Other books that might interest you

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  The Land of Little Rain

  Mary Hunter Austin

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  The Land of Little Rain is a book of sketches which portray the high desert country of southern California, where the Sierras descend into the Mojave Desert. Mary Austin finds beauty in the harsh landscape: "This is the sense of the desert hills--that there is room enough and time enough. . . The treeless spaces uncramp the soul." Her story begins with the water trails that lead toward the few life giving springs--the way marked for men by ancient Indian pictographs. Life and death play out at these springs. Rabbits fall prey to the coyote; buzzards hang heavily in the sky above. She then writes of individuals who eke out their living in this land of scarce resources--an itinerant gold prospector, a sheepherder, a blind Indian basket maker. Austin's spare prose creates unforgettable vignettes: "Choose a hill country for storms. . . I remember one night of thunderous rain made unendurably mournful by the houseless cry of a cougar whose lair, and perhaps his family, had been buried under a slide of broken boulders . . ." Anyone who sees beauty in the Southwestern deserts, or who just enjoys good nature writing, will savor The Land of Little Rain. ( Summary by Sue Anderson )

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  Anywhere Travel Guide - 75...

  Magda Lipka Falck

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  Seventy-five ways to embrace a spirit of adventure—around the world or around the corner. 
   
  Ask the next person you meet where his/her favorite street is. Go there. 
   
  Write down what you like about this city on a small piece of paper. Leave it where someone else will find it later. 
   
  If you can see a shop from where you are, step inside it. 
   
  A creative travel guide for anywhere, this handy book includes seventy-five inspirations for exploration. With a unique mix of concrete actions and whimsical prompts, the Anywhere Travel Guide takes you on a journey that encourages you to see things differently, to discover both new and familiar places—and to bring a new spirit of adventure to your life.

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  Everything Is A Road

  Phil Cousineau

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  Noticing life out of the corner of our eye takes some attention. We are often dazzled by the spectacle of what is in front of us. However, there are precious treasures that may only be seen by a fleeting glance. From his extensive, world-circling travels Cousineau observes: “We’re going to be blinded by the glamour of the world, by what everybody else sees or what the Chamber of Commerce wants us to see. The real art, the real story takes place out of the corner of the eye.” He guides us superbly by demonstrating how to find moments of true depth and meaning. He emboldens us to be awake to the small details when “life leaps out at you.” His advice about writing is that if some small thing causes us to wonder and be amazed we should “take it out for a walk.” He says, “It’s the communication of a moment in which we glean meaning out of the vast meaningless.” As a writer we may start out telling some preconceived story, but if we allow ourselves the space and freedom, we may find that the best stories come from small moments that have grabbed our attention. Thus the personal becomes the universal. Travel with Phil from the cardboard rocket ship of his youth to the footprints on a 3 million year old road. You’ll be enthralled and inspirited by his many stories. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

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  Crossing the Craton

  John McPhee

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  With his Pulitzer Prize-winning Annals of the Former World, John McPhee explores not only the richly varied surface of the United States, but the geological wonders hidden deep beneath our feet.  
  In this final book of the series, he embarks on a fascinating journey across the basement of the continent--the land masses forming Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and thereabouts--with a professor and geochronologist acting as a guide.  
  Whether Randy Van Schmus is out in the field with his students, or grinding rock in the university lab, he insists the flat plains of middle America are anything but dull. He tells the story of eons of violent upheaval that is written in the features lying far below the shimmering wheat fields. As he shares how scientists are unlocking the secrets of the earth's timetable, millions of years seem but brief moments.  
  John McPhee's enthusiasm and peerless writing style make the study of geology both accessible and entertaining. Nelson Runger's thought-provoking performance ensures you will view the earth with fresh insight.

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  American Covenant - National...

  Michael A. Soukup, Gary E. Machlis

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  An intimate and candid account of our national parks and their strengths, vulnerabilities, and essential role in American life.Part memoir, part critique, and paean to the value of national parks, American Covenant distills the experience and insights from two long careers in conservation. Michael A. Soukup and Gary E. Machlis show how the national parks are essential to maintaining the essence of our national heritage, and key to America's future in a changing climate and political landscape. Sharing real-world examples of both victories and defeats in protecting national parks, this candid, thoughtful book reminds us that the national parks are a promise—a covenant—within and between generations of Americans. The book is also a call to revitalize, reconstitute, reconfigure, and reform the National Park Service, which the authors believe is governed too much by outdated management practices and politics instead of a foundation of expertise and science.

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  Unruly Places - Lost Spaces...

  Alastair Bonnett

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  At a time when Google Maps can take you on a virtual tour of Yosemite's remotest trails and cell phones double as navigational systems, it's hard to imagine there's any uncharted ground left on the planet. In Unruly Places, Alastair Bonnett goes to some of the most unexpected, offbeat places in the world to reinspire our geographical imagination.Bonnett's remarkable tour includes moving villages, secret cities, no man's lands, and floating islands. He explores places as disorienting as Sandy Island, an island included on maps until just two years ago despite the fact that it never existed.An intrepid guide down the road much less traveled, Bonnett reveals that the most extraordinary places on earth might be hidden in plain sight. Perfect for urban explorers, wilderness ramblers, and armchair travelers struck by wanderlust, Unruly Places will change the way you see the places you inhabit.

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