What makes a nation happy? Is one country's sense of happiness the same as another's? In the last two decades, psychologists and economists have learned a lot about who's happy and who isn't. The Dutch are, the Romanians aren't, and Americans are somewhere in between... After years of going to the world's least happy countries, Eric Weiner, a veteran foreign correspondent, decided to travel and evaluate each country's different sense of happiness and discover the nation that seemed happiest of all. *He discovers the relationship between money and happiness in tiny and extremely wealthy Qatar (and it's not a good one) *He goes to Thailand, and finds that not thinking is a contented way of life. *He goes to the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and discovers they have an official policy of Gross National Happiness! *He asks himself why the British don't do happiness? In Weiner's quest to find the world's happiest places, he eats rotten Icelandic shark, meditates in Bangalore, visits strip clubs in Bangkok and drinks himself into a stupor in Reykjavik. Full of inspired moments, The Geography of Bliss accomplishes a feat few travel books dare and even fewer achieve: to make you happier.

At the end of the 1960s, Kenneth Allsop, a famous television presenter and literary man-about-town, left London and settled amid the sunken lanes, ancient forests and chalk streams of west Dorset. He was at his very happiest here. He thought it the loveliest place on earth, and for three years he devoted a weekly newspaper column to his day-to-day life at the mill, brimming with humor and delight for the wildlife which shared his home. In the Country is not rustic or romantic. It is never unrealistic about agricultural modernisation and social change in the countryside. Yet, steeped with a deep sense of the past, Kenneth Allsop's writing speaks in defense of the natural world and stands firmly against the unchecked exploitation of the land. First published 1972 by Hamish Hamilton.

THE TOP TWENTY SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'A brilliant new story-teller has arrived' ERIN KELLY 'A read-in-one-sitting thriller' LUCY CLARKE 'Chilling, devious' JANICE HALLETT 'Glorious escapism with a murderous twist' TAMMY COHEN They thought it was perfect. They were wrong... A glamorous chateau Aura and Nick don't talk about what happened in England. They've bought a chateau in France to make a fresh start, and their kids need them to stay together - whatever it costs. A couple on the brink The expat community is welcoming, but when a neighbour is murdered at a lavish party, Aura and Nick don't know who to trust. A secret that is bound to come out... Someone knows exactly why they really came to the chateau. And someone is going to give them what they deserve. The Sunday Times bestseller is back with a rollercoaster read, perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware. 'Gripping, glamorous, ingeniously twisty' LAURA MARSHALL 'The definition of unputdownable' SINEAD CROWLEY 'Hot on the heels of her debut thriller, Cooper has crafted yet another gripping page-turner that kept me second guessing myself until the very end' KARIN NORDIN Praise for Catherine Cooper: 'Pure adrenaline' Erin Kelly 'Agatha Christie with glamour' Sunday Times Style 'Intense and claustrophobic' Heat The Chalet was a Sunday Times No.5 bestseller for w/e 28/11/20

In his hair-raising adventures across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, Chris Thorogood treads a death-defying path over cliffs, up erupting volcanoes, through typhoons, and out into the very heart of the world's vast, green wilderness. Along the way, he encounters pitcher plants, irises and orchids more heart-piercingly beautiful than you could ever imagine. An internationally acclaimed botanical illustrator, Thorogood conjures his adventures back to life in his electric paintings, which feature throughout the book. Joining his wild adventures is to be under a green spell: you'll never think of plants the same way again.

"Beautifully written and refreshingly original... makes us see Paris] in a different light." -- "San Francisco Chronicle""Book Review"
Swapping his native San Francisco for the City of Light, travel writer David Downie arrived in Paris in 1986 on a one-way ticket, his head full of romantic notions. Curiosity and the legs of a cross-country runner propelled him daily from an unheated, seventh-floor walk-up garret near the Champs-Elysees to the old Montmartre haunts of the doomed painter Modigliani, the tombs of Pere-Lachaise cemetery, the luxuriant alleys of the Luxembourg Gardens and the aristocratic ile Saint-Louis midstream in the Seine.
Downie wound up living in the chic Marais district, married to the Paris-born American photographer Alison Harris, an equally incurable walker and chronicler. Ten books and a quarter-century later, he still spends several hours every day rambling through Paris, and writing about the city he loves. An irreverent, witty romp featuring thirty-one short prose sketches of people, places and daily life, "Paris, "Paris" Journey into the City of Light" ranges from the glamorous to the least-known corners and characters of the world's favorite city.
Photographs by Alison Harris.
"I loved his collection of essays and anyone who's visited Paris in the past, or plans to visit in the future, will be equally charmed as well." --David Lebovitz, author of" The Sweet Life in Paris"
" A] quirky, personal, independent view of the city, its history and its people"--Mavis Gallant
"Gives fresh poetic insight into the city... a voyage into 'the bends and recesses, the jagged edges, the secret interiors' of Paris]."-- Departures

