'There are four roads leading to Santiago, which combine to form a single road'So begins The Pilgrim's Guide, the world's first guidebook. Written early in the twelfth century by Benedictine monks, it served travellers taking part in the great pilgrimage of the Middle Ages, to the tomb of the apostle St James, the cousin of Christ, at Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. The four roads are all in France: from Paris in the north; from Vezelay in Burgundy; from Le Puy-en-Velay in the Massif Central; and from Arles in Provence - all threading their way across the country before joining as a single road in northern Spain. A step-by-step account of these four journeys through medieval France, the Guide's aim was to explain to pilgrims the religious sites they would see on their way to Santiago, but it also offered advice on where to stay, what to eat and drink, and how to avoid dishonest innkeepers and murderous boatmen.Edwin Mullins follows the same four roads as they exist today in the footsteps of those medieval travellers. He explores the magnificent churches, abbeys and works of art which are the proud legacy of the pilgrimage, as well as reconstructing a turbulent period of history that encompassed wars, crusades and the Reconquest of Spain. Many of the buildings and landmarks that sprang up along the pilgrim routes still stand there today, and The Four Roads to Heaven brings to life their historical, architectural and spiritual significance. From imposing Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals to humble pilgrims' hospices, this book looks at the living legacy of one of the great social phenomena of the Middle Ages - the pilgrimage to Santiago. Richly illustrated with Adam Woolfitt's colour photographs, The Four Roads to Heaven offers an invaluable guide - nine hundred years after its predecessor - to the paths still trodden by increasing numbers of pilgrims.

Comprehensive, illustrated guidebook for treks in the Everest region of Nepal that comes with a detailed, easy-to-read foldout trekking map. With some 150 colour pictures and over a dozen section maps (apart from the fold-out map at the back), the guidebook is packed with exhaustive day-by-day descriptions of the popular Everest trails: Lukla-Kala Patthar/Everest Base Camp; Gokyo-ChoLa Pass; Side-trips to Thame, Chukhung and over RenjoLa Pass; Jiri-Lukla walk-in. There is, in addition, practical advice on planning the treks, plus background reading on the Sherpas, the people who live in the shadow of Everest, and an entire chapter on the fascinating history of the discovery and conquest of Mt Everest.

The man with the gun pushed me down onto the carpet. I tried to cower to make my body curl smaller, instinctively covering my head. `Oh God, please don't kill me.' My words clung to my teeth and now my whole body was so cold. All I had left were these words. `Please. Please don't kill me. Jesus. God. Please.' I wanted to live and I knew it with absolute certainty. I don't want to die. Emma Slade was a high-flying debt analyst for a large investment bank, when she was taken hostage in a hotel room on a business trip to Jakarta. She thought she was lucky to come out of it unscathed, but over the ensuing weeks and months, as the financial markets crashed, Emma became her own distressed asset as the trauma following the event took hold. Realising her view on life had profoundly changed she embarked upon a journey, discovering the healing power of yoga and, in Bhutan, opening her eyes to a kinder, more peaceful way of living. From fast-paced City life to the stillness of Bhutan's Himalayan mountains, Set Free is the inspiring true story of Emma's astonishing life lived to extremes and all that that entails: work, travel, spirituality, Buddhism, relationships, and the underlying question of what makes a meaningful life.

Before he ascended to the highest office in the land as the United States youngest president, Theodore Roosevelt, with illustrations by Frederic Remington, though a New York City man born and bred, was a devotee of the Old West. In 1888, he published this charming ode to the American frontier, from the rewarding hard work of a rancher on the open plains to the pleasures of hunting the big game of mountains high. Today, the inimitable prose and infectious enthusiasm of Roosevelts writing here serves as much to limn a unique aspect of the character of the nation as it sings an elegy for a disappearing way of life. Includes numerous illustrations by Frederic Remington. Also available from Cosimo Classics: Roosevelts Letters to His Children, A Book-Lovers Holidays in the Open, America and the World War, Through the Brazilian Wilderness and Papers on Natural History, The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses, and Historic Towns: New York Politician and soldier, naturalist and historian, American icon THEODORE ROOSEVELT, (18581919) was 26th President of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909, and the first American to win a Nobel Prize, in 1906, when he was awarded the Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War. He is the author of 35 books.

