Best of
Travel

1966

An Island to Oneself: The Story of Six Years on a Desert Island


Tom Neale - 1966
    For years while storekeeping in the South Pacific, he planned, read and talked until the great day when he was landed on his little kingdom, aware of (but undismayed by) the fact that he would have to struggle with the full strength of body and mind to survive. Neale's gripping account of his years spent alone on Suvarov is an unforgettable tale of peril, beauty, and solitude.

The Way of the White Clouds


Anagarika Govinda - 1966
    Govinda's luminous and candid account is a spectacular and gloriously poetic story of exploration and discovery, and a sensitive and lucid interpretation of Tibetan traditions. Comprised of elements from several genres - spiritual journals, adventure narratives, anthropological field reports, and philosophical commentaries, The Way of the White Clouds is one of the twentieth century's classic spiritual autobiographies and an invaluable document about a place and a way of thinking that are virtually defined by their mysteries." Robert Thurman's perceptive new introduction to the volume places Govinda's writings in historical context and expands understanding of Tibet, Buddhism, and the life of a remarkable man.

Two in the Bush


Gerald Durrell - 1966
    A powerful conservation piece, Durrell and his first wife Jacquie track down a whole host of endangered species, providing an insight into these rare creatures while stressing the need to protect both them and their habitat.

On the Loose


Renny Russell - 1966
    It is a chronicle of triumph and tragedy-the triumph of gaining an insight about oneself through an understanding of the natural world; the tragedy of seeing its splendor increasingly threatened by people who don't know or don't care. The photographs, all taken by the authors, capture Yosemite, Point Reyes, the High Sierra, the Great Basin, and Glen Canyon in the 1950s and 1960s.Despite the fact that On the Loose has been out of print for more than a decade, contemporary readers have not forgotten this timeless classic. Readers have described On the Loose as moving and inspirational. One reader says, "This book made me cry at [age] 16, and it still does at 45." Another reader notes, "This book expresses that deep yearning to wander, to explore, to live fully like no other artistic expression I have ever come across."On the Loose is available only at http://www.rennyrussell.com

Wapiti Wilderness


Margaret E. Murie - 1966
    Through these years their home was almost a nature-conservation shrine to thousands of Americans interested in the out-of-doors, in animals, in nature in general. Wapiti Wilderness, begun by Mrs. Murie as a sequel to her Two in the Far North, which told of the Muries' life and expeditions in Alaska, became a book written by both the Muries.In alternate chapters, Olaus tells of his work as a field biologist for the old U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey and recounts stories of his studies of the elk and the other great animals of the West. And Mrs. Murie, from her side, describes their life together, on the trail, in the various camps, and nature adventures in that wilderness in all seasons. The book is replete with stories of Jackson Hole people, "pioneer poets," and the wild creatures that made their way into the Murie household. Olaus Murie's evocative pen-and-ink drawings illuminate each chapter, and four pages of photographs help complete the picture of what life was like in the wapiti wilderness.

Tibetan Foothold


Dervla Murphy - 1966
    Deciding that the heat precluded further cycling until November, she worked in Tibetan refugee camps in Northern India. Using extracts from the diaries she kept at the time, Dervla describes the day-to-day life in the camps where hundreds of children are living in squalor while a handful of dedicated volunteers do their best to feed and care for them, attempting to keep disease at bay with limited resources. Quickly falling in love with the "Tiblets" - cheerful, uncomplaining, independent and affectionate children - she pitches in with a helping hand wherever it is needed (just about everywhere), and even finds time to meet the Dalai Lama and his entourage.

This Is Greece


Miroslav Sasek - 1966
    The illustrations have been meticulously preserved and the facts updated for the twenty-first century. The charming illustrations, coupled with Sasek's playful narrative, make perfect souvenirs that will delight both children and parents. This is Greece captures the flavor and tradition of the birthplace of Western civilization. There's Athens, with its spectacular views of the Acropolis, the Parthenon, temples, theaters, and marketplaces; architecture-renowned Corinth; Mycenae, inhabited since 3000 B.C.; Olympia, home of the gods; Delphi, famous for its legendary oracle; and the beautiful isles. There's also modern-day Greece, where life is lived on street corners, in squares, and at tables amid reminders of the past.

