It is a must-read for those who plan to hike the trail or anyone interested in the trail. Written in journal style, the author’s description of the majestic scenery, camaraderie of trail friends and challenges of the terrain are engaging and informative. Along the way, trekkers will see how she and her husband met challenges head-on, lightened their load, planned meals and managed daily logistics for more than three weeks on the trail. The John Muir Trail traces an undulating path along the crest of the High Sierra with legendary elevation gains and losses of more 84,000 feet, topping out at 14,505 feet on the summit of Mt. Whitney. Updated to include a northbound section from Horseshoe Meadows to Onion Valley. Full-color photographs are included in the Kindle version only.

    Indonesian Ferry Sinks.  Peruvian Bus Plunges Off Cliff.  African Train Attacked by Mobs.  Whenever he picked up the newspaper, Carl Hoffman noticed those short news bulletins, which seemed about as far from the idea of tourism, travel as the pursuit of pleasure, as it was possible to get.  So off he went, spending six months circumnavigating the globe on the world's worst conveyances: the statistically most dangerous airlines, the most crowded and dangerous ferries, the slowest buses, and the most rickety trains.  The Lunatic Express takes us into the heart of the world, to some its most teeming cities and remotest places: from Havana to Bogotá on the perilous Cuban Airways.  Lima to the Amazon on crowded night buses where the road is a washed-out track.  Across Indonesia and Bangladesh by overcrowded ferries that kill 1,000 passengers a year.  On commuter trains in Mumbai so crowded that dozens perish daily, across Afghanistan as the Taliban closes in, and, scariest of all, Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., by Greyhound.The Lunatic Express is the story of traveling with seatmates and deckmates who have left home without American Express cards on conveyances that don't take Visa, and seldom take you anywhere you'd want to go.   But it's also the story of traveling as it used to be -- a sometimes harrowing trial, of finding adventure in a modern, rapidly urbanizing world and the generosity of poor strangers, from ear cleaners to urban bus drivers to itinerant roughnecks, who make up most of the world's population.  More than just an adventure story, The Lunatic Express is a funny, harrowing and insightful look at the world as it is, a planet full of hundreds of millions of people, mostly poor, on the move and seeking their fortunes.

    but second to no peak in terms of danger. From tragic deaths to unbelievable stories of heroism and survival, No Way Down is an amazing feat of storytelling and adventure writing, and, in the words of explorer and author Sir Ranulph Fiennes, “the closest you can come to being on the summit of K2 on that fateful day.”

    But it did not go to plan and there were many political repercussions. Using new material from archives in Britain and South Africa, Saul David blows the lid on this most sordid of imperial wars and comes to a number of startling new conclusions.'Saul David's brilliant and magisterial account must now be regarded as the definitive history of the Zulu War' Frank McLynn, Literary Review'This meticulously detailed book...give[s] a fully rounded and judicious account of this dismal conflict Guardian'Fascinating, thrilling, convincing... reads like a novel' EconomistSaul David is Professor of War Studies at the University of Buckingham and the author of several critically acclaimed history books, including The Indian Mutiny: 1857 (shortlisted for the Westminster Medal for Military Literature), Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879 (a Waterstone's Military History Book of the Year) and, most recently, Victoria's Wars: The Rise of Empire.

    She had been a secretarial school graduate whom Leakey had sent out to study chimps only when he couldn’t find anyone better qualified to take the job. And he couldn’t tell her what to do once she was in the field— nobody could—because no one before had made such an intensive and long-term study of wild apes.Dale Peterson shows clearly and convincingly how truly remarkable Goodall’s accomplishments were and how unlikely it is that anyone else could have duplicated them. Peterson details not only how Jane Goodall revolutionized the study of primates, our closest relatives, but how she helped set radically new standards and a new intellectual style in the study of animal behavior. And he reveals the very private quest that led to another sharp turn in her life, from scientist to activist.

    Growing up in the Mongolian countryside, she wasn’t ready to face the darker side of the world. And yet she had to.After she was kidnapped by an organized crime gang, Yuna had to overcome her fears at a young age and start taking care of herself. She tried to escape from slavery, but everybody that she encountered wanted to take advantage of her. Yuna and other girls just like her were constantly abused, beaten, raped and sold as sex slaves. Human trafficking is the worst kind of humiliation, especially for a young woman. She tried to escape and find freedom, but it wasn’t easy.In this emotional and heart-shattering true story, author Luke G. Dahl will let you behind the curtains of sex trafficking gangs and into the soul of abused women, who try to glue the broken pieces of their soul together, in order to survive. By understanding what they have had to endure, you can find a new perspective and respect for life.

    His tale is, according to The Boston Globe, "a gripping account of how it feels to be charged by an incensed elephant and kept awake at night by the roaring of stalking lions." But it is more than an adventure story. The Los Angeles Times noted that "the pace of walking gives Ridgeway time to contemplate his great theme and the great men and women who have struggled with the conundrum of whether man can live at peace with the beasts." Ridgeway examines the effects of colonial expansion on the indigenous people, the landscape, and the animals, and contemplates the future for all of them.

