Amazon.com

For three quarters of a century, adventure enthusiasts around the globe have speculated about the fate of British mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. Did they reach the peak of Mount Everest before disappearing on June 6, 1924? How did they die? What was their fatal mistake? In 1999, the Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition set out to answer these questions by retracing the steps of the doomed climbers, and in The Ghosts of Everest, they share their findings. William Nothdurft has gracefully woven the testimonies of expedition members Jochen Hemmleb, Eric Simonson, and Larry Johnson, all the while counterpointing the modern ascent with a captivating reconstruction of what befell the earlier one. There are also stunning photographs, which manage to be inspiring and beautiful and gruesome--occasionally all at once. And while it's impossible to establish exactly what happened to Mallory and Irvine, this account is persuasive enough to fascinate rock climbers and couch potatoes alike. --Melissa Asher ... Read more

Reviews (51)

A Lesson on How Money is Replacing Adventure
This book allowed me to analyse why I have not read too many books on Mtn Climbing in the past few years. I am a climber and the genre was important to me for a big part of my life. Reading through this book made me realise how much climbing has not only changed from the days of Mallory, but even from the old siege operations in the 70s. Today the emphasis on gaining money and the machinations and business tactics that go into getting the dosh to go, take up not only the majority of the time making the ascent, but also the majority of the time (and lines of writing) in most mountain literature published these days.

Gone is the old style adventure: 1) adventure-for-the-sheer-fun-of-it, Joe Brown, Don Whillans; 2) adventure-of-the-tortured-soul, Eric Shipton, Joe Simpson; 3) adventure for Imperial gain, Capt Noel, Sven Hedin, or the early British Expeditions to Everest, (though to be fair, it is hard to ressurect this particular genre) and; even the 4) adventure-to-be-the-first-to-do-something, Bonnington and Hertzog, is relegated to second place -- now adventure takes second place to how much money and designer deals for broadcast rights and publisher exclusives can be done before, during and after the point when all the adventure takes place.

As such this book is very symptomatic of this new genre. There is all sorts of vignettes of the evil BBC and it reps and the business concerns of all the others who made crucial decisions tying their business fates to this expedition --- too much of this and too little detail both of the original British Expeditions the search expedition this books puports to write about. There is also precious little route description, how the route was put up and the actual "thrill" of the hunt to find Mallory. Fully one-third of the book deals with these machinations.

Even the people that the authors palpably do not like get off lightly. All of the people they like are usually gifted with some god-like aspect of physical prowess --- eg. barrel-chested, large arms etc. For those who have read Chris Bonnington's books on any of his expeditions, the slow burning personality problems that manifest themselves on so many of these expeditions are conspicuous by their absence in this book.

In sum I liked the book. The good parts are two, and only two in my estimation: 1) the find of Mallory's body and 2) the ascent of the last ridge by the search party members. It is no coincidence that these two subjects are raw adventure and have nothing to do with gaining money or searching to personally skewer someone's personality.

I am glad I read it. But as an inspiration for further reading in the contemporary mountaineering genre, this book is symptomatic of how far the adventure genre has fallen, particularly in the past 10 yrs or so. Maybe you will like it. Maybe you will not. I am the kind of person who trekked the subsidiary valleys around Mt. Everest, but I would not go to Everest base camp --too many people, too much garbage and too many people following the populistic mantra of what passes for adventure writing these days... like the valleys around Everest these days, this genre has been tamed, beaten into submission, and transformed into a pablum for mass consumption. Better to settle down and re-read the Hertzog or Bonnington Classics.

INSPIRING STORY OF A MAN'S DREAM, MYSTERY OF HIS FATE
The book is focused on the search conducted to find out what happened to Mallory and Irvine, the two British climbers who disappeared on Everest in the 1930s.Mallory is basically a legend in mountaineering.

The authors tell the story of their own search expedition by making it parallel to Mallory's.For example, we see the logistics it took this expedition in 1999 to get everyhitng to Everest base camp.In contrast, we see the long trek the expedition in the 1930s had to face, with sickness and much more difficult terrain and logistics.It was amazing that they had the energy to climb once they got to base camp.

The book switches between a technical archeology mystery and the history known of the expedition.It is very interesting to see the 1999 expedition trace back the steps of the earlier one.We see the tremendous difficulties they went through in the 1930s, with clothing that was hardly appropriate and the best equipment at the time.

Ultimately, the authors find Mallory's body, but it is still not clear if he reached the summit before falling.He fell and broke a knee, which is a death sentence at that altitude.Irvine was not found.The book ends with the authors making their own summit bid, and only two of them making it.

This is one of the best mountaineering books, especially as it brings in the mystery of what happened.I highly recommend it for the armchair mountaineer.

Like climbing a mountain worth climbing!
This effort starts out a bit lackluster and overweighted with
facts, statistics and hyper technically overloaded with how the research expedition got started, who ate what and who arranged for this and that. Once the authors put the reader "on the mountain" with pictures and text, the book and the adventure makes it all worth the effort to have stayed with the book. It is a bit like climbing a mountain...it can't all be a spectacular view from the summit! For those interested in the history of climbing in the Himalaya this is worthy of your interest and should be read.

An inspiring story for ALL readers!!
This is an amazing tale of selfless and dedicated people. A beautiful mix of detective story, climbing epic and historical drama this is not just for climbers. The interweaving of the 1924 expedition on which Mallory & Irvine were lost, w/ this 1999 hunt for their fate brings an immediacy and sense of having "been there" to the reader, as well as important understanding to those who are not frequent readers of the mountain genre.
Even among the tightly knit cadre of high altitude climbers and support people, this group stands out for their cooperation and respect, not only of each other, but for the men they seek to find. I was struck with the haunting beauty of this endeavour, through the glorious photos, the wonderfully descriptive recollection of the '99 participants, and the words from the past men of '24. There is an awe inspiring feeling of monumetalism best typified by Dave Hahn's likening of his first view of George Mallory's body to a statue of ancient Greek or Rome. The tenacity and tenderness of the 99 crew leads one to feel that "fate" conspired that only THIS group, at THIS time, (75 years forward of the tragedy) could rightly be the ones to discover and tell of Mallory's last moments, and with deep respect and a sense of being very privileged, lay their great man to rest.
Truly inspiring, and a delicious winter night read, and reread!

