Other books that might interest you

• 

  Monte Carlo For Vagabonds -...

  R.A. Dalkey

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  When R.A. Dalkey travels cheap, he thinks bigger than hostel dorms, overnight trains and pasta with tomato sauce for every meal. He'll roll out his sleeping bag in Madrid's red light district, nap on the streets of Monaco and furtively string up his hammock on Swiss farms. He'll spontaneously teach English in Laos in exchange for rice. He'll thumb rides anywhere from West Timor to South Africa. He'll try smiling a lot, and see where it takes him. Most of the time it's somewhere good. 
  As this collection of stories will reveal, it doesn't always go smoothly. Indonesian bush-fires chase him from his campsite. His shoes freeze solid in Siberia. He gets head-butted by an Albanian villager. He's shaken by earthquakes and terrified by witching-hour excavations in Andorran valleys. And, incompetent as ever with ropes, his hammock has a habit of falling down in the middle of the night – with him in it. 
  Yet he wouldn't have it any other way: travelling Dalkey-style delivers the richest of experiences. And as he shares the adventures few of us would brave, you'll pick up gems about this crazy planet. Do you know which head of state was an Olympic bobsleigh competitor? Or how long your unattended bag will go untouched in Japan? Who's eating all the ice cream in Pyongyang? And how do cats jump in Swedish? 
  Like that uncle with the rose-tinted specs and a grumpy anarchist student rolled into one, Dalkey turns up his nose at travel insurance and shows there's more than one way to see a world that always steers us to play it safe…

  Show book

• 

  Watermelon Snow - Science Art...

  Lynne Quarmby

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Concern about the climate crisis is widespread as humans struggle to navigate life in uncertain times. From the vantage of a schooner full of artists on an adventure in the high Arctic, biologist Lynne Quarmby explains the science that convinced her of an urgent need to act on climate change and recounts how this knowledge - and the fear and panic it elicited - plunged her into unsustainable action, ending in arrests, lawsuits, and a failed electoral campaign on behalf of the Green Party of Canada. Watermelon Snow weaves memoir, microbiology, and artistic antics together with descriptions of a sublime Arctic landscape. At the top of the warming world, Quarmby struggles with burnout and grief while an aerial artist twirls high in the ship's rigging, bearded seals sing mournfully, polar bears prowl, and glaciers crumble into the sea. In a compelling narrative, sorrow and fear are balanced by beauty and wonder. The author's journey back from a life out of balance includes excursions into evolutionary history where her discoveries reveal the heart of human existence. The climate realities are as dark as the Arctic winter, yet this is a book of lightness and generosity. Quarmby's voice, intimate and original, illuminates the science while offering a reminder that much about the human experience is beyond reason. Inspiring and deeply personal, Watermelon Snow is the story of one scientist's rediscovery of what it means to live a good life at a time of increasing desperation about the future.

  Show book

• 

  A Short History of San Francisco

  Tom Cole

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A concise, “colorful, well-told” history of the City by the Bay, from the Gold Rush to the Summer of Love to the twenty-first century (Los Angeles Times).   This is the story of San Francisco, a unique and rowdy tale with a legendary cast of characters. It tells of the Indians and the Spanish missions, the arrival of thousands of gold seekers and gamblers, crackbrains and dreamers, the building of the transcontinental railroad and the cable car, labor strife and political shenanigans, the 1906 earthquake and fire, two World Wars, two World's Fairs, two great bridges, the beatniks and hippies and New Left—a story that is so marvelous and wild that it must be true.   A new afterword from the author in this updated third edition brings The City into the twenty-first century—a time just as hectic, experimental, and opportunistic as its rambunctious past.

  Show book

• 

  Lost Restaurants of Baltimore

  Suzanne Loudermilk, Kim Watson...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Baltimore's unforgettable dining scene of the past is re-visited here in thirty-five now shuttered restaurants that made their mark on this city.Haussner's artwork. Coffey salad at the Pimlico Hotel. Finger bowls at Hutzler's Colonial Tea Room. The bell outside the door at Martick's Restaurant Francais. Details like these made Baltimore's dining scene so unforgettable. Explore the stories behind thirty-five shuttered restaurants that Baltimoreans once loved and remember the meals, the crowds, the owners and the spaces that made these places hot spots. Suzanne Loudermilk and Kit Waskom Pollard share behind-the-scenes tales of what made them tick, why they closed their doors and how they helped make Baltimore a culinary destination.

  Show book

• 

  Atlas of Improbable Places - A...

  Travis Elborough, Alan Horsfield

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Inspiring urban explorers and armchair travellers alike to consider a new way of understanding the world we live in, this unique atlas shows you the modern world from surprising new vantage points.  Hidden lairs beneath layers of rock, forgotten cities rising out of deserted lands and even mankind's own feats of engineering eccentricity lie in the most unusual of destinations. Go in search of the obscure and bizarre, the beautiful and estranged, taking in the defiant relics of ancient cities such as Ani, a once thriving metropolis lost to conquered lands, and the church tower of San Juan Parangaricuto, that miraculously stands as the sole survivor of a town sunk by lava. Through the labyrinths of Berlin and Beijing — underground realms dug for refuge, espionage and even, as Canada's Moose Jaw, used as the playground for gangsters trading liquor and money over cards — never forgetting the freaks and wonders of nature's own unusual masterpieces: the magical underground river shaped like a dragon's mouth in the Philippines and the floating world of Palmerston. With beautiful maps and stunning photography illustrating each destination, Atlas of Improbable Places is a fascinating voyage to the world's most incredible destinations. As the Island of Dolls and the hauntingly titled Door to Hell — an inextinguishable fire pit - attest, mystery is never far away. The truths and myths behind their creation are as varied as the destinations themselves. Standing as symbols of worship, testaments to kingships or even the strange and wonderful traditions of old and new, these curious places are not just extraordinary sights but reflections on man's own relationship with the world around us.Also in the Unexpected Atlas series: Atlas of Untamed Places,Atlas of the Unexpected, Atlas of Vanishing Places.

  Show book

• 

  Secret Bus to Paradise - It's...

  Bradley Charbonneau

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  What if paradise weren't a physical place? 
  But a state of mind. 
  A "place" we all had access to if only... 
  ...we knew which bus to take.  
  ...we could figure out when it departed the station. 
  ...we knew which seat to sit in.  
  What if the map to get there was a secret? 
  That we all knew. That we all had.  
  If only we knew how to access it.  
  Where to get tickets.  
  Here's your ticket.

  Show book