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The Chain Of Curiosity
Par Sandi Toksvig. 2009
Sandi Toksvig - broadcaster, writer, actor, and seeker of all things whimsical, has turned her probing mind to many of…
the most intriguing questions of our times in the pages of the Sunday Telegraph for many years. Now, for the very first time, these musings have been collected in one hilarious collection. In The Chain of Curiosity, Sandi takes the reader on a side-splitting journey through life's peculiarities in a book packed with wit, wisdom and wonderment. From pondering the joys of World Pencil Day to examining the intricacies of applause etiquette, and from tip-toeing around the delicate art of school report vocabulary to researching the oddest way to meet a sticky end, the tickling tidbits and intriguing revelations contained within the book will delight Sandi's fans, both old and new.Beyond The Pyramids: Travels in Egypt
Par Douglas Kennedy. 1995
BEYOND THE PYRAMIDS is a delightfully wry chronicle of travels through a country of incongruity - an Egypt encompassing a…
diversity of cultural influences which often belies its image of 'archaeological theme park'.With an acute eye for the unusual, the interesting or the plain absurd, Douglas Kennedy takes us on a continually surprising tour beyond the pyramids, to a place where Bedouin watch American television in an oasis; where monks in the desert are computer-literate; and where an entire community of Cairo's poor have set up home in a cemetary.'BEYOND THE PYRAMIDS seems to me to have the satisfying insights of a Paul Theroux' Maeve BinchyUrban Worrier
Par Nick Thorpe. 2011
Hunched exhausted at his computer one ordinary Monday morning, world-class workaholic Nick Thorpe has reached the end of his tether.…
Fearing for his health and family life, he knows something has to change. But where to start when trying too hard is part of the problem? Nick makes a bold resolution: he will spend a year learning to let go. Beginning with a plunge off a Cornish cliff, he soon graduates to wing-walking on a bi-plane, city-centre clowning and a revealing weekend at a naturist convention. But the more he tries to relax, the bigger the questions: can you be happy if you?re not in control? Is true contentment all in the mind? And what does his small, brown dog know that Nick doesn?t? From a school where pupils make the rules, to meditation and rafting in Sweden; from the chaos of a Durban street shelter to a silent monastery in New Mexico, URBAN WORRIER charts a humorous and often moving quest for the ultimate modern grail: how to find balance and fulfilment in today?s high-speed world.Bandit Roads: Into the Lawless Heart of Mexico
Par Richard Grant. 2008
There are many ways to die in the Sierra Madre, a notorious nine-hundred-mile mountain range in northern Mexico where AK-47s…
are fetish objects, the law is almost non-existent and power lies in the hands of brutal drug mafias. Thousands of tons of opium and marijuana are produced there every year. Richard Grant thought it would be a good idea to travel the length of the Sierra Madre and write a book about it. He was warned before he left that he would be killed. But driven by what he calls 'an unfortunate fascination' for this mysterious region, Grant sets off anyway. In a remarkable piece of investigative writing, he evokes a sinister, surreal landscape of lonely mesas, canyons sometimes deeper than the Grand Canyon, hostile villages and an outlaw culture where homicide is the most common cause of death and grandmothers sell cocaine. Finally his luck runs out and he finds himself fleeing for his life, pursued by men who would murder a stranger in their territory 'to please the trigger finger'.Adrift in Caledonia: Boat-Hitching for the Unenlightened
Par Nick Thorpe. 2006
One clear morning in May, Nick Thorpe left his Edinburgh flat, ducked off the commuter route and hitched a ride…
aboard a little white canal boat, heading west towards the sea. It was the first mutinous step in a delightful boat-hopping odyssey that would take him 2500 miles through Scotland's canals, lochs and coastal waters, from the industrial Clyde to the scattered islands of Viking Shetland. Writing with characteristic humour and candour, the award-winning author of EIGHT MEN AND A DUCK plots a curiously existential voyage, inspired by those who have left the warm hearth for the promise of a stretched horizon. Whether rowing a coracle with a chapter of monks, scanning for the elusive Nessie, hitting the rocks with Captain Calamity or clinging to the rigging of a tall ship, Thorpe weaves a narrative that is by turns funny and poignant - a nautical pilgrimage for any who have ever been tempted to try a new path just to see where it might take them. Part travelogue, part memoir, ADRIFT IN CALEDONIA is a unique and affectionate portrait of a sea-fringed nation - and of the drifter's quest to belong.A Passage to Africa
