Walks Through Lost Paris: A Journey Into the Heart of Historic Paris

Walks Through Lost Paris: A Journey Into the Heart of Historic Paris

When he discovered that the city he lived in for many years was actually entirely rebuilt during the mid-1800s, Leonard Pitt plunged into Paris's history and began photographing what he learned had changed. Eventually, he led tours and gave lectures on the demolition and reconstruction that changed the city forever. Walks Through Lost Paris chronicles Paris's great periods of urban reconstruction through four walking tours. With a special focus on the work of Georges-Eugene Haussmann, this book provides a history of each site along with the motives behind the urban redesign and the reactions of Parisians who witnessed it. Detailed maps take the traveler through a city whose changes were captured by photographers and artists in each stage. Hundreds of color photos, diagrams, and engravings splendidly survey the massive transformation that resulted in the Paris of today.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #23400 in Books

Published on: 2006-05-24

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

192 pages

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Customer Reviews

Make it bigger please!
Walks Through Lost Paris: A Journey Into the Heart of Historic Paris

This is a wonderful book, except for one thing. It is so small that the maps are almost unreadable, and the print is not so easy to read either. I've been to Paris twice and walked through all four areas in the book before, but the book opened my eyes to a lot of history and details I'm looking forward to seeing first hand. I am taking it to Paris in a couple weeks, and I'm looking forward to the walks, but I'm going to have to blow up the maps so I can read them without a magnifying glass. This book would be far more enjoyable in a larger format.

book purchase
I received the book in very good condition and came very well wrapped and quickly. I am very satisfied with it.

Absorbing history of the city and its development
Whether one takes the recommended walks or just reads the words, this is a great little book, full of wonderful then and now photos (I especially like the photo of the people in the boat on Rue Jacob during the flood of 1910--see the hats!) and interesting discussions of how Paris came to be what we see today, how sections of the city were saved by those who loved them, and how other sectors were changed and updated. I have a number of walks-around-Paris books, some written for Parisians themselves, and I think this is the best and most interesting. It entertained my husband when he recently spent a week in the hospital. It is not especially touristic, and not a book for those dropping in for a day or two to see the highlights of Paris. This is a book to wallow around in. I found the English version first, but will look for the French, as I'm suspicious of translations.

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Drive I-95: Exit by Exit Info, Maps, History and Trivia

Drive I-95: Exit by Exit Info, Maps, History and Trivia

Road trips are back again, because by traveling in the security of your won car and visiting friendly small town America, it brings back the way America used to be and the way we would like it to be again. To help those who travel up and down the East coast, Drive I-95 is a new style of guidebook. It combines colorful easy-to-follow pictorial maps and fun stories, eliminating the trepidation of a road trip down America s busiest highway. Travelers can look ahead exit-by-exit to see which motels and gas stations are coming up, where the radars trap are or where to stop for a good homemade meal. The drive from Boston to Miami or any section in-between will become more pleasant and less stressful by knowing where to find: 24 hour gas stations (and which ones have a mechanic!) and pharmacies, 800 numbers for motel chains, camp grounds, golf courses, places that allow pets, shopping malls, supermarkets, internet availability and even which radio stations to tune to. This husband and wife team share stories of the road: history that happened on it, quirky museums worth a visit, Americana trivia, homey towns to explore, or places to run with the kids and pets. These can be read for entertainment during the drive and may entice motorists to stop, stretch their legs and discover someplace new. The maps and the fun stories of the road are useful for family travelers (Christmas, Spring break or summer), seniors, salesmen, truckers, campers and RVers, University students and their parents, military personnel and people who live and work near I-95

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #29450 in Books

Published on: 2007-11-01

Original language: English

Binding: Spiral-bound

208 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Review
Are we there yet? If you're on Interstate 95, Drive I-95 can tell you ... where to sleep, eat and take breaks up and down the East Coast. --JUNE WULFF, The Boston Globe

Having the travel guidebook called Drive I-95 in your automobile is like having a guardian angel along for the ride. --ROY BARNES, associatedcontent.com

I didn t think the authors could improve on their Drive I-95 guide, but this new edition is clearly superior. This intrepid couple has researched every exit between MA and FL. If there is a medal for this kind of work, I believe they ve earned it 10 times over. --SPENCER RUMSEY, Newsday

About the Author
Sandra Phillips-Posner s first book, Smart Shopping Montreal, quickly climbed onto the best seller list and remained there (with its annually updated editions) for the past 20 years. Having spent some calm years as an art teacher (with a Masters degree in Art and Education from Queens College/CUNY), Sandra s life took an interesting turn following this success. This native New Yorker was offered her own column, which ran for 16 years in Montreal s newspaper The Gazette. She has also become a regular on the noon news, talk radio and TV talk shows, and has gained popularity as a lecturer. Stan Posner is actually an actuary who fell in love with both Sandra and computers. He has owned a computer consulting business since 1984 and has done work with such companies as Raytheon, Honda, Bombardier and Atomic Energy of Canada. He has also spent many years teaching actuarial math at Concordia University, after having graduated with Honors in Math from McGill University. Stan is the computer guru for their Travelsmart publishing company. Sandra and Stan's passion for learning and travel has taken them to 17 countries, 43 U.S. states and all 10 Canadian provinces. During and after their adventures, they report for travel radio, e-zines and print media. Their newest project, Drive I-95, a map/guide book, is the perfect combination of Stan s love of maps and his computer expertise together with Sandra's delightful insightful blurbs. After 28 years of marriage, and even after spending 10 hours a day for 8 weeks in the car together doing the research for this book, they are still crazy about each other. They have a way of making travel both informative and fun.

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Customer Reviews

Drive I-95
We can hardly wait to travel I-95 north this summer. This book is everything you need to make the trip fun and with reasonable expenses. Thanks Tony

Drive I 95
Haven't had time to actually use this book so far but my sisters. one of whom has used an older version of this book in the past, used theirs recently while traveling north. They found it very helpful in locating places to eat and stay overnight. We did notice however that one or two of the eating places in our own area of Santee are no longer in business.

I hope to get my chance to use it shortly.

Confidently recommended travel guide for anyone driving up or down I-95!
Now in a fully updated fourth edition, "Drive I-95" continues to be the premier guidebook for the more than 42,500,000 people who drive to Florida every year down Interstate 95. It accurately charts all 552 exits on I-95 from Boston to Miami. It is also a wealth of information about food options, motels, radar traps, radio stations, 24-hour mechanics (a unique feature not found in other travel guides) ATM machines, shopping recommendations, and even some of the best golf courses to be found along the route. With anecdotal stories such as the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, North Carolina having been started with a kiss, to a listing of motel chain 800 numbers, to so much more, "Drive I-95" continues to be the premier and confidently recommended travel guide for anyone driving up or down I-95!

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RV Repair and Maintenance Manual: Updated and Expanded

RV Repair and Maintenance Manual: Updated and Expanded

RV Repair and Maintenance Manual is the most popular resource for owners who prefer to work on their own RVs. The book features step-by-step procedures for maintaining and repairing RVs, presented in easy-to-understand layman's terms and simple-to-follow instructions. The fourth edition has been updated and expanded to keep up with the latest in RV technology and repair procedures. From trouble-shooting guidelines to quick diagnoses and repairs, this manual will keep you rolling down the highway and not in the repair shop. Packed with valuable information, checklists, photos, and charts, the RV Repair and Maintenance Manual includes topics on electrical systems, LP-gas systems, water systems, sanitation systems, AC generators, heating systems, air-conditioning systems, refrigerators, trailer brakes, trailer suspensions, dinghy towing, hitches, drivetrain systems, solar power systems, ovens and ranges, microwaves and ice makers, exterior and interior care, and accessories.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #46274 in Books

Published on: 2002-03-05

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

390 pages

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Customer Reviews

Another must have for RV'rs
Good source of info. I keep it in the hauler next to the "Managing 12 volts" book bought here. Good stuff.

