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States of Confusion: My 19,000-Mile Detour to Find Direction

Paul Jury

Rather than deal with the problems he was facing as a recent college grad, Paul Jury decided to leave them in his rearview mirror. He might not have known the direction his life was headed, but he knew the route he was taking to hit all forty-eight contiguous states on one epic road trip.

Filled with plenty of adventure and the unforeseen obstacle (or twelve), States of Confusion puts you in shotgun to see where the road takes Paul. All he knows - after crashing on the beer-soaked couch of his younger brother's frat - is that there's no going back.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

Into the Wild

Jon Krakauer

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself...

"Terrifying...Eloquent...A heart-rending drama wandering of human yearning."--The New York Times

"A narrative of arresting force. Anyone who ever fancied wandering off to face nature on its own harsh terms should give a look. It's gripping stuff."--The Washington Post


From the Audiobook Download edition.

A Five Year Plan

Bill Bryson

ISBN: 0385408161

Seeing The World My Way

Tony Giles

A totally blind and partially deaf guy's global adventures.. 'Seeing the World My Way' follows Tony Giles' journey of hedonism and thrill-seeking adventure as he travels across North America, Asia and Australasia. Full of drama, danger and discovery, this fascinating travel biography is a young blind man's view of the world as he sets out to achieve his dream, dealing with disability whilst living life to the limit. From bungee jumping in New Zealand to booze filled nights out in New Orleans, 'Seeing the World My Way' is a no-holds-barred account that is certainly not for the faint hearted. Travel the world in a whole new way with Tony Giles' frank, honest and exhilarating romp through one adrenaline-fuelled experience after another.
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