Here's a page from Longitude, the specialty bookseller for travelers. To order online, and to see the latest, most comprehensive selection of books and maps, go to http://reading.longitudebooks.com/W83277. You may also call 800-342-2164 to order or request a catalog.

Chasing Monarchs, A Migration with the Butterflies of Passage  •  Robert Michael Pyle NATURAL HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 307 PAGES A memoir of Lepidoptery, combing the entomologist-author's considerable knowledge of butterflies and their biology with a rambling road trip from British Columbia through the Southwest to Mexico. (MEX62, $14.00)
Confederates in the Attic  •  Tony Horwitz HISTORY •  1999 •  PAPER  • 406 PAGES Subtitled "Dispatched from the Unfinished Civil War," this book reveals the strange world of the re-enactors, unreconstructed confederates and others whose ongoing interest and involvement in the War Between the States provide an intriguing cultural portrait of the southern and mid-Atlantic states. Horowitz' trademark humor, combined with serious investigative journalism, illuminates the history of our divided nation in this account of his travels from Antietam to Gettysburg and Appomattox in the company of Robert Lee Hodge. (USS35, $16.00)
Coming into the Country  •  John McPhee CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1976 •  PAPER  • 438 PAGES • FAVORITE An outstanding portrayal of frontier life in Alaska circa 1976, this is among the finest of this gifted writer's works. Beautifully written, it's an even-handed look at environmental issues, as well as a hilarious portrait of some unforgettable Alaskan characters. Originally published in "The New Yorker." (ALA04, $18.00)
Bad Land, An American Romance  •  Jonathan Raban TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 416 PAGES Raban captures the spirit of rural America -- and the optimism of homesteaders on the Montana Prairie -- in this lovely tale weaving history, anecdote and travel. Winner of the National Book Award. (USW408, $15.95)
The Good Rain  •  Timothy Egan NATURAL HISTORY •  1991 •  PAPER  • 254 PAGES Here the Seattle correspondent for the "New York Times" offers a wonderfully readable mix of journalism, history, politics and geography. This book is a fine portrait of the Pacific Northwest, its people and contemporary issues, as the region struggles with its historical emphasis on natural resources. (PNW11, $14.95)
The Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America  •  Bill Bryson TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1990 •  PAPER  • 314 PAGES Heading out from his native Des Moines, Bryson makes his way through 38 of these United States, tossing off hilarious observations of the American character and roadscapes. Forgive Bryson's cheap shots at fat people and "hicks," he's an acerbic, witty guide to the country with a well-developed sense of the absurd. (USW180, $14.99)
Blue Highways, A Journey into America  •  William Least Heat Moon TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 429 PAGES On the road with Ghost Dancing (his van), William Least Heat-Moon criss-crosses the country on its backroads, discovering some pretty wonderful personalities en route. What emerges is a many-varied, rich portrait of the American character. (USA31, $15.99)
Old Glory, A Voyage Down the Mississippi  •  Jonathan Raban TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1998 •  PAPER  • 409 PAGES Raban tackles the "Mighty Mississippi" aboard a 16-foot motorboat in this entertaining travelogue, featuring places and people he encounters along the way. It's a portrait of contemporary life from Minnesota to Mississippi. (USS42, $18.00)
Desert Solitaire  •  Edward Abbey NATURAL HISTORY •  1990 •  PAPER  • 303 PAGES • FAVORITE A beloved classic, read aloud at campfires throughout the Southwest. It's one of the great works on the value of the desert, eloquent and laugh-out-loud funny. Although Abbey writes specifically about the Colorado Plateau and his experiences as a ranger at Arches National Park outside Moab Utah, his message is universal. Originally published in 1990. (DES02, $7.99)
Travels with Charley  •  John Steinbeck TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2002 •  PAPER  • 214 PAGES On the road in a van but with a poodle, John Steinbeck -- like Jack Kerouac, William Least-Heat Moon and Bill Bryson -- sets out to discover America. This short, wonderfully written account of his journey from Maine to California is a classic. (USA32, $15.00)
Roughing It  •  Mark Twain TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2004 •  PAPER  • 592 PAGES Twain's classic work on the American West, written as he was abandoning the peripatetic life and settling down in the 1870s. Funny, irreverent, acutely observed this is vintage Twain, covering his travels in California, Nevada and Hawaii. With all 304-first edition illustrations, specially prepared maps, facsimile manuscript pages and commentary. (HWI14, $16.00)
