When Jet McDonald cycled four thousand miles to India and back, he didn't want to write a straightforward account. He wanted to go on an imaginative journey. The age of the travelogue is over: today we need to travel inwardly to see the world with fresh eyes. Mind is the Ride is that journey, a pedal-powered antidote to the petrol-driven philosophies of the past. The book takes the reader on a physical and intellectual adventure from West to East using the components of the bike as a metaphor for philosophy, which is woven into the cyclist's experience. Each chapter is based around a single component, and as Jet travels he adds new parts and new philosophies until the bike is 'built'; the ride to India is completed; and the relationship between mind, body and bicycle made apparent.

Met kaarte en geografiese grense sal mens wel kan bepaal waar le die Tankwa-Karoo. maar vir Adriaan Oosthuizen kry jy die streek wanneer jy die langste grondpad tussen twee dorpe in Suid-Afrika aanpak: die pad tussen Ceres en Calvinia. Saam met Adriaan se foto’s vertel Leti Kleyn van haar besoek aan hierdie geliefde stuk land en dit word aangevul deur Dawid Slinger se vertellings en skrywes. ’n Fees vir die oog, lekkerleesboek en ’n inligtinggids ineen oor die geliefde streek wat die Tankwa-Karoo heet.

An absorbing, original, and ambitious work of reportage from the acclaimed New Yorker correspondent

During the past decade, Peter Hessler has persistently illuminated worlds both foreign and familiar--ranging from China, where he served as The New Yorker's correspondent from 2000 to 2007, to southwestern Colorado, where he lived for four years. Strange Stones is an engaging, thought-provoking collection of Hessler's best pieces, showcasing his range as a storyteller and his gift for writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider. From a taste test between two rat restaurants in South China to a profile of Yao Ming to the moving story of a small-town pharmacist, these pieces are bound by subtle but meaningful ideas: the strength of local traditions, the surprising overlap between cultures, and the powerful lessons drawn from individuals who straddle different worlds.

Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of Peter Hessler's work.

Adventures of a Mountain Man: The Narrative of Zenas Leonard is a remarkable true-life adventure story, a narrative of exploration, survival, conflict, capture, torture, and an insider's account of the daily life of an 1830's American fur trader and trapper in the early American West.

Metro Cowboys, Tiny Elevators, Trusting The New Patisserie..."Paris, I've Grown Accustomed To Your Ways" continues the saga begun in Me, Myself and Paris, humorist and writer Ruth Yunker's account of her forays into life in Paris, part time tourist, part time resident. In Paris, I've Grown Accustomed To Your Ways the training wheels have come off. Ms. Yunker negotiates the exquisitely charming, but impossibly exacting, City of Light with a new sense of ease, and an increasing sense of feeling right at home. She revels in the amber warmth of Angelina's chocolate Eden on a cold November day. She zeroes in on, after six visits, her favorite arrondissement in which to rent her apartment...the fifteenth, just so you know She shops in Montmartre with aplomb, and still does not climb up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. She sees passionate love in unexpected places out on the streets of Paris. She watches cowboys riding the metros, and considers the sweet life of a lemon as it rolls out of her apartment door. A little boy in St. Suplice wins her heart. The concierge at the apartment on rue Vaneau does not. She discovers there are rules for finishing one's plate in restaurants. But there are no rules for which pain rustique will make the very best toast every morning. In Paris, I've Grown Accustomed To Your Ways, Ruth Yunker delves deeply to discover what makes the heart of Paris sing, and emerges more in love than ever.

What if you quit your job . . .
Sold everything . . .
and bought a small hotel on the beach . . .

South of Cancun, Mexico and down a long narrow road ending in turquoise blue water, you will find Soliman Bay. Here is where most people's dreams are found, a small bay, white sand and palm trees, and a reef just offshore full of colorful fish. If you are visiting, the dream looks real, but if you intend on staying the locals have one bit of advice - guard your sanity.

Though it may not seem possible, this comedy you are about to read is 99% true. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

May you laugh at our expense.

Set in the urban pastoral of an East London postcode, Feral Borough asks what it means to call a place home, and how best to share that home with its non-human inhabitants. Meryl Pugh reimagines the wild as 'feral', recording the fauna and flora of Leytonstone in prose as incisive as it is lyrical. Here, on the edge of the city, red kite and parakeets thrive alongside bluebell and yarrow, a muntjac deer is glimpsed in the undergrowth, and an escaped boa constrictor appears on the High Road. In this subtle, captivating book - part herbarium, part bestiary and part memoir - Pugh explores the effects of loss, and lockdown, on human well-being, conjuring the local urban environment as a site for healing and connection. 'A subtle, heartfelt and affecting book about home, the city and the self -- Pugh reminds us that nowhere, however urban, is without nature; that wherever we go, the intricate web of life continues to shape and change us.' Rebecca Tamas

Central Asia has long stood at the crossroads of history. It was the staging ground for the armies of the Mongol Empire, for the nineteenth-century struggle between the Russian and British empires, and for the NATO campaign in Afghanistan. Today, multinationals and nations compete for the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian Sea and for control of the pipelines. Yet "Stanland" is still, to many, a terra incognita, a geographical blank. Beginning in the mid-1990s, academic and journalist David Mould's career took him to the region on Fulbright Fellowships and contracts as a media trainer and consultant for UNESCO and USAID, among others. In Postcards from Stanland, he takes readers along with him on his encounters with the people, landscapes, and customs of the diverse countries-Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan-he came to love. He talks with teachers, students, politicians, environmental activists, bloggers, cab drivers, merchants, Peace Corps volunteers, and more. Until now, few books for a nonspecialist readership have been written on the region, and while Mould brings his own considerable expertise to bear on his account-for example, he is one of the few scholars to have conducted research on post-Soviet media in the region-the book is above all a tapestry of place and a valuable contribution to our understanding of the post-Soviet world.