The Search for Mallory
This is a collaborative effort of the men who put together an expedition to Everest in 1999 for the purpose of obtaining more evidence on whether or not George Mallory and Sandy Irvine reached the summit of Everest in 1924 before they both mysteriously perished.

This is a beautifully produced book.The paper is heavy and glossy, the photographs are fantastic and the makeup is flawless.

The content I would have to say is uneven. The electrifying discovery of Mallory's body is well written and in good taste.The trials and tribulations of getting financial support are well done.The duplicity of the good and gray BBC is an eye-opener.No punches are pulled about the various expedition team's strengths and weaknesses.However, it shows the faults of a book written by committee and the continuity is sometimes poor.I felt the pages and pages devoted to oxygen tanks were, to put it kindly, far too many.

The 1999 expedition uncovered a treasure lode of documents and artifacts about Mallory and Irvine's last day on earth and can be considered a total success.The big question:Did Mallory and Irvine summit Mr. Everest some 29 years before Sir Edmund Hillary?Maybe.To this reader the most compelling evidence was what was not found on Mr. Mallory's body:the picture of his wife that he always carried in his billfold.He had said he was going to leave her picture on the summit of Everest.Maybe he did. ... Read more

Book Description

This fast-paced, entertaining account of a couple's decision to cut their ties with the workaday world to fulfill their dream of sailing into the sunset takes readers on a fascinating journey through the ups and downs of a lifestyle many only dream about. Suzanne and Ty Giesemann looked forward to cruising the seven seas on their sloop, Liberty. When Suzanne experienced the tragedy of 9/11 "up close and personal" at the Pentagon, they accelerated their plans and set sail. Part Navy memoir, part cruising chronicle, Living a Dream will appeal to any reader with a love of the water and an adventurous spirit. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Living a Dream
My husband and I interested in learning more about the cruising lifestyle. When I heard Suzanne give a lecture for women sailors, I was immediately captivated. She's warm and friendly in person, so it was easy for me to quickly become engrossed in the book. I must admit, I could'nt put it down. I've read books by other cruisers before, but this was the most enjoyable by far. Suzanne is a talented writer...she has a way of helping the reader to feel as though he/she is experiencing the adventures first hand. I was pleased to see that she included a glossary for those of us who may not be completely familiar with nautical terms. I would highly recommend this book not only tosailors, but to anyone with an adventurous spirit. This book won't disapoint!

Lorna
Boston Mass

Great Read - Informative and Entertaining.
An easy and enjoyable read that will really appeal to those thinking about taking the plunge into the cruising life - or indeed just looking to make a major life improvement through change.
It's not a sugar coated romanticized account of success, but rather an account of how someone hugely successful in her career, took a careful look at her life and made the bold decision to give it up and move on.
The decision continues to be questioned and second guessed and the book highlights some of the difficulties in discussing one's innermost fears with a trusted partner - for fear of sending wrong signals and collapsing a tenuous grasp on the new life.
Heroic and amusing anecdotes are scattered through the book, making it an enjoyable story of the transition from hectic and immersed professional life to a different hectic immersion in their new life.

Living A Dream
Great book!This is a well written book that puts you on the edge of your seat. You feel as if you are on the boat traveling with the writer.Looking forward to the next book!

Better Than This Game of Ghosts!
Well, I don't know if it's really better, but I do know this: I left my copy of This Game of Ghosts (the sequel to Touching the Void) at work, so I started reading Living a Dream and I couldn't go back to 'Ghosts' because I just couldn't stop reading.I had been picking up 'Ghosts' when I got bored, but for some reason I was compelled to read Living a Dream straight through.You don't have to have much mountain experience to appreciate Joe Simpson's story,but I've had no sea experience whatsoever - so it's a mystery to me why I was so pulled in by Living a Dream.I gave the book five stars because it's so good for what it is (I'm not comparing it to Garcia-Marquez or Rushdie).The gratification you get is exponential to the effort of reading it.

The chapters about her working at the Pentagon were awesome, her job was important enough to be really intriguing but not so rarefied that it's way out over our heads. (She was apparently one of only a few people on the last plane in US airspace on 9/11, and saw Manhattan and the Pentagon in the same day.)

The bulk of the book is a narrative about the decision, subsequent to her 9/11 experience, to become a full-time cruiser, and the adventures that ensued.I can't get over how captivated I was over a story that didn't involve anything over the top (like circumnavigating in a row boat, or being stranded for some ungodly amount of time).I have a friend who plans on becoming a cruiser, I'm buying a copy for him for sure.Even if you have only a passing interest in cruising, I would say this book is worth purchasing.

Dreams Come True!
Suzanne truly welcomes the reader into her life and aboard "Liberty" to experience both the joys and trials of the cruising life...while sharing those personal experiences that accelerated the desire to live their dream - NOW. What wonderful insights...what wonderful travels...what wonderful people! A great "easy" read - recommended even for Landlubbers!! ... Read more

Book Description

No Place for a Lady Tales of Adventurous Women Travelers by Barbara Hodgson

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, a motley band of women defied gender conventions, enduring exotic diseases, plagues of scorpions, and other life-threatening situations—all in the name of adventure. The frequent target of Russian thieves, Mademoiselle Jacquemart began sleeping with a brace of pistols after one attempt on her life left her with a fractured skull. Lady Ann Fanshawe disguised herself as a cabin boy to confront a band of Spanish pirates. Isabella Bird toured Japan by horseback despite a severe back affliction. And there were many more, some famous, others whose tales and fates have faded into the obscurer corners of history. NO PLACE FOR A LADY profiles adventurous women who sacrificed personal comfort and respectability to pursue experiences traditionally open only to men. Filled with fascinating portraits, historical maps, and intricate drawings, NO PLACE FOR A LADY is at once a beautifully illustrated exploration of early travel and a spirited celebration!of the women HODGSON is a book designer and packager turned writer. Author of numerous books, including The Sensualist, In the Arms of Morpheus, and Opium: A Portrait of the Heavenly Demon, Hodgson makes her home in Vancouver, British Columbia.who dared to redefine the proper place for a lady. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Globe-trotting women adventurers
Hodgson has created a number of artistic books, full of extraordinary illustrations, fanciful tales a la' Nick Bantock. But Hodgson has established her own niche, mined her own particular vein of creativity, beautifully stylized and visually compelling.