The Innocents Abroad  •  Mark Twain TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2003 •  PAPER  • 523 PAGES On June 8, 1867, young journalist Samuel Longhorne Clemens, not yet famous as Mark Twain, set sail on a grand tour of Europe. With his disarming wit, Clemens makes the very best traveling companion in this classic account. The section on his visit to "the land which was the mother of civilization" is a celebrated highlight of the book. Twain has few rivals in art of reporting the horrors of travel with humor. "Paris, England, Scotland, Switzerland, Italy--Garibaldi! The Grecian Archipelago! Vesuvius! Constantinople! Smyrna! The Holy Land! Egypt and 'our friends the Bermudians'!" are among the main ports of call. (MDE08, $14.95)
Road Fever, A High Speed Travelogue  •  Tim Cahill TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1992 •  PAPER  • 278 PAGES An exhiliarating ride along with Cahill from the southernmost tip of South America to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in only 23 days. (SAM17, $14.95)
In Trouble Again  •  Redmond O'Hanlon EXPLORATION •  1990 •  PAPER  • 272 PAGES • FAVORITE O'Hanlon starts this impossibly witty account of a four-month journey into the Venezuelan Amazon with a litany of the insects, protozoa, snakes and predators that can do you harm. A comic masterpiece, the book is also noteworthy for its excellent descriptions of the wildlife, environment and peoples of the Amazon. Imagine a PBS documentary hosted by the Monty Python troupe. (AMZ04, $13.95)
The Panama Hat Trail  •  Tom Miller TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES • FAVORITE Miller's entertaining and insightful social history of Ecuador -- as told through its hat-making history. It's a classic example of travel writing, and one of the best things written on Ecuador. Originally published in 1986, much of the book is set in Cuenca and along the Pacific coast of Ecuador. (EDR15, $14.00)
The Old Patagonian Express  •  Paul Theroux TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 404 PAGES A delightful narrative of Paul Theroux's journey from Boston to Patagonia by rail, plane and truck. He starts out aboard the subway in Boston -- and ends up many months later at the end of the world, a bit worse for the wear. Along the way he encounters the elderly, nearly blind author Jorge Luis Borges and a cast of other fascinating characters. (PAT08, $15.95)
In Patagonia  •  Bruce Chatwin TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1989 •  PAPER  • 204 PAGES • FAVORITE A masterpiece of travel, history and adventure. This award-winning book captures the spirit of the land, history, wildlife and people of Patagonia. There's no travel writer as engaging, insightful and just plain wonderful as Bruce Chatwin. (PAT01, $15.00)
The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris  •  Edmund White LITERATURE •  2008 •  PAPER  • 144 PAGES The gifted novelist reveals his favorite haunts in this glittering portrait of Paris and its pleasures. "One has the impression, reading The Flaneur, of having fallen into the hands of a highly distractible, somewhat eccentric poet and professor who is determined to show you a Paris you wouldn't otherwise see. Edmund White tells such a good story that I'm ready to listen to anything he wants to talk about" -- New York Times Book Review (FRN259, $12.99)
Brazilian Adventure  •  Peter Fleming EXPLORATION •  1999 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES A journalist and adventurer, Peter Fleming sets off for Brazil on a 3,000-mile quest through the Amazon in a celebrated search for a missing English colonel in this classic and very entertaining account, first published in 1933. Only a British explorer, albeit unintentionally, could be as ill-prepared and deadpan about such an adventure. He never did find Fawcett. (AMZ55, $16.95)
In Tuscany  •  Bob Krist  •  Frances Mayes BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2000 •  HARD COVER  • 269 PAGES An edition of Maye's warm, anecdotal account of life on her now-restored Tuscan estate, much enhanced by Bob Krist's color photographs. (ITL348, $35.00)
Bella Tuscany, The Sweet Life in Italy  •  Frances Mayes TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 286 PAGES In this sequel to "Under the Tuscan Sun," best-selling author Frances Mayes goes out in search of Italian Life in the small town of Cortona. (ITL224, $15.00)
Under the Tuscan Sun  •  Frances Mayes TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES In this best-selling memoir of buying, renovating and living in an abandoned villa in Tuscany, Mayes reveals the sensual pleasures found in rural Italy: the lasting sunlight, rich colors, warm architecture and the languor of slow paced days. An accomplished cook as well as poet, writer and handy-woman, Mayes includes recipes and much savory talk about food and wine. (ITL85, $15.00)
