Touring Books

Dwight Smith's book is very readable bicycling adventure and is a personal, fresh eyewitness account of Dwight's experience cycling around the perimeter of the U.S. Although not published until 20 years after the event and although highly distilled from over 2500 pages of notes to 246 pages digested into 1 and 2 page thumbnails per story, Dwight kept a first hand account by dictating his notes via recorder when his observations were first made.
Unfortunately Dwight plays his cards close to his chest and never really clearly reveals how, when or where he overcame the death of his wife, having been previously battered by the prior accidental deaths of two teenage sons, which losses he seemed to have never completely dealt with until possibly the bicycle trip. We really don't know how Dwight cycled through loss to renewal, although it is clear that he did. Hence, the reader feels cheated by the subtitle. Dwight never admits to nor reveals any kind of epiphany, healing moment or realization of healing. You will not learn how Dwight healed by reading this book. One also wonders why his new love, Elizabeth, never fully flowered, when obviously there was considerable mutual attraction and regard. Elizabeth sort of appears as part of the renewal without much explanation and fades away with a similar lack of explanation. Nor is Elizabeth's part in the renewal described or even explored. It's like your child telling you half the story and you both know it.
A nice book on bicycling, an anecdotal and idosyncratic description of a very small part of American society (when he described my hometown, his description hardly captured who we are), and a nondisclosure or nonstory of a man's travel from loss to renewal.

Some will see this as an interesting story concerning one man's ride around the perimeter of America. Most will find in these pages, the story of how a man faced some of the most discouraging challenges life presents and worked through them. Dwight Smith writes about his journey in a manner that is as interesting as it is inspirational.

This book has some of everything. As he cycles around the perimeter of the U.S. (he was in his sixties, so that is incredible), he describes a lot about the environment and the people he meets. It is amazing all the different climates, weather patterns, cultures, fears, beliefs, and animals there are in this country. There is also interesting info about "Old Faithful" his bike, how he took care of it, and prepared for the trips. This book is amazing.

One Mile at a Time is a unique chronicle of the cycling journey of a man in his 60's who decides to take a ride around the perimeter of the U.S. after enduring tragic family losses. Smith used a throat mike while he was riding, thereby adding a fresh perspective to his descriptions. His dry humor and broad-minded outlook on our country is not only entertaining but also thought-provoking. The physical and mental stamina required to complete such a journey is inspiring and will make the reader want to drag his/her bike out of the dusty, old garage and take a spin - at least around town.
Lynnita Mattock, author of Abductee

What a beautiful book, for beautiful cuisine. I have tried many of the recipes, and although they taste good, I have found a few 'glitches' -- for instance, everything sticks to the pan, or the recipe calls for ingredients but then the directions never say when to use them!

I am now living in Maussane - one of the towns mentioned in the book - it is nice to have the names of the restaurants so I can taste first-hand without having to cook!

This book will absorb you into the culture, the setting, and the food, in a way that you will feel you were there yourself. Sarah Leah Chase is great at giving proper cooking tips to ensure success with her recipes. I've tried many myself, and I've loved them all so far. It's not only pleasant to follow her clear instructions, but it's a learning experience in itself. Every recipe is introduced with a specific time and place of her life experienced in Southern France. I have learned about the culture, the people, the "paysage". Every time I finish one of her recipes, I feel like marking the place on my "to visit" vacation list. You will fall in love, not only with the food, but with its quality of a rounded learning experience as well.

I have made many of the recipes in this book and have been delighted every time! Her anecdotes bring back my own memories of this lovely area. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Bottom line: this is absolutely worth having.

If you look at the food stains on all our cookbooks, this one will have the most food stains on it -- meaning it's the one we refer to the most. The recipes are very provencal, emphasizing fresh ingredients, well matched and well prepared.

But there are some pleasant contrasts to many other provencal cookbooks. Chase doesn't go overboard on obscure meats that you can't easily find in the US (or can't make for finicky dinner guests). Though not in any way designed to be a "health cookbook," the recipes are mostly all just fine when it comes to the health component. Like Jacques Pepin, it's light on saturated fats, but doesn't unnecessarily work to eliminate lovely things like olive oil & butter when needed to make things taste good.

Plus, it's the kind of cookbook that is full of little things that add huge amounts. Example: I have a dozen recipes in other books for Pissaladiere. But in Chase's, she adds a anchoiade spread under the onion topping that makes all the difference, and gets guests asking "What's that flavor in this? It's so good!"

The only time I read the prose (about biking) was when I bought the book. Lovely to read, nice context in which to place a cookbook. But in the end, buy this for the cooking contents.