    McManus celebrates the hidden pleasures, unappreciated lore, and opportunities for disaster to be found in such outdoor recreations as camping, hunting, and fishing

    An ancient curse. A real-life archaeological adventure.Since the 1800s rumours have circulated about an ancient pyramid, built on an immense scale, hidden deep in the jungles of Samoa. Evidence perhaps of a great forgotten Pacific Empire. And yet there is no mention of the pyramid in the entire pantheon of Samoan myth. Samoan society is steeped in tradition but the local legends are silent on the subject of the pyramid."A bold and gutsy adventure" -Christopher Dunn - Author of the Giza Power PlantWhen one woman digging into the archives discovers an outlier in the dataset of Pacific history, it is the catalyst for an adventure that takes us on a treasure hunt deep into the jungles of Samoa. The Samoan Pyramid interweaves the spellbinding stories behind archaeology’s centuries-long quest to find the forgotten pyramid with the author's own journey into the jungles of Samoa as she unravels one of the greatest archaeological mysteries of the Pacific.Buy the Samoan Pyramid and uncover the secret today.

    Nobody writes like this.’ - Jonathan Jansen Why are South Africans so uncomfortable with deep disagreement? Why do we lash out at people with opposing views without taking the time to engage logically with their arguments? Eusebius McKaiser is on a mission to raise the level of debate in South Africa. He provokes us from our comfort zones and lures us into the debates that shape our opinions and our society. With surprising candour and intensely personal examples, McKaiser examines our deepest-felt prejudices and ingrained assumptions. Don’t expect to read this book and escape with your defences intact. Immensely readable and completely engaging, McKaiser tackles deeply South African questions of race, sexuality and culture, including: •Can blacks be racist? •Why is our society so violent? •Is it morally okay to be prejudiced against skinny lovers? •Why is the presidential penis so problematic? •Is unconditional love ever a good thing? •Is it necessary to search for a national identity?

    This collection captures the wackiest and most bizarre experiences of well-known writers whose travels have taken a detour. Stories include Nigel Barley escorting a monkey to the movies in Cameroon, Dave Barry vainly trying to learn more Japanese than how to order a beer, Alan Zweible high-tailing it to a nudist camp, Donna Marazzo bravely attempting to use a high-tech Italian toilet, and Richard Sterling feasting on deep-fried potato bugs in Burma. There are even practical tips here too; readers can surely learn from Mary Roach, who discovers that utilizing an Antarctic ice-sheet outhouse at the very moment a seal chooses to use its opening as a blowhole may not be the best way to start the day.

    In a riveting environmental tale that has received huge national attention, journalist David Baron traces the history of the mountain lion and chronicles one town's tragic effort to coexist with its new neighbors. As thought-provoking as it is harrowing, The Beast in the Garden is a tale of nature corrupted, the clash between civilization and wildness, and the artificiality of the modern American landscape. It is, ultimately, a book about the future of our nation, where suburban sprawl and wildlife-protection laws are pushing people and wild animals into uncomfortable, sometimes deadly proximity."Reads like a crime novel . . . each chapter ends on a cliff-hanging note."—Seattle Times

    On the trail, Ben Crawford battled not only the many dangers and obstacles presented by the wilderness-snowstorms, record-breaking heat, Lyme disease, overflowing rivers, toothaches, rattlesnakes, forest fires, and spending the night with a cult-but also his own self-doubt. In an effort to bring his family closer together, was he jeopardizing his future relationship with his kids? When the hike was done, would any of them speak to him again?The Crawford family's self-discovery over five months, thousands of miles, and countless gummy bears proves that there's more than one way to experience life to the fullest. You don't have to accept the story you've been shown. By leaving home, you'll find more than just adventure--you'll find a new perspective on the relationships we often take for granted, and open yourself up to a level of connection you never thought possible.

    Relates the tale of the author's journey of more than six hundred dangerous miles on the Niger River from Mali's Old Segou to Timbuktu, enduring tropical storms and the heat of the Sahara to fulfill her goal of buying the freedom of two Bella slave girls.

    Teresa O'Kane had always longed to see the world. She owned scads of travel books and maps to prove it and was about to buy yet another bookcase to hold the many Lonely Planet guides and travel essays that she had accumulated over the years when she turned to her husband and said, "I'm tired of storing our dreams. Let's live them!" Within a month, they bought one-way tickets to Morocco, leased out their home, and set out on a journey of the African Continent top to bottom, from Casablanca to Cape Town. Transiting seventeen countries in 10 months, mostly by public transport, they explored wild, exotic, and historic locations they had only dreamed of and some they had never heard of. From sandy Timbuktu, to a tiny lemur populated island in Madagascar, the author embraces Africa. She strokes the manes of lions, contracts malaria, flies a micro light over Victoria Falls, earns a level one certification as a South African safari guide, discovers that an insect has turned her foot into a nursery for hundreds of eggs, grapples with the negative effects of foreign aid, and rubs elbows with European royalty deep within the Dogon in Mali. O'Kane offers an entertaining and enlightening look into overland travel on the African continent. Filled with helpful budget minded travel tips, this hilarious and inspiring book may find you yearning to take a career break of your own. Awards: The Indie Book Award for Best Memoir of 2012. San Francisco Book Festival Honorable Mention Award for Non-Fiction. Travelers Tales SOLAS for My Gambian Husband.