June 1, 2016 | SuzyQ
The inspiring story of an ordinary guy who achieved two great goals that others had told him were impossible - first by setting a record for the longest automobile journey ever made around the world -- in the course of which he blasted his way out of minefields, survived a breakdown atop the Peak of Death, and came within seconds of being lynched in Pakistan. After that - although it took him 47 more years - he set another record by going to every country on Earth. He achieved this by surviving riots, revolutions, voodoo priests, pickpockets, and Cape buffalo. He survived every kind of earthquake, cyclone, tsunami, volcanic eruption, snowstorm, and sandstorm that Nature threw at him - and overcame attacks by crocodiles, hippos, anacondas, giant leeches, and flying crabs.
Exploring the most extraordinary, off-grid, offbeat places on the planet, Alastair Bonnett's tour of the planet's most unlikely micro-nations, moving villages, secret cities, and no man's lands shows us the modern world from surprising new vantage points.
Central Asia has long stood at the crossroads of history. It was the staging ground for the armies of the Mongol Empire, for the nineteenth-century struggle between the Russian and British empires, and for the NATO campaign in Afghanistan. Today, multinationals and nations compete for the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian Sea and for control of the pipelines. Yet 'Stanland' is still, to many, a terra incognita, a geographical blank.The author takes readers along with him on his encounters with the people, landscapes, and customs of the diverse countries--Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan--he has come to love. He talks with teachers, students, politicians, environmental activists, bloggers, cab drivers, merchants, Peace Corps volunteers, and more.
The preeminent ex-pat writer on Paris takes you on an unforgettable nocturnal stroll through five iconic Parisian neighborhoods and his own memories. The author -who has lived in the City of Light for more than twenty years - introduces you to the city's streets after dark, revealing hidden treasures and unexpected delights. As he takes you through five of the city's greatest neighborhoods--Montmartre, Montparnasse, the Marais, and more--Baxter shares pithy anecdotes about his life in France, as well as fascinating knowledge he has gleaned from leading literary tours of the city by dark.
In the 1960s and '70s, thousands of baby boomers strapped packs to their backs and flocked to Europe, wandering the continent on missions of self-discovery. Many of these boomers still dream of "going back"--of once again cutting themselves free and revisiting the places they encountered in their youth, recapturing what was, and creating fresh memories along the way. Marianne Bohr and her husband, Joe, did just that.
"What does Roman Britain mean to us now? How were its physical remains rediscovered and made sense of? How has it been reimagined, in story and song and verse? Sometimes on foot, sometimes in a magnificent, if not entirely reliable, VW camper van, Charlotte Higgins sets out to explore the ancient monuments of Roman Britain. She explores the land that was once Rome's northernmost territory and how it has changed since the years after the empire fell.
A Geek in Indonesia is a hip, irreverent and streetwise introduction to Southeast Asia's biggest country. Jump from the beaches of Bali to a tour bus circuit of the fascinating island of Java and come face to face with the reality of 21st-century Indonesia--from local fashion bloggers and the world's most avid tweeters to feminist activists, punk pioneers and scandalous celebrities. Discover the dubious delights of dangdut--Indonesia's homegrown working-class rockers--and a dizzying universe of pop, jazz and alternative music.
Atlas Obscura celebrates over 700 of the strangest and most curious places in the world. Here are natural wonders-- the dazzling glowworm caves in New Zealand, or a baobob tree in South Africa that's so large it has a pub inside where 15 people can drink comfortably. Architectural marvels, including the M.C. Escher-like stepwells in India. Mind-boggling events, like the Baby Jumping Festival in Spain, where men dressed as devils literally vault over rows of squirming infants. Not to mention the Great Stalacpipe Organ in Virginia, Turkmenistan's 40-year hole of fire called the Gates of Hell, a graveyard for decommissioned ships on the coast of Bangladesh, eccentric bone museums in Italy, or a weather-forecasting invention that was powered by leeches, still on display in Devon, England.
