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SMITHSONIAN JOURNEYS

Amazon River Voyage

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Books for

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

Item EXAMZ103. Buy these 5 items as a set for $104 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
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The Smithsonian Atlas of the Amazon

The Smithsonian Atlas of the Amazon

by Michael Goulding | Ronaldo Barthem | Efrem Ferreira

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2003
  • HARD COVER
  • 254 PAGES

This beautiful, profusely illustrated atlas of the river includes its major tributaries and 150 full-color maps. Goulding (Floods of Fortune) and Brazilian biologists Barthem and Ferreira provide the accompanying text. (AMZ82, $39.95)

Peru, Travellers' Wildlife Guides

Peru, Travellers' Wildlife Guides

by David L. Pearson | Les Beletsky

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 500 PAGES

Featuring 500 illustrations of the birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and insects of the Amazon, Andes and Pacific Coast. (PRU30, $29.95)

Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice

Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice

by Mark Plotkin

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 328 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

In this marvelous book, Plotkin recounts his work documenting the use of medicinal plants among remote tribes in the Northwest Amazon of Suriname, Venezuela, Guyana and French Guiana. A portrait of people and their environment, a tale of adventure and, most of all, a moving example of science in the service of preservation. (AMZ15, $16.00)

La Doctora, The Journal of an American Doctor Practicing Medicine of the Amazon River

La Doctora, The Journal of an American Doctor Practicing Medicine of the Amazon River

by Linnea Smith

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 238 PAGES

An insightful collection of letters home to America from a doctor at an Amazonian jungle clinic for education and research. (AMZ43, $16.95)

Peru Map

Peru Map

by Borch Maps

  • 2011
  • MAP

A laminated map of Peru with city plans. (PRU02, $10.95)

 
Culture Smart! Peru

Culture Smart! Peru


by John Forrest

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 168 PAGES

A concise, well-illustrated and practical guide to local customs, etiquette and culture. (PRU64, $9.95)

Insight Guide Peru

Insight Guide Peru


by Insight Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

Panoramic in scope, this illustrated overview brings Peru to life in hundreds of color photographs and vivid essays by a team of experts writing on history, archaeology and culture. (PRU01, $24.99)

Tree of Rivers, The Story of the Amazon

Tree of Rivers, The Story of the Amazon


by John Hemming

  • HISTORY
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

Hemming captures the ambition, greed and awe of naturalists, explorers and missionaries -- and their devastating impact on native peoples -- in this absorbing human history. (AMZ114, $24.95)

Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon

Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon


by William Herndon | Gary Kinder

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 343 PAGES

An original account of 19th-century exploration of the Amazon by Captain Herndon, who traveled from Lima to the Pacific coast of Brazil. (AMZ67, $14.00)

In Trouble Again

In Trouble Again


by Redmond O'Hanlon

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

As funny as he is insightful, O'Hanlon starts his comic masterpiece of a journey between the Orinoco and the Amazon with a litany of the insects, protozoa, snakes and predators that can do you harm. (AMZ04, $13.95)

Running the Amazon

Running the Amazon


by Joe Kane

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 278 PAGES

A best-selling account of a 4,000-mile expedition from the high Andes to the Atlantic by foot, raft and kayak -- an expedition only four of the ten participants finished. (AMZ13, $14.95)

The Ancient Kingdoms of Peru


by Nigel Davies

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

An anthropological history of the Moche, Nasca, Chimor and other Peruvian civilizations up to the Incas and the Spanish Conquest. (PRU65, $16.00)

The Sea and the Jungle

The Sea and the Jungle


by H.M. Tomlinson

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 258 PAGES

First published in 1912, this is a thoroughly unromanticized, absorbing account of a 2,000-mile journey by steamship deep into the Amazon. Understated and often hilarious. (AMZ10, $18.00)

Cloud Forest, A Chronicle of the South American Wilderness

Cloud Forest, A Chronicle of the South American Wilderness


by Peter Matthiessen

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1987
  • PAPER
  • 280 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Matthiessen recounts with wit, insight and style his odyssey to the Amazon and Andes, including Machu Picchu and Tierra del Fuego. (SAM02, $17.00)

Life in the Treetops, Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology

Life in the Treetops, Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology


by Margaret Lowman

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 219 PAGES

The sprightly memoir of an ecologist who climbs, studies and sleeps in trees for a living, balancing multiple roles of scientist, wife and mom. Margaret Lowman, a pioneer in the ecology of forest tree canopies, continues her story in a second memoir (written with her now-grown sons). (AMZ57, $13.95)

