Why not? After all, no-one had ever done it before. It would be one of the longest of all overland journeys-half-way round the world, from the English Channel to Singapore. They knew that several expeditions had already tried it. Some had got as far as the deserts of Persia; a few had even reached the plains of India. But no-one had managed to go on from there: over the jungle-clad mountains of Assam and across northern Burma to Thailand and Malaya. Over the last 3,000 miles it seemed there were "just too many rivers and too few roads". But no-one really knew...In fact, their problems began much earlier than that. As mere undergraduates, they had no money, no cars, no nothing. But with a cool audacity, which was to become characteristic, they set to work-wheedling and cajoling. First, they coaxed the BBC to come up with some film for a possible TV series. Then they gently "persuaded" Rover to lend them two factory-fresh Land Rovers. A publisher was even sweet-talked into giving them an advance on a book. By the time they were ready to go, their sponsors (more than 80 of them) ranged from whiskey distillers to the makers of collapsible buckets. In late 1955, they set off.Seven months and 12,000 miles later, two very weary Land Rovers, escorted by police outriders, rolled into Singapore-to flash-bulbs and champagne. Now, fifty years on, their bestselling book, First Overland, is republished-with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough. After all, it was he who gave them that film.

THE TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE Drowned. Buried by sand. Decimated by plague. Plunged off a cliff. This is the forgotten history of Britain's lost cities, ghost towns and vanished villages: our shadowlands. 'A beautiful book, truly original . . . It is a marvellous achievement.' IAN MORTIMER, author of The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England 'Well researched, beautifully written and packed with interesting detail.' CLAIRE TOMALIN 'An exquisitely written, moving and elegiac exploration.' SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB 'Consistently interesting . . . Green's passion and historical vision bursts from the page, summoning up the past in surround sound and sensual prose.' CAL FLYN, THE TIMES (author of Islands of Abandonment) Historian Matthew Green travels across Britain to tell the forgotten history of our lost cities, ghost towns and vanished villages. Revealing the extraordinary stories of how these places met their fate - and exploring how they have left their mark on our landscape and our imagination - Shadowlands is a deeply evocative and dazzlingly original account of Britain's past. 'An eloquent tour of lost communities.' PD SMITH, GUARDIAN 'A haunting, lyrical tour around the lost places of Britain.' CHARLOTTE HIGGINS, author of Under Another Sky 'A miraculous work of resurrection, stinging in a perpetual present'. IAIN SINCLAIR, author of The Gold Machine 'Beautifully written.' SUNDAY TIMES 'Startling.' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Splendid.' THE HERALD 'Compelling.' HISTORY TODAY 'Excellent.' THE SPECTATOR 'Fascinating.' DAILY MAIL 'Accomplished.' CAUGHT BY THE RIVER 'Outstanding.' MIRROR

One woman, one bike and one richly entertaining, perception-altering journey of discovery. In 2015, as the Syrian War raged and the refugee crisis reached its peak, Rebecca Lowe set off on her bicycle across the Middle East. Driven by a desire to learn more about this troubled region and its relationship with the West, Lowe's 11,000-kilometre journey took her through Europe to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, the Gulf and finally to Iran. It was an odyssey through landscapes and history that captured her heart, but also a deeply challenging cycle across mountains, deserts and repressive police states that nearly defeated her. Plagued by punctures and battling temperatures ranging from -6 to 48C, Lowe was rescued frequently by farmers and refugees, villagers and urbanites alike, and relied almost entirely on the kindness and hospitality of locals to complete this living portrait of the modern Middle East. This is her evocative, deeply researched and often very funny account of her travels - and the people, politics and culture she encountered. 'Terrifically compelling ... bursting with humour, adventure and insight into the rich landscapes and history of the Middle East. Lowe recounts the beauty, kindnesses and complexities of the lands she travels through with an illuminating insight. A wonderful new travel writer.' Sir Ranulph Fiennes

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.