Great book!
This book was used as a training aid when I worked at an major RV repair shop. I'm glad to finally find an upgraded version for my own use.

Been full-timing for six months now in an old Class A motorhome, and...
we've hoped this book would be as useful as the reviews say.

We've referred to it several times, but it wasn't helpful for us in:
* how to replace a water heater, the different types involved, that an access door is needed to be purchased too.
* how to fix torn awnings.
* how door latches work or can be repaired or replaced.
* what to do if your circuit breakers trip all the time.
* what's involved in replacing the carpet in the rig.
* how to avoid ants at sites, which is a common occurrance.

We finally quit referring to it.

It IS a thick book full of pictures and articles, but it hasn't helped us in real life.

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A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover's Dream

A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover's Dream

"A sun-drenched memoir with a fairy-tale ending."—Kirkus Reviews

In this laugh-out-loud tale, two adventurers discover that rare combination: joy and success. Candace, a painter, and Ferenc, a writer, begin a new life near the hill town of Montalcino. They restore a thirteenth-century friary, plant fifteen acres of vines, build a winery, tame a runaway tractor, excavate an Etruscan village, and battle volcanic fermenting vats, while learning from famous vintner neighbor Angelo Gaja the secrets of growing the best grapes and making superb, award-winning wine. This extraordinary tale will enrich the lives of travelers and wine lovers alike. A New York Times Book Review 2007 Notable Travel Book.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #37659 in Books

Published on: 2008-11-03

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

250 pages

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Hungarian-Canadian author and sailor Máté (The Hills of Tuscany) recounts in wry, candid detail how he rebuilt a Tuscan ruin into a world-class winery. Living in Tuscany with his artist wife and son while savoring the landscape, food and pleasant neighbors wasn't enough for Máté, who admits he thrives on adversity. He wanted his own castle and finagles the purchase of a 13th-century friary in Montalcino, with a proper forno (oven), a forest crammed with porcini and 60 acres of land—15 of which he fashions over three hard years of work into a vineyard sprouting robust harvests of Sangiovese, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and Syrah grapes. His diary of sorts regales the reader on the process of restoring the ancient ruin, called La Colombaio: first by detailing how an Etruscan house was constructed, then by observing how the various workmen were hired (and what they ate for lunch). While hacking in the forest, he finds the remains of a 3,000-year-old city, inviting the interest of archeologists. Máté breaks from the construction and excavation for treks through the Dolomites before returning to prepare for the toilsome but ultimately satisfying vendemmia (harvest). (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Muscular prose...like Paul Bunyan on a Tuscan holiday...cool, robust, determined....Máté has created a wine in his own image. -- The New Yorker

Readers share a feeling of accomplishment and pride when their Syrah is voted 'Italian Red Wine of the Year' by Morrell. -- The New York Times Book Review

These are the tales that inspire the soul. -- Seattle Post Intelligencer

About the Author
Ferenc MáTé's books of photography include the highly acclaimed The World's Best Sailboats. He lives in Italy.

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Customer Reviews

Not the real essence of life in Toscana
After enjoying Sig. Mate's first book , I was quite delighted to see the new one. However I must say it was disappointing, to say the least. He has become the Frances Mayes of Montalcino! Although he did recognize the many people who came to his aid for the house and vineyard, I really grew bored hearing about the Banfi and Gaja and all the people who really aren't the norm in Toscana.
And everything so perfect. From the porcini in the forest to the century old resources for his home. Che noioso!
I am happy for the success of the wine but with his circumstances including location and wealth, who couldn't have done it!
Perhaps someday he will find the real essence of Tuscany and see how we really enjoy our lives and our friends and family.

fun read but not more
5 stars here--are you kidding me? he's definitely a guy you'd like and want to have bruschetta and brunello with. and his story is charming but be realistic. this book is written in a very simplistic way and the beauty of tuscany cannot be captured with this "prose". and details, details, details....somehow he has the finances to restore this vineyard while apparently not working and still having his son in a private school in Rome, hours away? c'mon. you've lost most of the details and have settled for a lot of the embellishments. kudos to ferenc for his superb achievements and i did enjoy reading it but at the 2 star level. it was not a wasted effort but it was mediocre mostly due to the storytelling. frances mayes story of the agonies and ecstasies of her tuscan adventure was an infinitely better read---detail and prose wise. it's a fun read. it is not a 5 star read. no way.

In vino veritas
In wine there is truth, or at least in this case, wisdom and a beautifully written book. I have been a fan of Mr. Mate's writing for many years and this book does not disappoint. Written in a similar style to The Hills of Tuscany, Mr. Mate brings the reader along on his quest to restore a dilapidated friary and establish a vineyard of his own. Equal parts insight, humor (the tractor driving experiment) and adventure; Mr. Mate has once again blended a perfect read.

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Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?: A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics, and Professional Hedonism

Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?: A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics, and Professional Hedonism

For those who think that travel guidebooks are the gospel truth.

The waitress suggests that I come back after she closes down the restaurant, around midnight. We end up having sex in a chair and then on one of the tables in the back corner. I pen a note in my Moleskine that I will later recount in the guidebook review, saying that the restaurant “is a pleasant surprise . . . and the table service is friendly.” –Thomas Kohnstamm, professional travel writer and author of numerous Lonely Planet guidebooks

WANTED: Travel Writer for Brazil
QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED
Decisiveness: the ability to desert your entire previous life–including well-salaried office job, attractive girlfriend, and basic sanity for less than minimum wage
Attention to detail: the skill to research northeastern Brazil, including transportation, restaurants, hotels, culture, customs, and language, while juggling sleep deprivation, nonstop nightlife, and excessive alcohol consumption
Creativity: the imagination to write about places you never actually visit
Resourcefulness: utilizing persuasion, seduction, and threats, when necessary, to secure a place to stay for the evening once your pitiable advance has been (mis)spent
Resilience: determination to overcome setbacks such as bankruptcy, disillusionment, and an ill-fated one-night stand with an Austrian flight attendant

As Kohnstamm comes to personal terms with each of these job requirements, he unveils the underside of the travel industry and its often-harrowing effect on writers, travelers, and the destinations themselves. Moreover, he invites us into his world of compromising and scandalous situations in one of the most exciting countries as he races against an impossible deadline.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #42293 in Books

Published on: 2008-04-22

Released on: 2008-04-22

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

288 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Review
"A comic rogue who seems to have modeled his life and prose on Hunter S. Thompson’s… I could not get enough of the most depraved travel book of the year."
—The New York Times

"Hilarious"
—The New York Times Book Review

"the shot heard 'round the travel world…"
—The Washington Post

"A guidebook writer reveals the truth about his trade, in detail that will shock and awe."
—Outside

"It’s Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, but with tourism"
—The New York Observer

