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Books: Travel: Antarctica
Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmerby Lynne Cox List Price: $14.00 Available from Amazon $11.20 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page Product Review Just about every other person in the world seems like an unfocused dilettante compared to long-distance swimming legend Lynne Cox. Soon At the age of 14, after several years of training hard in pools and the open sea, she was swimming the 26 mile stretch from Catalina Island to the coast of California. A year after that, she surpassed a lifelong goal by not only swimming the English Channel but setting a new men's and women's record in the process. Rather than be satisfied, Cox aimed still higher, conquering the Cook Strait in New Zealand, the Strait of Magellan and, the Cape of Good Hope, none of which had been swum before. Being the first to swim the Bering Sea from Alaska to what was then the Soviet Union is perhaps Cox's most impressive achievement, requiring a phenomenal amount of physical strength and endurance to withstand the chilly waters and diplomatic persistence to gain permission from Gorbachev during the Cold War. Swimming to Antarctica is Cox's remarkably detailed account of her major swims and all that went right and wrong with them. While there are plenty of highs, as one might expect in a memoir by so impressive an athlete, all is not sunshine and roses for Cox. She overcomes extreme physical hardship, predatory sharks, and a swim through a sewage-soaked Nile while suffering from dysentery. There is plenty in Swimming to Antarctica to encourage even non-swimmers to work hard to achieve the seemingly impossible, but Cox, a skilled and highly readable writer, sticks to the swimming, leading the reader by example. For thrills and inspiration, it's hard to find anyone better than Lynne Cox. --John Moe --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Publishers Weekly Cox, one of the world's leading long-distance swimmers, has been a risk-taker ever since she was nine and chose the freezing water of a New Hampshire pool in a storm over getting out and doing calisthenics. After her family moved to California so she and her siblings could train as speed swimmers, she discovered long-distance ocean swimming. Her first open-water event, a team race across the Catalina Channel, convinced her to train for the English Channel. At 15, she broke the Channel record, and decided she needed a new goal. Up to this point, Cox's story reads like a fairy tale of hard work, careful planning and good support, crowned with success. It isn't until she competes in the Nile River swim that the tale turns ugly-she's swimming in raw sewage and chemical waste, fending off the dead rats and broken glass, so sick with dysentery she lands in the hospital. Undeterred, she plans more ambitious swims-around the shark-infested Cape of Good Hope, across Alaska's Glacier Bay-to prepare for her big dream, a swim from Alaska to the Soviet Union across the Bering Strait. While offering herself to researchers studying the effects of cold on the human body, her political goals are even larger: to bring countries and peoples together, using swimming "to establish bridges between borders." Cox ends her story with her swim to Antarctica, where she finishes the first Antarctic mile in 32-degree water in 25 minutes. Even though readers know she survived to tell the tale, it's a thrilling, awesome and well-written story. Copyright © Reed business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. |
When the Sky Fell: In Search of Atlantisby Rand Flem-Ath and Rose Flem-Ath Available from Amazon $6.99 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page Product Review "A landmark work." --Ottawa Citizen
"A great adventure into the realm of possibility." --Ocala Star-Banner "An excellent book which is not only beautifully researched but extremely entertaining to read. Their theory on Atlantis will go down in the annals of this subject as one of the most convincing and imaginative. Well done for the first-class tour de force." --Robert G. Bauval, author of The Orion Mystery: Unlocking the Secrets of the Pyramids Product Review "A landmark work." --Ottawa Citizen "A great adventure into the realm of possibility." --Ocala Star-Banner "An excellent book which is not only beautifully researched but extremely entertaining to read. Their theory on Atlantis will go down in the annals of this subject as one of the most convincing and imaginative. Well done for the first-class tour de force." --Robert G. Bauval, author of The Orion Mystery: Unlocking the Secrets of the Pyramids |
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Straying from the Flock: Travels in New Zealand by Alexander Elder List Price: $14.95 Available from Amazon $9.72 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page Book Description An illuminating road trip through the history, life, and attractions of one of the most beautiful countries in the southern hemisphere The beauty and grandeur of New Zealand has captured the imagination of movie-goers over the past couple of years, and the country is a dream destination for many around the world. Straying from the Flock is an intimate and personal account of one passionate traveler's visit to this incredible country, its mountains and beaches, fjords, rainforests, vineyards, and hidden eateries. Each of the fifty chapters describes one day in his travels-fishing, flying, cattle herding, befriending locals at every turn. Filled with colorful stories and memorable personalities, the book not only describes the trip of a lifetime, but captures a life-altering experience for its writer. From mountains and rainforests to cities and beaches, Straying from the Flock is both a moving memoir and personal travel guide to this amazing country. Download Description "An illuminating road trip through the history, life, and attractions of one of the most beautiful countries in the southern hemisphere The beauty and grandeur of New Zealand has captured the imagination of movie-goers over the past couple of years, and the country is a dream destination for many around the world. Straying from the Flock is an intimate and personal account of one passionate traveler's visit to this incredible country, its mountains and beaches, fjords, rainforests, vineyards, and hidden eateries. Each of the fifty chapters describes one day in his travels-fishing, flying, cattle herding, befriending locals at every turn. Filled with colorful stories and memorable personalities, the book not only describes the trip of a lifetime, but captures a life-altering experience for its writer. From mountains and rainforests to cities and beaches, Straying from the Flock is both a moving memoir and personal travel guide to this amazing country." --This text refers to the Digital edition. |
