Now Garfield takes on a subject even dearer to our fanatical human hearts: maps.Imagine a world without maps. How would we travel? Could we own land? What would men and women argue about in cars? Scientists have even suggested that mapping—not language—is what elevated our prehistoric ancestors from ape-dom. Follow the history of maps from the early explorers’ maps and the awe-inspiring medieval Mappa Mundi to Google Maps and the satellite renderings on our smartphones, Garfield explores the unique way that maps relate and realign our history—and reflect the best and worst of what makes us human.Featuring a foreword by Dava Sobel and packed with fascinating tales of cartographic intrigue, outsize personalities, and amusing “pocket maps” on an array of subjects from how to fold a map to the strangest maps on the Internet, On the Map is a rich historical tapestry infused with Garfield’s signature narrative flair. Map-obsessives and everyone who loved Just My Type will be lining up to join Garfield on his audacious journey through time and around the globe.

    This guidebook includes the island's history, culture and all of its significant archaeological sites. It also contains all of the practical information needed for your visit, including island activities and up-to-date restaurant and shopping recommendations. It will also tell you the best times to visit the sites in order to get the optimal light for photography and to avoid the crowds, as well as many other 'local' tips that no other guidebook will tell you. Contains over 100 color photos of Easter Island, as well as color maps of both the island and the one town, Hanga Roa. New, Updated edition (2014).

    Hers is a tale of sharing, and we are privileged to see through her eyes, understand through her exquisite sensibility.”—Margaret Randall“This provocative book deserves attention from anyone interested in cross-cultural communication and the complex issues of development work.”—Yoga Journal“Scot’s year in Nepal was extraordinary. What she discovered about herself, about Nepal and the Nepalis themselves is beautifully told.”—Seattle Times“While Scot never sugarcoats the hardships, she fulfills two of the travel writer’s most important tasks: evoking a deep sense of place and instilling in readers a desire to go there.”—BooklistThe Violet Shyness of Their Eyes is a moving account of a Western woman’s transformative sojourn in Nepal. Barbara Scot demonstrates insight into cultural difference while confronting the complex issues of development work and the status of women in Nepal. In vivid descriptions of mountain climbs, moving stories of the Nepalis and the retelling of her personal memories, Scot challenges readers with women’s global struggles while nurturing a deep empathy and respect for the Nepali people. Scot updates her travels in this revised edition.Barbara J. Scot is an avid climber, hiker and naturalist. She is the author of Prairie Reunion (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux), which received a New York Times Notable Book citation, and The Stations of Still Creek (Sierra Club Books). She lives on a houseboat near Portland, Oregon.

    An insult dunk tank clown is shot. Masked gunmen rob his carnival. And a young showman friend dies on the road.It's a new classic American road story as he hitchhikes to shows in California, New Jersey, New York, Chicago, Alaska, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia, and Florida where he works in a freak show.He becomes the #1 hitchhiker in the USA and a top agent at the State Fair of Texas.He travels to the lawless foothills of Mexico to see the new face of the American carny. He exposes the truths about immigration, labor abuse, and living between two worlds. Comerford finds carnival people seeking meaning and love in their lives, and the answers always seem to be somewhere down the road.