Bestselling author Giles Tremlett traverses the rich and varied history of Spain, from prehistoric times to today, in a brief, accessible primer for visitors, curious readers and hispanophiles. 'Tremlett is a fascinating socio-cultural guide, as happy to discuss Spain's World Cup win as its Moorish rule' Guardian 'Negotiates Spain's chaotic history with admirable clarity and style' The Times Spain's position on Europe's south-western corner has exposed it to cultural, political and actual winds blowing from all quadrants. Africa lies a mere nine miles to the south. The Mediterranean connects it to the civilizational currents of Phoenicians, Romans, Carthaginians, and Byzantines as well as the Arabic lands of the near east. Bronze Age migrants from the Russian steppe were amongst the first to arrive. They would be followed by Visigoths, Arabs, Napoleonic armies and many more invaders and immigrants. Circular winds and currents linked it to the American continent, allowing Spain to conquer and colonize much of it. As a result, Spain has developed a sort of hybrid vigour. Whenever it has tried to deny this inevitable heterogeneity, it has required superhuman effort to fashion a 'pure' national identity - which has proved impossible to maintain. In Espana, Giles Tremlett argues that, in fact, that lack of a homogenous identity is Spain's defining trait.

On the eve of his 80th birthday, Sir Ranulph Fiennes looks back at his remarkable life and adventures.

He's climbed Everest not long after a heart bypass operation, he's run seven marathons on seven continents, he's hauled loaded sledges across both polar ice caps and he's circumnavigated the earth...

Ran Fiennes truly is the world's greatest explorer, and this book celebrates his 80th birthday by showcasing his greatest achievements in his own words. Featuring interviews and tributes from his friends, colleagues and admirers, Around the World in 80 Years celebrates the incredible life of a legendary explorer.

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "Heartfelt and heartening ... a full-throated paean to the fundamental importance of nature in all its glory, fury and impermanence." -Wall Street Journal The incredible follow-up to the international bestseller The Salt Path, a story of finding your way back home. Nature holds the answers for Raynor and her husband Moth. After walking 630 homeless miles along The Salt Path, living on the windswept and wild English coastline; the cliffs, the sky and the chalky earth now feel like their home. Moth has a terminal diagnosis, but together on the wild coastal path, with their feet firmly rooted outdoors, they discover that anything is possible. Now, life beyond The Salt Path awaits and they come back to four walls, but the sense of home is illusive and returning to normality is proving difficult - until an incredible gesture by someone who reads their story changes everything. A chance to breathe life back into a beautiful farmhouse nestled deep in the Cornish hills; rewilding the land and returning nature to its hedgerows becomes their saving grace and their new path to follow. The Wild Silence is a story of hope triumphing over despair, of lifelong love prevailing over everything. It is a luminous account of the human spirit's connection to nature, and how vital it is for us all.

When author John Eyberg announced his plan to bicycle two thousand miles across Texas and back, most people thought he was crazy. But for Eyberg, it was a goal he'd dreamed about for years--a feat only the supremely confident or utterly foolhardy would attempt. In Dry'd, Fry'd, and Sky'd by Headwinds and Heat, he provides a day-by-day journal of his travels beginning June 11, 2011, when he climbed on his tandem recumbent Doublevision and pushed off from El Paso, Texas, in 101-degree heat for a planned forty-three-day ride.

In this travel memoir, Eyberg narrates his odyssey--his battles with the intense sun and the often strong headwinds, the route and topography he covered from El Paso to Houston, the gracious and generous people he met throughout his journey, the effects he felt on his middle-age body, and the mechanical breakdowns he experienced.

A detailed account of one man's personal biking adventure, Dry'd, Fry'd, and Sky'd by Headwinds and Heat shows Eyberg's commitment to his adage: you don't know until you go.

This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

John Hare has made three expeditions to the Mongolian and Chinese Gobi deserts, the first in 1993 with Russian scientists and the second and third with Chinese scientists in 1995 and 1996. The book records the amazing adventures he has experienced on those expeditions and will record details of the 30-day walk on foot in the formidable Kum Tagh sand dunes in the spring of 1997. He is the first recorded foreigner to have crossed the Gashun Gobi from north to south.
The expeditions were primarily concerned with tracking down the mysterious wild Bactrian camel 'camelus bactrianus ferus' which lives in the heartland of the desert and is the ancestor of all domestic Bactrian stock. There are under a thousand left in the world and the wild Bactrian camel is more endangered than the giant Panda.
This is John Hare's magnificent account of a formidable feat of modern exploration.