Moon Handbooks Wisconsin (Moon Handbooks : Wisconsin)by Thomas Huhti List Price: $19.95 Available from Amazon $12.97 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page Book Description From the charm of collegiate Madison to the beauty of the Wisconsin Dells and Apostle Islands, Moon Handbooks Wisconsin is the guide to the best the state has to offer, both on and off the beaten path. Practical information includes suggested travel strategies and lists of must-see sights, plus essentials on dining, transportation, and accommodations for a range of budgets. Complete with details for enjoying food, drinks, bed-and-breakfasts, hikes, and campsites around Milwaukee, the Great Lakes, and the entire state, Moon Handbooks Wisconsin gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience. |
Lonely Planet Healthy Travel Africa (Lonely Planet Healthy Travel Guides Africa)by Isabelle Young Available from Amazon $5.95 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page Book Description Getting the most out of your travels means staying healthy. Healthy Travel Africa is a user-friendly guide to minimising health risks for travellers to all parts of Africa, including Egypt. Written by Dr Isabelle Young, with a team of travel health experts, Healthy Travel Africa provides advice on planning your trip, staying healthy while travelling, and what to do if you run into problems.
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Digital Photography Outdoors: A Field Guide for Travel and Adventure Photographersby James Martin List Price: $16.95 Available from Amazon $11.53 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page Idaho Statesman If a person takes [these] lessonsinto the field, odds are good [they] will come home with better shots. Roanoke Times [F]ewphotographers are getting the most out of their high-tech gear. [This book] is a new guide book that can help." |
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Antarctica: The Blue Continent by David McGonigal and Lynn Woodworth List Price: $29.95 Available from Amazon $18.87 On 7-21-2006 
See Item's Page Book Description Illustrated guide to Antarctica's environment, geography, wildlife, and history. Antarctica: The Blue Continent is a superbly illustrated and easy-to-understand book that reveals this polar region's ruthless majesty and natural beauty. The environment is Earth's harshest, coldest, most inhospitable climate. A staggering 98% of the continent is covered with ice averaging 1.4 miles in depth; 90% of the world's ice is found in there. In spite of the cold and ice, Antarctica's shores and waters are home to an amazing variety of vegetation and indigenous wildlife-seals, sea lions, whales, penguins and sea birds-that have evolved in extraordinary ways to adapt to their unforgiving habitat. The book features natural phenomena such as a glacier made of jagged, Jurassic-era rock instead of ice, and entire mountain ranges filled to their peaks with snow. In the chapters on polar exploration, Antarctica profiles Captain Cook, Roald Amundsen, Shackleton, Scott, and others. Readers will experience why this continent has inspired so much effort and heroism in the quest to discover its secrets. This book is a concise version of the authors' 608-page Antarctica and the Arctic.
Dr. Lynn Woodworth is a wildlife researcher. She has traveled extensively throughout both polar regons.
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A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk About Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration (Travelers' Tales)by Michael Shapiro List Price: $18.95 Available from Amazon $12.32 On 7-21-2006
See Item's Page From Publishers Weekly Journalist Shapiro (Internet Travel Planner) says that he embarked on this collection of illuminating interviews with the desire to learn more about his favorite authors, about "their lives, their hopes, their aspirations, and their thoughts about the world." He set out to meet publishing veterans such as Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods), Jan Morris (Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere), Paul Theroux (The Great Railway Bazaar) and Peter Matthiessen (The Snow Leopard), writers whose insights do indeed make for fascinating reading. But Shapiro’s discussions with novelist Isabel Allende (The House of the Spirits) and guidebook gurus Rick Steves and Arthur Frommer prove equally enlightening. In the chapter "At Home with the Spirits," for example, Allende talks about the ways in which travel informs and influences her work. She likens the memories someone keeps from a trip to the significant details that get included in a particular story: "The person doesn’t bring back the month; the person brings back the big strokes, the brilliant colors, the intense experiences, and in a week you have forgotten how uncomfortable you were and the mosquitoes. You only remember those things that eventually you might write about." Conversations such as these help Shapiro’s book live up to its ambitious title. By combining brief profiles with lengthy Q&As for each author, he provides a comprehensive look at the process these and other writers often go through, making the volume a good choice for both armchair travelers and aspiring writers. Copyright © Reed business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keith Bellows, National Geographic Traveler I enjoyed "A Sense of Place" down to the last drop. This is a wonderful book a fascinating read. |
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