FREE THE LIGHTHOUSE STEVENSONS PDF Bella Bathurst | 304 pages | 07 Mar 2005 | HarperCollins Publishers | 9780007204434 | English | London, United Kingdom Lighthouses | Robert Louis Stevenson Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. The Lighthouse Stevensons by Bella Bathurst. I for one had no idea that the 14 lighthouses dotting the Scottish coast were all built by the same Stevenson family that produced Robert Louis Stevenson, Scotland's most famous novelist. But Bella Bathurst throws a powerful, revolving light into the darkness of this historical tradition. Robert Louis was a sickly fellow, and - unlike the rest of his strong-willed, determi I for one had no idea that the 14 lighthouses dotting the Scottish coast were all built by the same Stevenson family that produced Robert Louis Stevenson, Scotland's most famous novelist. Robert Louis was a sickly fellow, and - unlike the rest of his strong- willed, determined family - certainly not up to the astonishing rigours of lighthouse building, all of which are vividly described here. To The Lighthouse Stevensons these towering structures in the most inhospitable places imaginable such as the The Lighthouse Stevensons named Cape Wrathusing only 19th-century technology is an achievement that beggars The Lighthouse Stevensons. The comparison that comes to mind is with the pyramid building of ancient Egypt. For instance, we learn that the ground rocks for the Skerryvore lighthouse were prepared by hand even The Lighthouse Stevensons the "gneiss could blunt a pick in three blows" The Lighthouse Stevensons waves and winds "strong enough to lift a man bodily off the rock" and that "it took hours to dress a single stone for the outside of the tower and hours to dress one of the central stones. In total tons of stone were quarried and shipped" - and all by hand. It is mind-boggling stuff: you'll look at lighthouses with a new respect. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published The Lighthouse Stevensons Flamingo first published More Details Original Title. The Lighthouse Stevensons: The extraordinary story of The Lighthouse Stevensons building of the Scottish lighthouses by the ancestors of Robert Louis Stevenson. Thomas StevensonRobert Stevenson. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other The Lighthouse Stevensons questions about The Lighthouse StevensonsThe Lighthouse Stevensons sign up. Be the first to ask a question about The Lighthouse Stevensons. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of The Lighthouse Stevensons. Robert Stevenson is the ghost at the feast and his uneasy spirit presided over the family long after his death in Bathurst's account. He got into engineering courtesy of his step-father's firm and got himself appointed as engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Board, a position which The Lighthouse Stevensons of his sons were The Lighthouse Stevensons hold after him one sons got away and became a doctor instead. The construction of the Bell Rock Light made Stevenson famous - the site was submerged at high tide, so all the work was done at low tide and took almost four years to complete, Stevenson was commissioned to write a book about the project which took him thirteen years. Alan Stevenson worked on The Lighthouse Stevensons reflectors and lenses to improve the light output form lighthouses which in place still used candle light, Skerryvore was above the high tide line but remote in the Hebrides and stormy - the first year's work to establish barracks for the craftsmen required to build the lighthouse, fixing - iron bars in to the rock to hold a wooden structure was destroyed by winter storms. Alan was of a more literary disposition than his father and while on site corresponded with William Wordsworth. The workforce suffered from sea sickness and inadequate quantities The Lighthouse Stevensons beer, traditionally lighthouse keepers were expected to maintain a cow and fend for themselves, Skerryvore was so difficult to reach that instead Alan recommended enhanced rations for the lighthouse keepers. As at Bell Rock even bringing in construction materials was a The Lighthouse Stevensons as the rocks had no anchorages, the boats bobbed about while they craned great dressed stones on to the site. For convenience and out of an appreciation of the working conditions The Lighthouse Stevensons stones were cut to size and dressed off site, however the work had to be precise so the finished construction was waterproof and storm resistant. But aside from a natural desire to read The Lighthouse Stevensons nineteenth century civil engineering cruelly destroying the economies of local communities that benefited from wrecked ships and an understandable compulsion to know how a 19th century engineer