A personalized travelogue, My World chronicles the inspiring story of a poor Kentucky boy who learned how to turn the rough grist of his life into the fine art of literature.

Jesse Stuart's life centered on W-Hollow, Greenup County, Kentucky, and extended to the far corners of the world. As a writer, teacher, and lecturer, he traveled to all but one of the United States and to ninety countries on six continents. As the core of Stuart's world, W-Hollow was the place of his birth and his first reaching out -- to the brown earth and the green shoots growing out of it, to the insects and animals that inhabited its wooded slopes, to the blue sky and the birds that flashed across it. From W-Hollow he went out first to Greenup High School, then to Lincoln Memorial University, then to all of Kentucky, and finally to the world.

In My World, we see Stuart's expanding universe through his eyes. Through the telescoping essays, Stuart slowly extends his vision to encompass more of the world and humanity. He is conscious of the social and geographical forces that shaped and defined his life. He is also very aware of the forces that draw him home again. He saw his beloved Kentucky as many states in one. Each region -- from the east Kentucky mountains to the Jackson Purchase -- was a unique kingdom. Stuart brings Kentucky's varied scenery, its people, and their distinctive dialects and social customs to life for his readers.

Examines the experiences of Japanese travellers during the 1860s and 1870s, particularly with regard to their impressions of Victorian Britain. Japan had been culturally isolated for the previous 200 years and the observations they made still underpin much of their understanding today.

Full of stunning photography, this travel pictorial and Philippines guidebook captures the soul of a tropical island nation. The Philippines: Islands of Enchantment captures all the marvels and excitement found throughout the 7000-island archipelago. Beautiful photographs by award-winning photographer George Tapan are paired with rich text by author Alfred A. Yuson to make this new paperback edition a must for those that have traveled to this island paradise or just spend their days dreaming about going. The Philippines: Islands of Enchantment is a fascinating exploration of the islands and her people including: sun-blessed beaches and pristine rainforests centuries-old churches and tribal rituals dynamic cities and a wealth of ethic and environmental diversity yearlong fiestas celebrated by Filipinos and more!

In 1974 Roland Barthes travelled in China as part of a small delegation of distinguished French philosophers and literary figures. They arrived in China just as the last stage of the Cultural Revolution was getting underway - the campaign to criticize Lin Biao and Confucius. While they were welcomed by writers and academics, the travelers were required to follow a pre-established itinerary, visiting factories and construction sites, frequenting shows and restaurants that were the mainstay of Western visitors to China in the 70s.Barthes planned to return from the trip with a book on China: the book never materialized, but he kept the diary notes he wrote at the time. The notes on things seen, smelled and heard alternate with reflections and remarks - meditations, critiques or notes of sympathy, an aside from the surrounding world. Published now for the first time more than thirty years after the trip, these notebooks offer a unique portrait of China at a time of turbulence and change, seen through the eyes of the world's greatest semiotician.

Join Sophie Pavelle on a low-carbon journey around Britain in search of ten animals and habitats threatened by climate change in the 21st century Forget-me-not - a beautiful flower and a plea from our islands' wildlife. When climate change has driven dozens of our most charismatic species to extinction, will they be forgotten? Like many of her generation, Sophie Pavelle is determined to demand action on climate change. In her hilarious and thought-provoking first book, she describes the trips she took to see ten rare native species: species that could disappear by 2050 and be forgotten by the end of the century if their habitats continue to decline. Sophie challenged herself to find them the low-carbon way, travelling the length of Britain on foot, by bicycle, in an electric car, by kayak, on ferries and in a lot of trains. From Bodmin Moor to the Orkney Islands, Sophie encountered species on the frontline of climate change in Britain. Which are going to be seriously affected, and why? Could some bounce back from the brink? Or are we too late to save them? Forget Me Not is a clarion call: we all need to play a part in tackling this most existential of threats. Everyone can see wildlife in the British Isles without contributing to its destruction. With joyful irreverence, Sophie shows us we can dare to hope. Journey with her, and she may even inspire you to take action for nature and head out on your own low-carbon adventure.

