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Around the World in 80 Travel Books   |   READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

National Geographic Traveler editor George Stone's discerning library of classic travel books, chosen in conjunction with writers, editors -- and Longitude.

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Chasing Monarchs, A Migration with the Butterflies of Passage  •  Robert Michael Pyle
NATURAL HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 307 PAGES
A memoir of Lepidoptery, combing the entomologist-author's considerable knowledge of butterflies and their biology with a rambling road trip from British Columbia through the Southwest to Mexico. (MEX62, $14.00)
  Chasing Monarchs, A Migration with the Butterflies of Passage
Confederates in the Attic  •  Tony Horwitz
HISTORY •  1999 •  PAPER  • 406 PAGES
Subtitled "Dispatched from the Unfinished Civil War," this book conjures the remarkable interest of the re-enactors, unreconstructed confederates and others, rational and not-so-rational, in the Civil War. Horowitz, who combines trademark humor with investigative journalism, draws much history into this account of travels from Antietam to Gettysburg and Appomattox in the company of Robert Lee Hodge. (USS35, $14.95)
  Confederates in the Attic
Coming into the Country  •  John McPhee
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1976 •  PAPER  • 438 PAGES • FAVORITE
An outstanding portrayal of frontier life in Alaska circa 1976, this is among the finest of this gifted writer's works. Beautifully written, it's an even-handed look at environmental issues, as well as a hilarious portrait of some unforgettable Alaskan characters. Originally published in "The New Yorker." (ALA04, $17.00)
  Coming into the Country
Bad Land, An American Romance  •  Jonathan Raban
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 416 PAGES
Raban captures the spirit of rural America--and the optimism of homesteaders on the Montana Prairie -- in this lovely tale weaving history, anecdote and travel. Winner of the National Book Award. (USW408, $15.95)
  Bad Land, An American Romance
The Good Rain  •  Timothy Egan
NATURAL HISTORY •  1991 •  PAPER  • 254 PAGES
Here the Seattle correspondent for the "New York Times" offers a wonderfully readable mix of journalism, history, politics and geography. In the footsteps of 1853 visionary Theodore Winthrop, Egan travels to towns along the Columbia River throughout Washington and Oregon. This book is a fine portrait of the Pacific Northwest, its people and contemporary issues, as the region struggles with its historical emphasis on natural resources. (PNW11, $14.95)
  The Good Rain
The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America  •  Bill Bryson
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1990 •  PAPER  • 314 PAGES
Heading out from his native Des Moines, Bryson makes his way through 38 of these United States, tossing off hilarious observations of the American character and roadscapes. Forgive Bryson's cheap shots at fat people and "hicks," he's an acerbic, witty guide to the country with a well-developed sense of the absurd. (USW180, $14.95)
  The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America
Blue Highways, A Journey into America  •  William Least Heat Moon
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 429 PAGES
On the road with Ghost Dancing (his van), William Least Heat-Moon criss-crosses the country on its backroads, discovering some pretty wonderful personalities en route. What emerges is a many-varied, rich portrait of the American character. (USA31, $15.99)
 
Old Glory, A Voyage Down the Mississippi  •  Jonathan Raban
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1998 •  PAPER  • 409 PAGES
Raban tackles the "Mighty Mississippi" aboard a 16-foot motorboat in this entertaining travelogue, featuring places and people he encounters along the way. It's a portrait of contemporary life from Minnesota to Mississippi. (USS42, $15.00)
  Old Glory, A Voyage Down the Mississippi
Desert Solitaire  •  Edward Abbey
NATURAL HISTORY •  1990 •  PAPER  • 289 PAGES • FAVORITE
A beloved classic, read aloud at campfires throughout the Southwest. It's one of the great works on the value of the desert, eloquent and laugh-out-loud funny. Although Abbey writes specifically about the Colorado Plateau and his experiences as a ranger at Arches National Park outside Moab Utah, his message is universal. Originally published in 1990. (DES02, $14.95)
  Desert Solitaire