Memories of Chinatown is a Singapore classic and is now republished with a new visual interpretation by watercolour artist Graham Byfield. Both a memoir and a narrative guide to the vibrant spirit of a bygone Singapore, it is written by much loved 'walking treasure' and heritage tour pioneer Geraldene Lowe-Ismail. Blessed with a rich trove of stories and personal knowledge stretching over 50 years, Geraldene delivers a unique insight into the glory and past of one of Southeast Asia's truly original Chinatowns. For anyone interested in heritage architecture and culture, this is a fascinating read.

Between these covers, the millennia of mercantile and cultural exchange along the Silk Route are celebrated by travellers and writers from Marco Polo to Sven Hedin, from William of Rubrick to Ella Maillart. Kathleen Hopkirk has spent a lifetime researching this vital heartland, traversed by five, inhospitable deserts but united by ancient chains of trading oases: from the Buddhist Empire of Kushan, to the scholarly Islamic centre at Bukhara, from the military conquerors massing in both directions to the saintly missionaries and monks who moved between its centres of learning. This mysterious homeland of the Tartars, Turks, Mongols, Uzbeks, Uighurs, Tajiks, Scythians and Sarmatians, gave the world terrifying conquerors of the stature of Gengiz Khan and Tamberlane. Later it became the focus of the Great Game, a rivalry for influence in the area between the empires of Russia and Britain played out by spies, ambassadors, agents and travel writers for 150 years, itself a continuation of the old cultural rivalry between Persia and China for the soul of this vast region.

The astounding saga of an American sea captain and the New Guinean nobleman who became his stunned captive, then ally, and eventual friend Sailing in uncharted waters of the Pacific in 1830, Captain Benjamin Morrell of Connecticut became the first outsider to encounter the inhabitants of a small island off New Guinea. The contact quickly turned violent, fatal cannons were fired, and Morrell abducted young Dako, a hostage so shocked by the white complexions of his kidnappers that he believed he had been captured by the dead. This gripping book unveils for the first time the strange odyssey the two men shared in ensuing years. The account is uniquely told, as much from the captive's perspective as from the American's. Upon returning to New York, Morrell exhibited Dako as a "cannibal" in wildly popular shows performed on Broadway and along the east coast. The proceeds helped fund a return voyage to the South Pacific-the captain hoping to establish trade with Dako's assistance, and Dako seizing his chance to return home with the only person who knew where his island was. Supported by rich, newly found archives, this wide-ranging volume traces the voyage to its extraordinary ends and en route decrypts Morrell's ambiguous character, the mythic qualities of Dako's life, and the two men's infusion into American literature-as Melville's Queequeg, for example, and in Poe's Pym. The encounters confound indigenous peoples and Americans alike as both puzzle over what it is to be truly human and alive.

Following on from the best-selling first volume of his autobiography, Within Whicker's World, Alan Whicker presents a hugely entertaining and characteristically insightful second volume that will delight his army of devoted fans. We've all been around the world many times with Alan Whicker - and every expedition has been fun. Our guide and travelling companion for over forty years, this wry observer has revealed secret worlds and let us eavesdrop on the powerful, the villainous, the exotic...Throughout his years as Foreign Correspondent and then television's Man Around the World, Whicker has covered everything from wars and revolutions to plastic surgery and mudmen. His belief that you can ask anyone anything as long as you do it pleasantly gained him access to the elusive and the secret: voodoo rituals in Haiti, drug squads in Singapore, bank raids in San Francisco, ashrams in India, polar bears in Alaska - even the social fortress of Palm Beach. With instinctive curiosity and a nose for a great story, he has lived a life of adventure, excitement and danger, winning a raft of awards from peers and public. His genius is to make everything that happens in Whicker's World look easy. This lightness of touch encourages the hesitant interviewee, disarms the threatening Dictator. Whicker has influenced a generation of fellow journalists, helped the careers of a gaggle of impersonators and, most important of all, encouraged the rest of us to travel and explore. In this book, we go with him to the palaces of the Sultan of Brunei, watch Luciano Pavarotti make life hell on a paradise island and consider the mysterious death of a colleague on the First Sea Lord's flagship. We learn why India is the best place to murder your husband, and discover the amiable Mexican sponger who was a top state secret policeman. We meet a little old Californian lady who always shot them straight between the eyes and a dolphin who accepts credit cards. In a dusty African game park one cheetah and 156 people struggle to overcome a Masai curse