    Jacob Tomsky never intended to go into the hotel business. As a new college graduate, armed only with a philosophy degree and a singular lack of career direction, he became a valet parker for a large luxury hotel in New Orleans. Yet, rising fast through the ranks, he ended up working in “hospitality” for more than a decade, doing everything from supervising the housekeeping department to manning the front desk at an upscale Manhattan hotel. He’s checked you in, checked you out, separated your white panties from the white bed sheets, parked your car, tasted your room-service meals, cleaned your toilet, denied you a late checkout, given you a wake-up call, eaten M&M's out of your minibar, laughed at your jokes, and taken your money. In Heads in Beds he pulls back the curtain to expose the crazy and compelling reality of a multi-billion-dollar industry we think we know. Heads in Beds is a funny, authentic, and irreverent chronicle of the highs and lows of hotel life, told by a keenly observant insider who’s seen it all. Prepare to be amused, shocked, and amazed as he spills the unwritten code of the bellhops, the antics that go on in the valet parking garage, the housekeeping department’s dirty little secrets—not to mention the shameless activities of the guests, who are rarely on their best behavior. Prepare to be moved, too, by his candor about what it’s like to toil in a highly demanding service industry at the luxury level, where people expect to get what they pay for (and often a whole lot more). Employees are poorly paid and frequently abused by coworkers and guests alike, and maintaining a semblance of sanity is a daily challenge.Along his journey Tomsky also reveals the secrets of the industry, offering easy ways to get what you need from your hotel without any hassle. This book (and a timely proffered twenty-dollar bill) will help you score late checkouts and upgrades, get free stuff galore, and make that pay-per-view charge magically disappear. Thanks to him you’ll know how to get the very best service from any business that makes its money from putting heads in beds. Or, at the very least, you will keep the bellmen from taking your luggage into the camera-free back office and bashing it against the wall repeatedly.

    Covering all five boroughs - Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island- in depth, the 24-page full-colour introduction highlights all the ''things not to miss''. This updated tenth edition explores New York's history and culture, includes detailed listings on everything from baseball games at Yankee Stadium to the city's many film festivals, gives practical information on transportation and accommodation, and of course, reviews all the best eating and drinking options. New for this edition are two full-colour inserts featuring New York's Architecture and Ethnic New York and a full chapter on the Museum of Modern Art.The Rough Guide to New York City is like having a local friend plan your trip.

    But the new path he had chosen was not always as easy or as straightforward as he hoped it would be.In this truly extraordinary memoir, Phra Peter Pannapadipo describes his ten-year metamorphosis into a practicing Buddhist monk, while being initiated into the intricacies of an unfamiliar Southeast Asian culture.Phra Peter tells his story with compassion, humour and unflinching honesty. It's the story of a 'Phra Farang' - a foreign monk - living and practicing his faith in an exotic and intriguing land.

    These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships. Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include * customs, values, and traditions * historical, religious, and political background * life at home * leisure, social, and cultural life * eating and drinking * do's, don'ts, and taboos * business practices * communication, spoken and unspoken

    He is searching for primeval beauty and a respite from the corruption, violence, and self-destructive urges that typify modern Russian culture, but instead he finds the roots of that culture—in Cossack villages unchanged for centuries, in Soviet outposts full of listless drunks, in stark ruins of the gulag, and in grand forests hundreds of miles from the nearest hamlet.That’s how far Tayler is from help when he realizes that his guide, Vadim, a burly Soviet army veteran embittered by his experiences in Afghanistan, detests all humanity, including Tayler. Yet he needs Vadim’s superb skills if he is to survive a voyage that quickly turns hellish. They must navigate roiling whitewater in howling storms, but they eschew life jackets because, as Vadim explains, the frigid water would kill them before they could swim to shore. Though Tayler has trekked by camel through the Sahara and canoed down the Congo during the revolt against Mobutu, he has never felt so threatened as he does now.

    A few years later, he returns to Banaras to write that book.Plunging into its timeless aura, he roams its ghats and galis, sails through the cool breeze of the Ganga, walks through the heat of funeral pyres. One moment he is observing a sadhu show off his penile strength, in the next he is on a boat with a young woman who has been prophesied to marry seven times; one moment he is in conversation with the celebrated writer Kashinath Singh, who is an atheist, and in the next he is having tea with a globe- trotting priest and a god-fearing doctor ... Ghosh finds a story in every bend as he engages with quintessential Banarasis—their paan-stuffed mouths spouting expletives and wisdom with equal flair—and discovers why they are among the happiest people on earth. Then one evening at Manikarnika, as he emerges from a temple, wearing ash from the cremation ground on his forehead, he finds a bit of Banaras in himself. Aimless in Banaras is not only a sensuous portrait of India’s holiest city but also a meditation on life—and death.