Three men. 470 kilometres. Twenty-one days. Welcome to the Downhill Hiking Club . . . At a boozy, cricket-filled afternoon at Lord's, Dom Joly convinces his two closest friends to agree to the unthinkable: a challenging hike across Lebanon, from the Israeli border in the south, along the spine of the country's mountain range, all the way to the Syrian border in the north. For Joly it is something of a homecoming, having grown up in Beirut. It was a happy childhood, though he did go to school with Osama bin Laden. Arriving in Lebanon armed with copious amounts of Vaseline - and no walking experience, bar taking the dog for the occasional stroll - Dom, Chris and Harry don't quite know what they've got themselves into. Joined by their bemused chaperone Caroll, they meet a variety of characters along the way including Ali, a stony-faced Hezbollah Museum guide who seems unperturbed by circling Israeli jets, and part-time Londoner Raf, who challenges Dom and the boys to a brain-freeze drinking contest. From a hair-raising creep along the 'Valley of the Skulls' to accidentally flashing an unsuspecting Ethiopian cook, the three friends just about manage to keep going. With more than a smattering of persiflage and some cringe-worthy moments, The Downhill Hiking Club is a big-hearted, witty and affectionate love letter to Lebanon and its rich history with a meditation on family and homeland at its heart. Written with Dom's trademark humour, it is a paean to both the simple joys of friendship and to growing old disgracefully.

John Harrison's Forgotten Footprints is the untold story of the sailors, sealers and eccentrics who discovered the last continent: Antarctica. A thrilling record of lost triumph and tragedy, a saga of adventure and ambition against all odds, and a compelling insight into extraordinary personalities and the times that shaped them, Forgotten Footprints captures the fascination of this most extreme, mysterious and beautiful of environments in John Harrison's characteristically vivid and affecting prose.

Why Travel Matters explores the profound life lessons that await anyone who wishes to learn what travel has to teach. With engaging prose, delightful wit and a distinctive style, Craig Storti infuses his own experiences traveling the world for 30+ years with quotations, insights, reflections and commentary from famous travelers, great travel writers, historians and literary masters. Storti's vast knowledge of the literature makes him an expert curator of astute gems from the likes of: St. Augustine, Mark Twain, Somerset Maugham, D. H. Lawrence, Bruce Chatwin, Aldous Huxley and more.

The new hilariously funny romance from the bestselling author of SEVEN SUNNY DAYS, perfect for fans of Melissa Hill, Jenny Colgan and Holly Martin 'Manby's novels are made for holidays' Glamour ***** When a mini-break becomes make or break... Kathy Courage has never visited the famous Italian city of Florence before, so she's thrilled when she and her boyfriend Neil are invited there for a wedding. Unfortunately, with Neil's constant complaining and his teenage children in tow, it's not exactly the romantic break Kathy was hoping for. But when a mix-up with her flights leaves Kathy stranded in the city, she decides to embrace the unexpected and stay on alone. What follows is a life-changing few days in the Tuscan sun, as Kathy begins to question the choices that have led her here. With the help of the colourful Innocenti family, who offer Kathy a place to stay, she gradually begins to realise that there's a much bigger world out there, if only she can be brave enough to explore it. Could Italy hold the answers to her future happiness? Or is Kathy destined to return to her old life? Praise for Chrissie Manby: 'I've been a fan of Manby's writing for years and thoroughly enjoyed this' Daily Mail 'Perfect, unputdownable summer adventures' Jenny Colgan 'Nothing short of brilliant' Marie Clare 'This sassy and addictive read will make you laugh - a lot!' Closer

In a post-exploration world, two relatively ordinary blokes, serving Royal Marines, decided they wanted an extraordinary 21st century adventure. In this refreshingly honest account they re-live the highs and lows of sailing and rowing a tiny open boat, completely unsupported, through one of the most iconic wilderness waterways on the planet - the Northwest Passage across the top of Canada. They describe battling with an Arctic storm miles from land and being caught in the worst sea ice for more than a decade. At one point they are forced to drag Arctic Mariner, their seventeen-foot boat, across ten miles of broken pack ice to reach open water. Their story is enriched by the Inuit people and the incredible wildlife they met along the way, including all-too-close encounters with both grizzly and polar bears. And they relate with honesty how the isolation and stresses of the high Arctic shaped the bond between their two very different personalities. This is neither an expose of global warming, nor a detailed study of Inuit culture. It is not particularly long on the historical quest for the Northwest Passage. It is quite simply the tale of two blokes, up north. b/w photographs, maps, drawings