Travels with Charley, In Search of America  •  John Steinbeck
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2002 •  PAPER  • 214 PAGES
On the road in a van but with a poodle, John Steinbeck -- like Jack Kerouac, William Least-Heat Moon and Bill Bryson -- sets out to discover America. This short, wonderfully written account of his journey from Maine to California is a classic. This handsome edition was published in celebration of the centennial of Steinbeck's birth. Delightful! (USA32, $14.00)
  Travels with Charley, In Search of America
Roughing It  •  Mark Twain
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2004 •  PAPER  • 592 PAGES
Twain's classic work on the American West, written as he was abandoning the peripatetic life and settling down in the 1870s. Funny, irreverent, acutely observed this is vintage Twain, covering his travels in California, Nevada and Hawaii. With all 304-first edition illustrations, specially prepared maps, facsimile manuscript pages and commentary. (HWI14, $15.00)
  Roughing It
Innocents Abroad (Or the New Pilgrims Progress)  •  Mark Twain
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2003 •  PAPER  • 523 PAGES
On June 8, 1867, young journalist Samuel Longhorne Clemens, not yet famous as Mark Twain, set sail on a grand tour of Europe. With his disarming wit, Clemens makes the very best traveling companion in this classic account. The section on his visit to "the land which was the mother of civilization" is a celebrated highlight of the book. Twain has few rivals in art of reporting the horrors of travel with humor. "Paris, England, Scotland, Switzerland, Italy--Garibaldi! The Grecian Archipelago! Vesuvius! Constantinople! Smyrna! The Holy Land! Egypt and 'our friends the Bermudians'!" are among the main ports of call. (MDE08, $14.95)
  Innocents Abroad (Or the New Pilgrims Progress)
Cuba  •  David Alan Harvey  •  Elizabeth Newhouse
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1999 •  HARD COVER  • 252 PAGES
A collection of photographs of the people, vibrant street life, monuments and landscapes of Cuba by veteran National Geographic photographer David Alan Harvey. With accompany text by staff writer Newhouse. Harvey, whose photographs have been featured in several articles in the magazine, has returned to Cuba many times since 1996. (CBA65, $50.00)
 
Road Fever, A High Speed Travelogue  •  Tim Cahill
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1992 •  PAPER  • 278 PAGES
An exhiliarating ride along with Cahill from the southernmost tip of South America to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in only 23 days. (SAM17, $14.95)
 
In Trouble Again  •  Redmond O'Hanlon
EXPLORATION •  1990 •  PAPER  • 272 PAGES • FAVORITE
O'Hanlon starts this impossibly witty account of a four-month journey into the Venezuelan Amazon with a litany of the insects, protozoa, snakes and predators that can do you harm. A comic masterpiece, the book is also noteworthy for its excellent descriptions of the wildlife, environment and peoples of the Amazon. Imagine a PBS documentary hosted by the Monty Python troupe. (AMZ04, $13.95)
  In Trouble Again
Nothing to Declare, Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone  •  Mary Morris
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 250 PAGES • FAVORITE
An absorbing memoir of a woman traveling alone through Mexico and Central America. Morris, a favorite writer, evokes the people and places she visits on her travels in gritty immediate detail. Her travels include San Miguel de Allende, the Guatemalan Highlands, Bay Islands, and Nicaragua. (CAM08, $14.00)
  Nothing to Declare, Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone
The Panama Hat Trail  •  Tom Miller
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES • FAVORITE
Miller's entertaining and insightful social history of Ecuador -- as told through its hat-making history. It's a classic example of travel writing, and one of the best things written on Ecuador. Originally published in 1986, much of the book is set in Cuenca and along the Pacific coast of Ecuador. (EDR15, $14.00)
  The Panama Hat Trail
The Old Patagonian Express  •  Paul Theroux
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 404 PAGES
A delightful narrative of Paul Theroux's journey from Boston to Patagonia by rail, plane and truck. He starts out aboard the subway in Boston -- and ends up many months later at the end of the world, a bit worse for the wear. Along the way he encounters the elderly, nearly blind author Jorge Luis Borges and a cast of other fascinating characters. (PAT08, $15.95)
