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Best of 2012

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

Here are some of the great travel books we're considering for the 2012 Year's Best Reads. Nominations welcome!

City of Fortune, How Venice Ruled the Seas

City of Fortune, How Venice Ruled the Seas

by Roger Crowley

  • HISTORY
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

Crowley spins tales of three centuries of plunder and plague, imperial conquest and piracy in this riveting new history, chronicling the transformation of a tiny city of lagoon dwellers into the richest place on earth. City of Fortune is framed by two of the great collisions of world history: the ill-fated Fourth Crusade -- culminating in the sacking of Constantinople in 1204 -- and the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1499-1503. (MED185, $18.00)

In Search of the South Pole

In Search of the South Pole

by Herbert Kari | Huw Lewis-Jones

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2011
  • HARD COVER
  • 192 PAGES

Kari Herbert (daughter of polar explorer Sir Wally) and husband Huw Lewis-Jones collared an international who's who of explorers, historians, scientists and polar experts for this irresistible portrait of place. It's a scrapbook of Antarctic exploration, featuring excerpts from the logbooks, journals and books, a timeline, color reproductions of period posters and other arcana. With 150 photographs, this new book is an essential reference for all Antarcticans. (ANT347, $29.95)

Vanished Kingdoms, How Nations Rise and Fall

Vanished Kingdoms, How Nations Rise and Fall

by Norman Davies

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 720 PAGES

In this marvelously tale of lost civilizations and the shifting fate of nations, historian Norrman Davies presents the stories of 14 now all-but-forgotten European states, including Aragon, Etruria and the Two Burgundies. Not just an intiguing look at history, these tales will also incite wanderlust. (EUR404, $25.00)

Trip of the Tongue, Cross-Country Travels in Search of America's Languages

Trip of the Tongue, Cross-Country Travels in Search of America's Languages

by Elizabeth Little

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 309 PAGES

What's the largest Greek city outside Greece? Astoria, Queens. Inspired by her polyglot surroundings in Sunnyside, Queens, the companionable, language-besotted Elizabeth Little packs up her Subaru and hit the road in search of people, places and languages across these United States. A companionable guide, Little uncovers a rich array of etymologies (including the origin of the word tuxedo) as she travels, 25,000 miles in all over two years, to explore languages as diverse as Navajo, Norwegian, Basque and Crow. (USA484, $25.00)

Naples Declared

Naples Declared

by Benjamin Taylor

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

Subtitled A Walk Along the Bay, Taylor takes in the all the splendor and grit of ancient Naples from street level, mixing his travels with history, quotes from storied visitors over the ages and indelible portraits of the characters he meets. (ITA315, $17.00)

Oblivion, A Memoir

Oblivion, A Memoir

by Hector Abad

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 263 PAGES

Written by his son, this searing memoir celebrates the life of a Colombian doctor who fought against oppression and inequality, and who was murdered by paramilitaries in 1987. (SAM183, $26.00)

Odyssey Guide Myanmar

Odyssey Guide Myanmar

by Caroline Courtauld

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES

Refreshingly direct and engaging, Caroline Courtauld covers Burma's culture, long history and religion with grace in this richly illustrated guide, which includes fine color maps (as is the custom with the excellent Odyssey guides), photographs and well chosen literary excerpts. (BMA16, $26.95)

Bring Up the Bodies

Bring Up the Bodies

by Hilary Mantel

  • LITERATURE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 410 PAGES

In this utterly absorbing sequel to Wolf Hall, Mantel delves into the heart of Tudor history with the downfall of Anne Boleyn. Winner of the 2012 Man Booker Prize, making Mantel the first woman and the first Breoton to win the award twice. Expectations are high for the third book in the trilogy, Mantel is at work in the third book in the trilogy, continuing the tale of the meteoric rise and dramatic fall of blacksmith's son-turned-king's chief minister Thomas Cromwell. (GRB74, $28.00)

 
Burma, Rivers of Flavor

Burma, Rivers of Flavor


by Naomi Duguid

  • FOOD
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 364 PAGES

A culinary adventurer, Naomi Duguid presents the food, local markets, people and culture of Burma in this exceedingly informative (not to mention beautiful) cookbook and cultural guide. The 125 personable recipes (most get at least a page) are interspersed with tales and photographs from her many travels in the region. Her first solo venture (she parted ways with husband and co-author Jeffrey Alford a few years ago), Burma, Rivers of Flavor, like Beyond the Great Wall and Mangoes & Curry Leaves introduces a new world through its food. (BMA77, $35.00)

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Behind the Beautiful Forevers


by Katherine Boo

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 256 PAGES

A Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and writer at The New Yorker, Boo turns her four years among the people of a Mumbai Slum into an absorbing tale of the clash of India, new and old, prosperous and disenfranchised. (IDA654, $27.00)

India, A Sacred Geography

India, A Sacred Geography


by Diana L. Eck

  • RELIGION
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 576 PAGES

Professor of comparative religion and Indian studies at Harvard, Diana Eck turns her interest in temples and places of pilgrimage into a celebration of the diversity of popular religious traditions in India in this richly rewarding travelogue. (IDA634, $16.00)

The World Until Yesterday, What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?