In No Place for a Lady, the author has combined her definitive artistic style with a series of female adventures, travels undertaken by women drawn to broadening their cultural horizons from Russia to Africa to Japan. These women have one thing in common: an insatiable curiosity to see the world. Covering the 17-19th Centuries, these women come either from a bored middle-class or are of the upper class, indulging their unremitting wanderlust.

There are women in exile, those in search of a place where the fair sex will be treated with dignity rather than contempt, others avoiding the reality of their travails and seekers on religious pilgrimages. Throughout their journeys, such women exhibit exceptional bravery and a willingness to endure inconvenience and discomfort for the sake of traveling. The ladies are educated and self-confident, predominately British.

The wide range of personalities found in No Place for a Lady, show a common spirit, energy and endurance. Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, prefers Italy, as does Mme. Anne Louise Germaine de Stael, an outspoken intellectual and novelist. Others, like French Violoncellist Lise Christiani braves Siberia, a musician determined to perform at the court of St. Petersburg in 1849 "to make her fortune". A number of female travelers visit Egypt by the 1840's, if only to write later about their inconvenience and discomfort in widely published diaries. Of these, Sophia Poole includes bits of history, economics and edited correspondence, hoping for broader audience appeal when her journal is printed. Frances Trollope spends four years in the United States, traveling widely across the landscape, energetically writing of American "boorishness".

Throughout, full-page sepia illustrations add to the Victorian flavor of this book, as well as four-color maps and illustrations, all of which make a fascinating journal of lady-adventurers. Hodgson's tales mix exotic locales with that special fastidiousness that attends these ladies, in language that is precise and ladylike, tramping boldly across continents few adventurous women have seen before. Luan Gaines/ 2003.

A fact book on adventurous women from history
For the first 50 pages or so, the author, talks about different ladies and different travel facts in practically every other sentence. With her method it's more like you are reading a dictionary than a novel. Because there is so much history compacted into a few pages, you never quite get engulfed in the story of the moment. Instead, you are given the name of each woman and the book(s) she wrote and only a tiny bit about her travels.

At the beginning I rated the book a 2. However, the author changed her style in the later pages and the book moved up to a 3 and finally an 4 with my looking forward to reading it in the evening. In fact if I read it again, I'd probably enjoy it more and increase the ratings.

As the story progresses, she elaborates on the travels of some of the women so that you can get a better understanding of the hardships and in some cases, the enjoyment, they endured. I've learned that the Sandwich Islands are Hawaii and that many women were really pioneers in the way they traveled backed then. Many endured diseases and actually died during travel. Others weren't loan travelers; sometimes traveling as a result of a husband's wishes. However, I really can't remember a single female name because there were so many. Those who are interested in historical facts, names and dates would love this book.

"No Place for a Lady" turned out to be a very interesting read but did leave you wanting for more. It is extremely evident that the author did tremendous research and reading in order to produce this work. I suspect one would get more appreciation for what women traveler's encountered if they read each book the author did during her research.

Delectable, visually ravishing

I love a beautifully-made book, and Hodgson's treasure of a tome is just wonderful. Not only are the women she documents worthy companions for an evening by the fire as you dine on exotic fruit and sweetmeats, but the illustrations are so sumptuous that you may accidentally be swept away.

Please oh please give this one to a housebound friend for Christmas!

A study of real-life adventurous women
No Place For A Lady: Tales Of Adventurous Women Travellers by book designer and author Barbara Hodgson is an exciting anthology of true stories drawn from the experiences and adventures of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century women travelers who (very much counter to the gender sterotypes of their day) traversed the world. Filled with maps, artwork, and photographs (many of them in color), No Place For A Lady is a truly fascinating read and a study of real-life adventurous women which is enthusiastically recommended for personal reading lists and academic Women's Studies reference collections. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Compelling cultural drama draws you in and won't let go
Get ready to give up your weekend because once you pick up this book you won't be able to put it down. Lee's dramatic descriptions cover the conflicts between historical Eastern and Western traditions woven into poignant family events. While his relatives and their antics seem quirky and particular, in fact they resonate with all families facing abrupt changes and adaptation --be they generational or cultural. For those who have read and loved China Boy and Honor and Duty, Chasing Hepburn gives us the pre-story we've all been wondering about.

A family in context
In this remarkable memoir, Gus Lee presents a clear and compassionate picture of his parents, grandparents and their 'clans' set in turbulent times. He brings alive the social, historical, religious and cultural context which informs their actions and reactions making them comprehensible to a reader with a totally different cultural viewpoint. It reads like a multi-generational adventure novel where the characters play parts in or are impacted by major events, from the Taiping rebellion through the British opium trade to the civil wars that raged from the early twentieth century through the brutal Japanese occupation in WWII. It is a wild ride and a great read. Gus presents his forbears and related characters warts and all, but always with great compassion and subtlety. There are no cardboard characters. Readers of his novels, which have a strong autobiographical base, particularly 'China Boy', will know what a hard childhood he endured with a stern and distant father, a mother prone to 'magical' beliefs who died when he was five, and a rigid, vindictive step mother. In this memoir, Gus reveals to us what he subsequently discovered about his parents and he honors them both. Gus's own life has been a testament to using adversity to build strength. He has wasted no time blaming, or scoring points off his parents or using his experiences to excuse failings in his own life. There is no 'poor me' here. His story helped me understand a completely different belief system and cultural perspective. And it was at times moving, at other times funny, but always interesting. ... Read more

Book Description

The Improbable Voyage is the astonishing account of master sailor and storyteller Tristan Jones' 2,307-mile voyage across Europe in an oceangoing trimaran, Outward Leg. Continuing his round-the-world journey, Tristan traveled from the North Sea to the Black Sea via the rivers Rhine and Danube. Tristan welcomed each difficulty-including a Bulgarian gunboat-as a challenge to be met and overcome.Battling ice and cold, life-threatening rapids and narrow defiles, German bureaucrats and Romanian frontier police, the indomitable Tristan made his way through eight countries and emerged triumphant, if battered, bruised and penniless, at the Black Sea.