If you want to know about writing, about how to make others share the horror and intensity of an experience, try the first piece in this collection, Justice at Night. Martha Gellhorn wrote it as a 28-year-old, having just returned home to the States after four years in Europe, in 1936. What follows is a selection of fifty years of peacetime journalism, history caught at the moment of its unfolding, as it looked and felt to those who experienced it. It's about revolutions in the making, guilty acts of state terrorism, poverty, injustice and recovery. It vividly captures the range and intensity of Gellhorn's courageous work and is also a passionate call to arms, not only to remember the wronged and to bear witness to evil, but to stand your ground in the face of it.

Tired of living a life based on other's expectations, Hannah Papp quit her job, bought a EuroRail ticket and a map, notified her landlady, and left town. Embarking on a journey across Europe with no plan and no direction, Hannah stumbled into becoming a modern-day Mystical Backpacker. Along the way her discoveries and the teachers she encountered allowed her to go on a deeper journey into the self and the spirit-revealing the real self she had long been missing. The Mystical Backpackershows you how to identify the signs along the road that will lead to teachers and experiences that will reorient your own life map. Ultimately, The Mystical Backpackeroffers a solution, a way to break free and find your inner self's rhythms and needs, fulfilling your true destiny. It's time you hit the road and become a mystical backpacker.

Part political inquiry, part travel journal, part-self exploration, "Seek" is a collection of essays by an award-winning novelist out to explore himself and his life in the company of those who live on the edges of society. Denis Johnson travels between the extremes of human behaviour, from a hippy convention in the Achoco Natinal Forest, to war-ravaged Liberia, where he is witness to horrifying acts of torture. Along the way he joins a "Bikers for Jesus" rally in Texas, hangs out with a gun-crazed militia group, finds himself stranded in Somalia, and swaps stories with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

'Heads up - here's how to run like a pro' The Times 'A fascinating book' Adharanand Finn, author of Running With the Kenyans 'I'm convinced that Shane's insights were were instrumental in me winning the Marathon des Sables for a second time' Elisabet Barnes, coach and athlete 'Shane is the Indiana Jones of the running world' Damian Hall, ultra marathon runner 'You can't but help go out the door for your next run and try to put it all into practice' Nicky Spinks, endurance runner The Lost Art of Running is an opportunity to join running technique analyst coach and movement guru Shane Benzie on his journey across five continents as he trains with and analyses the running style of some of the most gifted athletes on the planet. Part narrative, part practical, this adventure takes you to the foothills of Ethiopia and the 'town of runners'; to the training grounds of world-record-holding marathon runners in Kenya; racing across the Arctic Circle and the mountains of Europe, through the sweltering sands of the Sahara and the hostility of a winter traverse of the Pennine Way, to witness the incredible natural movement of runners in these environments. Along the way, you will learn how to incorporate natural movement techniques into your own running and hear from some of the top athletes that Shane has coached over the years. Whether experienced or just tackling your first few miles, this groundbreaking book will help you discover the lost art of running.

The story of the Giro d'Italia - Italy's equivalent of the Tour de France, and its superior in the eyes of many - is as dramatic and full of extraordinary characters as the story of Italy itself. Heroism, suffering, feuds and betrayals, tradition under threat from modernity all play out against a timeless landscape. The iconic riders, mythical stories and career defining exploits are conveyed in rich, vibrant prose.

The sixth in Cv's series of English County Guides explores the county of Wiltshire. The dramatic sweep of the spare landscape towards the Pewsey Vale introduces the historic town of Marlborough. The guide explores over 180 villages, and follows the route towards the West, to Bath and Avon; taking in the historic Jacobean settlements of Trowbridge,Melksham, Calne, Devizes and Bradford on Avon. Wiltshire is beautiful and mysterious, spanned by lay lines and runic landmarks such as Stonehenge and the Avebury Ring. This is an original account of personal experience, fascinating for visitors and tempting to those seeking a new area to live. First researched from 1999-2001, then in 2011, the series of English County Guides provides descriptions of market towns and villages, for casual visitors and those interested in moving to a different area. The guides contain eye-witness records of natural character, of the villages: their properties, amenities, communication.

Dutch Sailmaker and sailor Jan Struys' (c.1629-c.1694) account of his various overseas travels became a bestseller after its first publication in Amsterdam in 1676, and was later translated into English, French, German and Russian. This new book depicts the story of its author's life as well as the first singular analysis of the Struys text.