  The Old Patagonian Express
In Patagonia  •  Bruce Chatwin
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1989 •  PAPER  • 204 PAGES • FAVORITE
A masterpiece of travel, history and adventure. This award-winning book captures the spirit of the land, history, wildlife and people of Patagonia. There's no travel writer as engaging, insightful and just plain wonderful as Bruce Chatwin. (PAT01, $15.00)
  In Patagonia
The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris  •  Edmund White
LITERATURE •  2008 •  PAPER  • 144 PAGES
An intimate portrait of Paris and its many pleasures by the gifted novelist. White reveals his favorite haunts in a series of glittering, personal essays. This is the first in a planned series of books on writers and their cities. (FRN259, $12.99)
  The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris
Brazilian Adventure  •  Peter Fleming
EXPLORATION •  1999 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES
A journalist and adventurer, Peter Fleming sets off for Brazil on a 3,000-mile quest through the Amazon in a celebrated search for a missing English colonel in this classic and very entertaining account, first published in 1933. Only a British explorer, albeit unintentionally, could be as ill-prepared and deadpan about such an adventure. He never did find Fawcett. (AMZ55, $16.95)
  Brazilian Adventure
In Tuscany  •  Bob Krist  •  Frances Mayes
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2000 •  HARD COVER  • 269 PAGES
An edition of Maye's warm, anecdotal account of life on her now-restored Tuscan estate, much enhanced by Bob Krist's color photographs. (ITL348, $35.00)
 
Bella Tuscany, The Sweet Life in Italy  •  Frances Mayes
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 286 PAGES
In this sequel to "Under the Tuscan Sun," best-selling author Frances Mayes goes out in search of Italian Life in the small town of Cortona. (ITL224, $15.00)
 
Under the Tuscan Sun  •  Frances Mayes
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES
In this best-selling memoir of buying, renovating and living in an abandoned villa in Tuscany, Mayes reveals the sensual pleasures found in rural Italy: the lasting sunlight, rich colors, warm architecture and the languor of slow paced days. An accomplished cook as well as poet, writer and handy-woman, Mayes includes recipes and much savory talk about food and wine. (ITL85, $15.00)
  Under the Tuscan Sun
London, The Biography  •  Peter Ackroyd
HISTORY •  2003 •  PAPER  • 864 PAGES
A big thematic history of London from Celtic settlement to Roman outpost and world power, much focused on the life of the city. A popular biographer and novelist, Ackroyd leavens the centuries with anecdote, personality and great affection. (GBR248, $19.95)
  London, The Biography
Bury Me Standing  •  Isabel Fonseca
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1996 •  PAPER  • 322 PAGES
The Roma, as the Gypsies call themselves, have a long tradition in Eastern European culture -- influencing the music, foods, religious and folk traditions. This is an excellent book on the evasive subject of Roma culture in Eastern Europe, painstakingly researched by Ms. Fonseca as she traveled and lived among Gypsies. Black-and-white photos help give a human face to the conditions of the Roma, their history among the settled peoples of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany and the prospects for their cultural survival in the "new" Eastern Europe. (EUR09, $14.95)
  Bury Me Standing
Balkan Ghosts, A Journey Through History  •  Robert D. Kaplan
HISTORY •  2005 •  PAPER  • 307 PAGES
Kaplan combines the skills of an old-fashioned literate traveler and an informed journalist in this eloquent, opinionated report that interweaves history, art and culture of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece with recent events to paint a portrait of the region in the 1980s. This new edition includes six opinion pieces that he wrote for the New York Times and Washington Post in the 1990s. Named one of the best of 1993 by the "New York Times." (BLK02, $15.00)
  Balkan Ghosts, A Journey Through History
Turkish Reflections, A Biography of a Place  •  Mary Lee Settle
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1991 •  PAPER  • 253 PAGES
A cross-country odyssey from the Aegean shores to the Bosporus and interior by an author and poet who lived in Bodrum 20 years before. Settle's captivating travelogue is a richly detailed portrait of contemporary Turkey, its people, monasteries, myths, archaeological treasures and living traditions. Exemplary. (TKY08, $14.00)