"Kohnstamm is nobody's model travel journalist, except maybe Hunter Thompson's… [he’s the] sudden enfant terrible of his field… Do Travel Writers Go To Hell? is the best-written, funniest book of travel literature since Phaic Tan."
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Sharp writing and self-deprecating wit add spice to a chronicle of the sometimes absurd world of guidebook writing."
—Booklist

"Readers will relish the countless stories of the author's misadventures, but Kohnstamm brings more than just anecdotes: He offers a solid understanding of the mechanics of the travel-writing industry and a unique ability to illuminate that world to readers. Notable for its spirited prose and insightful exploration of the less-romantic side of travel writing. Kohnstamm is one to watch."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

About the Author
THOMAS KOHNSTAMM was born in 1975 and graduated from Stanford University with an M.A. in Latin American studies. He lives in Seattle.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1
One in the Hand, Two in the Bush


Roebling.
Roe-bleeeng.
Rrrrroe-bling.
Alone in the fifty-seventh-floor conference room, I repeat the mantra under my breath. I sit in a rigid half-lotus position atop the glass table and watch the suspension cables of the Brooklyn Bridge flicker against the night sky. The office air is sharp with disinfectant. I take a slug of rum and return to my mantra.
John Roebling had a calling. Unfortunately for him, after the buildup, design, preparation, and politicking for the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, the hapless bastard promptly dropped dead. His son, Washington, brought the bridge to completion, but not without picking up a case of the bends and almost dying in the process. Neither man ever wavered from a life of dedication, direction, and diligence.
A lot of good it did either of them.
I remove my battered leather shoes, the toes stained gray with salt from the slushy city sidewalks, and knead my left foot through my sweaty dress sock. Hundreds of pairs of headlights move in a stream back and forth across the bridge.
Yesterday during a meeting in this same conference room, a neckless, pockmarked banker pointed out that the name the bends was, in fact, coined during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. Hundreds of laborers toiled on the footing of the bridge, eighty feet below the surface of the river. They worked in nine-foot-high wooden boxes known as caissons, which were pumped full of compressed air and lowered to the depths with the men inside. After resurfacing, scores of workers were inflicted with a mysterious illness. Crippling joint pain. Mental deterioration. Paralysis. And for a few, agonizing death. The name the bends was taken from the debilitated posture of the sufferers.
It wasn't until eight years after the bridge construction had started that a French physiologist determined the cause of the illness. Contrary to popular assumption, oxygen is a lesser ingredient in the air that we breathe. Seventy-eight percent of air is comprised of nitrogen, which, under normal circumstances, has no effect on the human body. When breathing air at depth, the water pressure converts the nitrogen in the bloodstream from a gas to a liquid, washing it through the veins and arteries. So long as you resurface at a slow pace, the liquid gradually transforms back into a gas and is disposed of by your body.
If the change of pressure is too sudden, the liquid bursts out of solution, fizzing back into gas. Similar to the millions of microscopic nitrogen bubbles that are released when you crack a can of Guinness, the bubbles surge through the bloodstream. If they don't lodge themselves in your joints, the bubbles charge on the fatal path to your brain. You come up too quickly, you die.
I remove a folded piece of printer paper from my pocket and smooth it open:
Thomas,
I want to know if you'd like do some writing for our new Brazil guidebook?
If you're interested in jumping ship within the next few weeks for Brazil, let me know right away and I could put together an offer for you.
                                           
Commissioning Editor--South America & Antarctica
Lonely Planet


Once--maybe when I was first out of school--this opportunity would have been a dream job. It is still seductive, but more along the lines of a cheap one-night-stand. My life is fulfilling in other ways now. I have a steady job, a decent income, a beautiful girlfriend, and an apartment in Manhattan. I finally have everything that I am supposed to have. Besides, between 9/11, SARS, Iraq, Bali, and Madrid, it can't possibly be a good time to dive headfirst into travel writing. But I won't I lie: I have always been a sucker for a cheap one-night-stand.
God knows, I can already feel myself coming up too fast.


For most people, November 24 is not a special day. Sure, it hosts Thanksgiving every few years, but I could care less about that. In Seattle, where few things out-of-the-ordinary ever happen and where people strive, often pathologically, to maintain a facade of tranquility, the day has a different significance.
On November 24, 1971, a balding, middle-aged man boarded a flight from Portland to Seattle. He used the name Dan Cooper. He dressed in a black suit, a black overcoat, black sunglasses, and a narrow black tie with a pearl stick pin. Cooper hijacked the Boeing 727 with a briefcase full of wires and bright red cylinders. The hostages were exchanged for four parachutes and two hundred thousand dollars at Sea-Tac Airport (to put that in perspective, the average cost of a new home in the U.S. in 1971 was $28,000).
DB Cooper, as the press mistakenly dubbed him, demanded to be flown to Mexico. He parachuted out of the plane somewhere over southern Washington State and disappeared. Maybe DB died in the jump. Maybe he got away with the money. Nobody knows. But legend has it that DB was a man so disenchanted with his life that he gambled it all on a way out. The point isn't whether he made it or not. The point is that this little bald man didn't spend one more day pumping gas in Tallahassee or adjusting claims in Denver. He didn't waste one more day wondering, "What if?"
I nominate Cooper as the patron saint of disillusioned men, particularly those who, like me, were born in Seattle on November 24.


The phone rings in the conference room. It is the blipping staccato ring of all office phones. I am jolted back to the reality that I have hours of work ahead of me. The digital clock on the phone reads 9:42 p.m.
Tucking the pint bottle of rum into the waist of my pants, I answer with a cautious "Hello."
"Thomas? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM, DAMMIT. I knew I could find you there. You and I need to have a talk," my boss snarls. "I am coming by your cube in fifteen minutes. You'd better be there, with the WorldCom spreadsheet ready for me to look at."
I tiptoe back into my cubicle, successfully avoiding anyone in the hallways. I hold my head in my hands, shirt sleeves rolled up, with cold sweat dripping down my sides. My tacky palms are crisscrossed with hairs from my suddenly receding hairline. After the final sip of a metallic-sweet Red Bull, I chew a handful of gum and look across the tops of the cubicles, scanning for other workers. The office appears empty, except for the faint tapping of keyboards somewhere down the hall.


Welcome to life on Wall Street. With such a character-defining foothold in the career world, I no longer have to make excuses for the life I lead. No longer do I have to explain my directionless postcollegiate life to incredulous eyes and repetitive questions, like: "What are you doing next year?" "Don't you want to do something with your life?" and my favorite, "When are you going to get a real job?" I am no longer just Thomas, the supposed slacker, backpacker bum, or permanent student. I am Thomas, the employee of           ,           ,            &            LLP, and I am going places.
I make more money than I reasonably should, putting papers into chronological order (chroning, in office-speak). My skill set also includes entering numbers into Excel spreadsheets and working the copier and fax machine. Between those projects, I search for old high school friends' names on Google; play online Jeopardy against my office trivia nemesis, Jerry; and generally while away the hours of my life. Jerry thinks that he is better at Jeopardy than me, but really he's just faster with the mouse.
Yes, I know, I really have it pretty good. There are people starving in Africa. And there are plenty of people here in New York who would love the chance to be in a cubicle all day and not have to operate deep-fat fryers, drive garbage trucks, suck dicks, or whatever it is they do. The problem is that I am an ungrateful by-product of a prosperous society--the offal of opportunity. I am just another liberal arts graduate who bought the idea that life and career would be a fulfilling intellectual journey. Unfortunately, I am performing a glorified version of punching the time clock, and the financial rewards don't come anywhere near filling the emotional void of such diminished expectations.


