reawaken your inner small boy and is therefore probably the next best thing to the white stuff.'

Time Out

‘In an interesting blend of meteorology, history, art and even the spiritual, English brings you close to understanding his chilly passion.’

Sunday Herald

‘A cracking read that deserves to be by the bedside of every keen skier or snowboarder. Indeed, it is the phenomenon of snow, as much as skiing - or boarding, which he prefers - that fascinates him.’

Economist

‘The Snow Tourist is a humorous, philosophical travelogue that encompasses historical facts, insightful encounters and fascinating anecdotes as English's travels take him from the Arctic Circle to New York, Scotland and central Europe: anywhere, in fact, where a white blanket of crystals can turn the landscape into a miracle. A perfect winter book.’

Metro

‘English writes an efficient, automatic-drive kind of prose.’

Literary Review

‘He explains the extraordinary hold this commonplace phenomenon has over us, and reveals the ongoing drama of our relationship with it.’

Skier and Snowboarder magazine

‘Most admirable… We do love his quest to find where gets the most snowfall.’

Cooler magazine

‘Well written and filled with interesting perspectives from the people he meets, English will captivate you throughout just as long as you’re as big a fan of snow as he is.’

Real Travel

‘This enduring romance with the white stuff is what this book is all about, travelling across the globe and throughout the ages in an exploration of the allure of what is so much more than just frozen water.’

Adventure Travel

‘English’s easy-going narrative style recalls Bill Bryson... his struggles to understand the forces that have shaped him, both natural and human, make for a heart-warming read.’

Wanderlust

‘The perfect read for a winter’s day as you sit in front of the fire imagining a crisp snow-scene outside ignoring the grey drizzly reality.’

Bath magazine

‘In this unique book, which is part eulogy, part history, part travelogue, Charlie English goes in search of the best snow on the planet – a must have for anyone who reaches for their mittens at the sight of the first flake.’

Living North

‘Curl up with a book unusually devoted to the magic, history and science of snow.'

Waterstone’s Books Quarterly