  Turkish Reflections, A Biography of a Place
Danube  •  Claudio Magris
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2008 •  PAPER  • 416 PAGES • COMING IN OCTOBER
A gifted novelist's stimulating journey down the Danube from its source in the heart of what once was the Austro-Hungarian Empire through the Balkans to the Black Sea. The book is an intellectually charged, evocative portrait of the places and personalities of Central Europe. Magris is an erudite, cerebral guide with a penchant for history. On some level, this wholly unclassifiable book is a travelogue. (EUR58, $16.00)
  Danube
A Moveable Feast  •  Ernest Hemingway
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1996 •  PAPER  • 211 PAGES
A treasure for anyone interested in Parisian cafe society circa 1925 and portraits of its luminaries. Hemingway includes sharp portraits of Gertrude Stein (who he adored for a time), Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford and others who were idling on their way to greatness. And "Moveable" it was indeed. Hemingway carried this manuscript with him for years and it was published posthumously. (FRN26, $15.00)
  A Moveable Feast
Two Towns in Provence  •  M. F. K. Fisher
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1983 •  PAPER  • 208 PAGES • FAVORITE
Few can paint the earthy details of a place and time like celebrated food writer M.F.K. Fisher. In this light volume, she contrasts village life in Aix-en-Provence with bustling Marseilles. Keenly observant, she evokes these two favorite places with anecdote and loving description. (FRN27, $16.95)
  Two Towns in Provence
The Colossus of Maroussi  •  Henry Miller
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1958 •  PAPER  • 249 PAGES • FAVORITE
The soul of Greece circa 1939. Miller captures the spirit and warmth of the resilient Greek people in this tale of a wartime journey from Athens to Crete, Corfu and Delphi with his friend Lawrence Durrell. Miller at his most inspired. (GRE05, $14.95)
  The Colossus of Maroussi
Homage to Catalonia  •  George Orwell
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1987 •  PAPER  • 234 PAGES • FAVORITE
Orwell's portrait of the Barcelona uprising and the spirit of a city at war is a classic, an observant and heartfelt report from the streets. In part, this book is the simply told story of a wide-eyed soldier caught up in revolutionary fervor and the allure of Spain. (SPN03, $14.00)
  Homage to Catalonia
Sea and Sardinia  •  D.H. Lawrence
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 211 PAGES
A marvelous, wry account of a trip to Sardinia, evoking both the charms and travails of the then-remote island, and the personality of the author. It's a pleasingly exaggerated, accessible portrait of life on the island, circa 1921. (ITL349, $15.00)
  Sea and Sardinia
Honeymoon in Purdah, An Iranian Journey  •  Alison Wearing
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES
A delightfully insane jaunt through contemporary Iran. The author -- who got herself a black polyester chaador and a husband (in the form of her gay roommate) -- dives into the personalities and charm of the Iranian people in this entertaining, insightful travel account. (IRN24, $15.00)
  Honeymoon in Purdah, An Iranian Journey
Unexpected Light, Travels in Afghanistan  •  Jason Elliot
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 496 PAGES
A vivid portrait of Afghan and its people, which interweaves the author's travels in the region as a teenager in 1979 with more recent, and more dificult travels in the late 1980s. (CAS74, $18.00)
  Unexpected Light, Travels in Afghanistan
Sahara Unveiled, A Journey across the Desert  •  William Langewiesche
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 302 PAGES
Traveling across the Sahara from Algiers to Dakar, Langeweische has written an uncommonly good memoir of the desert, with meditations on its history, inhabitants and allure. (NAF05, $14.95)
  Sahara Unveiled, A Journey across the Desert
In an Antique Land  •  Amitav Ghosh
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1994 •  PAPER  • 393 PAGES
In this heady book, the author-historian combines his own journey as a student from India at Oxford with the tale of a South Indian slave who lived along the ancient Nile. It's invaluable for understanding the history of the Malabar coast and relations between the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. Not exactly historical fiction, the book artfully interweaves personal history, travel writing and philosophical meditation. (EGY18, $15.00)
