Publisher: Bauer Books
Published posthumously, this collection of seven short stories and sketches creates a fascinating portrait of life on the picturesque Hawaiian Islands. Brimming with vivid descriptions of the sea and forest, these tales examine the lives of an array of characters and the effect upon them of their contact with Western civilization.
Southern Arabia recounts a threatening four-month journey into North Eastern Ethiopia by the Bents. These brave travelers were the first to travel without disguise in a region where Westerners had formerly been fortunate to escape with their lives. (Summary by Woolly Bee)Show book
With generous splashes of popular culture and human interest, the NPR Road Trips series introduces you not only to far-off locations and unusual destinations, but to the people who inhabit them—and seek them out. Each story focuses on real locations, real people, and real history in the thought-provoking, imaginative and entertaining way you’ve come to expect from NPR.Meet Colin Angus and Julie Wafael, who spent two years circumnavigating the globe using their hands and feet. Turn on the radio in Katmandu and hear music from the 70s. Learn how robot jockeys are solving a human rights problem in Dubai. (It has to do with camel races.) Get ready for carnival in Rio. And walk through old Beijing before it’s demolished for high-rise development. NPR has correspondents all over the world. As listeners learn, most meet with friendliness and hospitality, even in the most out-of-the-way places.Includes “Adventurers Cross the Globe by Foot and Hand ” “1970s Nostalgia Thrives in Katmandu” “Robot Jockeys Give Camel Racing a Modern Twist” “Listener Sends ‘Postcard’ from Rio’s Carnival” “A Walk Through Beijing’s Vanishing Hutongs” And more.Show book
For readers and viewers of The Perfect Storm, opening this long-awaited new work by Sebastian Junger will be like stepping off the deck of the Andrea Gail and into the inferno of a fire burning out of control in the steep canyons of Idaho. Here is the same meticulous prose brought to bear on the inner workings of a terrifying elemental force; here is a cast of characters risking everything in an effort to bring that force under control. Few writers have been to so many desperate corners of the globe as has Sebastian Junger; fewer still have provided such starkly memorable evocations of characters and events. From the murderous mechanics of the diamond trade in Sierra Leone to the logic of guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan and the forensics of genocide in Kosovo, this new collection of Junger's nonfiction will take you places you wouldn't dream of going to on your own.Show book
From Bourbon Street to Pirate’s Alley and beyond—a local historian takes you on a walking tour of the historic French Quarter in New Orleans. Walking through the French Quarter can overwhelm the senses—and the imagination. The experience is much more meaningful with knowledge of the area’s colorful history. For instance, the infamous 1890 “separate but equal” legal doctrine justifying racial segregation was upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court at the Cabildo on Jackson Square. In the mid-twentieth century, a young Lee Harvey Oswald called Exchange Alley home. One of New Orleans’s favorite cocktails—the sazerac—would not exist if Antoine Peychaud had not served his legendary bitters with cognac from his famous apothecary at 437 Royal. Local author Andy Peter Antippas presents a walking history of the Vieux Carre, one alley, corner and street at a time.Show book
An adventure across a thousand miles of Scotland's mountains. In this personal guide to the triumphs, hardships and perils of scaling the Munros, Landsberg brings the joys and pitfalls of hill-climbing to life. Landsberg's adventures are presented in vivid detail, with insights ranging from encompassing the wonder of unique experiences like seeing the birth of a deer to the mundane delight of the flavour of sandwich he had on a given day. Throughout his account, Landsberg provides an in-depth insight into his growing obsession with climbing the Munroes and its effect on his physical, emotional and spiritual development. With insights on the history, culture, ecology and geology of Scotland's mountains and guides to Gaelic place names, mountain safety and an analysis the science of walking, this book provides a complete guide for anyone looking for adventure in the Highlands, and is sure to inspire anyone who reads it to go climb a rock! Excerpt: One day I walked into these mountains, and I never came all the way back. For though Scotland's mountains may not be the highest in the world, they are certainly amongst the most awe-inspiring and enchanting. From the towering pinnacles of Skye, to the high rolling plateau of the Cairngorms; from the bonnie braes of Ben Lomond to the weeping cliffs of Glencoe; from the rocky battlements that encircle Loch Arkaig, to the gentle folds of Ben Lawers as it spills down to Loch Tay: here are offered scenes of unrivalled splendour, landscapes of unparalleled variety, and a magic ground for personal connection, inspiration, and transformation. These are places of accessible adventure - we leave behind the safety of the lush glen to cross the swooping moor, clamber up through craggy corridors, and with silver chuckling burn then spatey cascade as our sometime guide we reach at last the grand summits of these lands. Here beneath a hundred rainbows lie a hundred pots of gold - unclaimed scenic ingots that are yours for the taking and to which I hope to lead you, on a journey for body, for mind, and perhaps for something deeper.Show book
“For wine enthusiasts and newcomers alike, a sharp gathering of writing about wine’s multidimensional, occasionally subversive pleasures.” —Kirkus Reviews In this anthology, Jay McInerney—bestselling novelist, winner of a James Beard MFK Fisher Award for Distinguished Writing, and acclaimed wine columnist for Town & Country, Wall Street Journal, and House and Garden—selects over twenty pieces of memorable fiction and nonfiction about the making, selling, and of course, drinking of fine wine. Including short stories, novel excerpts, memoir, and narrative nonfiction, Wine Reads features big names in the trade and literary heavyweights alike. We follow Kermit Lynch to the Northern Rhône in a chapter from his classic Adventures on the Wine Route. In an excerpt from Between Meals, long-time New Yorker writer A.J. Liebling raises feeding and imbibing on a budget in Paris into something of an art form—and discovers a very good rosé along the way. Michael Dibdin’s fictional Venetian detective Aurelio Zen gets a lesson in Barolo, Barbaresco, and Brunello vintages from an eccentric celebrity. In real life, and over half a century ago, Jewish-Czech writer and gourmet Joseph Wechsberg visits the medieval Château d’Yquem to sample different years of the “roi des vins” alongside a French connoisseur who had his first taste of wine at age four. Also showcasing an iconic scene from Rex Pickett’s Sideways and work by Jancis Robinson, Benjamin Wallace, and McInerney himself, this is an essential volume for any disciple of Bacchus. “There are plenty of bright notes of flavor in this anthology to make it worthy reading, preferably with a glass in hand.” —Publishers WeeklyShow book