But let's face it: rebellion is passe. My parents' generation already proved that--over time--rebellion boils down to little more than Saab ownership and an annual contribution to public radio. The old icons have been co-opted. JoseŽ Mart’ is a brand of mojito mix. Che Guevara is a T-shirt. Cherokees are SUVs, and Apaches are helicopter gunships.
The American Dream is for immigrants. The rest of us are better acquainted with entitlement or boredom than we are with our own survival mechanisms. And when confronted with a fight-or-flight scenario, the latter usually takes precedence. Escape is our action of choice: escape through pharmaceuticals, escape through technology, and plain old running away in search of something else, anything else. I rummage through the back of my desk drawer looking for a loose Vicodin or a Klonopin. The best thing I come up with is Wite-Out, but I'm not that desperate. Yet.
I continually revisit the words of some sociologist who I read in college. I think that it was Weber or Durkheim. Either is usually a fair guess. He believed that the modern mind is determined to expand its repertoire of experiences, and is bent on avoiding any specialization that threatens to interrupt the search for alternatives and novelty. Many people would call that approach to life a crisis, immaturity, or being out of touch with reality. It could also be called the New American Dream...

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Customer Reviews

More cachaça please!
Reading this book, I felt like my crazy friend was telling me about his ridiculous time in Brazil.

This is a great book for anyone who wants to know what its like to be bold, travel by yourself! Kohnstamm's book is shocking and real. Did you go with Kohnstamm and party in Brazil? Because after this book you will feel like you have.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to travel the world. As crazy as the book is, a lot of it is very relatable. My favorite part was how Kohnstamm describes the hostel lifestyle and mini-culture perfectly! All the crazy people he meets, becomes friends with, drinks with. Anyone who has had to pay money to sleep in a hot room with strangers who might steal your stuff and do weird things in the dark can reminisce with Kohnstamm.

An entertaining read
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very fun to read especially since the author didn't shy away from the nitty gritty realities of his experinces that which were work mixed in with a lot of play.

sounds like a few people I know!
A frank realization of the footfalls us travelers traverse for better or worse to seek adventure. Excellent recount of the hysteria of life on the road and "cheers" to Thomas for having the gumption to lay it all out there.

If you've ever really traveled, you might just have some parallels with this guy! Take it as you will but we all do crazy things. Some of us just go at things with a little more flair!

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Vienna (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Vienna (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Includes: Stephansdom Quarter, Hofburg Quarter, Schottenring, Alsergrund, Town Hall, the Museum Quarter, Opera, Naschmarkt, and the Belvedere Quarter.-

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #37944 in Books

Published on: 2003-09

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Turtleback

288 pages

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Customer Reviews

Excellent
The eyewitness guides are a pleasure to read .Many great pictures and plenty of detail .I am as pleased with this one as the others I already own .These guides are books you actually pick up and read again after you have completed your trip.

Unreasonably slow delivery
The product delivered was OK. However the delivery took almost a full month, being delivered on the very last day that reading the fine print said the product might be delivered. Products which I had ordered on the same date from two other merchants thru Amazon, all with regular non-expedited shipping, delivered product two to three weeks sooner. One of those much-quicker merchants was located in England!

Use for sightseeing, not restaurants or hotels information
Restaurants and hotels pricing was off, but, as usual, DK Publishing Eyewitness guides are like having a personal historical/architectural
guide by your side - 24/7/365. It's simply.. perfect.

Make sure to visit Budapest while in Vienna - only 3 hours away by train. Also consider Bratislava for a one-day trip - the historical center is pretty.

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Top Trails Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks: Must-Do Hikes for Everyone

Top Trails Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks: Must-Do Hikes for Everyone

"There are several very good guidebooks to the trails of Yellowstone. This one is great. It is the most accessible to the novice Yellowstone hiker, and the most useful for knowledgeable trekkers. – Tim Cahill, author of Lost in My Own Backyard: A Walk in Yellowstone Park, Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, and Hold the Enlightenment

Hike, Backpack, Horseback

Whatever you're looking for, there's a trail for you in Yellowstone and the Tetons. Make the most of a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks by exploring the absolute best trails that the parks have to offer. The latest in the Top Trails series covers the most exciting dayhikes and overnight/backcountry trips in these two popular parks, from the roaring geysers of Yellowstone to the singular mountain scenery of Grand Teton. Top Trails Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks covers every corner of Yellowstone, including the Mammoth, Tower, Canyon, and Lake regions, and Old Faithful, plus Bechler and the Cascade Corner, as well as the premier trails throughout Grand Teton National Park.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks offer the ultimate in natural and geothermal wonders: untouched backcountry lakes, panoramic alpine summits. glacier-carved canyons, steaming geyser basins, and vast meadows teeming with charismatic wildlife.

With 45 "must-do" hikes from Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful, from the Absarokas to the Gallatin Range, and from Jackson Hole to the Teton Crest Trail, this is your guide.

Whether you’re a lucky year-round resident or a happy visitor for a day, week, or an entire season, in this guide you will find: "Don’t get lost" trail milestones, innovative trail-feature tables and elevation profiles, a detailed map of every trail and region, and detailed driving directions to every trailhead.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #59327 in Books

Published on: 2006-06-30

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

351 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Review
"A guidebook with a lot of moxie...Nystrom has done a splendid job of researching and writing about the trails." -- Winner 2005 National Outdoor Book Awards: Best Outdoor Adventure Guidebook

"In addition to the book's smart design, introductory charts help you identify suitable trails. -- Winner 2005 National Outdoor Book Awards: Best Outdoor Adventure Guidebook

"Nystrom does a thorough job of packaging information between the front and back covers of the book." – Kurt Repanshek -- National Parks Traveler Weblog, August 18, 2006

"Nystrom serves up an accessible guide to best day hikes and overnight backcountry trips in Yellowstone and the Teton Range." -- Longitude Books - longitudebooks.com

"The National Outdoor Book Awards winner breaks new ground...lets all calibers of hikers size up trails at a glance." -- The Oregonian, February 12, 2006 - The ARMCHAIR TRAVELER by Terry Richard

"There are several very good guidebooks to the trails of Yellowstone. This one is great." – Tim Cahill -- – Tim Cahill, author of Lost in My Own Backyard: A Walk in Yellowstone Park, Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, and Hold the Enlightenment

"Top Trails are top notched guidebooks...exceedingly well organized...the maps are uncluttered and easy to use." -- Winner 2005 National Outdoor Book Awards: Best Outdoor Adventure Guidebook

Nystrom's Lonely Planet Yellowstone and Grand Teton guidebook: "A lively, well-written, comprehensive guide to the best place on earth...." -- Tim Cahill, author of Hold the Enlightenment and founding editor of Outside magazine

From the Publisher
When Wilderness Press published Sierra North in 1967, no other trail guide like it existed for the Sierra backcountry. The first run of 2800 copies sold out in less than two months and its success heralded the beginning of Wilderness Press. In the past 35 years, we have expanded our territories to cover California, Alaska, Hawaii, the U.S. Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, New England, Canada, and Baja California.

Wilderness Press continues to publish comprehensive, accurate, and readable outdoor books. Hikers, backpackers, kayakers, skiers, snowshoers, climbers, cyclists, and trail runners rely on Wilderness Press for accurate outdoor adventure information.