The World Until Yesterday, What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?


by Jared Diamond

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 512 PAGES

Diamond contrasts modern society with that of traditional cultures, largely drawn from his time among the people of Papua New Guinea in this sweeping book on an even bigger subject: how to live, finding much to admire in both worlds. (NAT266, $36.00)

Round About the Earth

Round About the Earth


by Joyce E. Chaplin

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 560 PAGES

Harvard Historian Joyce Chaplin's rollicking Round About the Earth traces the outsized personalities, grand enterprises and inspired folly of those globe-trotting men and women who have circled the planet over the last 500 years. Beginning, naturally with Magellan, she covers scientists, explorers, pirates and empire builders from James Cook to Charles Darwin, Phileas Fog (she includes fictional characters too), Amelia Earhart, Yuri Gagarin, and John Glenn. (EXP99, $35.00)

The Ice Balloon

The Ice Balloon


by Alec Wilkinson

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

New Yorker writer Wilkinson recounts in thrilling detail the ill-fated attempt by Swedish engineer and aeronaut Salomon August Andree to reach the North Pole from Svalbard by balloon in 1897. (ARC289, $15.95)

House of Stone

House of Stone


by Anthony Shadid

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 336 PAGES

A crowning achievement in the career of Anthony Shadid, who died while on assignment in Syria in February 2012 tells the story of rebuilding his ancestral home in Lebanon amid political strife in this sparkling memoir. (MDE204, $27.00)

Meander: East to West, Indirectly, Along a Turkish River

Meander: East to West, Indirectly, Along a Turkish River


by Jeremy Seal

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

As captivated as ever by Turkey, Seal takes to a canoe on the Meander River for this third book. Travelling from Dinar to Didim, staying in villages along the way, Seal well, meanders, this river rich in mythology and history, weaving his own travels with ancient tales and the history of Anatolia. (TKY258, $28.00)

On Extinction, How We Became Estranged from Nature

On Extinction, How We Became Estranged from Nature


by Melanie Challenger

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 383 PAGES

From an abandoned mine in England to South Georgia's old whaling stations, a sojourn in South America and a visit to the Inuit in Canada, Challenger travels in search of species, ways of life, and once thriving industries disappeared or threatened. A poet, not an environmentalist, she mixes her own experiences with the ideas of explorers, biologists and other thinkers to meditate on the causes of catastrophic change, seeing our destructive ways -- and disconnection from nature -- as the culprit. (NAT259, $28.00)

Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis

Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis


by Timothy Egan

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 370 PAGES

Egan tells the riveting, cinematic story behind Edward Curtis and the most famous photographs in Native American history. Curtis spent three decades traveling from the Havasupai at the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the Acoma on a high mesa in New Mexico to the Salish in the Northwest rain forest, documenting the stories and rituals of more than 30 Native American tribes. It took tremendous perseverance -- 10 years alone to persuade the Hopi to allow him into their Snake Dance ceremony. And the undertaking changed him profoundly, from detached observer to outraged advocate. (USW713, $28.00)

Bird-Watcher's Bible, A Complete Treasury

Bird-Watcher's Bible, A Complete Treasury


by Jonathan Alderfer

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 399 PAGES

History, anatomy, migration, backyard birds and tips on birding are all covered in this appealing visual panoply of all things avian, expertly compiled by Jonathan Alderfer. Illustrated throughout with photographs, contemporary and archival art, maps and diagrams, the book isn't just attractive, it's infomrative; contributors include Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County ornithologist Kimball L. Garrett and the marvelous author and birder Scott Weidensaul. (BRD113, $40.00)

Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast

Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast


by Carol Gracie

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 290 PAGES

Baneberries, bloodroot, columbine, lousewort, mayapple, skunk cabbage, trillium, trout-lily, violets and wild ginger are among the 35 species of early spring wildflowers profiled in this exceptionally well illustrated natural history. (USE538, $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.