He shares his favorite off-the-beaten-path towns, trails, and natural wonders. With this guidebook, you'll experience the culture like a local, spend less money, and have more fun.

    The lure of this mysterious land, and its strategic importance, made it inevitable that despite the Tibetans' reluctance to end their isolation, determined travelers from Victorian Britain, Czarist Russia, America, and a half dozen other countries world try to breach the country's high walls.In this riveting narrative, Peter Hopkirk turns his storytelling skills on the fortune hunters, mystics, mountaineers, and missionaries who tried storming the roof of the world. He also examines how China sought to maintain a presence in Tibet, so that whenever the Great Game ended, Chinese influence would reign supreme. This presence culminated in the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s, and in a brief afterword, Hopkirk updates his compelling account of the gatecrashers of Tibet with a discussion of Tibet today--as a property still claimed and annexed by the Chinese.

    Hailed as a masterpiece of American travel writing, Blue Highways is an unforgettable journey along our nation's backroads.William Least Heat-Moon set out with little more than the need to put home behind him and a sense of curiosity about "those little towns that get on the map-if they get on at all-only because some cartographer has a blank space to fill: Remote, Oregon; Simplicity, Virginia; New Freedom, Pennsylvania; New Hope, Tennessee; Why, Arizona; Whynot, Mississippi."His adventures, his discoveries, and his recollections of the extraordinary people he encountered along the way amount to a revelation of the true American experience.

    In one climbing year Peter Boardman visited three very different sacred mountains. He began in the New Year, on the South Face of the Carstensz Pyramid in New Guinea. This shark's fin of steep limestone walls and sweeping glaciers is the highest point between the Andes and the Himalaya, and one of the most inaccessible, rising above thick jungle inhabited by warring Stone Age tribes. During the spring Boardman was on more familiar, if hardly more reassuring, ground, making a four-man, oxygen-free attempt on the world's third highest peak, Kangchenjunga. Hurricane-force winds beat back their first two bids on the unclimbed North Ridge, but they eventually stood within feet of the summit - leaving the final few yards untrodden in deference to the inhabiting deity. In October, he was back in the Himalaya and climbing the mountain most sacred to the Sherpas: the twin-summited Gauri Sankar. Renowned for its technical difficulty and spectacular profile, it is aptly dubbed the Eiger of the Himalaya and Boardman's first ascent of the South Summit took a committing and gruelling twenty-three days. Three sacred mountains, three very different expeditions, all superbly captured by Boardman in Sacred Summits, his second book, first published shortly after his death in 1982. Combining the excitement of extreme climbing with acute observation of life in the mountains, this is an amusing, dramatic, poignant and thought-provoking book, amply fulfilling the promise of Boardman's first title, The Shining Mountain, for which he won the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize in 1979. Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker died on Everest in 1982, whilst attempting a new and unclimbed line. Both men were superb mountaineers and talented writers. Their literary legacy lives on through the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, established by family and friends in 1983 and presented annually to the author or co-authors of an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature. For more information about the Boardman Tasker Prize, visit: www.boardmantasker.com

    In this tour of the house, Deborah the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire takes the reader into the private as well as the public rooms, and goes behind the scenes to explain the management of the household and the work of the staff needed to keep it going.

    This is the acclaimed study and interpretation of Banaras, the holy place of the Hindus.

    But could his amazing voyages, recounted in the The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, be recreated in the modern world? Or were they just the stuff of legend? Tim Severin was determined to find out. After three years of research, he created a precise replica of an early Arab trading ship. Not a single nail was used in her construction - her planks were held together with 400 miles of coconut cord. With a crew of twenty, including eight Omani sailors, his ship Sohar (named after the town said to have been Sindbad’s birthplace) completed a 6,000 mile journey by way of India, Sri Lanka, and across the Indian Ocean to Sumatra and Singapore, and finally through the China Sea to a tumultuous welcome in Canton. Along the way, the crew had to swim among sharks while repairing the rudder, catch rainwater to drink while becalmed in the doldrums, and endure the battering of violent seas off the coast of Vietnam. 'The Sindbad Voyage' is the remarkable story of that amazing journey. An enthralling saga of the 7 ½ month voyage, it is one of the most memorable sailing stories of modern times.