I am sitting here looking at 7 different travel books of Paris that I received as gifts prior to my trip to Paris. Now this was my 2nd trip; the first one was in 1966 and I was in high school so I don't think it really counts. I felt like I was starting over and I really didn't know where to start. While some of the guide books were helpful, I really wanted to get a few very special momentos of the trip - especially scarves - so I was just thrilled when I happened upon Maribeth's book at Shakespeare and Co. when we were already there. I devoured the book that night and from it easily found several wonderful shops that I never would have seen were it not for her shop. I look forward to using it to an even greater degree as I plan a trip back next year.

...is evident in every page. Even if I hadn't been planning another trip to the city of lights, I would have been on the next flight!
As shown in her other books, Maribeth Clemente has a wonderful way of not only giving you the information that you need, but getting you excited about your exploration with every word. She covers the "unique" of Paris with a fresh, honest perspective. I feel like I'm walking down a lovely boulevard with her as my guide. When I've checked the "reality" of other travel books, I've found a real mix--what I read was not always what I got. It seems like reviews were completed by multiple sources with multiple perspectives of what would entice. Maribeth Clemente's insight/personality is consistent, elegant, fun and unexpected. And yet...she always seems to leave a little bit to your own exploration. I trust her to route me to the best--especially if I don't have a lot of time. This book is also an improvement from prior releases in it's organization--making quicker, easier reference to the user "on the road". Thanks!

Most of the Paris guides available give plenty of information on using the Paris Metro, the museums, and taking a taxi. However, what they lack is information on the very things that make a visit to Paris memorable and personal. Maribeth Clemente's "The Riches of Paris" provides key information on a wide variety of shopping interests. Are you into antique books?-the book has it....Are you into food stores, children's boutiques, or flowers? - the book has it. How about the best place to get a couture scarf, a pen, a cigar? - Again, the book has it. What I especially found useful was my ability to plan my shopping excursions before I got onto the plane...when I arrived I was able to fit in both the best sightseeing and museums AND the shops I knew would be of interest to me. My time was efficiently planned and I was able to fit many more memorable experiences into my trip. Ms. Clemente's index is especially useful in personalizing your trip...seperating shops by like categories, and presenting them in the book by area. This categorization takes the work out of planning a day....one day I planned to visit a particular area...I was set because of the book. Another day I decided to visit all children's toy stores...no problem again because of the book! A must have for getting the most out of your time!

One has not travelled until you have visited Paris. It is a city of wonder, history, romance, excitement and fashion. I studied for a short time in Paris many years ago and fell in love with the city. It also fell in love with my pocket book! The cafes, exquisite boutiques, and Epicurean cuisine will forever be a cherished memory; however, the first-time traveller to Paris should be forwarned; it can be a VERY EXPENSIVE city to enjoy, particularly if you do not know where you will get "the best value for your dollar." As this book clearly points out, most of the better hotels are luxurious and quite costly, as are the better known, finer restaurants. You definitely will not want to leave home without your trusty credit card! I purchased a Chanel Tee-shirt and for the same price, I could have purchased an entire rack of tee-shirts in my country. However, the joy of Paris is for many, a once-in-a-lifetime experience and one you will never regret no matter what the cost. The book is not complete; however, many of the special places of interest are not included in the book, which was rather disappointing. There are also some excellent more affordable restaurants and places to stay in Paris which are not listed here. The book was interesting and informative but did tend to patronize basically the higher-end, upscale facilities.

Sounds like a great way to plan a trip. I also liked the book titled, "World Ventures, Wayne Nugent, Mike Azcue, Dan Stammen, Robert Oblon, Wes Melcher, Marc Accetta" both are great for travelers and for those who want to go to on their dream trips.

I found David's book to be entertaining, full of useful information and extremely motivating. Most of us harbor a dream that we push deep inside because "it's just not practical" or we have no real plan to make it a reality. This book offered me hope for those dreams. It was inspiring to follow two ordinary middle class people pursue a vision and intimately share their experience. Following their journey was exciting and offered practical advise. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking practical tips on making your dream a reality!

This book is nice and interesting, it really can give you inspiration and in me it has awoken an old dream, to travel around the globe. BUT, this book is'n a guid-book and it doesn't give you a lot advice. It's more of a journal, in which the authour tells us about his adventures during a bike trip across the US. What I liked about this book is that the authour, D. Wooten, isn't an athlet and not an experienced bike rider, and it's nice to resd about the challenges and the triumphs of the "real people".

