Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Old Puglia: A Portrait of South Eastern Italy

Catalog:Armchair Travel Booksw
Puglia is the heel of Italy that stretches down from the spur of the Italian boot. Littered across this region of mesmerizing landscapes and picturesque cities are Romanesque cathedrals, Gothic castles, a wealth of Baroque architecture, and rupestrian churches with Byzantine frescoes. Though always popular with Italians, Puglia has been neglected by tourists, who for many years favored Tuscany and Umbria. The region is now, however, hastily emerging from their shadow. All of a sudden, there are radio and television features; travel supplements lavish praise on its beaches and cuisine; supermarkets stock Puglian wine, olive oil, and pasta; and yet, despite all this attention, almost nothing has been written in English on Puglia since the days of Norman Douglas and the Sitwells.

This is not a holiday history or a canter through Puglia's past, but a thoughtful look—often through the eyes of previous travelers, for Puglia's landscape has changed remarkably little over the years—at a region inextricably intertwined with its past. We are introduced to its heroes, meet its people, and visit its shrines; we sample its food and savor its beauty.

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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Hard Way

The Hard Way: Stories of Danger, Survival, and the Soul of Adventure [Paperback]
Author:Mark Jenkins
Catalog:Adventure book
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-A collection of nearly two dozen stories, many drawn from Jenkins's column for Outside magazine. The author whisks readers away to places where geography, weather, and the occasional political boundary pose daunting challenges for adventurers who actively seek to test their limits in extreme conditions. Whether the example is crossing a crevasse-ridden glacier in Wyoming, mountain climbing in Tibet, or hiking in a remote Ethiopian nature preserve hoping to spot endangered species, the point is the exultation of pitting oneself against the perils of natural landscapes, mastering the challenge through physical ruggedness and mental tenacity, and emerging alive. Each focused, brisk chapter wraps up cleanly with a neat sentence of observation that often reveals a darker outcome to the episode than the narrative implies. Most of the entries are based on the author's firsthand experiences, decorated with colorful descriptions of like-minded souls with whom he has partnered on various expeditions. A few tales, such as the profile of mountaineer George Mallory, smoothly complement, but do not keep to, this pattern. A cameo of Jenkins introducing his daughters at ages three and six to rock climbing in order to develop their confidence and sense of self-reliance brings an added dimension to the collection. Although Jenkins says that preparedness, conditioning, and avoiding ego-based lapses of judgment are essential to a venture's safe outcome, be aware that the spirited energy that infuses his anecdotes nevertheless leans toward celebration of reckless acts.

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Monday, July 19, 2010

Along the River that Flows Uphill

Along the River that Flows Uphill: From the Orinoco to the Amazon (Armchair Traveller) [Hardcover]
Author:
Richard Starks
Author:Murcutt Miriam
Catalog:Armchair Travel Book

Product Description
Along The River that Flows Uphill weaves the story of an Amazon journey with science, math and reason to explore the risks that are inherent in adventure travel.

In 2005, Geographical - the official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society in London - commissioned authors Richard Starks and Miriam Murcutt to write an article about a strange river in Venezuela called the Casiquiare. This river - once the source of great controversy until it was explored by Alexander von Humboldt - is like no other, since it joins two, otherwise-separate river systems, the Orinoco and the Amazon, by apparently flowing up and over the watershed that divides them. Rivers are not meant to do that.

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Sunday, July 18, 2010

A Portrait of the Gulf Stream

A Portrait of the Gulf Stream: In Praise of Currents (Armchair Traveller) [Paperback]
Author:
Erik Orsenna
Catalog:Armchair Travel
Product Description
Concerned about the possible demise of the Gulf Stream, Érik Orsenna read, investigated, interviewed experts, and traveled from the violent swirls off the coast of Florida to the maelstroms of Norway to better understand this most important of ocean currents. Part homage, part investigation, A Portrait of the Gulf Stream allows readers to join him on a voyage of discovery. From writing about the sea as varied as that of Socrates and Hemingway to scientific theory both ancient and modern, we discover the secrets of this most powerful and mysterious current.

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Saturday, July 17, 2010

Adventures among Ants

Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions [Hardcover]
Author: Mark W. Moffett
Catalog:Adventure books

Product Description
Intrepid international explorer, biologist, and photographer Mark W. Moffett, "the Indiana Jones of entomology," takes us around the globe on a strange and colorful journey in search of the hidden world of ants. In tales from Nigeria, Indonesia, the Amazon, Australia, California, and elsewhere, Moffett recounts his entomological exploits and provides fascinating details on how ants live and how they dominate their ecosystems through strikingly human behaviors, yet at a different scale and a faster tempo. Moffett's spectacular close-up photographs shrink us down to size, so that we can observe ants in familiar roles; warriors, builders, big-game hunters, and slave owners. We find them creating marketplaces and assembly lines and dealing with issues we think of as uniquely human--including hygiene, recycling, and warfare. Adventures among Ants introduces some of the world's most awe-inspiring species and offers a startling new perspective on the limits of our own perception.

* Ants are world-class road builders, handling complex traffic problems on thoroughfares that dwarf our highway systems
* Ants take slaves from conquered armies and create societies dependent on their labor
* Ants with the largest societies often deploy complex military tactics
* Some ants have evolved from hunter-gatherers into farmers, domesticating other animals and growing specific crops for food

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Friday, July 16, 2010

A Winter in Arabia :by Freya Stark

A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen (The Freya Stark Collection) [PaperBack]
Author
:Freya Stark
Catalog:Armchair Travel Books
Product Description
In 1934 Freya Stark made her first journey to the Hadhramaut in what is now Yemen—the first woman to do so alone. Even though that journey ended in disappointment, sickness, and a forced rescue, Stark, undeterred, returned to Yemen two years later. Starting in Mukalla and skirting the fringes of the legendary and unexplored Empty Quarter, she spent the winter searching for Shabwa—ancient capital of the Hadhramaut and a holy grail for generations of explorers. From within Stark’s beautifully-crafted and deeply knowledgeable narrative emerges a rare portrait of the customs and cultures of the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. A Winter in Arabia is one of the most important pieces of literature on the region and a book that placed Freya Stark in the pantheon of great writers and explorers of the Arab World.

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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Shambhala: The Road Less Travelled in Western Tibet

Shambhala: The Road Less Travelled in Western Tibet [Paperback]
Author:Laurence J. Brahm
Editorial Reviews
In Shambhala, Laurence travels to Lhasa, where he obtains an ancient Buddhist scripture entitled Shambhala Sutra, stolen from Tashilumbo Monastery.

By following Shambhala Sutra as a road map, Laurence goes on the road to look for the kingdom of Shambhala as described in the sutra. As he travels deeper into the harsh regions of Tibet, he finds that Shambhala Sutra has led him on a journey to discover the kingdom of Shambhala within his heart.

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