"[An] unusual meditation on sex, death, art, and Jewishness. . . . Weber weaves in musings on his own sexual and religious experiences, creating a freewheeling psychoanalytic document whose approach would surely delight the doctor, even if its conclusions might surprise him." -New Yorker "Freud's Trip to Orvieto is at once profound and wonderfully diverse, and as gripping as any detective story. Nicholas Fox Weber mixes psychoanalysis, art history, and the personal with an intricacy and spiritedness that Freud himself would have admired." -John Banville, author of The Sea and The Blue Guitar "This is an ingenious and fascinating reading of Freud's response to Signorelli's frescoes at Orvieto. It is also a meditation on Jewish identity, and on masculinity, memory, and the power of the image. It is filled with intelligence, wit, and clear-eyed analysis not only of the paintings themselves, but how we respond to them in all their startling sexuality and invigorating beauty." -Colm Toibin, author of Brooklyn and Nora Webster After a visit to the cathedral at Orvieto in Italy, Sigmund Freud deemed Luca Signorelli's frescoes the greatest artwork he'd ever encountered; yet, a year later, he couldn't recall the artist's name. When the name came back to him, the images he had so admired vanished from his mind's eye. This is known as the "Signorelli parapraxis" in the annals of Freudian psychoanalysis and is a famous example from Freud's own life of his principle of repressed memory. What was at the bottom of this? There have been many theories on the subject, but Nicholas Fox Weber is the first to study the actual Signorelli frescoes for clues. What Weber finds in these extraordinary Renaissance paintings provides unexpected insight into this famously confounding incident in Freud's biography. As he sounds the depths of Freud's feelings surrounding his masculinity and Jewish identity, Weber is drawn back into his own past, including his memories of an adolescent obsession with a much older woman. Freud's Trip to Orvieto is an intellectual mystery with a very personal, intimate dimension. Through rich illustrations, Weber evokes art's singular capacity to provoke, destabilize, and enchant us, as it did Freud, and awaken our deepest memories, fears, and desires. Nicholas Fox Weber is the director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and author of fourteen books, including biographies of Balthus and Le Corbusier. He has written for the New Yorker, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, ARTnews, Town & Country, and Vogue, among other publications.

This book focuses on film tourism: the phenomenon of people visiting locations from popular film or TV series. It is based on a unique, Asian perspective, encompassing case studies from around the pan-Asian region, including China, Taiwan, India, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore. By focusing emphatically on film tourism in the non-West, this book offers a timely and crucial contribution to a more comprehensive understanding of the relation between film, culture and place, particularly in light of the increased volume of media production and consumption across Asia, and the consequent film tourism destinations that are currently popping up across the Asian continent.

The Taverna by the Sea is an enchanting, funny, poignant travel memoir about answering the call of adventure by taking on the challenge of running a Greek beach taverna. During a walking holiday on the island of Karpathos, a chance encounter with a Greek-American hotel owner results in a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Jennifer Barclay. The best-selling travel writer and long-term resident of Greece drops everything, returning with dog and tent to the remote bay that will form her home for one hectic, event-filled summer. This book offers a rare account of life in north Karpathos in the South Aegean, famous for its traditional community and dramatic, rugged landscape. While primarily a light, engaging, amusing read full of anecdotes, one-liners, twists and turns - perfect for summer - Barclay's fourth book about life in Greece also conveys the life-affirming importance of trusting one's instincts, taking risks and grasping opportunities. Wake with Jennifer to experience a summer of pink dawns over the olive grove and an empty bay, and swim with her in moonlight, hearing only the waves. Or help yourself to local cuisine - creamy yoghurt and local honey and warm figs, olive oil and rosemary, freshly baked bread, and wine on tap. Alongside a cast of characters from farmers to fishermen, mad guests and a wicked witch, meet Minas the hotel owner, a creative, unconventional Greek-American with the ability to fix anything mechanical and create money out of thin air with food, plus a penchant for drinking, singing and falling asleep. Experience days full of music, days of no running water, and days with a goat tied to a tree - but also nights when the overworked taverna manager awoke convinced there was a large fish in the tent, and customers outside waiting to be served. In The Taverna by the Sea, Barclay reveals what happens behind the scenes of an apparently blissful, peaceful paradise, capturing both the magic and the difficulties of island life. Underpinning an entertaining read for lovers of Greece and its cuisine is an inspiring call to live life to the full - and even escape the rat race.