London, The Biography  •  Peter Ackroyd HISTORY •  2003 •  PAPER  • 864 PAGES A big thematic history of London from Celtic settlement to Roman outpost and world power, much focused on the life of the city. A popular biographer and novelist, Ackroyd leavens the centuries with anecdote, personality and great affection. (GBR248, $21.00)
Bury Me Standing  •  Isabel Fonseca CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1996 •  PAPER  • 322 PAGES The Roma, as the Gypsies call themselves, have a long tradition in Eastern European culture -- influencing the music, foods, religious and folk traditions. This is an excellent book on the evasive subject of Roma culture in Eastern Europe, painstakingly researched by Ms. Fonseca as she traveled and lived among Gypsies. Black-and-white photos help give a human face to the conditions of the Roma, their history among the settled peoples of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany and the prospects for their cultural survival in the "new" Eastern Europe. (EUR09, $14.95)
Balkan Ghosts, A Journey through History  •  Robert D. Kaplan TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2005 •  PAPER  • 307 PAGES Kaplan combines the skills of an old-fashioned literate traveler and an informed journalist in this eloquent, opinionated report that interweaves history, art and culture of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece with recent events to paint a portrait of the region in the 1980s. This new edition includes six opinion pieces that he wrote for the New York Times and Washington Post in the 1990s. Named one of the best of 1993 by the New York Times. (BLK02, $17.00)
Turkish Reflections, A Biography of a Place  •  Mary Lee Settle TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1991 •  PAPER  • 253 PAGES A cross-country odyssey from the Aegean shores to the Bosporus and interior by an author and poet who lived in Bodrum 20 years before. Settle's captivating travelogue is a richly detailed portrait of contemporary Turkey, its people, monasteries, myths, archaeological treasures and living traditions. Exemplary. (TKY08, $16.99)
Danube  •  Claudio Magris CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2008 •  PAPER  • 416 PAGES A new edition of the gifted novelist's classic account of a Danube journey from its source in the heart of the late Austro-Hungarian Empire through the Balkans to the Black Sea. It's an intellectually charged, evocative portrait of the places and personalities of Central Europe. (EUR58, $17.00)
A Moveable Feast  •  Ernest Hemingway BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1996 •  PAPER  • 211 PAGES A treasure for anyone interested in Parisian cafe society and its luminaries circa 1925. Hemingway includes sharp portraits of Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Maddox Ford and others who idled on their way to greatness. (FRN26, $15.00)
Two Towns in Provence  •  M. F. K. Fisher BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1983 •  PAPER  • 208 PAGES • FAVORITE Few can paint the earthy details of a place and time like celebrated food writer M.F.K. Fisher. In this light volume, she contrasts village life in Aix-en-Provence with bustling Marseilles. Keenly observant, she evokes these two favorite places with anecdote and loving description. (FRN27, $16.95)
The Colossus of Maroussi  •  Henry Miller TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2010 •  PAPER  • 223 PAGES • FAVORITE The soul of Greece circa 1939. Miller captures the spirit and warmth of the resilient Greek people in this tale of a wartime journey from Athens to Crete, Corfu and Delphi with his friend Lawrence Durrell. Miller at his most inspired. (GRE05, $12.95)
Homage to Catalonia  •  George Orwell BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1987 •  PAPER  • 234 PAGES • FAVORITE Orwell's portrait of the Barcelona uprising and the spirit of a city at war is a classic, an observant and heartfelt report from the streets. In part, this book is the simply told story of a wide-eyed soldier caught up in revolutionary fervor and the allure of Spain. (SPN03, $14.00)
Sea and Sardinia  •  D.H. Lawrence TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 211 PAGES A marvelous, wry account of a trip to Sardinia, evoking both the charms and travails of the then-remote island, and the personality of the author. It's a pleasingly exaggerated, accessible portrait of life on the island, circa 1921. (ITL349, $16.00)
Honeymoon in Purdah, An Iranian Journey  •  Alison Wearing TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES A delightfully insane jaunt through contemporary Iran. The author -- who got herself a black polyester chaador and a husband (in the form of her gay roommate) -- dives into the personalities and charm of the Iranian people in this entertaining, insightful travel account. (IRN24, $17.00)