In its Top Trails series, Wilderness Press has paid special attention to organization so that you can find the perfect hike each and every time. Whether you’re looking for a steep trail to test yourself on or a walk in the park, a romantic waterfall or a city view, Top Trails will lead you there.

Each Top Trails guide contains trails for everyone. The trails selected provide a sampling of the best that the region has to offer. These are the "must-do" hikes, walks, runs and bike rides, with every feature of the area represented.

Every book in the Top Trails series offers:
• Maps and permit details
• Easy-to-follow trail notes
• Distances and approximate times
• Ratings and rankings for each trail
• The Wilderness Press commitment to accuracy and reliability

All books in the affordable and easy-to-use Top Trails series feature elevation profiles, detailed maps, driving directions, and "don’t get lost" trail milestones. Innovative trail-feature charts give at-a-glance information on which trails are child-friendly, which allow horses, where to catch a glimpse of bison, elk, or a grizzly, where to see wildflowers and autumn colors, which trips have the best photo opportunities, and which have camping opportunities. Each park receives more than 3 million visitors annually.

From the Author
During the summer of 2002, I had the privilege of living inside Yellowstone National Park while working for the Yellowstone Center for Resources in Mammoth Hot Springs. While collecting baseline scientific data for the ongoing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database project focused on mapping the park’s microbial diversity, I surveyed several well-known frontcountry and seldom-seen backcountry thermal areas.

Between May 2002 and October 2004, I hiked every trail included in this book at least once. In many cases, I rehiked my favorite trails in both parks during several different seasons.

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Customer Reviews

A good book but not so helpful
This book is good but with other map books and gps map details it was not needed.

Fanastic, easy to get away from the crowds with this info
We took a one week trip to Yellowstone at the end of July. This book was invaluable. The hikes are ranked from 1 (easiest) to 5 (hardest) making it simple for us to figure out what the four kids could handle. By taking trails rated over "2" we saw almost nobody else on the trails for most hikes. It seems that a vast majority of visitors to Yellowstone do not actually want to hike and having this book made it easy for us to have an uncrowded, pleasant experience. Very detailed, easy to find trail heads from the descriptions. Highly recommend this book, it made our experience fantastic. We also bought "Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park" which offers more info on the actual park. Together these books covered everything we needed to know.

An excellent guidebook!
"Top Trails" for Yellowstone and Grand Teton is extremely well-organized and eary to use. We had limited time in the parks and needed to quickly assess how to make the best use of our time, hiking limitations, etc. The first few pages offer an excellent overview of how long and how difficult each trail is, what you're likely to see (from geology to wildlife, panoramic views, etc). Then it gives you a reference page number, where you can get more detail on the trail, best time of day/year to do it, pros and cons, etc, etc. I can't vouch for the longer hikes, as we stuck to those under 2 miles, but it was quite accurate, easy to use, and a valuable asset.

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Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska

More than twenty years ago, a disillusioned college graduate named Peter Jenkins set out with his dog Cooper to look for himself and his nation. His memoir of what he found, A Walk Across America, captured the hearts of millions of Americans.

Now, Peter is a bit older, married with a family, and his journeys are different than they were. Perhaps he is looking for adventure, perhaps inspiration, perhaps new communities, perhaps unspoiled land. Certainly, he found all of this and more in Alaska, America's last wilderness.

Looking for Alaska is Peter's account of eighteen months spent traveling over twenty thousand miles in tiny bush planes, on snow machines and snowshoes, in fishing boats and kayaks, on the Alaska Marine Highway and the Haul Road, searching for what defines Alaska. Hearing the amazing stories of many real Alaskans--from Barrow to Craig, Seward to Deering, and everywhere in between--Peter gets to know this place in the way that only he can. His resulting portrait is a rare and unforgettable depiction of a dangerous and beautiful land and all the people that call it home.

He also took his wife and eight-year-old daughter with him, settling into a "home base" in Seward on the Kenai Peninsula, coming and going from there, and hosting the rest of their family for extended visits. The way his family lived, how they made Alaska their home and even participated in Peter's explorations, is as much a part of this story as Peter's own travels.

All in all, Jenkins delivers a warm, funny, awe-inspiring, and memorable diary of discovery-both of this place that captures all of our imaginations, and of himself, all over again.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #45530 in Books

Published on: 2002-09-01

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

448 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In 1999, Peter Jenkins and his family left their farm in Tennessee to live in Alaska for a few seasons, eventually renting a house in Seward, Alaska (pop. 2,830) on the Kenai Peninsula. The principal aim of the trip was for Jenkins to write a travelogue, but he also saw it as an opportunity to end a period of personal stagnation. It appears to have worked, for Looking for Alaska is filled with a vibrancy that can only come from one with a fully charged battery. Recognizing that "This giant place is filled with people determined to live as free as possible of others' intervention," he employed the same low-key approach to research that made his bestselling book A Walk Across America (1979) so engaging--he made friends wherever he went and allowed people to share their stories in their own way and in their own time. Part of Jenkins's charm is that he never pretends that he's figured the place out; he readily cops to his outsider status and invites readers to experience his sense of awe and surprise with him. During his 18-month stay in the Last Frontier, Jenkins spent time with wildlife rangers, recreation guides, native whalers, fishermen, and dogsled mushers, all of whom showed Jenkins and his family glimpses of their own private Alaska. (They also shared their bear stories; it seems nearly everyone in the state has had at least one run-in with the giant predator). "No one is ever the same after coming back from Alaska," he writes and after reading his book, it's easy to believe him. --Shawn Carkonen

From Publishers Weekly
The footloose Jenkins (A Walk Across America; The Walk West; etc.) hits the road again if not actually the blacktop. Jenkins's 18-month sojourn in Alaska involves more unconventional modes of travel: a nervy float-plane trip through the fog with a passenger who knows the route better than the pilot, for instance, or a wild ride across a frozen river on a sled attached to 13 surging huskies. For all its moments of adventure, though, this book feels more deliberate than Jenkins's earlier journeys. The people he meets seem to have been selected in advance by a booking agent. But that doesn't take away from their stories or from Jenkins's ability to draw them out. He is no poet, but maybe that's why he fits so easily into the company of a people with a natural distrust of outsiders, and why he can bond with a fisherman who "would feel much more at home at the dinner-table with ex-football coaches John Madden and Mike Ditka." Even if Jenkins comes across as more settled and his need for self-discovery a quest that added a spark to his previous works has lessened, the author's ability to inspire confidence in others is a quality that hasn't changed. Nor has his courage to even undertake such a trek. And whether it's the crepuscular sunlight ricocheting off a glacier, a massive brown bear rooting through his garbage or a grizzled mountain man named Wild Gene, Jenkins convinces readers that there is much to look at and to look for in Alaska.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Most of us who "look for" Alaska do so as tourists; we see the incredible rugged beauty of the Inside Passage and gaze with wonder at the glaciers, mountains, waterfalls, and other sights located in areas devoid of any sign of human habitation. Many residents, on the other hand, see a very different place; they face a daily challenge to survive in an unforgiving land. Then there are those like Jenkins neither resident nor tourist who are determined to go beyond the visible and look for the spirit. During his 18-month journey throughout Alaska, the author of the best-selling A Walk Across America found what he was looking for. He shares that experience in a narrative that sparkles with adventure, quirky characters, unbelievable hardships, and indescribable beauty. Not intended for the casual tourist, this book is for those who seek to understand the heart and soul of America's most distinctive state. For all public libraries. Joseph L. Carlson, Lompoc P.L., CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Customer Reviews

Looking for Alaska
I am still in the process of reading this book but what I have read so far is really great. I am looking to travel to Alaska in 2009 and a travel consultant I have been talking to recommended that I read this book.