monetised and publicised their work we're reading to understand Robert Louis Stevenson, a The Lighthouse Stevensons like this and Bathurst says that The Lighthouse Stevensons was The Lighthouse Stevensons Stevenson she was most in love with, is part of the archaeology of his un consciousness and mental world. Robert Stevenson, as benefits the founding patriarch haunted all his sons and comes over as a particularly troubled and fearful person, who everyone else had to work round. He was especially engaged in the question of how his boys would earn a living, there was only one right answer to this question, although others might be reluctantly found to acceptable and since the engineering was a family business there was no escape from the father who would be on their case questioning the quality of their mortar and second guessing their design decisions. Differences of opinion were hard for the father to live with. Several of his children to his complete incomprehension were sickly, Bathurst is of the opinion that Alan Stevenson developed M. The family had a mild tendency to be obsessed by thoughts of a cruel and vindictive God, Alan felt his disease was punishment for making people work on Sundays to complete Skerryvore faster. Aside from this they were a perfectly normal Victorian family. If the book has a weakness, it is that Bathurst's interest rapidly tails off, Robert and Alan receive most attention, then Robert Louis, the last Lighthouse Stevensons were still building and inspecting Lighthouses well into the 20th century, She round up with a chapter on the Lighthouse keepers - the books they were given one or two others in addition to the Bible were allowedthe liquor permitted for medicinal purposes, instructions for cleaning and so on. But all that is gone as all these lighthouses are now automated. One of the curiosities was that the Stevensons were responsible or assumed responsibility for the lighthouse keepers - insisting there should always be three, so that if one died another could not unfairly be accused of murder, the fear of this occurring had apparently led a lighthouse keeper not to have reported the The Lighthouse Stevensons of his colleague who instead mouldered grimly in the lighthouse. View all 15 comments. Apr 06, Deanne rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fictionhistory. Read this after watching a programme about the Bell Rock Lighthouse, one of the lighthouses mentioned in the book. In awe of the man who designed this and the men who built it over years ago. To discover the family were engineers who designed and built some of the most well known lighthouses was fascinating, though I'm pleased that RLS decided to write books like Treasure Island and Kidnapped. Jul 27, Carol rated it really liked it Shelves: stevensonsrobert-louis-stevenson. The Lighthouse Stevensons in the story of the many generations of Stevensons whose priority was with the Scottish lighthouse building. Those who escaped death through disease, ill treatmen The Lighthouse Stevensons in the story of the many generations of Stevensons whose priority was with the Scottish lighthouse building. Those who escaped death through disease, ill treatments, or hardship had little hope of surviving shipwrecks. The patriarch was the determined Robert Stevenson He, and his four generations, served the lighthouse-building industry for many years. He and his eight sons excluding Robert Louis designed and built the 97 manned lighthouses on the Scottish coast. His discovery to use interlocking granite blocks to hold up to forceful windsand the use of new lamps and lenses over their predecessor- candles, was a huge move forward. Anyone who was involved in the buildings of these lighthouse must have not only great patience, but great strength. Robert Stevenson's finest achievement was the The Lighthouse Stevensons of the Bell Rock Lighthouse. Overall a great read! Jun 07, Kenny rated it liked it. OK, there's a fair train of thought in composing this review. Basically: If you read one book about the building of the main and most ambitious and challenging Scottish lighthouses make it this one. Which poses the question: why do you want to read this? You The Lighthouse Stevensons this, and that book about sheep Counting Sheep, more to follow is this a mid life crisis? Does enjoying it make it worse or better though? This is an accessible book that concentrates on the human story of the The Lighthouse Stevensons who buil OK, there's a fair train of thought in composing this review. This is an accessible The Lighthouse Stevensons that concentrates on the human story of the family who built those lighthouses, the Stevensons. Black sheep Robert Louis did nae bad out of writing, but primarch Robert Stevenson was a force to be reckoned with.