Par George Alagiah. 2001
As a five-year-old, George Alagiah emigrated with his family to Ghana - the first African country to attain independence from…
the British Empire. A PASSAGE TO AFRICA is Alagiah's shattering catalogue of atrocities crafted into a portrait of Africa that is infused with hope, insight and outrage. In vivid and evocative prose and with a fine eye for detail Alagiah's viewpoint is spiked with the freshness of the young George on his arrival in Ghana, the wonder with which he recounts his first impressions of Africa and the affection with which he dresses his stories of his early family life. A sense of possibility lingers, even though the book is full of uncomfortable truths. It is a book neatly balanced on his integrity and sense of obligation in his role as a writer and reporter. The shock of recognition is always there, but it is the personal element that gives A PASSAGE TO AFRICA its originality. Africa becomes not only a group of nations or a vast continent, but an epic of individual pride and suffering.A Passage To Africa
Par George Alagiah. 2001
As a five-year-old, George Alagiah emigrated with his family to Ghana - the first African country to attain independence from…
the British Empire. A PASSAGE TO AFRICA is Alagiah's shattering catalogue of atrocities crafted into a portrait of Africa that is infused with hope, insight and outrage. In vivid and evocative prose and with a fine eye for detail Alagiah's viewpoint is spiked with the freshness of the young George on his arrival in Ghana, the wonder with which he recounts his first impressions of Africa and the affection with which he dresses his stories of his early family life. A sense of possibility lingers, even though the book is full of uncomfortable truths. It is a book neatly balanced on his integrity and sense of obligation in his role as a writer and reporter. The shock of recognition is always there, but it is the personal element that gives A PASSAGE TO AFRICA its originality. Africa becomes not only a group of nations or a vast continent, but an epic of individual pride and suffering.In Search of Elvis: A Journey to Find the Man Beneath the Jumpsuit
Par Charlie Connelly. 2007
Since his death in 1977 Elvis Presley has become an even greater cultural icon than when he was making records…
and consuming deep-fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches. IN SEARCH OF ELVIS sees Charlie Connelly set off on a journey to discover what makes Elvis so significant today and how his spirit is being kept alive more than half a century after he changed popular culture for ever. Charlie's odyssey takes him to Finland to meet an academic who performs Elvis songs in long-dead languages - while wearing a kilt; to Canada to find the orthodox Jewish Elvis tribute artist, Schmelvis; to Scotland to get fitted out with the Presley tartan; and culminates in Memphis, where Charlie stays at the Heartbreak Hotel (which is at the end of Lonely Street) and records a song in Sun Studio, the very room where Elvis arguably invented rock'n'roll. Hilarious yet informative, and written with Charlie Connelly's customary wit and charm, this book will appeal to Elvis fans of all ages, plus the many travel-book aficionados who delighted in ATTENTION ALL SHIPPING.Botswana Time
Par Will Randall. 2006
Will Randall travels with a purpose, as well as an outrageous sense of fortune. In Indian Summer he found himself,…
by chance, having the extraordinary experience of helping slum schoolchildren put on a play to help save their school. In Botswana he was taken up by a headmaster to teach a class of six year olds at The River of Life school. They are football crazy and one of Will's jobs is to take them to play neighbouring (sometimes as much as 100 miles away) schools. Camping en-route or staying in farms and rural villages, often travelling by foot or dug-out punts, thousands of antelope, elephant, buffalo and zebra follow their progress. The sound of lions, leopards and hyenas become the soundtrack of their dreams. Against all the odds they find themselves preparing for the Grand Final of the season - the titanic clash with arch rivals, Victoria Falls Primary school. Both an endearing personal story and a travel book about a little-known but highly successful country, Botswana Time will win new fans for both Will Randall and the extraordinary country of Botswana.On Travel: A Tourist On The Axis Of Evil (On Ser.)
