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SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Click on Essential Reading for the featured set of Sri Lanka books and a map. We offer free shipping on anything else you order with the travel books package.

Essential Reading

Item EXSRL06. Buy these 4 items as a set for $64 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

ADD SET
TO BOOKBAG
What the Buddha Taught

What the Buddha Taught

by Walpola Sri Rahula

  • RELIGION
  • 1972
  • PAPER
  • 151 PAGES

A classic account of Theravada Buddhism by a respected monk and scholar from Sri Lanka. Provides translations from original texts with explanations for Western readers. A good foundation for any visitor to Southeast Asia. (SEA41, $14.95)

Running in the Family

Running in the Family

by Michael Ondaatje

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1993
  • PAPER
  • 207 PAGES

Award-winning author Ondaatje returns to his native Sri Lanka in this hypnotic travelogue. His lovingly traced family memoirs are interspersed with poetry and ruminations on the island's post-colonial history. (SRL04, $15.00)

Insight Guide Sri Lanka

Insight Guide Sri Lanka

by Insight Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 296 PAGES

An illustrated overview of Sri Lanka with essays on its attractions, history and culture complemented by many pictures and maps. (SRL02, $23.99)

Sri Lanka Map

by Nelles

  • MAP

A detailed, colorful map of the island, at a scale of 1:450,000. (SRL08, $13.95)

 
Bradt Guide Sri Lanka

Bradt Guide Sri Lanka


by Royston Ellis

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 294 PAGES

A detailed overview of Sri Lanka, its history, wildlife, culture and major attractions, geared for the independent traveler. (SRL17, $23.99)

Culture Smart! Sri Lanka

Culture Smart! Sri Lanka


by Emma Boyle

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER

A concise, no-nonsense guide to local customs, etiquette and culture with a short overview of the land and people along with practical travel advice. (IDA537, $9.95)

Lonely Planet Sinhala Phrasebook

Lonely Planet Sinhala Phrasebook


by Lonely Planet

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 230 PAGES

A pocket guide and dictionary to the language of Sri Lanka for travelers. (SRL12, $8.99)

Mangoes & Curry Leaves, Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent


by Jeffrey Alford | Naomi Duguid

  • FOOD
  • 2005
  • HARD COVER
  • 416 PAGES

In this latest book the roving, food-loving authors (Hot Sour Salty Sweet) travel the seven countries of the Indian Subcontinent: Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, collecting not only 200 recipes but also engaging tales of the people, history and adventures. With color photographs of food and places throughout. (IDA320, $45.00)

Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God

Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God


by Jonah Blank

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 370 PAGES

Blank's entertaining portrait of contemporary India and Sri Lanka mixes reporting, anecdote and myth as he travels, sometimes in the footsteps of India's great hero Rama. (IDA250, $18.00)

Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy

Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy


by Ayesha Jalal | Sugata Bose

  • HISTORY
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 253 PAGES

This scholarly, brief history of India up to the 1990s is particularly good at its coverage of the post-Independence political landscape. It's a popular textbook, co-authored by a Pakistani and an Indian. (IDA192, $37.95)

The History of Sri Lanka

The History of Sri Lanka


by Patrick Peebles

  • HISTORY
  • 2006
  • HARD COVER
  • 216 PAGES

A concise history geared toward students and general readers that focuses on recent events, including ethnic conflict and the 2004 tsunami, and includes an appendix with brief biographies of key figures. (SRL22, $45.00)

The Spice Route, A History

The Spice Route, A History


by John Keay

  • HISTORY
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

John Keay draws on ancient logs, traveler's accounts and maps for this rousing history of trade in cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, pepper, gums, resins and other costly goods from antiquity to the 17th century. (ASA52, $24.95)

Not Quite Paradise, An American Sojourn in Sri Lanka

Not Quite Paradise, An American Sojourn in Sri Lanka


by Adele Barker

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2010
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

A deft, nuanced account of an American's year-and-a-half teaching stint. Baker weaves information about the history, traditions and daily life of Sri Lanka with reports on the 30-year war between the government and the Tamils, as well as the devastating 2004 tsunami. (SRL20, $18.00)

The Great Hill Stations of Asia

The Great Hill Stations of Asia


by Barbara Crossette

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

A modern tour of the mountain enclaves of colonial Asia -- appreciative, magnificently researched and engaging. (ASA13, $16.00)

A Tale Told by Moonlight

A Tale Told by Moonlight


by Leonard Woolf

  • LITERATURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 112 PAGES

Based on Woolf's experiences in Ceylon, these stories are a brilliant depiction of colonial life. (SRL19, $15.95)

Funny Boy

Funny Boy


by Shyam Selvadurai

  • LITERATURE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

Building a complex portrait through detail of family, society and place, this prize-winning novel is a gay coming of age story set in contemporary Sri Lanka. Splendidly written. (SRL01, $14.00)

Reef


by Romesh Gunesekera

  • LITERATURE
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 190 PAGES

This slim novel tells the story of modern Sri Lanka through the eyes of a servant and his oblivious master. Haunting and atmospheric. (SRL05, $14.00)

The Sri Lanka Reader, History, Culture, Politics

The Sri Lanka Reader, History, Culture, Politics


by John Clifford Holt

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 816 PAGES

A lively, literate sourcebook with selections ranging from historical accounts to newspaper articles, essays, poems and modern analysis. Includes photographs of art and architecture, maps and more than 90 classic and contemporary texts by Sri Lankans and foreigners. (SRL23, $34.95)

A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka

A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka


by John Harrison

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 208 PAGES

The fully revised second edition of this compact, comprehensive field guide features 49 stunning color plates by Tim Worfolk covering all 426 species in Sri Lanka. (SRL24, $49.50)

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka


by Dr. T. S. U. de Zyla | D. Warakagoda | Silva Wijeyeratne

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

A convenient, pocket-sized guide to 252 species with color photographs, range maps and brief descriptions. It includes Sri Lanka's 26 endemic species and notes for the birder. (SRL11, $15.95)

Birds of India

Birds of India


by Richard Grimmett | Carol Inskipp | Tim Inskipp

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

Thoroughly revised, with 73 new plates and many others updated or repainted, the second edition of the masterful Birds of India now features all maps and text opposite the plates for quicker and easier reference. (FG43, $39.50)

Sri Lankan Wildlife

Sri Lankan Wildlife


by Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

A concise, illustrated field guide to the plants, animals and habitats of Sri Lanka in the popular British series. (SRL18, $23.95)

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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.