The Fountains of Rome


H.V. Morton - 1966
    

This England


Melville Bell Grosvenor - 1966
    ForewordPageant of a storied realm London, Heart of the KingdomThames Valley, Shakespeare country & the Cotswolds: shrines of a proud people Thames mirrors Britain's gloryStratford & the Shakespeare countryBy Cotswold Lanes to Wold's End South: chalk cliffs, downs & quiet villagesKent, Garden of England Winchester & the Southern countiesWest country: soft hills & spray-swept shoresSomerset & sister shires Channel cruise to Devon & CornwallMidlands: industrial muscle in a green & pleasant landBritain's prosperous midriff East Anglia & the Fens: land of long horizonsInland cruise of the Eastern counties North country: rolling moors, Roman ghosts & ruined abbeysYork & the Northern counties Lake district, poets' corner of EnglandIndexAcknowledgments & Reference Guide

The Balloonists: The History of the First Aeronauts


L.T.C. Rolt - 1966
    Beginning in 1783, the year in which balloons first took flight, it ends in 1903, the year in which the Wright Brothers first heavier-than-air flight at Kittyhawk changed the history of aviation for ever. The exploits of balloonists attracted the attention and admiration of the masses like nothing before: within weeks of the first flights, its form featured in designs of wallpaper and fabrics, in jewels and on snuff boxes, and as balloon clocks and chandeliers. The aeronauts themselves became heroes of their time. From the first flight, by the Montgolfier brothers in a balloon of paper and cloth, through the first Channel crossing by air, showman aeronauts, female aeronauts, efforts to cross the Atlantic and the use of balloons in war, this is a wholly fascinating and riveting book. Lightly and entertainingly written, it includes lively extracts from journals and contemporary accounts, as well as engravings of the period. This new edition has a foreword by one of the foremost aeronauts of today, Don Cameron.

The Secret Islands: An Exploration


Franklin Russell - 1966
    New Zealand born Russell, too long caged on Manhattan, longs to visit some remote islands. He finds them off the coast of Newfoundland, almost solely inhabited by gulls, petrels and near-relatives of the great auk. Although he is physically stimulated by the outdoor life, he is also plunged into exhausting speculation about the meaning of life and death in the natural orders...Russell's wasteland scenery is climactic, effective, and this is natural history with philosophical overtones." - Kirkus Review

Last Adventure


Osa Johnson - 1966
    Johnson relates and exclaims about her final adventures with her famed explorer husband, Martin, on a trip into the primitive fastnesses of North Borneo. She became the first woman to fly over the untamed jungles of Borneo, visited headhunters who had never seen a white woman, captured the largest python ever in the area, and many similar notable firsts.

Restless Men


Peter Pinney - 1966
    Restless Men is Peter Pinney in Australia - one of this county's most colourful and popular travel writers, who has previously specialised in bizarre adventure in Africa, India, the West Indies, and Europe, now turning his attention to tropical Queensland and the Northern Territory.Colourful adventure, danger and comedy are as much to the fore as ever, for instance when Pinney sails his own crazy boat through the rip-tides of the Barrier Reef and then lands work as a kitchen hand on one of the islands where waitresses and the tourists make hay in the sunshine and moonlight; yet this book, perhaps simply because the people and their problems it discusses are of more immediate concern to Australia, as a strength, a depth, an underlying seriousness not so apparent in his earlier books; and for that reason it is Pinney's best.

Four Miles High


Josephine Scarr - 1966
    With another woman no older then herself she formed the "Women's Kula Expedition", received backing from the R.G.S. and Everest Foundation and launched themselves on an eight thousand mile journey and a year-long Indian adventure making what everyone said was impossible possible.