  In an Antique Land
Motoring with Mohammed, Journeys to Yemen and the Red Sea  •  Eric Hansen
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1992 •  PAPER  • 240 PAGES • FAVORITE
Ten years after he was shipwrecked aboard a sailboat in the Red Sea (and rescued by goat smugglers from Eritrea), the intrepid Hansen returns to Yemen in search of a journal he buried in the sand. This book is classic travel writing: insightful, personal and informative -- not to mention highly entertaining. (ARB11, $14.95)
  Motoring with Mohammed, Journeys to Yemen and the Red Sea
Lords of the Atlas, The Rise and Fall of the House of Glaoua  •  Gavin Maxwell
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2005 •  PAPER  • 316 PAGES • COMING IN AUGUST
A classic account of the tribal warlords of the Atlas Mountains -- and of life in French colonial Morocco. In this rousing tale and excellent introduction to Marrakech, Maxwell (who also wrote "Ring of Bright Water") follows the fate of the despotic Glaoui clan from 1893 to independence from France in 1956. (MRC35, $32.95)
  Lords of the Atlas, The Rise and Fall of the House of Glaoua
Serengeti, Natural Order on the African Plain  •  Mitsuaki Iwago
NATURAL HISTORY •  1987 •  HARD COVER  • 280 PAGES • FAVORITE • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE
This handsomely produced volume by celebrated Tokyo photographer Iwago features 300 full-color images of the Serengeti plains. It's one of our favorite photo collections -- beautiful and timeless. (EAF04, $35.00)
  Serengeti, Natural Order on the African Plain
Arabian Sands  •  Wilfred Thesiger  •  Rory Stewart
EXPLORATION •  2007 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES • FAVORITE
The last of the great British traveler-explorers, Wilfred Thesiger (1910-2003) journeyed among the nomadic camel-breeding peoples of Southern Arabia in the late 1940s, falling in love with the desert and ways of life of the Bedouin. This eloquent book, a Longitude favorite, is his tribute to vanished traditions. (ARB15, $15.00)
  Arabian Sands
West with the Night  •  Beryl Markham
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1983 •  PAPER  • 294 PAGES • FAVORITE
A direct, stylish, and engrossing story of a marvelous life well lived. Markham describes her childhood in Kenya and her experiences as a bush pilot in the 1930s, evoking the landscapes, people, and wildlife of East Africa in rich detail. (EAF10, $15.00)
  West with the Night
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass  •  Isak Dinesen
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1985 •  PAPER  • 466 PAGES
The famous tale of a naive young woman who leaves Denmark for East Africa. First published in 1937 and now a perennial bestseller, Out of Africa draws us into life on a struggling coffee plantation with its lyrical tone. Profoundly introspective and romantic, it's a moving story inspired by a love for Kenya and its people. Dinesen's home in what is now a suburb of Nairobi called "Karen" was made into a national museum after the release of the movie version of this classic book. (EAF22, $14.95)
  Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass
The Valleys of the Assassins, and Other Persian Travels  •  Freya Stark
EXPLORATION •  2001 •  PAPER  • 292 PAGES
A remarkable account of adventures in remote Persia by the intrepid Freya Stark, originally published in 1934 -- and an instant bestseller. It displays all the verve, wit and derring-do of her best accounts. Her expedition discovered the site of Lammassar, the second of the great fortresses to be discovered in the remote Alamut Valley. (MDE53, $15.00)
 
South Southeast  •  Steve McCurry
ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2001 •  HARD COVER  • 160 PAGES
A remarkable portfolio of images taken in and around Afghanistan, Burma, India, Pakistan and other sites in South and Southeast Asia over a career in photojournalism spanning twenty years. The photographs, saturated with color, life and light, are beautiful. You can preview some of his striking photographs online at http://www.stevemccurry.com. (ASA34, $59.95)
 
In Siberia  •  Colin Thubron
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES • FAVORITE
One of our favorite writers, Thubron captures in dazzling prose the contradictions, beauty, personality and hardship of this huge land. Thubron journeyed 15,000 miles along the Trans-Siberian Railway, up the Yenisei River to the Arctic, into the mountains abutting Mongolia, to Lake Baikal -- the world's oldest and deepest lake -- and east to Magadan and the Pacific. (SIB14, $14.95)
