Road Trip Books

Whether directing you along abandoned logging roads to vanished settlements or describing the geologic events that shaped the mountains, Barbara McMartin is a stimulating guide. Her keen observations on the wealth of natural and human history along these trails are as fascinating as they are informative.

This hiking classic, which presents 360 miles of the Adirondacks' best trails, has been completely revised by McMartin. Two entirely new hikes are included, and the others have been rehiked and thoroughly updated. All maps have been redone for greater clarity and up-to-date accuracy, and many new photographs have been included.

Primarily concentrating on day trips, this guide is for hikers of all ages and degrees of experience. It includes short walks to introduce novices and vacationers to the pleasures of the Adirondacks and several strenuous extended hikes into the wilderness to challenge the most experienced backpacker.
--- from book's back cover.

I saw this for weeks at Barnes And Noble giving it cursory glances before deciding to buy it. By the time I did decide to buy it, the book was hard to find (B&N said is was "out of print/stock"). But I somehow did sniff one out with a sixth sense, almost as if I'd used a divining rod to find water in a desert of the B&N Superstore. The book is not meant to be Shakespeare and makes for a fun, informative read. Like the title here states the book provides a great roadtrip from the confines of a comfy chair. It's also a great companion at your favorite diner (roadtrips and diners go hand in hand, eh?). All the Americana and kitsch you could want is here for about $10. The pages contain a quick vacation in your mind when time or finances do not allow. Recommended!

Great book! Who would have thought Connecticut was once teeming with dinosaurs? This book tells the complete tale, and includes trips that transport you back to the age of dinosaurs. Great storytelling-from the discoveries of the past to new theories about dinosaurs being proposed today. Original illustrations of CT Valley dinosaurs. A great book for families looking to get out and do something different or to give as a unique, "made in CT" gift. Guaranteed to be a hit with dinosaur fans or fans of local history.

A great book for hikers, birders or anyone who likes to get out and explore. I spent years hiking the same old woodsy places-until I discovered this book and all sorts of neat new places
I never knew existed. Would make for a nifty gift. Loved the black spruce bog and traprock ridges. I keep mine in the glove compartment(where it's always within reach)!

John Calder, British publisher of Beckett, is ideally placed to provide his own determinedly secular reading of SB. I have my arguments about some of his stubborn persistence in removing God from Beckett to leave that Sartrian "god-shaped hole," but after all, Beckett is notoriously and delightfully difficult to pin down and resists easy categorisation about the presence or absence of the deity in his fictions and dramas and other unclassifiable prose. Calder's exegesis gains added conviction from the closeness between author and publisher for so long.

Calder raises an intriguing point: Joyce and Kafka were one-trick, if very talented, ponies next to the variety of genres assayed by SB. Calder delves into what J & K lacked (in his opinion) next to their modernist (and post-modernist, given his lifespan and continuing productions) successor: in Beckett, in his life as in his literature, we find a stoic, compassionate, and above all forgiving mentor. Like sincere religious gurus in the past, his message conveys a detachment from greed, solipsism, fanaticism in the pursuit of a cause or a creed, and care for creatures and the defenseless among us. Remember his early story, with Dante's lobster? Personally, I'd reinforce SB's own charity and thoughtfulness, expressed often without fanfare, and how he humbly practiced what he printed. Calder was moved by the author's morality, too, and he writes this study to promote an understanding of SB less for the literati than for the thinkers, and doers, who need guidance in a world in which faith cannot be thrown away to abstractions rather than channeled into action, responses to assuage real human agony now.

Calder explores philosophical, ethical, and religious sources for Beckett's early writings, and compares his own musings to those of Beckett on these matters. The resulting conversation of sorts between SB and Calder invites us to consider our own responses to human suffering, as limned in Beckett's creations and as influencing Calder himself as he became friends with SB.
While I disagree with some of Calder's readings, I fully support his aims, and stress that this is an excellent study that deserves an audience and incites a reader to return to Beckett for direction as well as out into the world to act as SB would. If this sounds like Calder makes SB a guru, so be it. For many otherwise in danger of meeting the tautological fate of many of SB's tormented characters, we can learn to read Beckett as a direction out of our own self-imprisonent towards selflessness.

I've read a shelf-load of Beckettiana, and I admit that this book, overlooked and not easily found, remains among the two or three to turn to after or during encounters with the primary texts. Not recommended as an introduction or primer (if you're starting from scratch, try Hugh Kenner's Student's Guide to SB); you must get your own bearings and learn to respond on your own terms to SB first. But, for a boost and a reminder of the challenges within--and I might add against reductive--existentialism, Calder gives us a heartfelt, eloquent, and accessible study of a man he knew well and, like many of us, loved for his inspiring humanism.

What a terrific job on the translation and reproduction of the documentation of this fascinating trip by the two Soviet journalists.
Highly recommend the book.

I love the walking tours of Paris in this book. This book has seven walks with easy street by street directions. There's an Islands Walk that takes you to Notre Dame and the Deportation Memorial (but my favorite part is past the pet market). The Left Bank Walk takes you down Boulevard St-Germain (but the highlight for me is the place Furstenburg, a scenic hidden square that's been in tons of films). The Marais Walk hits the antique shops in Village St-Paul and the beautiful place des Vosges. The Major Sights walk is perfect if you only have a little time in Paris because it hits the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysees. There's a Montmartre Walk past the Basilica Sacre Coure and the restaurant that was featured in the movie Amelie. And there's also a Culinary Walk (hitting some of the best food shops and markets in Paris) and a Da Vinci Code Walk (that takes you to the places featured in the book and movie). A great way to experience Paris!

This book really makes planning your trip to Provence easy. You can leave the heavy travel guides filled with more info than you'll ever need behind. It has a compact size, beautiful color photos and detailed color maps. Especially helpful are the day plans to Avignon, Arles, Nimes, and Aix. My favorite is the walk through the Old Town of Nice with street by street directions.

I'm planning a summer trip to Spain and bought this book along with several others. I like the approach of this guide. Since we'll only have a short time in several cities, the weekend and day plans are really helpful in planning a visit. The book is full of color photos and the city maps are very good (more detailed than Fodors or Frommers and clearer than the hand-drawn maps in the Rick Steves book). Overall, a very helpful overview of Spain. My only complaint is that the Balearic Islands aren't included.

Extremely well written handbook I keep in the glove box for finding Drive-in's wherever we are at. Actually I consider this a great history book as well, capturing a disappearing piece of Americana, that lately, has seen increased interest.
Being a route 66 buff (having driven its length in Illinois and out west), this is a great addition to my collection of memorabilia.
Don't leave home without it!