The book really gives a great insight into the ordinary every day Alaskan lives which has just made me want to see Alaska even more.

I recommend this book to anyone whether you want to see Alaska or not. It is just a great read.

Read the book - take the trip
We've been to Alaska twice and are planning our third trip soon. This is an extraordinarily capturing and surprising place. Our trips there avoid the touristy cruise ship or resort hotel thus allowing us to stay in towns much like Jenkins did during his 18 months there. This style allows you to be with and enjoy Alaskan residents.

What Jenkins did was is to involve himself far more deeply than our experiences and that made this book remarkable for us. I liked his writing style as it made for a comfortable read. Yes, there are errors, but they are few. What's memorable is that each of his chapters highlights some adventure or someone's personality. It's been some time since I finished it and yet I still think back on this work and recall much of it. Peter Jenkins left a series of images in my head that are going to be there for a long while. My only regret was that we missed Hobo Jim. An interesting guy (check out his web site). He will be on our agenda next trip.

I'm on the Amazon site as I am ordering some copies for friends. Looking for Alaska is a terrific book and a must read for any of you with a sense of wonder for the wilderness. It is easy to not only tout Jenkins's book but Alaska as well. Destination and book are tops.

Alaska speaks for itself
I read this book before a trip to Alaska, and admittedly, ours was only a small boat cruise in the inside passage, so I knew I would experience only a part of Alaska from a tourist's vantage point. I wanted a bigger view of this remarkable state and hoped Jenkins would deliver that in this account of his family's 18-month residence in the state. It did - most of the time. I felt Jenkins took me to places I would never be able to go and gave me a true sense of the state. His was a journey based on the day-to-day interactions, discoveries, struggles and surprises of one who intends to know a place and its people more deeply. Jenkins creates a vision of the landscape and the people, and in its richest moments, this book is almost as good as the real thing.

But - it is too long (editing would have cured this), and poorly written (editing would have cured this as well). More than once, I puzzled over sentences that I wanted to correct. When speaking of the caretaker near a family living in the bush, we read this about the neighbor's disposition: "If the current one, Dave, was a bit grumpy one day, he'd try to tell Mike and Pete how to snow-machine the winter trail, except he'd never done it." Or this for example: " In the early morning, the kids' chores began. Eric wanted Mike and Pete to go across the lake about two miles. I went along to help; we were going to retrieve some doghouses to keep the team in."

I am quite willing to labor over a complex but beautiful sentence to get at the essence, but his is just plain bad writing. Too many examples like this slow the pace and distract the reader. At 434 pages, strenuous editing could have achieved more with less.

That aside, when Jenkins lets the landscape and the people speak for themselves, the reader gets a sense of the real Alaska. On the whole, I enjoyed it and felt it prepared me for the little bit of Alaska I was about to see. Just allow yourself enough time to wade through the verbal bush.

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365 Days in Great Britain Calendar 2009 (Picture-A-Day Wall Calendars)

365 Days in Great Britain Calendar 2009 (Picture-A-Day Wall Calendars)

Take a holiday in Britain. The elegant architecture of Bath, the Union Jack, the sweeping views from the Isle of Man. The camaraderie of a pint at the corner pub. Museum-hopping in Glasgow. Cycling down the cobbled streets of Oxford. Bright red telephone boxes, convivial games of cricket, country cottages, a basket of fresh-baked scones, and rowing down the River Wear.

Featuring lively text by Philip Hoffhines and full-color photographs by Peter Matthews, 365 Days in Great Britain captures the heart of England, Scotland, and Wales—the modern and the ancient, the singular charms and quirky spirit—from the cosmopolitan whirl of London to the lush gardens of Kent to the forests of Dyfed, birthplace of the Tudor dynasty. For Anglophiles, it's a year filled with delights.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #85325 in Books

Brand: Workman Publishing

Published on: 2008-06-15

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Calendar

28 pages

Features

Standard Shipping Cutoff date is DECEMBER 10th at 5:00PM EST.

YOU MUST CHOOSE EXPEDITED SHIPPING AFTER DECEMBER 10th TO GUARANTEE DELIVERY BY DECEMBER 24TH (CHRISTMAS EVE).

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Peter Matthews is a freelance photographer currently based in Ireland. His work has appeared in publications such as GEO magazine, National Geographic Traveler and Newsweek.

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Customer Reviews

Great present for yourself or a traveling friend
My boyfriend and I went to the UK this past June-July, and last year this calendar was one of his Christmas presents. It was so fun to look forward to the trip when we checked the calendar each day, and fun to reminisce about the places we'd seen when we returned.

I highly recommend the calendars in this series as gifts for those who are planning trips to the region.

My trip to the Isles
One of my great regrets is that I've never made it to Britain -- yet. But, I buy the 365 Days calendar each year and take a different trip there every month. This is a marvelous calendar, chock-a-block with beautiful photos. Buy it and enjoy.

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The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee

The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee

In this captivating book, Stewart Lee Allen treks three-quarters of the way around the world on a caffeinated quest to answer these profound questions: Did the advent of coffee give birth to an enlightened western civilization? Is coffee, indeed, the substance that drives history? From the cliffhanging villages of Southern Yemen, where coffee beans were first cultivated eight hundred years ago, to a cavernous coffeehouse in Calcutta, the drinking spot for two of India’s three Nobel Prize winners . . . from Parisian salons and cafés where the French Revolution was born, to the roadside diners and chain restaurants of the good ol’ U.S.A., where something resembling brown water passes for coffee, Allen wittily proves that the world was wired long before the Internet. And those who deny the power of coffee (namely tea-drinkers) do so at their own peril.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #64342 in Books

Published on: 2003-03-04

Released on: 2003-03-04

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

240 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Review
"Stewart Lee Allen is the Hunter S. Thompson of coffee, offering a wild, caffeinated, gonzo tour of the World of the Magic Bean. His wry, adventurous prose delights, astonishes, amuses, and informs."
--MARK PENDERGRAST
   Author of Uncommon Grounds:
   The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World -- Review

Review
"Stewart Lee Allen is the Hunter S. Thompson of coffee, offering a wild, caffeinated, gonzo tour of the World of the Magic Bean. His wry, adventurous prose delights, astonishes, amuses, and informs."
--MARK PENDERGRAST
   Author of Uncommon Grounds:
   The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World

From the Inside Flap
In this captivating book, Stewart Lee Allen treks three-quarters of the way around the world on a caffeinated quest to answer these profound questions: Did the advent of coffee give birth to an enlightened western civilization? Is coffee, indeed, the substance that drives history? From the cliffhanging villages of Southern Yemen, where coffee beans were first cultivated eight hundred years ago, to a cavernous coffeehouse in Calcutta, the drinking spot for two of India's three Nobel Prize winners . . . from Parisian salons and cafés where the French Revolution was born, to the roadside diners and chain restaurants of the good ol' U.S.A., where something resembling brown water passes for coffee, Allen wittily proves that the world was wired long before the Internet. And those who deny the power of coffee (namely tea-drinkers) do so at their own peril.

