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Because It's There - A Photographic Journey Diane Winger, Charlie Winger Because It's There takes us on a marvelous photographic journey with more than 90 adventurous and spectacular images from five continents. Authors/Photographers Charlie and Diane Winger believe there is no better reason to move beyond a familiar horizon, explore what lies around the next bend, and discover a world outside our previous experience than "Because it's there."
Like George Mallory, who uttered that famous response when asked why he strove to be the first to climb Mount Everest, the Wingers are also inspired by mountains. Charlie is the mountaineer of the family, and nearly all the snow-covered, glaciated, massive peaks in this photographic journey were his passion (and obsession). Diane is the hiker and casual rock climber, but has ventured up a few of those more challenging mountains along the way.
The Wingers draw on their extensive collection of photographs taken while writing guidebooks, climbing and trekking among some of the most beautiful peaks in the world, and enjoying time in special outdoor areas which they have come to love. Along the way, they tell a few stories and share a few laughs. |
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Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen Christopher McDougall An epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt?
Isolated by Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indians have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runner Christopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets. In the process, he takes his readers from science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultra-runners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to a climactic race in the Copper Canyons that pits America’s best ultra-runners against the tribe. McDougall’s incredible story will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.
From the Trade Paperback edition. |
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Backpack Gourmet: Good Hot Grub You Can Make at Home, Dehydrate, and Pack for Quick, Easy, and Healthy Eating on the Trail Linda Frederick Yaffe Meals on the trail can be as delicious and varied as meals prepared at home. You can create meals to suit your tastes or diet--vegetarian, low fat, Asian, Italian. Meals prepared and dehydrated at home are compact and lightweight, perfect for the backpacker, and safer than packing perishable foods. The author shows how to prepare the meals so that they will travel well and will be easy to reconstitute in camp. The easy step-by-step instructions detail how to cook and dry lightweight, satisfying meals at home and then prepare them easily in camp--truly complete, instant meals. Includes over 160 recipes for soups, stews, pasta, casseroles, and breakfast and snack ideas as well as tips on drying food in a dehydrator or oven. |
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Life on the Mississippi Mark Twain It's Time to Rediscover the Wonderful Books We All Cherish. "The Mississippi is well worth reading about. It is not a commonplace river but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable."-- Mark Twain 0riginally published in 1883, Life on the Mississippi is Mark Twain's memoir of his youthful years as a cub pilot on a steamboat paddling up and down the Mississippi River. Twain used his childhood experiences growing up along the Mississippi in a number of works, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but nowhere is the river and the pilot's life more thoroughly described than in this work. Told with insight, humor, and candor, Life on the Mississippi is an American classic. |
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Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster Jon Krakauer A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. The storm, which claimed five lives and left countless more--including Krakauer's--in guilt-ridden disarray, would also provide the impetus for Into Thin Air, Krakauer's epic account of the May 1996 disaster. |
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The Valley of Heaven and Hell - Cycling in the Shadow of Marie-Antoinette Susie Kelly In her fourth travelogue, Susie and her husband take to their bikes to explore the Marne valley, following in the carriage tracks of Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI in their abortive escape attempt from the French revolution.
Susie is not a born cyclist, as she discovers within the first five minutes of a journey that will last three weeks. Neither does she look her best in Lycra cycling gear. While her husband whirls along effortlessly, she frequently grinds to a halt and has to be rescued. But the pair keep pedalling, from the glitz of Versailles to the hilly Champagne vineyards, via a hair-raising ride through Paris and through quaint provincial towns and sombre battlefields.
Like the best-selling "Best Foot Forward – a 500-mile walk through hidden France", and "Travels with Tinkerbelle – 6,000 miles around France in a mechanical wreck", "The Valley of Heaven and Hell – cycling in the shadow of Marie-Antoinette" is an enjoyable mixture of travel and history, told in Susie's characteristically light-hearted and self-depreciating style. One for armchair travellers to enjoy, or a good holiday read.
"This book manages to combine history, humor and the best of travel writing all in one."
"As someone who enjoys reading about travel on foot or bicycle I can say its as good as any I've read and is a massively entertaining and satisfying read."
"When it's funny it's laugh-out-loud funny, and when it's sad it is heart-breaking." |
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Into the Wild Jon Krakauer In a compelling book that evokes the writings of Thoreau, Muir, and Jack London, Krakauer recounts the haunting and tragic mystery of 22-year-old Chris McCandless who disappeared in April 1992 into the Alaskan wilderness in search of a raw, transcendent experience. His emaciated corpse was discovered four months later. Maps. NPR sponsorship. |
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A Five Year Plan Bill Bryson ISBN: 0385408161 |
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Mud, Sweat, and Tears: The Autobiography Bear Grylls Bear Grylls has always sought the ultimate in adventure. Growing up on a remote island off of Britain's windswept coast, he was taught by his father to sail and climb at an early age. Inevitably, it wasn't long before the young explorer was sneaking out to lead all-night climbing expeditions. As a teenager at Eton College, Bear found his identity and purpose through both mountaineering and martial arts. These passions led him into the foothills of the mighty Himalayas and to a karate grandmaster's remote training camp in Japan, an experience that soon helped him earn a second-degree black belt. Returning home, he embarked upon the notoriously grueling selection course for the British Special Forces to join the elite Special Air Service unit 21 SAS—a journey that would push him to the very limits of physical and mental endurance. Then, disaster. Bear broke his back in three places in a horrific free-fall parachuting accident in Africa. It was touch and go whether he would walk again, according to doctors. However, only eighteen months later, a twenty three-year-old Bear became one of the youngest climbers to scale Mount Everest, the world's highest summit. But these were just the beginning of his many extraordinary adventures. . . . Known and admired by millions as the star of Man vs. Wild, Bear Grylls has survived where few would dare to go. Now, for the first time, Bear tells the story of his action-packed life. Gripping, moving, and wildly exhilarating, Mud, Sweat, and Tears is a must-read for adrenaline junkies and armchair explorers alike. |
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AWOL on the Appalachian Trail David Miller “Makes you feel the pain and joy of an Appalachian Trail thru-hike . . . In vivid colors, David paints a picture of his memorable journey.”—Larry Luxenberg, president of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society
In 2003, David Miller left his job, family, and friends to fulfill a dream and hike the Appalachian Trail. AWOL on the Appalachian Trail is Miller’s account of this thru-hike along the entire 2,172 miles from Georgia to Maine. On page after page, readers are treated to rich descriptions of the valleys and mountains, the isolation and reverie, the inspiration that fueled his quest, and the life-changing moments that can only be experienced when dreams are pursued. While this book abounds with introspection and perseverance, it also provides useful passages about safety and proper gear, showing a professional hiker’s preparations and tenacity. This is not merely a travel guide, but a beautifully written and highly personal view into one man’s adventure and what it means to make a lifelong vision come true.
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