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Catalog

FATHER'S DAY

City of Fortune, How Venice Ruled the Seas

Roger Crowley

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PROVENCE & THE COTE D'AZUR

A Pig in Provence: Good Food and Simple Pleasures in the South of France

Georgeanne Brennan

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OUR FAVORITES

Arctic Dreams

Barry Lopez

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PENGUIN CLASSICS

The Log from the Sea of Cortez

John Steinbeck

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INDIAN OCEAN

Indian Ocean

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Books for

Essential Reading

Item EXAFR79. Buy these 5 items as a set for $94 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

ADD SET
TO BOOKBAG
Bradt Guide Madagascar

Bradt Guide Madagascar

by Hilary Bradt

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 468 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

Hilary Bradt's comprehensive guide to Madagascar, its history, people and nature, now in its 10th edition, remains our model for guidebooks: personal, culturally astute, an absolute pleasure to read. With photographs, sketch maps and wise travel information. (MAD08, $27.99)

Odyssey Guide Seychelles: Garden of Eden in the Indian Ocean

Odyssey Guide Seychelles: Garden of Eden in the Indian Ocean

by Sarah Carpin | Paul Turcotte

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 232 PAGES

A colorful and informative guide to the islands, with background on history and culture, and plenty of practical information. Illustrated with color photographs, the book also includes a number of handy local maps. (SEY09, $22.95)

The Song of the Dodo

The Song of the Dodo

by David Quammen

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 700 PAGES

Clearly written and engaging, Quammen narrates his adventures on the trail of natural wonders in Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Galapagos and Komodo and explains complex evolutionary phenomena with humor, wit and understanding. (CON05, $22.00)

The Snorkeller's Guide to the Coral Reef, From the Red Sea to the Pacific Ocean

The Snorkeller's Guide to the Coral Reef, From the Red Sea to the Pacific Ocean

by Paddy Ryan

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 184 PAGES

The best-selling, take-along guide to coral reefs, coral-reef fishes, invertebrates and plants of the Indo-Pacific. With 200 color photographs. (DIV18, $21.99)

Fishwatcher's Field Guide Indian Ocean

Fishwatcher's Field Guide Indian Ocean

by Idaz Greenberg

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • PLASTIC CARD

A double-sided card illustrating 70 fishes of Seychelles, Maldives and neighboring islands. (FG17, $7.50)

 
Madagascar Map

Madagascar Map


by Freytag & Berndt

  • MAP

A clear shaded relief map of Madagascar at a scale of 1:2,000,000. (MAD12, $14.95)

Bradt Guide Maldives

Bradt Guide Maldives


by Royston Ellis

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

A personal, comprehensive guide to the Maldives, its history, culture, nature and reefs, ideal for culturally and environmentally aware travelers. Third edition. (IDA296, $25.99)

Footprint Sri Lanka Handbook

Footprint Sri Lanka Handbook


by Edward Aves

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 417 PAGES

A practical guide by the respected British publisher of the South American Handbook, this completely revised handbook is an excellent introduction to the geography, culture and history of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. (SRL06, $21.95)

Spectrum Guide to Maldives

Spectrum Guide to Maldives


by Interlink Books

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 319 PAGES

Comprehensive, beautifully illustrated and well written, this is an excellent overview of the history, nature and attractions of the Maldives. It features great maps and a good overview of marine life, culture, history and economics. (AFR55, $22.95)

Arab Seafaring


by George F. Hourani | John Carswell

  • HISTORY
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 140 PAGES

An expanded edition of the classic authoritative history of Arab sea trade in the Indian Ocean from its earliest origins through trade with China and East Africa in Middle Ages. (ARB47, $26.95)

Monsoon, The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power

Monsoon, The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power


by Robert D. Kaplan

  • HISTORY
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

Journalist Kaplan (Balkan Ghosts) points to the Indian Ocean and the nations surrounding it as the new locus of international power and explains why it will be a crucial region to American interests in the 21st century. (ASA76, $17.00)

Journey to Mauritius


by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre | Jason Wilson

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

A lyrical account of colonial society, daily life and nature in Mauritius, newly translated and with an introduction by Jason Wilson. (MTS06, $15.00)

Muddling Through in Madagascar

Muddling Through in Madagascar


by Dervla Murphy

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1990
  • PAPER
  • 269 PAGES
  • FAVORITE
  • OUT OF PRINT