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER With a foreword by Diana Gabaldon. Two men. One country. And a lot of whisky. As stars of Outlander, Sam and Graham eat, sleep and breathe the Highlands on this epic road trip around their homeland. They discover that the real thing is even greater than fiction. Clanlands is the story of their journey. Armed with their trusty campervan and a sturdy friendship, these two Scotsmen are on the adventure of a lifetime to explore the majesty of Scotland. A wild ride by boat, kayak, bicycle and motorbike, they travel from coast to loch and peak to valley and delve into Scotland's history and culture, from timeless poetry to bloody warfare. With near-death experiences, many weeks in a confined space together, and a cast of unforgettable characters, Graham and Sam's friendship matures like a fine Scotch. They reflect on their acting careers in film and theatre, find a new awestruck respect for their native country and, as with any good road trip, they even find themselves. Hold onto your kilts... this is Scotland as you've never seen it before.

Laurence Austine Waddell (1854-1938) spent twenty-five years as a medical officer in the colonial Indian Medical Service. Fascinated by the landscapes and cultures of Darjeeling and Tibet, and inspired by reports from British spies surveying the remote Himalayan valleys, Waddell studied local languages, and spent his leisure time researching and writing on Tibetan topics. His books The Buddhism of Tibet (1895) and Lhasa and its Mysteries (1905) are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. This 1899 publication, illustrated with photographs and drawings, claims to describe 'the grandest part of the grandest mountains in the world', for the first time since Hooker (whose 1854 Himalayan Journals are also reissued), and anticipates today's trekking industry. Waddell's colourful account of jungles, snakes, glaciers, yaks, dizzying mountain ridges, rickety bamboo bridges, tribal peoples and unfamiliar food aims to 'bring home to the reader a whiff of the bracing breezes of the Himalayas'.

We get to share in his personal discoveries through the humour and good fellowship of the road, full of entertaining misadventures. But there is never any doubt that there is an ultimate purpose to these journeys: a passionate need to bear witness to the truth about the past, after centuries of persecution by an alien ruling class. So through the dense clouds of historical tragedy, Wright exchavates hope that a revival of pride and dignity in Andean culture is possible.

The Maya of Central America created one of the most dazzling civilizations on this earth, which is often compared to Ancient Greece. The Maya had a delight in creation, expressed in art, architecture, pottery, astronomy, mathematics and mythology, all combined with a deep, metaphysical fascination with time. This civilization seems to have collapsed in the ninth century, some five hundred years before the Spanish conquest of America. Ronald Wright travelled through the old territories of the Maya (the jungles and mountains of Guatemala, Belize and Mexico) to explore the ancient roots of their culture and to map out what has survived. Despite civil wars and centuries of oppression by first an Hispanic, then Mestizo culture, he discovers a region where seven million people still speak Mayan languages and struggle to maintain their resilient, indigenous culture. It is at once a riveting journey, written with wit and wisdom, but also a study of a civilization. It is travel writing at its broadest and its best.

A chic and humorous visual homage to two of the world's most iconic cities.

When Vahram Muratyan began his online travel journal, "Paris versus New York," he had no idea how quickly it would become one of the most buzzed-about sites on the Internet-it garnered more than a million and a half page views in just a few months, and the attention of savvy online critics. Now Muratyan presents his unique observations in this delightful book, featuring visually striking graphics paired with witty, thought-provoking taglines that celebrate the special details of each city. "Paris versus New York" is a heartfelt gift to denizens of both cities and to those who dream of big-city romance.

Lisa Napoli writes about her time in Bhutan, where she helped establish a youth orientated radio station. The people of Bhutan are reckoned amongst the happiest in the world. Lisa writes about her growing understanding & appreciation of their society & how she discovered amongst them a sense of purpose & joy.

'A treasure-trove of inspiration . .. [Beyond the Footpath] shows us how to make the most of the calm beauty of the natural world that surrounds us, as well as offering practical guidance on where to find - and how to travel to - those special places' Raynor Winn, bestselling author of The Salt Path 'Inspirational yet practical. With mindful exercises and tracks to take. Discover the benefits of being a modern pilgrim' Country Living 'A brilliant solution to restoring balance and rediscovering meaning' The Simple Things AN INSPIRING GUIDE TO WALKING MINDFULLY TO PLACES OF MEANING A pilgrimage - long, short, secular or religious - gives you the opportunity to step out of your day-to-day routine and follow a path that promises meaning, a little magic and the space to breathe. Beyond the Footpath will take you on a journey to places of spiritual or personal significance - and show you how to travel in a way that enhances your connection to the world and to yourself. Whether you choose a long-distance trail, an ascent of an awe-inspiring mountain, a walk in an ancient forest, a journey to a temple, stone circle or sacred garden, or simply a lunchtime stroll to somewhere special, Beyond the Footpath has suggestions and tips to inspire you to open the door and walk into a world of wonder.