    This marvelous collection of autobiographical essays by the celebrated, much-adored Fisher covers her life, family, food and adventures.

    

    But it's his journey across Tibet, from Gangtok to Lhasa and Mansarovar when he was a teenager, that holds a special place in his heart. The Last Time I Saw Tibet recounts his adventures during this trip in 1956: a time when Sikkim was not yet part of India, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama still ruled in Tibet although Chinese presence was marked, and Indians were not banned from traveling there.Ordained as a Buddhist monk by his Guru-ji just before the start of the journey (as only lamas can stay in monasteries), he posed as one who had taken a vow of silence (as he did not know enough Tibetan to convince the Tibetan and Chinese authorities). He day trekked across the Nathu La pass, Chumbi valley and the Sangpo river along with an intrepid band of lamas, before reaching Lhasa (abode of he gods), many months later.He visited the Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka, the summer palace of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and was witness to the grandeur of the Potala Palace, where the Dalai Lama resided the rest of the year. He even had an audience with His Holiness. From Lhasa, the author trekked on his own to Kailashnath and Mansarovar, the holiest of pilgrimages for any Hindu. During his journey, he encountered the deep generosity of the local people, made friends among ascetics and mendicants, and the awe-inspiring majesty of the Himalayas brought with it a true understanding of spirituality and faith.Many years later, in the eighties, the author would have the privilege of visiting Mansarovar twice, but he always hankered to travel alone across Tibet, a wish that was eventually granted by the Chinese authorities only at the cusp of the new millennium. This time he saw the ravages of the Chinese occupation in Lhasa, a slow decimation of the Tibetan culture across the countryside, which convinced him that ever more visitors is one way of keeping Tibet and its rich and unique traditions alive.

    Buckley's extended meditation on the pleasures of sailing and good company. Not surprisingly, as much thought seems to have gone into stocking the wine cellar as to charting out the route. Kon-Tiki, this is not, but nor is it meant to be. Instead, it is an essay on appreciation, and a chance for Buckley to share his spirited point of view and exercise his unique sense of humor.After a leisurely, aside-filled discussion of other trips, Buckley sets out with several close friends and a photographer to make his second trans-Atlantic crossing. The first provided the basis for his popular book, Airborne. When asked by People magazine why he chose to make the journey again, Buckley replies with characteristic drollness, "the wedding night is never enough." It is a passion for sailing that motivates Buckley and enlivens his pages.The book ranges fluidly from observation to speculation, from humorous character sketch to wry editorial commentary. It is peppered with anecdotes, including one in which Buckley, armed with a hacksaw, breaks into a boatyard to steal his own boat back from an unscrupulous repairman. In another, an aide to president Reagan calls to discuss a conflict brewing in Africa, and all Buckley can think about is the weather ahead of him and his crew. The real focus of Atlantic High, however, is the voyage and the crewmembers who share it. From the Mujeres Islands to Fiji to Bermuda, to Sao Miguel and Gibraltar and beyond, the reader is treated to Buckley's observations of the places he visits and the people he encounters. A work as hard to categorize as Buckley himself, Atlantic High offers a glimpse into the good life on the high seas.

    . . . High adventure, absorbing science." --New Yorker

    Despite a weaker dollar and uncertain international climate, over 3.5 million Americans visit the U.K. every year, and over 60% spend their time exclusively in the capital. Fodor’s London 2007 has been completely revamped to keep up with the destination that just won’t quit!·New “Experience London” section highlights the city’s top attractions and niche offerings, to help both the first-time traveler and the repeat visitor plan the perfect trip·New, separate "neighborhoods" chapters with easy-to-use indexes quickly point out the best eats and the chicest shops·Tips from clever, opinionated local writers help you save money, bypass lines, and avoid common pitfalls·Dozens of different pub listings for those seeking a river view or a true British brew·Unique, pictorial layouts of the Thames River, Hyde Park, Westminster Abbey, and London’s famous street markets—to name a few·Expanded lodging for all budgets, from the latest pod hotels to London’s oldest grande dame establishments

    Celebrates twenty great adventures of the twentieth century, ranging from an account of Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon to a chronicle of Sir Edmund Hillary's ascent to Everest's summit.