An Unexpected Light, Travels in Afghanistan  •  Jason Elliot TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2011 •  PAPER  • 512 PAGES A vivid portrait of Afghan and its people, which interweaves the author's travels in the region as a teenager in 1979 with more recent, and more difficult travels in the late 1980s. (CAS74, $18.00)
Sahara Unveiled, A Journey across the Desert  •  William Langewiesche TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 302 PAGES Traveling across the Sahara from Algiers to Dakar, Langeweische has written an uncommonly good memoir of the desert, with meditations on its history, inhabitants and allure. (NAF05, $16.00)
In An Antique Land  •  Amitav Ghosh CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1994 •  PAPER  • 393 PAGES In this heady book, the author-historian combines his own journey as a student from India at Oxford with the tale of a South Indian slave who lived along the ancient Nile. It's invaluable for understanding the history of the Malabar coast and relations between the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. Not exactly historical fiction, the book artfully interweaves personal history, travel writing and philosophical meditation. (EGY18, $18.00)
Motoring with Mohammed, Journeys to Yemen and the Red Sea  •  Eric Hansen TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1992 •  PAPER  • 240 PAGES • FAVORITE Ten years after he was shipwrecked aboard a sailboat in the Red Sea (and rescued by goat smugglers from Eritrea), the intrepid Hansen returns to Yemen in search of a journal he buried in the sand. This book is classic travel writing: insightful, personal and informative -- not to mention highly entertaining. (ARB11, $16.00)
Lords of the Atlas  •  Gavin Maxwell TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2005 •  PAPER  • 316 PAGES • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE A classic account of the tribal warlords of the Atlas Mountains -- and of life in French colonial Morocco. In this rousing tale and excellent introduction to Marrakech, Maxwell (who also wrote "Ring of Bright Water") follows the fate of the despotic Glaoui clan from 1893 to independence from France in 1956. (MRC35, $32.95)
Arabian Sands  •  Wilfred Thesiger EXPLORATION •  2007 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES • FAVORITE The last of the great British traveler-explorers, Wilfred Thesiger (1910-2003) journeyed among the nomadic camel-breeding peoples of Southern Arabia in the late 1940s, falling in love with the desert and ways of life of the Bedouin. This eloquent book, a Longitude favorite, is his tribute to vanished traditions. (ARB15, $16.00)
West with the Night  •  Beryl Markham BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1983 •  PAPER  • 294 PAGES • FAVORITE A direct, stylish, and engrossing story of a marvelous life well-lived. Markham describes her childhood in Kenya and her experiences as a bush pilot in the 1930s, evoking the landscapes, people, and wildlife of East Africa in rich detail. (EAF10, $16.00)
Out of Africa  •  Isak Dinesen BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1985 •  PAPER  • 466 PAGES • FAVORITE The perennially best-selling tale of a naive young woman who leaves Denmark for East Africa, Dinesen's autobiography draws us into life on a struggling coffee plantation. It's a moving story inspired by a love for Kenya and its people. Includes the novella Shadows on the Grass. We also carry the film adaptation of Out of Africa, directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford (Item no. EAF204, $12.95). (EAF22, $15.00)
The Valleys of the Assassins, and Other Persian Travels  •  Freya Stark EXPLORATION •  2001 •  PAPER  • 292 PAGES A remarkable account of adventures in remote Persia by the intrepid Freya Stark, originally published in 1934 -- and an instant bestseller. It displays all the verve, wit and derring-do of her best accounts. Her expedition discovered the site of Lammassar, the second of the great fortresses to be discovered in the remote Alamut Valley. (MDE53, $15.00)
South Southeast  •  Steve McCurry ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2001 •  HARD COVER  • 160 PAGES A remarkable portfolio of images taken in and around Afghanistan, Burma, India, Pakistan and other sites in South and Southeast Asia over a career in photojournalism spanning twenty years. The photographs, saturated with color, life and light, are beautiful. You can preview some of his striking photographs online at http://www.stevemccurry.com. (ASA34, $65.00)
In Siberia  •  Colin Thubron TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES • FAVORITE One of our favorite writers, Thubron captures in dazzling prose the contradictions, beauty, personality and hardship of this huge land. Thubron journeyed 15,000 miles along the Trans-Siberian Railway, up the Yenisei River to the Arctic, into the mountains abutting Mongolia, to Lake Baikal -- the world's oldest and deepest lake -- and east to Magadan and the Pacific. (SIB14, $14.99)