     From backpackers in Peru to artists in Berlin to storytellers in Morocco, Dame Traveler celebrates the diversity and bravery of women from around the world who are not afraid to think (and live) outside the box.The revolutionary Dame Traveler Instagram account was founded by Nastasia Yakoub, who was born into a strict Chaldean-Middle Eastern community where women are expected to marry young and put aside other personal ambitions. But at the age of twenty, Nastasia embarked on a solo trip to South Africa to volunteer at an orphanage in Cape Town, which sparked a love of world travel. Recognizing a void in the travel industry, she founded Dame Traveler, the first female travel community on Instagram, now more than half a million strong. Nastasia herself has traveled to sixty-three countries on solo adventures, sharing colorful photos of her tantalizing travels along the way.Dame Traveler celebrates these women with a photographic collection of 200 stunning images paired with inspiring captions, 80% of which have never been seen on the Instagram account. Organized into sections on architecture, culture, nature, and water, each entry features travel information, plus tips, advice, unique solo-travel experiences, and wisdom from contributing globe-trotters to embolden the next generation of Dame Travelers.

    From Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, and from Cuba to Trinidad and Tobago, Americas examines the historical, demographic, political, social, cultural, religious, and economic trends in the region. For this new edition Peter Winn has provided a new preface and made revisions throughout to include the most up-to-date information on changes and developments in Latin America since the last revised edition of 1999.

    With little money and even even less nautical experience they leave their small-town home in Arkansas to embark on an adventure they hope will last for a year or two but which evolves into a quarter-century voyage of discovery spanning half the world. Come along with Randy and Cheryl as they cruise their small boat to intriguing destinations that you won’t find in any tourist brochure. Along the way they discover the best and worst the sailing life has to offer as they visit twenty-nine countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America and the South Pacific. Their adventures and misadventures include encounters with hurricanes, thieves, drug smugglers and a disastrous tsunami as well as lasting new friendships formed with local people and fellow sailors all along their route. Cruising under sail is a lifestyle like no other and though there are sometimes hardships, those who take the plunge will be rewarded with a life of adventure and freedom that may be impossible to find any other way in the modern world.

     To find out the secret behind this turn of character, Tuvia Tenenbom, a Jew born in Israel, presented himself as a Jordanian and was able to gain entry into many refugee camps. Living in squalid conditions in airless rooms, and with barely edible food, the refugees begged Tuvia to help them get out of the camps. When not with the refugees, Tuvia traveled through the land and mingled with the local people who shared with him that they, the Germans, were the kindest people in Europe, far superior to the "inhumane” Jews. Tuvia Tenenbom's provocative re-enactment of the refugee reality in the middle of Europe, coupled with the rising anti-Semitism of the people who proclaim themselves to be kind, exposes the hypocrisy of the "Refugees Welcome" mantra chiming throughout the Western world. • • • Praise for Tuvia Tenenbom’s previous work: "Irresistibly fascinating, emotionally explosive ... seductive and engaging." The New York Times "Highly engaging and emotional, eminently readable, brutally honest.” Publishers Weekly “A Falstaffian reporter . . . Illuminating and alarming." The Wall Street Journal "Tenenbom’s hodgepodge of politics, zealotry and literary genres is fresh and audacious." The Village Voice "Hugely entertaining, terribly funny, sarcastic, engaging, powerful, accusatory, judgmental, good!" National Review

    It flows through more countries than any other river on Earth—from the Black Forest in Germany to Europe's farthest fringes, where it joins the Black Sea in Romania. Andrew Eames' journey along its length brings us face to face with the continent's bloodiest history and its most pressing issues of race and identity. As he travels—by bicycle, horse, boat, and on foot—Eames finds himself seeking a bed for the night with minor royalty, hitching a ride on a Serbian barge captained by a man called Attila, and getting up close and personal with a bull in rural Romania. He meets would-be kings and walks with gypsies, and finally rows his way beyond the borders of Europe entirely.