  In Siberia
A Fortune-Teller Told Me, Earthbound Travels in the Far East  •  Tizanio Terzani
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2002 •  PAPER  • 371 PAGES
Grounded for a year, the peripatetic journalist (Italian-born, writing in German, and based in India) sets off by any other means to complete his rounds through Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Mongolia, China, Japan and other far-flung destinations. The result is this warm, anecdotal account of the character of the region. It's got to be the book most recommended to us on contemporary Asia. (SEA35, $14.95)
  A Fortune-Teller Told Me, Earthbound Travels in the Far East
The River at the Center of the World  •  Simon Winchester
EXPLORATION •  2004 •  PAPER  • 410 PAGES • FAVORITE
In this wide-ranging journalistic overview of the Yangtze (it's a great river of a book itself) veteran journalist Simon Winchester travels upstream into the heartland of China. He and his guide log 4,000 miles over many months, interviewing peasants and politicians throughout the region. It's a remarkable, wonderfully written portrait: an excellent introduction to the great river that is at the symbolic and literal heart of China. Long based in Hong Kong and a frequent commentator on things Asian, Winchester writes about the character of the river itself, and the people and places along its banks, with an easy grace. First published in 1996. (CHN31, $16.00)
  The River at the Center of the World
In Xanadu, A Quest  •  William Dalrymple
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 319 PAGES
An informative, entertaining account of an epic journey mostly in the footsteps of Marco Polo from Jerusalem through the Middle East and along the Silk Route to Central Asia and China. Bureau Chief for a London newspaper in New Delhi, an intrepid traveler, and entertaining writer, Dalrymple offers an anecdotal history of the people and places he encounters en route. Originally published in 1990. (CAS50, $14.95)
  In Xanadu, A Quest
Hong Kong  •  Jan Morris
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1997 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES • FAVORITE
It's always a pleasure to find a destination that Jan Morris has written about. In this book, she covers the whole city in typical fashion -- enumerating the many personal pleasures she found there, as well as deftly describing the most important aspects of Hong Kong's history and culture. Reissued with a new final chapter on the city's return to China. (HKG02, $17.00)
  Hong Kong
Video Night in Kathmandu, and Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East  •  Pico Iyer
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1989 •  PAPER  • 376 PAGES
A vivid collection of tales on a variety of Asian locales including Bali, Hong Kong, India, China and Bangkok. Iyer brings enormous wit and humor to these essays, which explore the culture of each place. (ASA02, $14.95)
  Video Night in Kathmandu, and Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East
Iron and Silk  •  Mark Salzman
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1990 •  PAPER  • 211 PAGES
Salzman gets himself to Changsha in the mid-1980s on the pretext of teaching English to Chinese doctors. His real mission, however, is to become a kung fu master. In this wonderfully readable travelogue he conveys a sense of contemporary life, its realities and frustrations -- and of his growing understanding of an alien culture. A major subplot is his ongoing relationship with Pan, the mentor to this awkward and overly enthusiastic American martial arts student. (CHN52, $13.95)
 
The Roads to Sata, a 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan  •  Alan Booth
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 281 PAGES
A revealing, humorous account of the author's 2,000-mile walk north to south from Hokkaido to Kyushu by a wonderfully eccentric British expatriate. Booth is a disarming writer, chronicling his encounters along the byways of rural Japan with farmers, misfits, tramps and others who crossed his path. By the author of "Looking for the Lost." (JPN11, $16.00)
  The Roads to Sata, a 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan
Running in the Family  •  Michael Ondaatje
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1993 •  PAPER  • 207 PAGES