The River at the Center of the World  •  Simon Winchester EXPLORATION •  2004 •  PAPER  • 410 PAGES • FAVORITE In this wide-ranging journalistic overview of the Yangtze (it's a great river of a book itself) veteran journalist Simon Winchester travels upstream into the heartland of China. He and his guide log 4,000 miles over many months, interviewing peasants and politicians throughout the region. It's a remarkable, wonderfully written portrait: an excellent introduction to the great river that is at the symbolic and literal heart of China. Long based in Hong Kong and a frequent commentator on things Asian, Winchester writes about the character of the river itself, and the people and places along its banks, with an easy grace. First published in 1996. (CHN31, $16.00)
Hong Kong  •  Jan Morris CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1997 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES • FAVORITE It's always a pleasure to find a destination that Jan Morris has written about. In this book, she covers the whole city in typical fashion -- enumerating the many personal pleasures she found there, as well as deftly describing the most important aspects of Hong Kong's history and culture. Reissued with a new final chapter on the city's return to China. (HKG02, $17.00)
Video Night in Kathmandu, and Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East  •  Pico Iyer TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1989 •  PAPER  • 376 PAGES A vivid collection of tales on a variety of Asian locales including Bali, Hong Kong, India, China and Bangkok. Iyer brings enormous wit and humor to these essays, which explore the culture of each place. (ASA02, $14.95)
Iron and Silk  •  Mark Salzman TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1990 •  PAPER  • 211 PAGES Salzman gets himself to Changsha in the mid-1980s on the pretext of teaching English to Chinese doctors. His real mission, however, is to become a kung fu master. In this wonderfully readable travelogue he conveys a sense of contemporary life, its realities and frustrations -- and of his growing understanding of an alien culture. A major subplot is his ongoing relationship with Pan, the mentor to this awkward and overly enthusiastic American martial arts student. (CHN52, $15.00)
The Roads to Sata, A 2000-Mile Walk Through Japan  •  Alan Booth TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 281 PAGES A revealing, humorous account of the author's 2,000-mile walk north to south from Hokkaido to Kyushu by a wonderfully eccentric British expatriate. Booth is a disarming writer, chronicling his encounters along the byways of rural Japan with farmers, misfits, tramps and others who crossed his path. By the author of "Looking for the Lost." (JPN11, $16.00)
Running in the Family  •  Michael Ondaatje BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1993 •  PAPER  • 207 PAGES This hypnotic short book powerfully evokes grand society in post-colonial Sri Lanka and, especially, Ondaatje's impressively eccentric grandparents. Written by the author of The English Patient, this book is hard to categorize: it's as much fiction as family memoir and travelogue -- and wonderful. (SRL04, $15.00)
The Snow Leopard  •  Peter Matthiessen EXPLORATION •  2008 •  PAPER  • 368 PAGES • FAVORITE The most perceptive, acutely observed and personal of all his books, Matthiessen's account of a five-week journey through Nepal with George Schaller combines their quest for the magnificent cat with a moving introduction to Buddhism and the people and culture of the Himalayas. (NPL03, $16.00)
Seven Years in Tibet  •  Heinrich Harrer BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2009 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES First published in 1953, this is the riveting account of a young Austrian adventurer and mountaineer who became tutor to the Dalai Lama. Imprisoned by the British in India as WWII erupted, he escaped across the Himalayas to the holy city of Lhasa, remaining with the Tibetans until he fled with the Dalai Lama in the Chinese invasion of 1950. A classic. (TBT02, $14.95)
30 Days in Sydney, A Wildly Distorted Account  •  Peter Carey TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2008 •  PAPER  • 256 PAGES An impressionistic account of Carey's native city, the result of his return visit (with a tape recorder) after an absence of 17 years. (AUS123, $13.00)
Cold Beer and Crocodiles, A Bicycle Journey into Australia  •  Roff Smith TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 284 PAGES Adventures across Australia by bicycle. Determined to get to know his adopted homeland (and no doubt wanting to test himself too), this Time Magazine correspondent headed out to explore the rainforests, beaches, and deserts of Australia by bicycle. Not surprisingly, the long highways and odd characters he met turned out to be more dangerous than the crocodiles, poisonous snakes and other natural features of the continent. An expanded version of the original three-part article in National Geographic. (AUS106, $14.00)