Par Tony Wheeler. 2010
Tony Wheeler is 'the trailblazing patron saint of the world's backpackers and adventure travelers'. New York TimesEn route to his…
next destination, Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler looks at the world's biggest business: travel. An unashamed travel addict, Wheeler writes about the joys of escaping home, satiating wanderlust, and why the bird's-eye view from the window seat is best. Confronting travel's great tensions-employment, income and connection versus overcrowding and cultural damage-he comes down on the side of 'pack and go'.Ciao Asmara
Par Justin Hill. 2002
Asmara is the capital of Eritrea - a surreally Italian city at the centre of an ex-Italian colony that has…
been at war with its neighbour Ethiopia (who claim sovereignty over Eritrea) for over ten years. Amidst broken palaces (built by the late Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie), nomadic desert encampments and war-torn towns, Hill found a god-fearing people remarkably resistant to everything fate has thrown at them. This book is a tribute to their resilience and will stand beside Philip Gouravitch's Rwandan book, WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW YOU WILL BE KILLED WITH YOUR FAMILIES, as a classic account of contemporary Africa.Ghost Riders: Travels with American Nomads
Par Richard Grant. 2003
Richard Grant has never spent more than twenty-two consecutive nights under the same roof. Motivated partly by his own wanderlust…
and partly by his realisation that America is a land populated by wanderers, he set out to test his theory. AMERICAN NOMADS is the extraordinary result. 'Freedom is impossible and meaningless within the confines of sedentary society, the only true freedom is the freedom to cross the land, beholden to no one'. Grant follows the trails of the first European to wander across the American West (a failed conquistador); joins a group of rodeo-competing cowboys (and gets thrown by a mechanical bull); tells the story of the vanishing nomadic Indians and links up with 300,000 'gerito gypsies' - old people who live and travel in their RVs (Recreational Vehicles).'When all is said and done, there are two types of men: those who stay at home and those who do not' Kipling. This is the story of those that 'did not' who are populated - and are still travelling - in America.Limey Gumshoe: The True-Life Adventures of an Undercover Detective
Par Will Randall. 2009
House-sitting in Boston one winter, Will Randall picks up with one of his more disreputable travel buddies, Jack J. Makepeace,…
and life gets a great deal more exciting.Makepeace introduces Randall to his current employers, Chestnut Investigations, and soon Will finds himself appointed apprentice Private Investigator. He tails mongrels and errant husbands, attends a seminar on Blood Spatter and is recruited in a lapdancing club by an anti-government go-go girl. Then emotional stakes are suddenly raised when Will Randall, unlikely Limey Gumshoe, finds himself investigating the disappearance of a sixteen-year-old girl from her affluent home, and fighting to save a vulnerable boy from the housing projects from a miscarriage of justice.With his latest adventures in Limey Gumshoe, Will Randall gives us an often hilarious, sometimes scary, eye-opening perspective on the bizarre world of private investigation.Playing Cards in Cairo: Mint Tea, Tarneeb and Tales of the City
Par Hugh Miles. 2011
PLAYING CARDS IN CAIRO is a fly-on-the-wall account - like THE BOOKSELLER OF KABUL - of life (for western readers)…
in a strange and exotic environment. Hugh Miles lives in Cairo and is engaged to an Egyptian woman. Twice a week he plays cards with a small group of Arab, Muslim women and through this medium he explores their lives in modern Cairo, the greatest of Arab cities. It is a secretive, romantic, often deprived but always soulful existence for the women as they struggle with abusive husbands and philandering boyfriends. The book is a window onto a city - and a way of life - which is at a crucial juncture in its history. Hugh Miles, who knows the Arab world intimately, is the perfect guide.Another Long Day on the Piste: A Season in the French Alps
Par Will Randall. 2008
Writer, adventurer, ex-teacher and veteran of umpteen travel disasters, Will Randall has fallen off donkeys in Spain and out of…
canoes in the Solomon Islands, but none of this has prepared him for a disastrous season as a ski-bum with a posse of raucous, hard-drinking ex-students.Dismally unfashionable and hopeless at skiing, Randal finds that his stay in the charming Alpine backwater of mont St Bernard brings a whole host of new opportunities for domestic catastrophe, romantic rejection and public humiliation, including a stint as a chalet girl and an encounter with a Russian oligarch and his hair-raising entourage.Wry, self-deprecating and deliriously funny, ANOTHER LONG DAY ON THE PISTE is a rollercoaster of a travel adventure and essential apres-ski reading.Solomon Time: Adventures in the South Pacific
Par Will Randall. 2002
Echoing the experiences of Robert Louis Stevenson - who spent several years in the South Pacific - here is the…