This entertaining and culturally astute writer has made hard travel to remote places a cottage industry. In this travelogue, she roams the Malagasy countryside with her 14-year-old daughter, commenting on the people and places she encounters. (MAD05, $)

Sea of Poppies

Sea of Poppies


by Amitav Ghosh

  • LITERATURE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 528 PAGES

Amativ Ghosh conjures the tumult of the 19th-century Opium Wars and colonial India in this expansive tale, featuring a motley cast of British, Chinese and Indian characters. (IDA529, $16.00)

The Book of Color

The Book of Color


by Julia Blackburn

  • LITERATURE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 175 PAGES

Blackburn richly evokes the 19th-century colonial Indian Ocean in this haunting novel of madness, slavery and racism, which memorably opens on the island of La Digue in the Seychelles. (MTS02, $15.00)

The Book of Secrets

The Book of Secrets


by M.G. Vassanjii

  • LITERATURE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 337 PAGES

Intrigue, history and politics along East Africa's Swahili Coast. The many machinations of this prize-winning novel revolve around the discovery of a 1913 diary of a British colonial administrator in Dar es Salaam. (EAF65, $18.00)

The Mauritius Command

The Mauritius Command


by Patrick O'Brian

  • LITERATURE
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 348 PAGES

The rousing tale of a mission to the Mascarene Islands to take Rodriguez, Mauritius and Reunion from the French and install a proper British governor. It's the fourth of the series of hugely popular Aubrey-Maturin novels. (SEY18, $14.95)

The Prospector


by J. M. G. Le Clezio

  • LITERATURE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

Le Clezio draws on family history and his time on Mauritius to lend reality to this haunting tale of Alexis L'Etang and his search for treasure. (MTS10, $16.95)

A Fish Caught in Time, The Search for the Coelacanth

A Fish Caught in Time, The Search for the Coelacanth


by Samantha Weinberg

  • SCIENCE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 220 PAGES

The tale of the five-foot-long, lobe-finned fish, long-thought extinct, but discovered alive off the coast of South Africa in 1938. Most of the subsequent specimens have been found off the Comoro Islands in the Mozambique Channel. (BST53, $13.95)

Lost Land of the Dodo, The Ecological History of Mauritius, Reunion, and Rodrigues


by Julian Hume | Anthony Cheke

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2008
  • HARD COVER
  • 480 PAGES

Uninhabited until the 1500s, the arrival of humans rapidly devastated the diverse, endemic wildlife of the Mascarenes, including of not just the famous dodo but also giant tortoises, parrots, skinks, geckos, burrowing boas, and flightless rails and herons. (MTS08, $55.00)

The Aye-Aye and I

The Aye-Aye and I


by Gerald Durrell

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 175 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

The engaging and extremely amusing story of a serious scientific effort to retrieve, and help save, the rare aye-aye of Madagascar. (MAD10, $14.95)

Birds of the Seychelles

Birds of the Seychelles


by Adrian Skerrett | Tony Disley

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2001
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

A comprehensive guide the birds of the Seychelles, featuring the 66 breeding species, regular visitors and likely variants. The 250 species are described and illustrated in color plates. (SEY17, $55.00)

Coral Reef Fishes

Coral Reef Fishes


by Ewald Lieske | Robert Myers

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

This compact handbook features 2,500 illustrations of shallow-water fishes around the world. (DIV05, $24.95)

Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide

Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide


by Gerald Allen | Roger Steene

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 378 PAGES
  • OUT OF PRINT

This comprehensive identification guide to coral reef fishes and invertebrates from Hawaii to the Red Sea features 1,800 color photographs. (DIV48, $40.00)

Madagascar Wildlife: A Visitors Guide

Madagascar Wildlife: A Visitors Guide


by Hilary Bradt | Nick Garbutt | Derek Schuurman

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 176 PAGES

This handy guide describes and illustrates in color photographs 250 species of Malagasy animals, not just the lemurs, fossas and other endemic mammals but also birds, reptiles and invertebrates. With chapters on habitats, ecology and conservation. Third edition. (MAD07, $25.99)

Marine Invertebrates Indian Ocean and the Central Pacific

Marine Invertebrates Indian Ocean and the Central Pacific


by Idaz Greenberg

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • PLASTIC CARD

This double-sided plastic card shows 50 of the most commonly encountered marine invertebrates of the Indian Ocean in full-color illustrations, convenient for snorkeling trips. (DIV15, $7.50)

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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.