I was kind of disappointed in this book -- based on its title, I really thought it would be more helpful in the planning process of a major trip. However, as it turns out, the authors were fairly well-off, which is essentially what allowed them to do their round-the-world trip. (They lived on the cheap while abroad, but had a huge chunk of change to come home to.) While I don't hold their wealth against them, it certainly doesn't help shoestring-budget me -- basically, their "advice" came down to, "First, save up $125,000..." :) There are some useful charts in the back, & lists of travel and packing advice -- however, a good 95% of the book is the story of their actual trip. Also, as would be expected, the financial details are about 10 years old, so of little use now. In summary -- it's fun to read about the trip, but it doesn't really give the kind of advice that the title would lead you to expect.

Did my first ride out of this book today. I noticed I hadn't been riding much this year as I was going over many of the same roads as previous years. This book opens up many great locations with excellent turn by turn directions. Looks like it works hard to keep you on the less traveled roads. Just what I was looking for.

I'm not sure why this book hasn't been updated in so long, and I'm not sure why there isn't more competition from other guides in an area as bicycle crazy as Northwest Oregon, but this is the best guide currently available. In general, its maps and tips remain accurate, so I give it a thumbs up.

And, please, wear helmets!

Good road selection, accurate maps and helpful text make this book an excellent guide to road bicycling in northwest Oregon. The forty-five rides listed nearly all start within short distances from Portland, Corvallis, Salem, or Eugene. Ride distances range from a short 11 miler to the three day 177 mile Oregon Coaster loop. Each ride in the book includes a clear map of the ride, a cue sheet/mileage log, an elevation profile, and a few paragraphs of descriptive text. This book was extremely helpful in planning a recent ten day bicycling trip around northwest Oregon. While I did not, strictly speaking, ride any of the 45 rides in this book, the information in this book contributed greatly in road selection and understanding the terrain. For example, in the Mt. Hood area, if I had relied on the Delorme atlas, our route would have included several gravel roads. Jones and Henderson's book, however, shows which roads in the vicinity are gravel thereby helping us avoid them. For those of you fortunate enough to live in northwest Oregon, this book would be an excellent way to discover some new rides. For the non-Oregonian, the book can serve as an excellent resource in route-planning. As a sidelight, I would comment that I have yet to find a book published by The Mountaineers that has not been uniformly helpful, whether the content is bicyling or hiking.

This book simply does not fail to please. Keep it up, Father Dowling

This book has provided several good ideas for relatively easy mtn. bike rides. If you like biking in the mountains but don't much care for the more gonzo side of mountain biking, this will do nicely as a guide to trails around the Front Range.

This is an excellent book! A great guide for the novice to moderate bike rider, with wonderful suggestions for incredible scenery in the beautiful outdoors of Colorado. A must read for all bikers!

Imagine being so fed up with the day to day activities of a ho-hum suburban life, a typical job, a typical car, etc. that one day you decide to cash it all in......for a bike!! And dump your fiance while you're at it.

Steven Roberts did just this. Sold the house, cars, quit his job to begin his long (and true) trek across the United States. Armed with a CB, a sattelite uplink, a laptop computer, and other high tech gadgets (circa late 1980's) he writes about his journeys in a fascinating manner. This is what MTV's Road Rules is....for adults. What is amazing is the people he meets along the way, the sites he sees, the trials and tribulation of finding water and getting a flat tire. I can't give enough praise for this book, and would love to read anotehr one if he has one.

Tired and desperate behind a boring desk job, Steven K. Roberts breaks free with a recumbent bicycle of his own design, trekking cross country while writing the book via mobile computing technology. His adventures are entertaining and written in a candid, personal style that makes you appreciate his quest for romance while proving definitively the value of mobile telecommuting--even from the wilds of rural Colorado. His mission is to make location irrelevant while remaining connected, and this ace of technomadness is pure inspiration. Highly readable and recommended for those adventure seekers with a mind to wander, but a heart in community.

It was after his Phil Donahue Show back in 1988 that we started to write back and forth. Those were the days before most Americans even knew how to program a VCR and here was Steve on his high tech bike with the bells and whistles and ability to do email and even receive messages at the end of the day, etc., and all powered by solar panels. His story begins in Telluride, CO and he sets out to ride this bike across America to Ohio then PA then Maryland and Virginia and North Carolina Florida west to Louisiana and Texas New Mexico and Utah and California. In the Epilogue he writes:

Two years have passed .....A lot has changed....and then he met Maggie. In a jazz bar in Columbus Ohio and he challenged her to learn ham radio, get in shape and leave with him in August. And she did and they were well into the 4k of their first date.

The reason I love this book and buy up copies is the same reason I loved and bought and but Bill Gates book The Road Ahead. Because they speak volumes of the history of the computer tech world and serve as a reminder of just how damn far we have come.