This hypnotic short book powerfully evokes grand society in post-colonial Sri Lanka and, especially, Ondaatje's impressively eccentric grandparents. Written by the author of The English Patient, this book is hard to categorize: it's as much fiction as family memoir and travelogue -- and wonderful. (SRL04, $13.95)
  Running in the Family
The Snow Leopard  •  Peter Matthiessen
EXPLORATION •  1996 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES • FAVORITE
A vivid memoir of a five-week journey through Nepal with George Schaller in search of the magnificent leopard. As perceptive, wonderful and acutely descriptive as any of Matthiessen's writing. (NPL03, $15.00)
  The Snow Leopard
Slowly Down the Ganges  •  Eric Newby
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1998 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES
In 1963, the Newbys (Eric and his wife Wanda) set out an a 1,200-mile voyage down the Ganges River. The title could apply as easily to the ruminative attitude the author takes towards his journey as to the many mishaps which bedevil the quest -- invariably occasions for the author to display his wit. (IDA179, $14.95)
  Slowly Down the Ganges
Seven Years in Tibet  •  Heinrich Harrer
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1997 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES
First published in 1953, this is the riveting account of a young Austrian adventurer and mountaineer who became tutor to the Dalai Lama. Imprisoned by the British in India as WWII erupted, he escaped across the Himalayas to the holy city of Lhasa, remaining with the Tibetans until he fled with the Dalai Lama in the Chinese invasion of 1950. A classic. (TBT02, $14.95)
  Seven Years in Tibet
30 Days in Sydney, A Wildly Distorted Account  •  Peter Carey
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  HARD COVER  • 248 PAGES
An impressionistic account of Carey's native city, the result of his return visit (with a tape recorder) after an absence of 17 years. (AUS123, $16.95)
 
Cold Beer and Crocodiles, A Bicycle Journey into Australia  •  Roff Smith
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 284 PAGES
Adventures across Australia by bicycle. Determined to get to know his adopted homeland (and no doubt wanting to test himself too), this Time Magazine correspondent headed out to explore the rainforests, beaches, and deserts of Australia by bicycle. Not surprisingly, the long highways and odd characters he met turned out to be more dangerous than the crocodiles, poisonous snakes and other natural features of the continent. An expanded version of the original three-part article in National Geographic. (AUS106, $14.00)
  Cold Beer and Crocodiles, A Bicycle Journey into Australia
In a Sunburned Country  •  Bill Bryson
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 307 PAGES • FAVORITE
Nothing seems to deter the intrepid, ever-resourceful Bill Bryson -- and all the better for his many readers. Here he revels in Australia's eccentric characters, dangerous flora and fauna, and other oddities. As has become his custom, he also effortlessly imparts much history in this wildly funny book. Included at the end is a short bibliography. (AUS83, $14.95)
  In a Sunburned Country
The Edge of Paradise, America in Micronesia  •  P. K. Kluge
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1993 •  PAPER  • 244 PAGES
The insightful memoir of a Peace Corps volunteer in Micronesia in 1967 -- and an account of his journey back a generation later after the death of his good friend (who had become president of Pall). Kluge, a writer and former correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, writes with affection of this then-undeveloped corner of Micronesia, and especially of the people he meets. He includes his impressions of Palau, Turk, Ponape, Tinian, Saipan and the Marshall Islands. By the author of Biggest Elivs. (PAC33, $17.00)
  The Edge of Paradise, America in Micronesia
Stranger in the Forest  •  Eric Hansen
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES • FAVORITE
A marvelous account of Hansen's treks across Borneo in the company of the nomadic Penan, on which he trudged through more than 1,500 miles of forested terrain. It's an entertaining portrait of a little-visited world and vanishing way of life, absorbing in detail. By the author of the classic account of Yemen and the Red Sea, "Motoring with Mohammed." (BRN16, $13.95)
  Stranger in the Forest
The Songlines  •  Bruce Chatwin
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1988 •  PAPER  • 294 PAGES • FAVORITE