Riding tubes in Venezuela. BASE jumping in Europe. Climbing big walls in Yosemite. Riding bulls in Texas. These first-person stories from acclaimed climber and adventurer John Long may be vastly different in content, but they share an identifiable emotional texture, tone and delivery, and fundamentally are of one piece. This is storytelling at its best-nonfiction that reads like fiction. In Stories from the Dirt, the action leaves you breathless, but it's the characters that really leave a lasting mark. Like all stories worth a damn, this collection is all about the people.

A SUNDAY TIMES NATURE BOOK OF THE YEAR A nature diary by award-winning novelist, nature writer and hit podcaster Melissa Harrison, following her journey from urban south London to the rural Suffolk countryside. 'A writer of great gifts.' Robert Macfarlane 'The journal of a writer to compare to Thomas Hardy. Melissa Harrison is among our most celebrated nature writers.' John Carey, The Times A Londoner for over twenty years, moving from flat to Tube to air-conditioned office, Melissa Harrison knew what it was to be insulated from the seasons. Adopting a dog and going on daily walks helped reconnect her with the cycle of the year and the quiet richness of nature all around her: swifts nesting in a nearby church; ivy-leaved toadflax growing out of brick walls; the first blackbird's song; an exhilarating glimpse of a hobby over Tooting Common. Moving from scrappy city verges to ancient, rural Suffolk, where Harrison eventually relocates, this diary - compiled from her beloved Nature Notebook column in The Times - maps her joyful engagement with the natural world and demonstrates how we must first learn to see, and then act to preserve, the beauty we have on our doorsteps - no matter where we live. A perceptive and powerful call-to-arms written in mesmerising prose, The Stubborn Light of Things confirms Harrison as a central voice in British nature writing.

A family's thrilling voyage around the Caribbean and across the Atlantic Ocean 'A great read for anyone daring to throw caution to the wind' Coast Three years after his return from the Alaskan wilderness, Guy Grieve was living on the Isle of Mull in Scotland with his wife Juliet and their two young sons. Sick of the weather, perennial colds and their increasingly routine lifestyle, they'd all been getting restless. Finally, Guy and Juliet broke in spectacular style - they re-mortgaged their house and bought a yacht. Her name was Forever. The plan? To pick up Forever from her mooring in the Leeward Antilles off the coast of Venezuela, and sail around the West Indies before crossing the Atlantic back to Scotland. This was despite the fact that Guy, skipper of the expedition, had almost no sailing experience. Travelling around the lush tropical islands of the Caribbean and up the waterways of America, the family had countless sublime moments as they discovered the freedoms of sailing - anchoring in deserted bays, night passages under star-studded skies, and entering New York by water, greeted by the Statue of Liberty. But there were also testing times as they grappled with seasickness and bad weather, coping with young children at sea and learning to run a large, complex boat. Far from being the idyllic escape they'd envisaged, the journey forced Guy and Juliet to draw on reserves of courage and endurance they never knew they had. Wry, funny and buccaneering, this is a compelling tale of bravery and endeavour, out on the open sea.

In Patagonia is Bruce Chatwin’s exquisite account of his journey through “the uttermost part of the earth,” that stretch of land at the southern tip of South America, where bandits were once made welcome and Charles Darwin formed part of his “survival of the fittest” theory. Chatwin’s evocative descriptions, notes on the odd history of the region, and enchanting anecdotes make
In Patagonia an exhilarating look at a place that still retains the exotic mystery of a far-off, unseen land. An instant classic upon publication in 1977, In Patagonia remains a masterwork of literature.

This is Botswana takes the reader on a panoramic journey of discovery from the arid vastness of the Kalahari Desert to the lush waterways of the Okavango Delta. It is a compelling visual essay on the country, its people and its wildlife. More than 250 stunning photographs provide an exciting and diverse overview of the country. These are complemented by a detailed introductory text that both establishes historical perspective and offers insight into the realities of a country moving hesitantly, but with hope, into a challenging future.

Keen to see some of Europe, queer couple Lilith and Abigail get on their old bikes and start pedalling. Along flat fens and up Swiss Alps, they will meet new friends and exorcise old demons as they push their bodies - and their relationship - to the limit.