This voyage provides a memorable addition to the travel accounts of Central Europe. Tristan gives us a vivid glimpse of the quality of life along Europe's oldest water routes and behind the Iron Curtain. Flying the Red Ensign, the Stars and Stripes, and the Red Dragon of Wales, and playing bagpipe music at full volume, Tristan announced his passage in every town, city, and country. He became legendary along the Danube. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Navigating the Iron Curtain
What Tristan Jones lacks in great writing skills he makes up for withgreat story telling and sheer guts. In 1985, as the Soviet Union wasquickly approaching its high water, mark he threw caution to the wind andbegan a tumultuous journey that would take him through the badlands of theIron Curtain. Plunging up the freezing Rhine in his ocean going tri-hulledyacht, wintering in Germany, and losing his American crew of two tohomesickness and better job opportunities were bad enough for this onelegged sailor, but Jones had an objective that he wouldn't put asidelightly. He took on a fresh crew of one, a young German boy, and set off toconquer the Danube and Eastern Europe as the first person to transnavigateEurope in an ocean going tri-hull.The Improbable Voyage is a thoughtprovoking perspective of Central and Eastern Europe at the height of thecold war. It highlights Europe's divisiveness during this time from one ofEurope's major arteries, the Danube. It is realism at its best from theheart of a spirited traveler. ... Read more

Book Description

Lili Wright is a thirty-something woman on the emotional lam. Faced with a choice between two men--Stuart, the steady veterinarian, and Peter, the dreamy writer--she climbs into her car and leaves them both behind.

With only a borrowed dog named Brando for company and a map of twelve states in her pocket, Lili sets out on a road trip, hoping that by setting herself in motion she will find a way to settle down. Charting a course from Cadillac Mountain in Maine to the faded glory of Key West, Florida, she camps out on beaches and crashes on couches, in sketchy motels and even in a cop's trailer. She travels not only south, but also back in time, trying to figure out why previous relationships with a Nantucket waiter, a French tennis clown, a Utah ski bum, and others flared and fizzled.

Along the way, Lili meets a string of unlikely gurus, including a well-worn shrimper, a vegan astrologer, and even a woman who marries herself. These and other unassuming strangers offer offbeat wisdom and guidance as Lili struggles to understand the nature of love, the voodoo of sex, and how couples can settle down without settling for. Between adventures, Lili tackles tough questions: Why does everything love touches turn risky? Does staying with the same person mean staying the same? Where does love come from, and where does it go? By journey’s end, this restless traveler begins to see how she can share her life with just one other person, and how love, like water, can make a body float.

Lili Wright’s engaging memoir from the road updates the tradition of the picaresque traveler’s tale.With unflinching honesty and refreshing wit, she captures the torn emotions, comic misfires, and inevitable trade-offs felt by young people everywhere. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

The long journey for love....
For anyone who has struggled to find, and hold on to, love (and who among us hasn't) this book is a great read. The author searches her soul (and psyche) and gives you her view from the drivers seat on the rollercoaster of love. The ups and downs of her love life are adventurous, sad, comical and utterly all to familiar.

She acknowledges her own shortcomings, as well as those of her suitors with grace and humor. We laugh with her as she flounders through her 20's and into her 30's. And ultimately Lili makes the journey we've all had to take. As she shares her experiences we can all see a little of ourselves in her travails. She's honest and funny. Read this book and recommend it to a friend who's also going through this struggle, they'll laugh, appreciate it and hopefully they'll be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel as well.

Learning to Float
I started reading this book after I found it on the Barnes and Noble book club list. I just got done reading a very depressing book and I was in the mood for something light and happy and that is just what I found. Lili Wright has an awesome writting style that reminds me of one of my favorite shows, Sex and the City. Lili reveals her past relationship flaws and insecurities she has in order to find more about herlself and about love. She travels to all the places that she spent time with past flames and doing this she feels she will gain closure. This just creates more confussion and she realizes she needs to find out about herself and not about the past men in her life. I enjoyed this book but at times her life seemed a little too much like a soap opera. Read this book if your in the mood for a crazy romantic tale but I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who doesn't like a lot of drama. I would give this book 3 stars.

Saga of a [woman in moral decline]
What begins as a promising self-study lapses into old war stories of late-teen bed hopping, drugs, and aimless amorality. Only a puerile mind could care about how Lili gets herpes and loses her self-respect.

An interesting experience
For anyone who has ever asked questions about the way they live their life, especially in relation to others, this is a book to explore. Following Lili Wright as she examines the world inside and outside herself, you can feel the learning and growing amid the struggling. As one who struggles while learning and growing, especially when looking at the world from the inside-out, I appreciated her honesty and candor about her experiences.

Inspirational Journey
When I picked up this book at a little bookstore at the beach, I was on a week-long vacation from a job I disliked and trying both to relax and to do some soul-searching. As Lili says, there are those people who have their personal lives in order and whose professional lives are a mess and those whose professional lives are in order but their personal lives are a mess. I had always lived in the second camp - but, at the time, I was facing chaos in my professional life and needed a break from reality.

From the moment I started reading "Learning to Float," I literally could not put it down. Lili speaks to readers like an old friend - airing her dirty laundry and taking us through the painful, yet liberating, process of trying to figure out what she needs to do to be happy.

"Learning to Float" is a deeply personal book. Yet, for others who are facing - or have ever faced - a time in life when we have to reassess our priorities and figure out what we need to do next, "Learning to Float" reassures us that we are not alone and provides inspiration that we, too, can find our way. ... Read more

Book Description

A writer's return to the old country reveals the binding continuities of family, faith, and language.

"So, Tom that went and Tom that would come back!" is how Nora Lynch greeted the young American Thomas Lynch in 1970, at the edge of the ocean in West Clare, outside the cottage that his great-grandfather—another Thomas Lynch—had left nearly a century before on a one-way ticket to America.

In thirty-five years and dozens of return trips to Ireland, Lynch has found a template for the larger world inside the small one, the planet in the local parish. The neighbors and characters he found there—spinsters and farmers, local heroes, poets, clergy, and corner boys—taught him to look, as Montaigne said we ought, for "the whole of Man's estate" in every man.