In a Sunburned Country  •  Bill Bryson TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2001 •  PAPER  • 335 PAGES • FAVORITE Nothing seems to deter the intrepid, ever-resourceful Bill Bryson -- and all the better for his many readers. Here he revels in Australia's eccentric characters, dangerous flora and fauna, and other oddities. As has become his custom, he also effortlessly imparts much history in this wildly funny book. (AUS83, $15.99)
The Edge of Paradise, America in Micronesia  •  P. K. Kluge BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1993 •  PAPER  • 244 PAGES The insightful memoir of a Peace Corps volunteer in Micronesia in 1967 -- and an account of his journey back a generation later after the death of his good friend (who had become president of Pall). Kluge, a writer and former correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, writes with affection of this then-undeveloped corner of Micronesia, and especially of the people he meets. He includes his impressions of Palau, Turk, Ponape, Tinian, Saipan and the Marshall Islands. By the author of Biggest Elivs. (PAC33, $21.00)
Stranger in the Forest  •  Eric Hansen TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES • FAVORITE A marvelous account of Hansen's 1,500-mile treks across Sarawak in the company of the nomadic Penan. It's an entertaining portrait of a little-visited world and vanishing way of life, absorbing in detail. By the author of the classic account of Yemen and the Red Sea, "Motoring with Mohammed." (BRN16, $15.00)
The Songlines  •  Bruce Chatwin CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1988 •  PAPER  • 294 PAGES • FAVORITE This celebrated travelogue is as much about its gifted author -- and the meaning of travel -- as about the Aboriginal people and their ways of life. In this unusual book, Chatwin combines straightforward reporting, history, dream-time stories, and a heady mix of quotations from his notebooks. Along the way, he transforms a journey through the outback into an exhilarating, semi-fictional meditation on our place in the world. (AUS01, $16.00)
Tracks, A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback  •  Robyn Davidson EXPLORATION •  1995 •  PAPER  • 256 PAGES Davidson arrives in the outback with a dog, a little cash, and she manages to find some camels (feral in Australian desert since the 19th century) to carry her on her journey. This absorbing book is her account of her trek across the desert -- a tale of true adventure shot through with a feel for the landscape and empathy for the Aboriginal people she meets along the way. (AUS15, $15.95)
A House in Bali  •  Colin McPhee TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 213 PAGES A warm tribute to the people, culture and, especially, the music of Bali. McPhee, a musicologist who became captivated by gamelan music made his home in the area of Sayan Ridge near Ubud in the 1930s. A literary classic originally published in 1944. (BAL15, $20.00)
This Cold Heaven  •  Gretel Ehrlich TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2003 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES • FAVORITE No lightweight, Ehrlich wandered, mostly alone, by boat, helicopter, plane, and dogsled over seven seasons in Greenland. This account of her travels in the region reflects her insight, knowledge, and deep appreciation of the people and barren landscapes of the north. A first-rate writer and philosopher, she interweaves the story of her own peregrinations with the story of Greenland-born Knud Rasmussen, the Arctic explorer who established a trading base at Thule with Peter Freuchen; and the result is a profound, exhilarating book. (ARC107, $18.95)
Terra Incognita, Travels in Antarctica  •  Sara Wheeler TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES The National Science Foundation and British Antarctic Survey did well to invite travel writer Sarah Wheeler to join them in Antarctica. A privileged anomaly on this continent of science, she larked around from Mac City to remote field camps to the Antarctic Peninsula, her finely tuned pencil poised. A fine portrait of modern Antarctic scientists (and cooks and truck drivers), her book weaves stories of modern adventure with commentary on the heroic age of exploration, altogether a thoroughly enjoyable tribute. (ANT45, $15.00)
Arctic Dreams  •  Barry Lopez NATURAL HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 417 PAGES • FAVORITE One of the best books we've read on any destination, this celebrated meditation on the Arctic draws on Lopez's travels throughout the North, including Baffin Island, Siberia and Greenland. A dazzling writer and compassionate observer, Lopez weaves biology and history into his storytelling, including extended chapters on the polar bear and narwhal. (ARC11, $16.00)

Also Recommended