One River, Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon

One River, Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon


by Wade Davis

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 537 PAGES

A spellbinding, sprawling tale of explorers, botanical secrets, and larger-than-life personalities in northwest South America. (AMZ22, $18.00)

The Lost City of Z

The Lost City of Z


by David Grann

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES
  • NEW

In this riveting, real-life adventure, New Yorker writer and middle-aged Brooklynite Grann sets out into the wild to solve "the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century" -- the fate of British explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett, who disappeared in the Amazon in 1925. (AMZ117, $16.95)

The Mapmaker's Wife

The Mapmaker's Wife


by Robert Whitaker

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 353 PAGES

Colonial politics, the travails of the cartographer, and good old-fashioned murder all add intrigue to this absorbing tale of 18th-century European exploration of the Amazon -- and one woman's quest heading from Quito to find her husband deep in the jungle. (AMZ97, $16.00)

Little Tiny Teeth

Little Tiny Teeth


by Aaron J. Elkins

  • MYSTERY
  • 2008
  • PAPER

From the Edgar Award-winning author of Unnatural Selection comes this mystery to chill the bones. When a forensics professor joins an Amazon riverboat expedition, he expects a vacation. But in a jungle full of predators, he realizes the humans may be the deadliest of all. (AMZ105, $7.99)

Peruvian Traditions

Peruvian Traditions


by Ricardo Palma

  • LITERATURE
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 263 PAGES

Palma (1833-1919) sketches the history, traditions and culture of the Incas and colonial Peru in this collection of legends and tales. (PRU79, $24.99)

Two to Tango

Two to Tango


by Peter Guttridge

  • MYSTERY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 218 PAGES

Dangerous creatures -- and killers -- in the Amazon threaten journalist Nick Madrid as he attempts to prevent the murder of a rockstar in the third book of this popular series. (AMZ98, $14.00)

A Neotropical Companion

A Neotropical Companion


by John Kricher | Mark Plotkin

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 536 PAGES

From plants and animals to birds and bugs, it's all here in this wonderfully written overview of the ecology, habitats, plants and animals of Central and South America. (GPS11, $39.95)

Tropical Nature

Tropical Nature


by Adrian Forsyth | Ken Miyata

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1984
  • PAPER
  • 248 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

A lucid portrait of the tropics as seen by two uncommonly observant and thoughtful field biologists. Its 17 marvelous essays introduce the habitats, ecology, plants and animals of the Central and South American rainforest. (GPS13, $16.00)

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Peru

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Peru


by Clive Byers

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

A handy shirt pocket guide. (PRU75, $15.95)

Amazon Insects - A Photo Guide

Amazon Insects - A Photo Guide


by James L. Castner

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

Spectacular, weird and commonly encountered bugs, butterflies, katydids, leafhoppers, ants, bees, spiders and other insects of the Amazon basin. Geared for the traveler, with 200 color photographs. (AMZ63, $20.00)

Birds of Peru

Birds of Peru


by Tom Schulenberg | Dan Stotz | John O'Neill | Dan Lane

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 668 PAGES

Gorgeously illustrated, this authoritative guide covers nearly 20% of the world's birds. (PRU55, $45.00)

Neotropical Rainforest Mammals, A Field Guide

Neotropical Rainforest Mammals, A Field Guide


by L.H. Emmons

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 298 PAGES

Compact enough to slip into your daypack, this field guide to the mammals of the New World tropics features 29 color plates of more than 200 species. (GPS12, $42.50)

Peru Mammals Guide

Peru Mammals Guide


by Rainforest Publications

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2005
  • PLASTIC CARD

A handy, double-sided laminated card depicting over 60 commonly encountered mammals of Peru. Beautiful and accurate full-color illustrations. (PRU73, $6.95)

Peru, Birds of the Forest

Peru, Birds of the Forest


by Rainforest Publications

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2005
  • PLASTIC CARD

A handy, double-sided laminated card depicting 100 commonly encountered parrots, motmots, hummingbirds and other forest birds of Peru. We also carry Peru Mammals Guide plastic card. (Item PRU73) (PRU72, $6.95)

Reptiles and Amphibians of the Amazon

Reptiles and Amphibians of the Amazon


by R.D. Bartlett | Patricia Bartlett

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 448 PAGES

A convenient guide to 250 colorful and commonly encountered snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs and salamanders of the Amazon. (AMZ84, $29.95)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.