Part memoir, part cultural study, Booking Passage is a brilliant, often comedic guidebook for those Lynch calls "fellow travelers, fellow pilgrims" making their way through the complexities of their own lives and times. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A true pleasure to read!
This book is like a trip around the world without ever leaving your home.The author's writing style gives your mind's eye such an accurate description that it is like browsing through a photo album.It was a true pleasure to read! ... Read more

Book Description

In STANIEL CAY, old Nick Finneran finally tells his story of how, as a teenager in post-World War II 1948, he and his cousin Tony leave the cold Massachusetts winters behind to begin a life's journey.Along the way Nick and Tony do a lot of fishing, meet colorful characters from the pre-tourist days of Miami, and discover a wrecked sailboat in the mangroves, which they rebuild and sail to the Bahamas.The teenagers experience the tranquil life in the Caribbean before the tourist boom, but soon uncover a plot that could prove to be the opening salvo of the cold war!The boys are incredulous to find themselves in a life and death struggle for survival.

STANIEL CAY (pronounced "key") is a story of youth, adventure, and mischief, that hasn’t been concocted since Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn sailed the Mississippi. The vivid descriptions of small boat sailing are reminiscent of Joshua Slocum and Tristan Jones.The action is interspersed with an expert’s detailed description of the endless days of sailing, fishing and "bumming in the islands mon". ... Read more

Reviews (5)

great beach book!
I didn't know much about sailing, nor cared much for it before, but my sailing enthusiast friend recommended this book to me as a "must read". Staniel Cay is darling and proved to be a quick, enjoyable surprise -- so much so that I am now passing the book to my other friends! Enjoy!

Pure Escapism
Looking for a great read to help savor those lazy days of summer? Well search no more! Nick Finneran provides a lively tale based upon his recollection of events of his youth. Readers cannot help to recall the optimism and carefree times of their own youth's as they join Nick and Tony on their adventure. While there are times in the book you wish you could prod the author with a disbelieving "your-pulling-my-leg" stare, it only serves as testimony that you are enjoying a great storyteller who can capture your imagination. Nick's storytelling is a credit to his craft, and I look forward to reading more about his adventures in the (hopefully) not so distant future. Ole!

Finneran brings the Exumas to life.
I liked this book very much. Nick's descriptions of life in Miami and in the Bahamas in the 1950s is vivid. As said by previous reviewers, Staniel Cay is mostly a sailing-cruising book ala Joshua Slocum or Bernard Moitessier. But it also has a nice plot that is very much reminiscent of the old Hardy Boys books. I got the shivers when Nick and Tony were sailing across the many cuts in the Exuma island chain. Finneran is a perfect example of how every man is still a little boy inside (sigh).

This may be the best cruising book of the year!
I too met Finneran in person at the Staniel Cay release party in Chelsea (New York City). I was only there because my girlfriend is a big Manhattan party-planner and was setting up the event, and I look for any opportunity to meet other sailors (I have sailed in the Whitbread and the Volvo). The author gave me a signed copy of Staniel Cay which said "Dear John - Eat Soup!" Finneran really is a nice old guy - Doesn't talk much about himself, but likes to ask all kinds of questions to the young people in the room. I had never heard of Nick Finneran before, but he seems pretty well-connected. Along with the publishing big wigs that were there, I saw Kevin Kline and Julia Louise Dreyfuss. Finneran claims that he was goaded by family and friends into writing down some of his best stories and didn't set out to write a whole book. But write a book he did - and what a book! I really enjoyed it. It is not what I would call a page-turner, but it is definitely a quick read, with a bunch of laughs along the way. Staniel Cay is simply a fun story. Finneran's style is direct, and I've never read anything like it. The writing is a bit clunky at times, but there are also many poetic moments - very much like a conversation with the author himself. Finneran's story telling took me back to my younger days, sitting on my grandfather's lap on the back porch listening to his tales of the Pacific Campaign. If you are a sailor or boating enthusiast like me, I can assure you that Nick knows his boats! Like other readers of this book, I am still trying to figure out how much is true. Then again, who really cares?

Nick Finneran's STANIEL CAY is Pure Nerd Fiction
Review by Freelance Writer Robert Donahue on January 28, 2004

Last week, I attended the annual Strictly Sail event, which was held at Chicago's Navy Pier to report on the event for a local newspaper. Quite by accident, I attended a book signing event by author Nick Finneran, where I received a copy of STANIEL CAY. Nick Finneran is a hoot, a real life Walter Middy (a modern day Ernest Hemingway?). Massachusetts-born Finneran has been a champion sailor, a Navy Captain and war hero, successful entrepreneur, philanthropist, fly fishing instructor and confidant to three presidents (or so he says). Throughout my adult life, I have been looking for a grown-up's version of the Hardy Boys. Nick Finneran has done it with STANIEL CAY. STANIEL CAY is pure nerd fiction, although Finneran swears that the events in STANIEL CAY are true. The book is fast-paced, enjoyable and funny. Even if you are not a sailor or fisherman, you will appreciate Finneran's description of his days growing up on Cape Cod, his escape to Miami in 1948, and his adventures in the Bahamas. Finneran takes the reader back to the pre-tourist days in Miami and the Caribbean. Nick and his trusty cousin Tony Finneran (also born in Dorchester) leave the cold Massachusetts winters behind, and go looking for warmer climes in Miami. They discover a wrecked sailboat in the mangroves, which they rebuild and sail to the Bahamas. All along the way, the boys, on the edge of manhood, go fishing, sailing, beer-drinking and happen to uncover a mystery that leads them on a life and death chase through the Exuma Island chain. He has interspersed some great passages throughout the book that make certain moments come alive for the reader. There were many times during the book that I just sat back, took a deep breath, and imagined myself out there on the turquoise waters of the Great Bahama Bank, eating cracked conch and drinking beers with Nick and Tony Finneran. I found STANIEL CAY to be a real page-turner. There aren't a lot of complex twists, Nick just tells it pretty straight, but he keeps the tension high throughout the book. I read the entire book in a couple of one-hour sessions while listening to Jimmy Buffet music and drinking a Corona. There are a few uninteresting passages here and there, but they do not detract from the overall story. ... Read more

Book Description

In this collection some of the finest names in contemporary travel writing reveal the perils and pleasures of exchanging the familiar for the foreign.

Isabel Allende discovers love and paradise in California, Pico Iyer finds home in Japan amidst the alien and indecipherable, and a dank barge on the Seine opens up a new side of Paris for Mort Rosenblum.