    A memorable account of one man's journey through terra incognita - secret places that still exist in the American West.

    In their noble facades, sculptured interiors, and scattered outbuildings can be seen the feudal splandor of the great cotton and sugar planters, and the doomed glory of the Confederate war effort.In these 120 resonant full-color photographs, David King Gleason fully captures the aura of Louisiana's plantation homes -- some beautiful in the morning light, some shaded by trees and hanging moss, some crumbling in decay and neglect. Taking each house on its own terms, Gleason's photographs present the buildings and their environs sharply and without deception. Accompanying the photographs are captions that give a brief architectural evaluation of each house and provide notes on its construction, history, and present condition.Gleason has organized his book as a journey along the waterways that were the lifeline of Louisiana's plantations, their link to New Orleans and to the markets and factories of the North. Beginning in the vicinity of New Orleans and the lower Mississippi, Gleason presents such houses as Evergreen, with its columns and twin circular staircases; the exuberant San Francisco; and Oak Alley, set at the end of a spectacular avenue of 28 oak trees. Continuing along the bayous that lead into the western part of the state, he shows us the palatial Madewoood, constructed from seasoned timbers and 60,000 slave-made bricks; the meticulously restored Shadows-on-the-Teche; the ramshackle Darby House; and Bubenzer, which served as a Union army headquarters during the Civil War.From Cane River country and north Louisiana, the photographs portray Magnolia, burned by Union troops and then rebuilt to its original specifications; Melrose, built in the early 1830s by a freed slave; and Oakland, the location for the Civil War movie The Horse Soldiers. Moving overland towards Natchez; the elaborate, octagonal Longwood; Rosemont, the boyhood home of Jefferson Davis; Oakley, where John James Audubon was once engaged as a tutor; and Rosedown, with its elaborate gardens.Continuing south of Baton Rouge along the River Road, Gleason closes his tour with homes including Mount Hope, built in the eighteenth century; Nottoway, the largest plantation home in the South, completed on the eve of the Civil War; Indian Camp, a leprosarium for most of its existence; and the pillared galleries of Belle Helene.The plantation homes of Louisiana were highly personal expressions of pride and faith in the future. Yet the building of these spectacular monuments was a brief phenomenon. In the wake of the Civil War, the South's economy was devoted to survival, not luxury. A tribute to the plantation home, David King Gleason's photographs reveal the beauty, grandeur, and poignance of these monuments."

    

    Practically collectors' items, these maps are sought by paddlers all over the United States for their accuracy, relevance, and wild insider's perspective on those strange creatures who inhabit the exotic sport of whitewater paddling. Now, for the first time, Nealy has coupled his most celebrated Southeastern U.S. river maps with an anthology of cartoons, paddling homilies, and unsolicited advice. The result is a crazed but incredible book titled Whitewater Home Companion, Southeastern Rivers, Volume I. Through his distinctive drawing and wholly peculiar river-submarine terminology, Nealy successfully reveals rivers and boaters alike as never before. Contained within the covers of this book is a wealth of information and humor good for many hours of pleasure both on and off the river.

    The BreakersKingscoteThe ElmsChateau-sur-Mer& More

    

    The guide includes access to the walks, accommodation, travel information and two-colour contour maps.

    From the remote Stone Age mounds and standing stones of the Orkney's to the well-trodden turf at Land's End and from the fens of East Anglia to the wild mountains of Wales, this book reveals the landscape and architecture of the British Isles.

    

    This newly revised edition has tips on everything you need to know-from where to park, how to drive in the winter, how to execute the "sidesqueeze" in heavy traffic -and everything you don't necessarily need to know but will love to know anyway-from pedestrian point values (absent-minded MIT professor, 2 points; mayor, 10 points) to the best accident excuses of all time. With the latest information on the confusion caused by Boston's "Central Artery Relocation Project," The Boston Driver's Handbook is as practical as it is entertaining, making it a must-have for the tourist and the Boston native alike.

