North Sea Oil: A History: Sixty Years of Triumph and Tragedy by Victor Gibson (15 July 2025). (Amazon paid link.)
Charting the development of the North Sea Oil business from the early days, when oil companies hired seismic ships to go out and
use dynamite to try to determine whether there was any oil out there, to the modern day, this is a fascinating history of oil and gas
exploration, development and production in the North Sea. This was a drama enacted out of sight of land, in the freezing waters of one
of the world’s most hostile seas. All the major oil companies wanted to get in on the act, as well as the the British shipping
industry.
Read our full review.
A Life of Industry: The Photography of John R Hume by Daniel Gray (5 August 2021). (Amazon paid link.)
Over the course of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, John R Hume took over 25,000 photographs of late-industrial and post-industrial
Scotland. His collection is a remarkable portrait of a way of life that has now all but vanished. John's photography produces
an exhaustive and objective record. Yet it also reveals remarkable and poignant glimpses of domestic life. In A Life of Industry,
author Daniel Gray tells John's story, and the story of what has been lost - and preserved.
Read our full review.
The Scottish Shale Oil Industry & Mineral Railway Lines by Harry
Knox (20 February 2013). (Amazon paid link.) This magnificent book tells the story of the
Scottish Shale Oil Industry. This was to prove a world first, where mineral
oils were produced for the first time from the oilbearing shale lying below the
county of West Lothian. The result was to transform the landscape, and leave a
legacy which in places still remains on view today.
Read our full review.
Salt: Scotland’s Newest Oldest Industry by Christopher Whatley & Joanna Hambly (14 September 2023). (Amazon paid link.)
Sea-salt manufacturing is one of Scotland’s oldest industries, dating to the eleventh century if not earlier. Panhouses were once a common sight
along our coastline and are reflected in many placenames. This book celebrates both the history and the rebirth of the salt industry in Scotland.
Although salt manufacturing declined in the nineteenth century, in the second decade of the twenty-first century the
trade was revived.
Read our full review.
Scotland's Lost Industries by Michael Meighan (10 December
2012). (Amazon paid link.) Scotland has many lost industries, from papermaking to gunpowder
making as well as whaling, the motor industry, steel making, coal mining,
shipbreaking and locomotive manufacture. Michael Meighan takes us on a trip
down memory lane, when Scotland was an industrial powerhouse, making goods for
the Empire an Commonwealth as well as exporting to the world.
Read our full review.
The
Tweed to the Northern Isles: The Fishing Industry Through Time by Mike Smylie
(13 June 2013). (Amazon paid link.) In this superb book Mike Smylie takes us on a tour from the
Tweed to the Northern Isles, taking us to harbours that were once home to
hundreds of fishing boats. We also find out about the fishermen and women on
shore and at sea, their boats, the harbours and the methods used to catch the
fish.
Read our full review.
The Traction Engine
in Scotland by Alexander Hayward (8 June 2011). (Amazon paid link.) Traction engines were most
widespread in Scotland from the 1880s until the 1940s. The book describes the
use of traction power on Scottish road and field, and places National Museum
Scotland's 1907 Marshall traction engine in its historical context.
Read our full review.
Colouring the
Nation: The Turkey Red Printed Cotton Industry in Scotland C.1840-1940 by Stana
Nenadic and Sally Tuckett (14 November 2013). (Amazon paid link.) A collaborative project
between NMS and the University of Edinburgh. By looking at decorative textiles
manufacture, it showed that Scotland played a key role in the production of
colourful and fashionable fabrics for the overseas market.
Read our full review.
The Kingdom of MacBrayne by Donald E. Meek (19 Sep
2008). (Amazon paid link.) This beautifully produced and fascinating book tells the story of
David MacBrayne, his ships and his company, his predecessors, rivals and
successors.
Read our full review.
The
Solway Firth to Hartland Point: The Fishing Industry Through Time by Mike
Smylie (4 February 2014). (Amazon paid link.) The third volume of Mike Smylie's Fishing
Industry Through Time covers from the Solway Firth all the way to Hartland
Point in Devon. Fishing was not just about the boats involved but also the
people and Mike Smylie gives an insight into the lives of those who worked the
boats, who repaired the nets and who gutted and sold the fish.
Read our full review.
Steadfast Boats and Fisher People by Gloria Wilson (1 August
2010). (Amazon paid link.) Illustrated with 200 photographs taken by the author, this evocative
book reveals developments in fishing boats of mostly Scottish fishermen from
the mid-1960s to the late 1980s: and celebrates the author's deep regard for
the fishing communities and their boats, which represented such a unique way of
life.
Read our full review.
Ancestors in the
Arctic: A History of Dundee Whaling by Malcolm Archibald (21
November 2013). (Amazon paid link.) For over 160 years, Dundee sent ships to the Arctic to hunt
the whales. It was a brutal, dangerous business but one which was vital to the
economy of the city. This book shows some of the most evocative images held by
the McManus Museum in Dundee, together with explanatory text.
Read our full review.
Bonanzas and Jacobites: The Story of the Silver Glen by Stephen
Moreton (14 Mar 2007). (Amazon paid link.) This fascinating book tells the little known story
of Scotland's richest ever silver mine, near Alva in Clackmannanshire.
Published by the National Museum of Scotland on behalf of the Clackmannanshire
Field Studies Society.
Read our full review.
Wooden Fishing Boats of Scotland by James A. Pottinger (1 January
2013). (Amazon paid link.) With the gradual phasing out of wooden fishing boats of Scotland it
is timely to record some of these handsome vessels. In the years from 1960-80
boat builders produced some of their most shapely and graceful craft, a
testament to the skill of both the builders and designers. A wonderful
collection of evocative images.
Read our full review.