Revealing the flip side to the dream, relocating to the juicy heart of New York proves fiery for Lily Brett, Chris Stewart is frightened for his life in Andalucia, and the plumbing in William Dalrymple’s rooftop Delhi flat is held to ransom by his water-conserving landlady.

Original Stories by:
Isabel Allende, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Jan Morris, Rolf Potts, Mort Rosenbaum, Jeffrey Taylor, Errol Trzebinski, Simon Winchester.

Selected writings by:
Vida Adamoli, Lily Brett, Tony Cohan, William Dalrymple, Amitav Ghos, Carla Grissmann, James Hamilton-Paterson, Annie Hawes, Peter Hesller, Pico Iyer, Alex Kerr, Frances Mayes, Peter Mayle, Tim Parks, Chris Stewart, Emma Tennant, Paul Theroux, Nial Williams and Christine Breen. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Embracing the overseas living experience
This compendium of travel stories provides essays by Isabel Allende, Jan Morris, and more notable travel writers and provides an unusual focus on experiences of living abroad. Essays range from the humorous to the observation of cultural differences as they provide both entertaining and enlightening autobiographies embracing the overseas living experience. A House Somewhere is perfect as a leisure literary pursuit and highly recommended for the traveler who contemplates residency in another country.

Dreams of Escape
A collection of essays and stories about living in foreign countries. Books about this usually contain certain predictable themes. The writer is usually English or American, doesn't have a regular job, and the natives among whom he lives are lovable eccentrics with fractured English. It's commonly an island, or somewhere remote and warm, and when we next read about the writer he's no longer living there. (Jan Morris points out of these cliches in her or his introductory essay, "Some Thoughts from Abroad")
Some of the pieces fall into these obvious categories but one writer is Indian, one Welsh, and one South American. In three of them the foreign country is the United States. Others are set in the Philippines, Paris, Provence, Italy, Kenya, Singapore, Mexico, Ireland, Morocco, Japan, China, Egypt, Thailand, Turkey and Greece. Tragedy strikes in two of them but the mood is mostly light-hearted and humorous. I enjoyed them all. They made me appreciate electricity, paved roads, and being able to turn on a faucet and drink the water. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A Classic is Born!
"Sandy" Mackinnon tells a tale of nautical adventure with a style that reads like a delightful mix of Jerome K. Jerome, Jean Shephard, and Monty Python. This books is so very English, though Mackinnon is Australian- it is told with love, warmth, wisdom, humanity, and with prose as crisp as Beaujolais and warm as old port. This is a very FUNNY book, but also life affirming without being pretentious. Once you start this book you will want to keep rowing through the pages as the author travels along the great rivers of Europe from Wales to Romania. This book is definitely a new classic, and ranks up there with The Saga of Cimba and Alone in the Caribbean as one of the three most evocative nautical travelogues ever written. A genuine treasure- and pleasure.

A proper voyage?
Mackinnon is a wonderfully good writer but, to hear him tell it, he ain't much boathandler. That's a delightful combination for a story of a long, long trip in a tiny boat. If you don't allow yourself to get too exasperated at his predicaments, you'll really enjoy reading this book.

Mirror Dinghies will never be the same again!
A beautifully written book - but then you would expect that from an English teacher! Full of hilarious escapades, frightening experiences and gloriously colourful accounts of this unbelieveably exciting yet delightful journey! Should be on the bookshelf of every Mirror Dinghy owner, and the reading list of every school! With its broad appeal this book makes an excellent gift. I look forward to the author's next publication - which I have no doubt will be forthcoming in due course as a result of world demand!

A crazy tale of Daring-do by an Australian Englishman!
Like the Author, once you start this journey it is difficult to stop. This book is very difficult to put down.

As you breeze along the waterways and across seas with Sandy you find yourself saying "No! You can't? You won't? You shouldn't..." then you turn the page and he can, he will and he has; your eyes open wide and you read fervently onwards.

After one crisis is over you are calmed back into the beautiful journey, bumbling along serenely and naively into the arms of the next demon waiting beyond the horizon.

Whilst many of the literary quotes went over my head I found this a fantastically written story of eccentric daring-do with laugh-out-loud moments of extreme hilarity.

A real, live "Lord Of The Rings" journey full of near-death experiences told as if they weren't and real life experiences told like it was.

You have to read this book.

Incidentally whilst not putting down this book at 1 am, high up in the Taipei Hilton the other week I found my hotel bed shaking with laughter, when I stopped, the bed didn't and the contents of the min-bar spilled out onto the floor. It was then that I realised the Earth was moving! That's never happened with any other book I've read.

Well done Mr. Mackinnon! ... Read more

Book Description

The Adventurist is one man's story, a story that will change the way you think about travel, survival, where you have been, and where you are going.

Enter the world of Robert Young Pelton (if you dare), adventurer extraordinaire, author of Come Back Alive and The World's Most Dangerous Places (required reading at the CIA), and host of his TV series, Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places.

A breakneck autobiography, The Adventurist blasts across six continents and spans four decades of hard-core living with its dispatches of mayhem, adventure in exotic locales, survival against formidable odds, memories of the pivotal events, and memorable portraits of the people that have shaped Pelton's obsessive spirit.

Be shelled with the Talibs on the front lines of Afghanistan; hang out with hit men and rebels in the Philippines; survive a plane crash in Borneo; narrowly escape a terrorist bombing in Africa; dance with headhunters in Sarawak; crew with pirates in the Sulu Sea; explore the events that led Pelton to his unusual calling (including how he honed his survival skills at "the toughest boys' school in North America"); and, perhaps most important, discover Pelton's secret mission--to understand the hearts and minds of the people he meets.

The Adventurist is a real book about the real world, an inspirational read that takes you places you might never willingly go.

... Read more

Reviews (16)

Pelton Outta Control!
I have a hefty amount of admiration for Robert Young Pelton: not only is he a guy who gets to go to all the places I'd like to see, but he's a pretty talented writer with a nifty wit as well.

So what's my beef with this book then? It seems like RYP admires himself equally well. To his credit, he never actually comes out and says so; nevertheless, his overly florid prose gives the secret away. While there is some great writing in this book (most of which has appeared before in his Dangerous Places books, see below) there are far too many passages that reek of an author out of control. Where was the editor on this book?