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Customer Reviews

A Java-Fueled Jaunt
The Devil's Cup is the best kind of quest story -- a man in pursuit of something he loves for no reason other than to satisfy his own curiosity. In a journey that parallels the coffee bean's chronological journey through time, Stewart Lee Allen travels from Ethiopia to al-Makkah (hence the term mocha) in Yemen, Calcutta to Istanbul, and finally Vienna to Paris. Then he hops a freighter to Brazil and concludes with a car trip across the U.S. in search of the perfect cup of coffee. Along the way he visits Rimbaud's house in Harar, crosses to Yemen with a boatload of Somali refugees, turns down numerous offers of qat, conspires with smugglers of forged Rajasthani miniatures, whirls with dervishes, and tracks down the descendants of the adventurer who first brought coffee to the new world. In Brazil he tours the torture chamber of a slaveholding coffee baron, ducks a doomsday cult and communes with an ancient Ethiopian coffee spirit through an Afro-Brazilian shaman. Back home he cajoles a friend into taking a java-fueled ride across route 66 and almost lands in jail. Ultimately he does find the most "American" cup of coffee somewhere between New York and LA.

The author did a wonderful job of weaving in more coffee trivia than I ever imagined possible without bogging down his fast-paced narrative. Particularly fascinating were the myriad of ways he saw coffee prepared, his explanation of the relationship between coffee and Islam and his history of cafés in European culture and commerce. When he began making plans to attend an Ethiopian ceremony to invoke the Zar coffee spirits to perform an exorcism, I was a little concerned about where the book was going. But after his respectful recounting I found his quest to understand coffee's anthropological context to be an added dimension of the story. Anyone who enjoys travel or adventure writing will find this a worthwhile few hours. For coffee lovers, with a great cup in hand, it's even better.

funny and easy to read, but a bit watery
a hybrid between "a history of the world according to coffee" (subtitle) and stewart lee allen's research travelogue, the book follows allen who follows coffee's historical and geographical paths of adoption

the early history of coffee is largely unknown, so the first half of the story primarily narrates allen's travel snags in unsuccessful research; border problems, boat breakdowns, getting ripped off by faux art-smugglers, etc

the 2nd half of the book is content-rich and much more interesting - covering the fascinating rise and role of coffee since the ottoman empire (primarily europe, india and the americas). allen provides a lot of speculation (his and others) with his facts - for a subject as nebulous as coffee's impact on civilization, speculation feels appropriate to me

the format would work better for me if 1) his travel tales worked together to form an interesting narrative of their own and/or 2) they had anything to do with coffee. unfortunately they fail on both these counts, and become filler

overall, allen's caffeinated and irreverent writing style makes the book easy to read and i found it reliably funny. for example on page 126 he writes ->

"the main nonalcoholic source of nutrition, bread is now believed to have been plagued with the hallucinogenic fungus ergot, the base ingredient for lsd. drunk doctors, tipsy politicians, hungover generals: the plague, famine, and war. add a pope on acid, and medieval christianity starts to make a whole lot of sense"

if you're interested in the history of coffee and you're okay with some travelogue-genre fluff, you'll probably enjoy this book. i would give it 3 and half stars if i could

amp up on the mocha and read
This is a must read for Barista's. A rollicking adventure/travel/history book. Makes your everyday cup of Joe an event. This could be on Coast-to-coast radio.

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Washington, D.C. (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Washington, D.C. (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Do you want to know about Washington DC's monuments, festivals, museums, history and shopping? Well, look no further the Eyewitness Travel to Washington DC has all of the information about the city and more! This guide is packed with illustrations, photographs and maps to help you navigate around the District. The floor plans of all major sites and the 3-D aerial views of Washington's most interesting districts allow you to feel practiced in the art of tourism. There are also three specially devised walking tours that will point out all of the intriguing things to do around town. Make yourself feel at home with DK's Eyewitness Travel Guide to Washington DC.

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #4388 in Books

Published on: 2006-03-20

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Turtleback

240 pages

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Customer Reviews

DC book
The best publisher, all of my sightseeing books are from them, amazing pictures and very detailed I am collecting all :)

Great DC Guide
I always use these guides, helpful info, like hours, directions, and good pictures and helpful maps.

A Picturesque and Informative Tour of D.C.!
D.C. is my favorite U.S. city, and I have to say that this guide gives a thorough and straight-forward representation of the nation's capital. As much as I like to travel mentally, I don't fancy many travel guides (they're so boring to read)....but travel guides by Dorling Kindersley are outstanding!! You'll appreciate the pictures, helpful and less-known tips, and the organization of the book. Everything a traveler needs to know upon arrival is here. Happy traveling...

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More Mouse Tales: A Closer Peek Backstage at Disneyland

More Mouse Tales: A Closer Peek Backstage at Disneyland

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #65209 in Books

Published on: 2002-06

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Paperback

237 pages

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Customer Reviews

More Mouse Tales--Not as Good as the Prequel
Although I enjoyed this book, the facts and revelations were not quite as mind-boggling as Mouse Tales. It was an interesting read full of fun facts and inrteresing information. If you have any interest in the drama surrounding the Disney Corporation, this is a must-read.

More fascinating stories
I enjoyed this second book almost as much as the first one! After having a Disneyland Pass for one year, it was interesting to read about what goes on behind the scenes. I must admit it was also a little scary to read about the injuries, and sad to read about the issues between staff and management. This is definitely a book more appropriate for adults.

Good for Adults - Careful with Children
This book had some very interesting stories. My 9 year old and I are doing some research on Disneyland prior to a trip and she loved these stories of how the rides work and what a cast member's job is. The book does a great job of describing the backstage life at Disney. My daughter begs for me to read from this as our bedtime reading every night. However, some of stories are racy and very inappropriate for the younger set. Definitely a "read together" and edit it as you go.

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Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo

Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo

In 2005 Kate Jackson ventured into the remote swamp forests of the northern Congo to collect reptiles and amphibians. Her camping equipment was rudimentary, her knowledge of Congolese customs even more so. She knew how to string a net and set a pitfall trap, but she never imagined the physical and cultural difficulties that awaited her.

Culled from the mud-spattered pages of her journals, Mean and Lowly Things reads like a fast-paced adventure story. It is Jackson’s unvarnished account of her research on the front lines of the global biodiversity crisis—coping with interminable delays in obtaining permits, learning to outrun advancing army ants, subsisting on a diet of Spam and manioc, and ultimately falling in love with the strangely beautiful flooded forest.

The reptile fauna of the Republic of Congo was all but undescribed, and Jackson’s mission was to carry out the most basic study of the amphibians and reptiles of the swamp forest: to create a simple list of the species that exist there—a crucial first step toward efforts to protect them. When the snakes evaded her carefully set traps, Jackson enlisted people from the villages to bring her specimens. She trained her guide to tag frogs and skinks and to fix them in formalin. As her expensive camera rusted and her Western soap melted, Jackson learned what it took to swim with the snakes—and that there’s a right way and a wrong way to get a baby cobra out of a bottle.