    Detailing locations of interest, including all of Hammett’s known residences and the majority of settings from The Maltese Falcon, this guidebook contains maps, self-guided tours, and photographs of Hammett-related locations from both then and now. A new preface by Jo Hammett, the detective writer’s daughter and Edgar Award–nominated writer, is also included.

    

    This evocative, beautifully written prose work by the poet, brings gods to life, populates streets with breath and takes you into the world of many religions wandering their path on unsteady legs through the vibrant seasons and the reasons people give for living.

    This edition delivers can't-miss trips for the more than 2 million America's who trave to France annually, whether they're beginners or veterans.

    This book includes 125 loop trips that describe almost 1,500 of the most interesting, beautiful, historic, and scenic places in America. Each of the 47 map pages includes from 1 to 5 color-coded tours. The routes are superimposed on standard road maps.

    

    Jeremy Rabbit goes to visit his Cousin Waldo at the seashore, where the two animals share many adventures.

    

    

    

    But in 1974 Hopi elders, together with the Tribal Council, invited photographer Susanne Page and her husband, author Jake Page, to chronicle the world of the Hopi-which is usually closed to outsiders, and particularly to photographers. Since that unprecedented invitation, the pages have visited the Hopi land and people dozens of times and produced this beautifully illustrated and written book in 1982. Hailed as a masterpiece when first published, Hopi remains one 25 years later. It plays a powerful, respectful tribute to the spiritual life, the past and the present, the land, and the culture of the Hopi people.

    Here also are geography, history, economics, key attractions ... and so much more. The result is a delightful mix of enchantment that is as riveting as it is informative.From the start, readers are caught up in the crisp style of the series. Whether it's a description of bustling London, or an incredibly readable explanation of the decline of ancient Egypt, 5th-grade-and-up students are right there ... visualizing ... understanding ... and remembering!Best of all, little is overlooked that will contribute to the readers' total appreciation of a culture. Be it sagas of Vikings or folktales of trolls. Or even acknowledgment of modern Vikings like Thor Heyerdahl. There's mystery such as England's Stonehenge and Egypt's Great Pyramids ... plus nature's wonders -- like Australia's egg-laying platypus and China's gentle but rare pandas. Everything is there ... to be enjoyed, relished, and learned from.Each book also includes a chapter of brief biographies of important people. And each features an 8-10 page reference section of "quick facts", perfect for students' research, about such subjects as population, government, geographical data, currency, and historical chronology. Throughout, all the books are ablaze with a generous amount of beautiful full-color photographs."Enchantment of the World" can be of equal importance in the library or social studies classroom. Either way, it's a series that students will go back to again and again.

    Hardcover and dust jacket, as pictured; appears unused (oc)

    John Harris's personal, anecdotal style of writing brings to life interesting and little-known facts about Boston's famous residents, history, architecture, politics, religion, customs, and intrigues of times past. A redesigned interior with sidebars and entertaining trivia boxes, as well as point-by-point directions and maps, round out this must-have title for Boston's residents and visitors alike.

    The result of their explorations, therefore, is not a single, comprehensive, detailed and authoritative guidebook to the streams of Georgia, but two such books. Each guide is immense in scope and self-contained, with extensive introductory chapters that provide an easy-to-read overview of Georgia's diverse wildlife, geology, climate and water quality, as well as illuminating explanations of stream formation and hydrology. Each book contains sections on the legal rights of paddlers and emergency procedures, and is illustrated with drawings and photographs. Together, the guides cover thousands of miles of paddling streams which range in difficulty from scenic floats to whitewater runs. Each stream is detailed with a description that conveys the flavor and difficulties of the run in non-technical terms. This description is supplemented with a data sheet that contains an abundance of information. Rounding out each description are detailed river maps showing access points, shuttle routes, and mileages. A comprehensive guide to the streams of the Cumberland Plateau, Blue Ridge Mountains, and eastern Piedmont regions of northern Georgia. Also included are near-by favorite streams of Georgia paddlers - the Little River Canyon of Alabama, the Chauga River of South Carolina, and the Ocoee and Hiawassee rivers of Tennessee.