I have no problem with the content here: the biographical passages describing his youth are just as compelling as his travel stories. It's a great story... I just wish he had written it with the same modest restraint that characterizes his other work.

For his great stuff, pick up a copy of The World's Most Dangerous Places (preferably the new edition.) Required reading for the enlightened traveler and citizen of the 21st century.

Insight Into What Makes Pelton Tick
I first discovered Robert Young Pelton in the pages of Blue Magazine, of which he is the Editor-at-Large where he writes about his travels to Algeria, Afghanistan, Indonesia and the like. Pelton goes where the journalist fear to tread, and he does it as a tourist! He is the writer of a travel book called "The World's Most Dangerous Places," where he reports on what the traveler needs to know about traveling in the world's hottest war zones and civil wars. He even reports on places here in North America. He has met and broken bread with both sides of the conflict in Afghanistan to better understand who they are andwhat they are fighting for. He considers himself a student of human nature.

In "The Adventurist," he gives us a glimpse of what it is like to be Robert Young Pelton. How his childhood help shape the man that he is; how his early endeavors in Advertising, Marketing and Publishing help him find his true calling in life; how is earliest adventures have given him the experience and the insight to not only get killed in these hot zones, but to actually meet some of the people that have to live under these conditions on a daily basis.

Ignore the other reviews' cries about his ego; Confidence and Ego are what one needs to go and do some of the travels that Pelton has undertaken and accomplished. Some of the text of this book appeared in his travel book and in Blue Magazine... writings praised by some of the desenters here.

Buy this book... Read this book... And be glad he's going there, and not you.

Awsome!
RYP is an awsome writer. I first learned of him when researching stuff about other countries. This was the first RYP book that I read, and I truely love it.

Pelton Rocks!
This is one of my favourite books to reread, Mr. Pelton hits the nail on the head for adventure thirsty readers. The book offers insight on what it takes to travel, write, research and live the life of a true adventurist! I would also have to say, Mr. Pelton is a true romantic when it comes to his writting prose. If you have the slightest thirst for adventure and travel, then BUY THIS BOOK!

Good on ya Pelton!
Never mind what the stuffy wannabe literary critics have to say, Pelton writes about reality, and if you can't handle that, it is not a book for you. The people that have written negative reactions to the book obviously never left their home state or town for that matter. Pelton composes a fast, choppy, in your face yarn that will have you anxious to reach the next page...I highly recommend this one! ... Read more

Book Description

Here for the first time in a single volume are three of Richard Bach's most compelling works about flight.

From his edgy days as a USAF Alert pilot above Europe in an armed F84-F Thunderstreak during the Cold War to a meander across America in a 1929 biplane, Bach explores the extreme edges of the air, his airplane, and himself in glorious writing about how it feels to climb into a machine, leave the earth, and fly.

Only a handful of writers have translated their experiences in the cockpit into books that have mesmerized generations. ... Read more

Book Description

On March 1, 1999, American safari guide Mark Ross was camped with four clients in Uganda, searching for endangered mountain gorillas. By day's end, two of these clients and six other tourists were dead at the hand of Rwandan rebels slipping across the border from Congo. The tragedy made headlines around the world, and Mark Ross, grieving for his lost clients and friends, realized his life had changed forever.He writes, "The continent has always been the love of my life. Now there is trouble between us."

Dangerous Beauty is the story of that love and that trouble. Ross is one of the most seasoned and skilled safari guides at work in Africa today, andhe writes here about his close-hand encounters with danger and natural beauty in Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Uganda. He describes his walks in the bush and the way he teaches his clients to read the unearthly silences and stillnesses in the wind that signify trouble. He writes about deadly charges by elephants, encounters with lions, cheetah and Cape buffalo, and the electric excitement of witnessing the mass migrations of wildebeest and zebras. He writes in detail about the terrible events of March, 1999, and their aftermath. Ross also conveys the tranquility of dawn in the wild, and the times when the extraordinary loveliness of the land bear down on the guide and his safari companions. The result is an immensely powerful book: the culmination of a life spent close to the edge, and a tribute to a land and its remarkable, menacing beauty. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Sawa Sawa
On January 20th, 2003 a 10 ton elephant gave chase to our Range Rover in Samburu National Park. In the days that followed I photographed rhino as I lay motionless in the grass 10 feet from the endangered animals, witnessed the birth of 3 wildebeest and the death, the same day, of 7 calves who dared venture too close to a pride of Lions in the Serengeti. Mark Ross,the author of Dangerous Beauty, was our guide, and it is hard to imagine a person more knowledgeable and passionate about the flora and fauna of Eastern Africa than him. While the book documents the depths to which man can sink, it is also a testimony to a continent and a people in grave danger from AIDS, poverty, poaching and war. Marks love of the people and wildlife of East Africa is apparent on every page.

Great stories from Africa
Dangerous Beauty is a great storybook. Mark C. Ross shares his incredible life stories in this book, and their fascinating. The way he encounters the same animals again and again and creates special bonds with them, even babysitting their children, to me is amazing. The book is impossible to put down because there is a new story with every five pages or so. The book leaves you breathless, wanting more. It's an awesome book, read it!

An excellent adventure story
This is a collection of many of the adventures the author has had while guiding clients around East Africa. The stories do a good job of capturing the life and death struggle in one the last remaining truly wild places in the world. The chapters concerning his stint as a war photographer in Uganda and the murders in the forests in Uganda provide a chilling reminder of what is really going on in Africa.

The book was great, it read well and the stories were excellent. I highly recommend this book to anybody with even a passing interest in African wildlife or Africa in general. The chapters that don't deal with the wildlife serve to remind people that despite the undeniable natural beauty of Africa it is a dangerous place.

Out of Africa
Mark Ross gives an excellent account of his career as a safari guide in modern Africa. The stories of his encounters with dangerous wildlife are interesting, but more entertaining are his stories of experiences with various types of clients he has guided. I have always wanted to visit Africa, and plan to as finances and the political climate permit, but for now books such as this help fill the void. Mark Ross is one of the finest writers of these so called adventure books. As you can see from the other reviews, the worst encounter Mark Ross faced is when he and several of his clients were kidnapped by a rebel army while attempting to see Mountain Gorillas. The story of his and some of his clients ultimate escape is both frightening and exhilirating. One should not focus only on the kidnapping event, as the rest of the book is equally informative and entertaining. This is truly a fine book of true life adventure.