Touring America's national parks has become a passtime for me. I've been from Acadia to the North Cascades to the Grand Canyon and this book is an excellent reference. With an emphasis on travelling via automobile, it also has several suggested hiking trips in each park as well as other points of interest. They say that most people never get more than 100 feet from their cars in parks. Well, this is the book to help get you there, and point out the best routes outside of your car. It covers more territory than anyone could possibly see in a lifetime...but it's sure fun to try.

"... describes 53 national parks and monuments in depth... giving advice on how to plan your time - vital when it comes to setting schedule priorities. Ludmer's tips are invaluable." Physician's Travel & Meeting Guide,

Although it does not include every site administered by the NPS, this book is very thorough in its treatment of the 50 parks it covers. The author also describes 13 suggested driving trips of five to 12 days each, incorporating nearby attractions. Includes detailed information on accommodations/campgrounds, activities available in each park, handy tips and tidbits, maps and photos. A great travel reference book!

This is my top bicycling read. I love Bob's honesty in all of his rookie mistakes. Hey, we've all been there! I've also used his book for routing in Colorado.

Some books are good for one read, others are keepers. Hurt City I have gone back and reread numerous times - still laughing out loud.

Too bad he never wrote another book . . . .

This is a book for all who take up the wheel. Bob Voiland writes from the heart. It is not only full of practical advice on bike touring, but it takes the reader on a tour with a guy who shares his heart with you. It is a book not to be read and put on the shelf, but one you will browse for years to come. It makes you wish you could take a bike ride with this very likeable guy.

Voiland is a purist; the book tracks his journey into cycling and his trek through the 48 continuous states. Road stories and advice is intersparced with philosophy and humor. It is essentially travel journal made into book form. Contains valuable information for a perspective tourist, and is endearing in it's sincerity.

This is a well-written and warm account of several bicycle adventure tours into the lowest points on Earth. It is saved from being just another bike adventure book by Jim Malusa's humor and his deftly woven interplay between his misadventures and his deep knowledge of the geology and ecology of the areas he travels through.

This is a very enjoyable and well-written book about bicycling and culture. If you enjoy cycling this is a must read. If you know nothing about cycling this is still a great book to enjoy. Malusa's wit and perspective are unique and very readable. He has a open personality and shows that by dropping expectations one can remain fully open to the pleasures and lessons available from traveling to unexpected places. I cannot recommend it enough. Pull up a chair and enjoy this excellent book!

On the surface, "Into Thick Air" appears to be an interesting book about a guy who rides his bike to the lowest points on earth, writing descriptions of what he observes along the way. But, only a few pages into the book you suddenly realize that this book mines much deeper ore. This is a book where you can glean keen insights into the human condition and learn things that could completely change your view of the world.

As Jim Malusa rides through some of the most isolated areas of earth, and we meet the people he encounters along the way, he sheds remarkable insight and light on their lives and their culture. Frankly, it made me care about people in remote areas of the world that previously I had never given a second thought to. Malusa made them real people, sometimes amazingly caring people, who I came to care about as I learned how they lived normal lives under uniquely difficult living conditions.

I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras and I appreciate Malusa's ability to ingratiate himself into the culture. Living on the edge of life and at the mercy of the elements necessitates that you rely on local people for help. Camping in the wrong place can result in uncomfortable meetings with alligators, venomous snakes, or worse! Getting information on where to camp, and where not to camp, is more than a passing concern, it is a matter of life and death. On several occasions, Malusa was rescued from a thorny situation through the kindness of strangers.

Beyond the cultural insights and description of landscape and wildlife, Malusa's thrilling experiences and narrow escapes from disaster makes the book read like an adventure story. I often found myself thinking, "Jim, don't camp there, there might be alligators," or "don't try to outrace that storm on your bike, just look for cover." I flipped back and forth between the text and the map for each trip, so I could follow his progress from town to town. I always felt a sense of unease and impending doom as he doggedly rode on to his final destination. Often, I wanted him to hurry up and finish his quest, before some disaster could befall him.

Add to this, the font of witty, sometimes hilarious, and always thoughtful observations on the human foibles and unique situations that the author encounters, and you have a book that hits a home run.

Malusa rides, he camps, he runs into obstacles. For each of his six odysseys to the lowest places on earth, the sights, sounds, and people of each trip present an entirely different challenge than the last. As he camps one night on the way to Death Valley, he reflects that he is "master of a minor universe."

Jim Malusa's universe is one of being stoned by kids at refugee camps, attacked by dogs, following the path of Moses to the Red Sea, welcomed into the homes of complete strangers, and many other incidents that force you to keep reading until he is safely home again. Yet, again and again, Malusa proves that he is truly master of his universe by his reflective response to all that befalls him.

Grab some sunscreen and a cold beer and join Jim Malusa on some unforgettable adventures.