(20080415)

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #87808 in Books

Published on: 2008-04-30

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Binding: Hardcover

336 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Review
A Harvard post-doc goes snake hunting in Africa.Jackson's scientific report on her survey of amphibians and reptiles in the Republic of Congo appeared last year in the online journal Herpetological Conservation and Biology. This delightful and informative book tells the rest of her story: the bureaucratic delays, insect infestations, difficulties with local people and other unexpected events during the two rainy seasons she spent collecting specimens in the little-studied swamp forest of the northern Congo. With funding from the Smithsonian, Jackson (Biology/Whitman Coll.) arrived in Brazzaville, obtained supplies and guides and set up camp outside the Lac Tele Reserve (permits to work inside the reserve never arrived) with an elderly cook and a moody 24-year-old guide. Waist-deep at times in the flooded forest, surrounded by large ants and tsetse flies, Jackson grew desperate when she was unable to find many frogs and snakes; happily, she was able to purchase more than enough specimens from the villagers, who bring them to her camp. Drawing on her journal, the author recreates the flow of her days: nocturnal frog searches, encounters with cobras, the preservation of specimens and overlong visits from curious neighbors. She also offers glimpses of the many ways - most of them ineffective - that villagers treat snakebites. (Some 20,000 Africans die each year from the bites of venomous snakes.) Just as she was planning her return home to Toronto, looking forward to some privacy in which to nurse her blistered feet and swollen ankles, Jackson found she had to leave behind more than 100 preserved animals; nothing containing DNA was permitted on a passenger plane. (The specimens flew later by DHL courier.) It took a year to prepare for her second expedition, which took her into the reserve for a month. This visit ended spectacularly - a cobra bit Jackson just days before she was scheduled to break camp.A colorful account of field biology and essential reading for aspiring herpetologists. (Kirkus Reviews)

Review
Indiana Jones, step aside! Kate Jackson is an intrepid adventurer and explorer, and her passion for research, discovery, and snakes resonates from every page of this gripping account of a woman in science.
--Meg Lowman, author of Life in the Treetops and It's a Jungle Up There (20080315)

This is the sort of book that makes hardcore field biologists cry out, "take me to the rainforest." For the rest of you, enjoying the sanity and comforts of the armchair adventurer, I suggest you hang on and enjoy the ride.
--Mark W. Moffett, Research Scientist, Smithsonian Institution and recipient of the Lowell Thomas Medal of the Explorer's Club (20080901)

Kate Jackson's field memoir detailing her experiences in the Republic of Congo is a delight that thrills and informs the reader. In relating her adventures conducting a herpetological survey and collecting venomous snakes, she brings to vivid life the harsh realities of fieldwork with its frustrations and disappointments. We're with her as she battles loneliness, parasites, and uncertainties and adapts to a foreign culture. And we share her personal highs and the swamp forest's allure. Bravo to this intrepid herpetologist!
--Marty Crump, author of Headless Males Make Great Lovers and Other Unusual Natural Histories

This is what exploratory natural history in a remote place, embedded in a very different culture, is really like--frustrating, confusing, scary, and fraught with prospects for failure. Jackson tells the truth even when it doesn't necessarily reflect well on her, and did I mention she's a small woman working in places where, I'm not kidding, most male herpetologists wouldn't dare to go? Mean and Lowly Things is genuine adventure, without the swashbuckling!
--Harry W. Greene, Cornell University Professor and author of Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature

It is always exciting to read about remote, natural places in the world and even more so when the story is told by a field researcher. In the tradition of Jane Goodall...Jackson has written a fascinating, adventure-filled memoir, describing how her love of snakes led her to become a herpetologist. She was eventually able to raise money for a survey of reptiles and amphibians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, specifically in the flooded forest habitat around Lac Télé. Drawing from her journal entries, Jackson takes us through the planning, permits, and travel, as well as her actual time in the field catching animals. Jackson learns to work with her native field staff during her two collecting trips and shows appreciation for all the local people she meets and employs.
--Margaret Henderson (Library Journal )

Herpetologist Jackson is candid, funny, and precise as she chronicles her demanding and illuminating experiences collecting snakes, frogs, and toads in the flooded forests of the Congo... Sharply observant, considerate, and rough, Jackson is immensely entertaining in her exuberantly detailed descriptions of swarms of termites, ants, and mosquitoes; unpalatable food; and painfully rugged campsites. Add to that nearly surreal negotiations with officials, confounding relationships with guides and assistants, medical misadventures, and moments ludicrous and dramatic as she chases down poisonous snakes, handles animal remains, and snuggles to preserve and identify priceless specimens and forge cross-cultural scientific partnerships. Jackson is a dynamo, and her riveting, amusing, and revealing tales from the biodiversity front line awaken fresh appreciation for hands-on scientific inquiry and the wonders of nature.
--Donna Seaman (Booklist )

In our age of Google Maps, it's comforting to learn that a few places remain relatively impenetrable to the outside world. Nowhere is this more true than the Congo, which has long held a fascination for explorers and scientists and continues to guard its secrets...Descriptions of ant invasions, maggots under the skin, sleepless nights, bad food and even the odd venomous snake bite all keep the pages turning. Against the odds, Jackson's efforts in the Congo eventually pay off--not only does she discover a new species, she also finds romance. This intriguing blend of science and human interest, related in a matter-of-fact style, brings to life a little-known part of the world.
--Dan Eatherley (BBC Wildlife )

This book will serve as an inspiration to future field biologists. It is also an exciting adventure story for those who would rather avoid the ants, termites, wasps, and the fly maggots that burrow into the biologists' skin and grow larger there.
--M. P. Gustafson (Choice )

About the Author
Kate Jackson is Assistant Professor of Biology at Whitman College.

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Customer Reviews

A Fascinating Adventure Book
If you like stores of adventure and interested in Africa, this is the best book for you.

Kate Jackson is really "wired" as she labeled herself in the book. A young woman grown up in Canada adventured to the remote Congo tribes to collect "mean and lowly things" for science research. She slept on the bumpy forest floor with all kinds of insects around; bitten by snakes; drank boiled brown colored forest water for weeks and much more that you can find in the book. Just because of that we will have the opportunity to go with her into the wildness of the African jungles where newly created trails will be covered with new growth in days, people drink rain water all year long and you open your eyes just as they are closed at night ... and also you will meet the interesting people who live there ...

Her professionalism showed in this book should be an example for all of us, also her passion for the things she loves.

great read
This was a very interesting read, full of scientific information related to herpetology, and the nuts and bolts of organizing a field research trip to Congo. It satisfied my love of travel, as well as the science geek part of me.

The author has a genuine writing voice. She explained her thoughts, motivation, worries and joys of a young research scientist, as she accumulates experiences, as she makes mistakes, and as she learns from them.

The details of real research work in the Congo was very informative, but the personal narration made everything interesting. She explained how and why basic scientific research is done in a bigger ecological sense and in a museum collection sense.

As a bonus, I think this will be a good book to recommend to young people who are interested in going into science, particularly young women.

A great read written by a woman with true grit
Kate Jackson is a great writer who has written a thoroughly marvelous true-life tale of adventure. I thoroughly admire her amazing journey into the African wetlands to catch, identify, and acquire tissue from snakes, many of them deadly. Make no mistake, this is a woman with the truest grit and the rightest stuff anybody ever saw. With her eye always on the truths she can deliver to other scientists, she shies from nothing, whether it is attacks by biting ants or having to stab herself in the stomach with a needle filled with suspect anti-venom. She's also got just enough of her tongue in cheek to elicit a few chuckles. All in all, just a delightful read and highly recommended for anyone who likes to read true-life adventures.

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