Showing titles in Travel & Tourism

The great author Robert Louis Stevenson received a fateful telegram from his friend Fanny Osbourne in 1879, urging him to leave Edinburgh and join her in San Francisco. The penniless young writer packed his bags and boarded a ship for a long, difficult voyage across the Atlantic, taking detailed notes of the appalling conditions and struggles of his fellow emigrants.

Explorer, adventurer and linguistic genius, Sir Richard Francis Burton was the first Englishman to enter Mecca, the holy city of Muslims. Fluent in Arabic and the traditions of Islam, Burton joined the hajj - the pilgrimage to Mecca - incognito. The Royal Geographical Society hoped Burton's efforts would add detail to the "huge white blot" on their Arabian maps. His resulting Pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca was of great anthropological and literary merit, and brought him much notoriety.

Charles Darwin was appointed naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, which left England in 1831 to map the coast of South America and then circumnavigate the globe. As Darwin explored, he came to dispute the idea that catastrophic upheaval created mountains and shaped the earth - and if geological change came slowly, could not living species also evolve the same way?

From your front door to your final destination - and back - Tips for the Savvy Traveler is the one guide no traveler should be without. You'll learn about the essential items that can't be left behind, as well as last-minute details that ensure a well-planned trip.

"We are all travelers in the 'wilderness of the world' - travelers with a donkey." So Robert Louis Stevenson wrote to a friend on completing this enchanting account of a journey in rural France in 1878. Alone with his pack-donkey Modestine, and showing total disregard for discomfort, Stevenson relishes to the full his walking tour of the Cevennes.

"Epic" is a mountaineering term that evokes a sense of treacherous disaster. The climb that went wrong: fighting blinding snowstorms and horrific avalanches; days spent tentbound running low on food, water, and oxygen; surviving broken bones and shattered spirits. This program offers a collection of the most memorable accounts of legend-making expeditions to the world's most famous peaks, often in the worst possible conditions.

Everest and K2 are among the Earth's most dangerous places, yet the world's best climbers can't stay away from them. This audio program offers a unique perspective on climbing these two peaks, from early exploration disasters, to the modern tragedies. You'll hear writing from Matt Dickinson, Chirs Bonington, David Roberts, and others whose stories remind us, in vivid accounts, why Everest and K2 are so feared yet so irresistable to climbers.

This riveting collection of adventure writing includes the work of The Perfect Storm author, Sebastian Junger. Listen as men and women battle the elements, and often each other, to stay alive, confronting sharks, savage storms, rogue waves, mountainous icebergs, starvation, and their own fear and suffering.

In 1994, retired CBS correspondent Charles Kuralt set out to spend a perfect year in America - traveling to his 12 favorite American places, in just the right month for a visit to each. With his well-known warmth, humor, and insight, he shows them to us now in Charles Kuralt's America.

On the morning of July 3, 1994, a misreported forest fire on Storm King Mountain in Colorado became one of the greatest tragedies in the annals of firefighting. In this dramatic reconstruction of the disaster and its aftermath, John N. MacLean tells the heroic and cautionary story of nature at its most unforgiving.

Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion on the Appalachian Trail resulted in the best seller A Walk in the Woods. Now, we follow him "Down Under" to Australia with this delectably funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance that combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiosity. More from Bill Bryson.

Ever wish you can leave the rat race for the simple life? Here's some inspiration. On Mexican Time is Cohan's passionate, evocatively written memoir of how he and his wife found a new home - and a new lease on life - in the charming 16th century hill town of San Miguel de Allende.

The Climb is a true, gripping, and thought-provoking account of the worst disaster in the history of Mt. Everest: On May 10, 1996, two commercial expeditions headed by experienced leaders attempted to climb the highest mountain in the world, but things went terribly wrong...

If you have never ridden a mule along a 48-inch wide trail whose ledge drops off, in places, 700 feet to the Colorado River, straight down, you may have difficulty picturing the temporary insanity that leads otherwise responsible adults to sign away the remainder of their natural life expectancy just for the chance to see the Grand Canyon's natural beauty close-up.

Explore offers first-hand accounts from the world's boldest explorers, men and women encountering storms, starvation, cannibals, and disease in their pursuit of adventure. From the mountains of the Himalaya and the jungles of New Guinea, to the ice floes of the Arctic and the ruins of Peru, Explore will take you off the map to those few refuges where true discovery is still possible.

Here is the story of the infamous 1910 race to the South Pole, as told by its fearless yet desperate leader, Robert Falcon Scott. The New York Times called Scott's Last Expedition "A splendid record of heroism not soon to be forgotten."

Author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry sets out in Roads on an automotive odyssey exploring America's highways and the culture that has grown up on either side of them. Crisscrossing America in search of the present, the past and himself, McMurtry's route is also his destination.

In Tuscany celebrates the abundant pleasures of life in Italy as it is lived at home, at festivals, feasts, restaurants and markets, in the kitchen and on the piazza, in the vineyards, fields, and olive groves. Combining essays by Frances Mayes and a chapter by her husband, poet Edward Mayes, each of this book's five sections highlights a signature aspect of Tuscan life.

In Ruth Reichl’s latest book—one that will delight her fans and convert those as yet uninitiated to her charming tales—the author brings to life her adventures in pursuit of good meals and good company. Picking up where Tender at the Bone leaves off, Comfort Me with Apples recounts Reichl’s transformation from chef to food writer, a process that led her through restaurants from Bangkok to Paris to Los Angeles and brought lessons in life, love, and food.

In this powerful, passionate chronicle, Noah Adams, the beloved host of NPR's All Things Considered, takes us on a river journey through the heart of Appalachia - a journey shared by pioneers and preachers, white-water daredevils, bluegrass musicians, and an unforgettable cast of vivid historical characters.