• Story of J. R. "Model-T" Tate's thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail
• Recollections of grueling climbs, knee-wrecking descents, mountaintop thunderstorms, snakes underfoot, and the myriad characters encountered on an AT thru-hike
• Conveys the beauty of the trail and the community that surrounds it

'This is an epic journey by a man who’s not only obsessed with birds but who has a deep spiritual connection with the planet as he observes the environments and habitats he encounters.' David Lindo, author of How to be an Urban Birder The (Big) Year Flew By is the tale of one avid birder’s epic, record-breaking adventure through 40 countries over 6 continents – in just one year – to see 6,852 bird species, many on the precipice of extinction. When Arjan Dwarshuis first heard of the ‘Big Year’ – the legendary record for birdwatching – he was just twenty years old. It was midnight, and he was sitting on the roof of a truck high up in the Andean Mountains. In that moment, Arjan made a promise to himself that someday, somehow, he would become a world-record-holding birder. Ten years later, he embarked on an incredible, arduous and perilous journey that took him around the globe; over uninhabited islands, through dense unforgiving rainforests, across snowy mountain peaks and unrelenting deserts – in just a single year. Would he survive? Would he be able to break the ‘Big Year’ record, navigating through a world filled with shifting climate and geopolitical challenges? The (Big) Year that Flew By is an unforgettable, personal exploration of the limits of human potential when engaging with the natural world. It is a book about birds and birding and Arjan’s attempts to raise awareness for critically endangered species, but it is also a book about overcoming mental challenges, extreme physical danger and human competition and fully realizing your passions through nature, adventure and conservation.

A Muslim curator and archivist who preserves in his native Timbuktu the memory of its rabbi. An evangelical Kenyan who is amazed to meet a living ""Israelite."" Indian Ocean islanders who maintain the Jewish cemetery of escapees from Nazi Germany. These are just a few of the encounters the author shares from his sojourns and fieldwork. An engaging read in which the author combines the rigors of academic research with a ""you are there"" delivery. Conveys thirty-five years of social science fieldwork and reverential travel in Sub-Saharan Africa. A great choice for the ecumenical-minded traveller.

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.

The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Geography; Science / Earth Sciences / Geography; Travel / General; Travel / Essays

What is a Storyville? Whether you're in Toast, North Carolina, Monkey's Eyebrow, Kentucky, or Winner, South Dakota, a Storyville is a real town you can find on a map, with a tale behind its quirky name. Covering 20,000 miles of U.S. roads, Dale Peterson drove with his kids, Britt and Bayne, from Start, Louisiana, to Deadhorse, Alaska in search of small-town America in the "garage sale of the open highway." Along the way they explored open spaces, wild places, and country back roads and met people who weren't afraid to talk to one another. Together, they discovered the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of nearly sixty small towns, as well as the zany stories behind them, guided by an AAA Road Atlas, expert local storytellers, and lots of curiosity. They dipped into Caddo Lake and the everglades of Uncertain, Texas, went a little crazy in Loco, Oklahoma, and learned about bee colonies in Climax, New York. Conversations with townsfolk range from the refrigerator at the center of Noodle, Texas, and the hazards of Accident, Maryland, to issues of civil rights, religion, and environmental preservation. Collected here are the landscapes, landmarks, faces, thoughts, and conversations of a sentimental, idiosyncratic, and often hilarious American odyssey. Storyville, USA is a long, winding trip into the back roads of the country and a longer one into the hinterland of our own hearts.

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.
 

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.