story of a contemporary writer who lived in and came to love the Solomon Islands. Most unexpectedly, Will Randall, once a happy schoolteacher, found himself dispatched to a small village on a not very large island, far out in the vastness of the South Pacific. His mission (although he had hardly chosen to accept it): - to fulfil the dying wishes of the 'Commander' and help the local people set up a money-making community project. The Solomon Islands, islands lost in time - Solomon Time; these little gems of land scattered across the ocean, must be the last sanctuary on our shrivelled planet not yet overshadowed by the Golden Arches or encapsulated in a Coca-Cola bubble. Everyone has dreamed at some time of living on a desert island. Here is the unvarnished truth. Sharks, turtles, a band of unruly chickens, a cast of extraordinary characters, and a bird called the Spangled Drongo, accompany Will Randall through some of the most fascinating and certainly funniest scenes to be found in travel writing since Gerald Durrell.And Did Those Feet: Walking Through 2000 Years of British and Irish History
Par Charlie Connelly. 2009
The landscape of the British Isles is filled with history, much of which we miss as it flashes past the…
car window. Do we even realise that we're following the same path as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, or that we're driving past the exact spot where King Harold was killed, shot through the eye with an arrow? As a lover of both history and the British countryside, Charlie Connelly decided to rectify this, and set out on a series of walks that recreate famous historical journeys. En route he retells the story of the original trip while discovering who and what now inhabit these iconic routes. Walking in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Charlie journeys alongside Boudicca's ghost in Norfolk, relives Bonnie Prince Charlie's flight to Skye disguised as Flora MacDonald's maid and takes the same 32-mile round trip as the starving Louisburgh famine walkers. He suffers broken toes, becomes trapped in the Scottish Parliament and encounters dead poets and a surprisingly high number of mad old women in woolly hats. Told with Charlie's customary charm and wit, And Did Those Feet will reveal the historical secrets hidden in the much-loved coastal, country and urban landscapes of Britain.Eight Men and a Duck: An Improbable Voyage by Reed Boat to Easter Island
Par Nick Thorpe. 2003
Nick Thorpe was innocently travelling around South America with his wife, Ali, when he came across an American adventurer planning…
to sail from Chile to Easter Island on a Bolivian boat made of reeds. Inspired by the great Thor Heyerdahl, Phil Buck had recruited seven men to join him on this experiment to discover whether it might have been possible that Polynesia was first settled from South America rather than Asia. But when one of them dropped out a place in the crew became available for Nick.What followed was a somewhat bizarre expedition undertaken by a rather makeshift vessel, a couple of ducks (one of which could have only guessed at its fate) and a group of men, who, when all was said and done, weren't quite sure how to sail a boat...Brilliantly told, EIGHT MEN AND A DUCK is a feel-good, hilarious tale of storms, amateur seamen and the occasional shark.Angry White Pyjamas: A Scrawny Oxford Poet Takes Lessons From The Tokyo Riot Police
Par Robert Twigger. 1997
A brilliant and captivating insight into the bizarre nature of contemporary Japan.Adrift in Tokyo, teaching giggling Japanese highschool girls how…
to pronounce Tennyson correctly, Robert Twigger came to a revelation about himself: he'd never been fit. In a bid to escape the cockroach infestation and sweaty squalor of a cramped apartment in Fuji Heights, Twigger sets out to cleanse his body and his mind. Not knowing his fist from his elbow the author is sucked into the world of Japanese martial arts, and the brutally demanding course of budo training taken by the Tokyo Riot Police, where any ascetic motivation soon comes up against blood-stained dogis and fractured collarbones.In Angry White Pyjamas Robert Twigger skilfully blends the ancient with the modern - the ultra-traditionalism, ritual and violence of the dojo (training academy) with the shopping malls, nightclubs and scenes of everyday Tokyo life in the twenty-first century - to provide an entertaining and captivating glimpse of contemporary Japan.Voyageur: Across the Rocky Mountains in a Birchbark Canoe
Par Robert Twigger. 2006
Best-selling author of Angry White Pyjamas travels across the Rocky Mountains by canoeFifteen years before Lewis and Clark, Scotsman Alexander…
Mackenzie, looking to open up a trade route, set out from Lake Athabasca in central Northern Canada in search of the Pacific Ocean. Mackenzie travelled by bark canoe and had a cache of rum and a crew of Canadian voyageurs, hard-living backwoodsmen, for company. Two centuries later, Robert Twigger decides to follow in Mackenzie's wake. He too travels the traditional way, having painstakingly built a canoe from birchbark sewn together with pine roots, and assembled a crew made up of fellow travelers, ex-tree-planters and a former sailor from the US Navy. Several had tried before them but they were the first people to successfully complete Mackenzie's diabolical route over the Rockies in a birchbark canoe since 1793. Their journey takes them to the remotest parts of the wilderness, through Native American reservations, over mountains, through rapids and across lakes, meeting descendants of Mackenzie and unhinged Canadian trappers, running out of food, getting lost and miraculously found again, disfigured for life (the ex-sailor loses his thumb), bears brown and black, docile and grizzly.