Dangerous Beauty
Ross writes in the crusty, venerable tradition of explorers, game guides and great white hunters that includes Hemingway and Peter Capstick. Such firsthand reporting on "the Dark Continent" has been made anachronistic by eco-politics and excellent documentaries. Nonetheless, this American farm boy revels in the realization of his African-adventure dream: an eco-tour business operating mostly in Kenya and Uganda. Ross leads clients around preserves into camera range of hunting lions and charging buffalo (he targets the African hunter's "Big Five," including leopards, rhinos and elephants). These campfire tales of dramatic approaches on game are told as moment-by-moment stalk scripts that often defy Ross's own narrative powers. His in-the-dust reporting style isn't as elegant as his tracking skills. The punchy Wild Kingdom-style sermons at the end of many chapters detract from Ross's quite capable narration of the dangers of travel in Africa. Moreover, the continent's transcendent beauty isn't particularly well served: these unillustrated accounts often cry out for photographs. In 1999, tragedy interrupted Ross's affair with East Africa: his safari party was kidnapped in Uganda's mountain gorilla preserve. Two of his eight clients were murdered by Rwandan rebels who escaped into Congo. Ross was left with a sharp sense of responsibility that he cannot reconcile with his "Endless Safari" scenario. Sadly, his absorption in spectacular wildlife and noble tribesmen distracted him from the actual Africa boiling around him. Ross's romanticization may well ignite some farm kid's dreams, but Adelino Serras Pires and Fiona Claire Capstick's The Winds of Havoc features better writing in the same vein. First serial rights bought by Talk magazine. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A welcome eye-witness testimony
Light One Candle: A Survivor's Tale From Lithuania To Jerusalem is the autobiographical story of Solly Ganor, a man who survived the unspeakable holocaust of the Second World War when he was 13 years old through the intervention and rescue of a Japanese American soldier in 1945 (who himself had been releases from a U.S. internment camp for Japanese Americans just a few months earlier. Light One Candle is a powerful and vividly told memoir of struggle, starvation, and the brutal tolls of concentration and extermination camps. Light One Candle is a welcome eye-witness testimony and a very highly recommended addition to personal reading lists as well as academic and community library Holocaust Studies reference collections.

a well written thought provoking account
i have read well over two hundred memoirs. This is worth crying over (not that other ones aren't also) and listening to very carefully. without sentimentality - without profession of feelings that may or may not have been felt but remembered...solly ganor brings the reader inside his mind and heart.

The best personal account of the Holocaust I've read.
In LIGHT ONE CANDLE, Solly Ganor takes the reader into that nightmare world of the Holocaust--I could practically feel the harsh elements, the constant danger of the camps. This book isn't anther rote recitation of death counts. There's so much heart and compassion for all those sweptup in these horrors. The insights into camp life include the primal nature of life stripped to itsbasics--such as the "storyteller" who keeps the outside world and traditions alive. Particularly poignant is Cooky, Ganor's childhood friend whose account of the slaughter at the Ninth Fort is more compelling than Dante's own descent into Hell. Ipersonally feel Ganor's book is deserving of some national/international award. Actually, reading the book I wonder how Ganor got it all done. It must have been so painful to revisit these terrible, incomprehensible, sublime, poignant memories. To me it's the best book on the Holocaust, personal or otherwise--certainly it should be a companion to any serious study of this subject. To me it hits at the heart, gets into the soul. It's the humanity of the account,particularly those heart-rending final glimpses of the condemned trying to smile as they wave good-bye.

This Is One Terrific Story!
Solly Ganor's book is simply not to be missed. This is a great narrative from a good man.

The most gripping and heart wrenching book I've ever read.
This book touched a part of my soul and humanity more than any other book I have read in recent memory. The incredible detail in which Mr. Ganor describes the horrors of the Nazi occupation of Lithuania, and his subsequent confinement in concentration camps is absolutely chilling. I turned each page with horrid fascination with the thought that things couldn't get worse for Mr. Ganor and his family; it always did. Mr. Ganor recounts his story with eloquent but simple prose that draws the reader directly into his world of loss, torture, cruelty, and often times heroic deeds. Even if you consider yourself a fairly good student of history (which I did), this book will most likely destroy any notion that you really "understand" the overwhelming horrors and atrocities committed during this dreadful time in our history. This book is one for the ages, and is proof positive that we should never forget. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Thumbs Up!
"When George Duroy took his models in 2003 to film Bazaar: Out At Last 4 in Cape Town, South Africa, not only did they produce a first-class movie, but they also created this book of souvenir photos. Inside are 136 pages of models Mark Aubrey, Sebastian Bonnet, Yves Carradine, Sascha Chaykin, Ethan Clarke, Josh Elliot, Sean Ellis, Brandon Manilow, Matt Phillipe, Liam Phoenix and Marc Vidal. This is another book for the distinguished fan's well-adorned coffee table." - Summary from TLA Video ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

A must of the armchair traveller....
Not exactly LP, but it tells stories of two places that been
extremely dangerous and one that still is.in SL conflict(the hunter) was fuelled by greed, diamonds made many Lebanese come to SL and
the become rich on trading, MEA (middle east airlines) flew
in several of their big passenger planes to rescue it's citizens, SL
isn't a tourist resort nowadays like The Gambia today, but
still not extremely dangerous.
Bougainville (the Heaven) was Oz mining company property until the fighting

drove them of the island, PNG gov tried to recruit SA mercs to
"conquer" the island and start mining again, but it failed badly.
Chechenya (the Hammer) was also about greed, in this case oil-pipelines from
Azerbadjian. The late Chechen leader Dubajev was a former Soviet
airforce general that was married to an Estonian lady, he stopped
a carnage in the Baltic states planned by hard-liners. The Russians was later upset by the Estonians because the gave away
3 plane loads of roubles to the Chechens (arranged by Georgia) that the Russians refused to take as payment for oil deliveries, the money came when Estonia changed currency from the Soviet rouble to the Estonian Kroon.
3 stories about where everything gone haywire, but in two cases
the violence have halted, at least temporary... ... Read more