This celebrated travelogue is as much about its gifted author -- and the meaning of travel -- as about the Aboriginal people and their ways of life. In this unusual book, Chatwin combines straightforward reporting, history, dream-time stories, and a heady mix of quotations from his notebooks. Along the way, he transforms a journey through the outback into an exhilarating, semi-fictional meditation on our place in the world. (AUS01, $15.00)
  The Songlines
Tracks, A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback  •  Robyn Davidson
EXPLORATION •  1995 •  PAPER  • 256 PAGES
Davidson arrives in the outback with a dog, a little cash, and she manages to find some camels (feral in Australian desert since the 19th century) to carry her on her journey. This absorbing book is her account of her trek across the desert -- a tale of true adventure shot through with a feel for the landscape and empathy for the Aboriginal people she meets along the way. (AUS15, $14.00)
  Tracks, A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback
A House in Bali  •  Colin McPhee
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 213 PAGES
A warm tribute to the people, culture and, especially, the music of Bali. McPhee, a musicologist who became captivated by gamelan music made his home in the area of Sayan Ridge near Ubud in the 1930s. A literary classic originally published in 1944. (BAL15, $27.95)
  A House in Bali
This Cold Heaven, Seven Seasons in Greenland  •  Gretel Ehrlich
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2003 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES • FAVORITE
No lightweight, Ehrlich wandered, mostly alone, by boat, helicopter, plane, and dogsled over seven seasons in Greenland. This account of her travels in the region reflects her insight, knowledge, and deep appreciation of the people and barren landscapes of the north. A first-rate writer and philosopher, she interweaves the story of her own peregrinations with the story of Greenland-born Knud Rasmussen, the Arctic explorer who established a trading base at Thule with Peter Freuchen; and the result is a profound, exhilarating book. (ARC107, $14.95)
  This Cold Heaven, Seven Seasons in Greenland
Last Places, A Journey in the North  •  Lawrence Millman  •  Paul Theroux
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 242 PAGES
In the wake of the Vikings, the intrepid author explores the landscapes, culture and history of the North Atlantic. His wry -- and sometimes hilarious -- commentary illuminates modern life in the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland. (ARC54, $13.00)
  Last Places, A Journey in the North
Terra Incognita, Travels in Antarctica  •  Sara Wheeler
TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES
The National Science Foundation and British Antarctic Survey did well to invite travel writer Sarah Wheeler to join them in Antarctica. A privileged anomaly on this continent of science, she larked around from Mac City to remote field camps to the Antarctic Peninsula, her finely tuned pencil poised. A fine portrait of modern Antarctic scientists (and cooks and truck drivers), her book weaves stories of modern adventure with commentary on the heroic age of exploration, altogether a thoroughly enjoyable tribute. (ANT45, $13.95)
  Terra Incognita, Travels in Antarctica
Arctic Dreams, Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape  •  Barry Lopez
NATURAL HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 417 PAGES • FAVORITE
One of the best books we've read on any destination, this celebrated meditation on the Arctic draws on Lopez's travels throughout the North, including Baffin Island, Siberia and Greenland. A dazzling writer and compassionate observer, Lopez weaves biology and history into his storytelling, including extended chapters on the polar bear and narwhal. (ARC11, $15.00)
  Arctic Dreams, Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape
 

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Galapagos, Islands Born of Fire  •  Tui De Roy   • NATURAL HISTORY • FAVORITE • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE  •  The 10th anniversary edition of author, naturalist, photographer and friend Tui de Roy's stunning celebration of the landscapes, wildlife and habitats of the archipelago, organized as a series of ten artful photo-essays. Raised in the Galapagos with a camera in hand, Tui knows the islands just about as well as anyone. (GPS28, $65.00)
 
 


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