Travelogue Books

The horrors of female circumcision - something long since banned in the Western world, it is still practiced in many African Countries. "Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival" is author and feminist Fadumo Korn's story of nearly dying to the barbaric practice and her rise to becoming a spokesman against the practice. A harsh and much needed criticism against the atrocity of female genital mutilation, "Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival" has the highest recommendation to community library women's studies collections as a bastion against this cruelty that far too many young girls in the world have been exposed to.

The first portion of this book follows the young nomad Fadumo as she travels and wanders with her family in Somalia. The descriptive writing of Somalia and the scenes laid before the reader are simply breathtaking.
Then we follow the young girl as she undergoes FGM (female genital mutilation), becomes ill and travels to Germany for medical treatment. Eventually she marries and becomes a fighter against FGM.
A must-read for those wanting to see a woman's life in Africa and how FGM affects the young woman's life.
It is also an interesting read about the choices she takes in her life and the other women in her family who remain subservient and stuck.
Although how much of this is determined by her father who let her live with one uncle who was very giving and caring ---while her sister Khadija ended up with another uncle who was abusive and cruel.
In closing, this book is a quick read and you won't be disappointed.

This book is very well written. It makes the reader aware of female circumcision and the problems associated with it.

Excellent - very enlightening to a women's crisis and so well written.

Can you imagine being born into a Somalian nomad family, and then, because of illness and the luck
of the tribe, being transported first, to a life of relative luxury, in the capitol city and ultimately to
Germany? The transition from one distinct culture to another in Europe reminds all of us of the need
to respect those aspects of traditions which bind people together and try to alter, as humanely as possible,
those traditional practices that do injury, particularly to women. This is a wonderful, courageous story.

After reading this and realizing I live within minutes of some of the places mentioned it makes me want to try it. It also helps me realize how lucky I am to live here. The book took me to what seemed like another world at times. Although I might not agree with some of his and other caver's philosophy, I still appreciate what they are trying to do with the sport. Maybe, I'll get to meet a member of the tight knit, eccentric, caving family and experience first hand some of the thrill and pain of going underground.

Michael Ray Taylor sends a much needed jolt to the world of cave literature. The book is a celebration of caving for caving's sake, rather than for some loftier goal. Mike is your average guy who has an unusual hobby, one that, in another time or place would remain unfulfilled. But Mike has not only been able to enjoy his hobby immensely, he has been able to weave it somewhat into his career. In his role asa journalisthe has wormed his way onto some of the most interesting trips of the past decade and, on occasion, been present at the making of history. Michael Ray Taylor has given us that rarest of things, real life advenure, told in a down to earth, believable style. In a world of incongruous movies and unrealistic fiction, this book is worth it's weight in gold.

Come visit Michael Ray Taylor's underground world and explore some of the last great wilderness on earth without leaving the safety and comfort of your armchair. This collection of short stories on caving takes you around the world to some of the most exotic caving regions. Michael's easy and casual style of writing puts you right in the action. One can easily imagine how tight the Devil's Pinch must be, and what those rocks felt like as they squeeze you from above and below. I liked how Michael made each account personal by letting you get to know the other cavers and the local inhabitants of the region. This book is for anyone with an adventurous spirit.

In this irresistable book, Taylor shares his passion for caving in easy-going prose that never falters. He takes us all over into all kinds of caving situations, and the result is simply fascinating. What's more, Taylor never falls prey to the immodest "boy-am-I-ever-cool-and-macho" style that afflicts some who write about their awesome adventures. On the contrary, Taylor is disarmingly candid about his occasional fears and breaches of caving ettiquette. His honesty adds to the pleasure of reading this fine little book. Although the book is never quite as lyrical as one might hope, the last few paragraphs are surprisingly bittersweet.

The single significant flaw is not in the text, but rather in the lack of photographs. One wonders how a book in which great pains are taken to describe underground scenes, and in which the personalities and work of several cave photographers are described, could be virtually photograph free. It's strange and a little frustating. But this is still a delightful book.

After finishing this book for the second time, I again felt the pang of loss for having the pages not continue. A blend of caving, philosophy, and caving philosophy, his work gives one pause for finding meaning in one's life. I for one am jealous of the karst regions he has been fortunate to explore. Telling about those exploits is handled with style that doesn't get in the way of the story itself. I'm sure others would enjoy this book. I do.

Stephen J. Bodio's Eagle Dreams is one of the best books I've ever read. By turns lyrically poetic, hilariously funny, dramatic, touching, and inspiring, this book is travel writing at its very best. Most authors cannot approach Bodio in terms of talent, in the way his masterful prose brings scenes and people (in this case, the wilds of Mongolia and the tribesmen who hunt with golden eagles) to life and puts the reader in the middle of the action. Fascinating, exotic story, beautifully told. Buy this book!

I was a junior in college when my dad sent me a copy of a new magazine he had started receiving at home called Gray's Sporting Journal. An English student and avid sportsman, I turned immediately to the book review section. Typically, I did not expect much from a sporting magazine's book review; seldom did these reviews actually convey much critical information.

This was the first time I read Steve Bodio's by-line. I read his review column, then went back and read it again, and again. In three pages, I knew this was a writer that deserved my attention. In fact, I had never read anyone who so passionately loved books and the sporting life, and who also wrote about those passions so beautifully. As Bodio himself once wrote about another writer: "He's THAT good."

Steve Bodio is a cult writer, a characterization I once heard Bodio himself acknowledge. Those of us who make up this cult cannot figure out why he isn't better known. Quite possibly it is because he is a naturalist who remains an unapologetic hunter, a hunter who would rather discuss natural history than the latest camouflage pattern, and a writer who ignores current fashions and writes about subjects like falconry, pigeons, catfish and wild freedom.

This latest book, on Mongolia, is a wonderful travel book that one hopes will introduce Bodio to a new and expanded readership. "Eagle Dreams" traces Bodio's fascination with the eagle hunters of Mongolia to the realization of the dream during the course of two trips.

Calling "Eagle Dreams" a travel book is perhaps unfair; it is not easily placed into a neat category. It is a travel book, a sporting book, a nature book, a "sense of place" book-but none of those categories convey its real spirit.

Bodio has a naturalist's keen curiosity, conveyed through vivid descriptions of everything from eagles to malaria. He has a fascination with even the more common creatures, writing of the magpies and pigeons he finds with a delight that seems as if he is seeing these creatures for the first time. He captures Mongolia's interesting history, its nomadic culture and the difficulties of travel in a way that is humane, engaging, and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny.

Of course, there is a lot of falconry here, with fascinating writing about the eagle hunters of Mongolia, their methods, their birds and their lives.

Bodio does not take his travels for granted, in stark contrast to the writers of many modern travel books. His travels to Mongolia are the realization of a dream, and he conveys just what it is like for a lover of words and ideas to finally stand in a place one has imagined deeply. I suspect many of us who grew up dreaming of travel that seemed so beyond our means can relate to this; I have never read any writer who conveys this feeling better. His observations on the "sountrack" of such experiences are worth the price of the book.

This book is a good introduction to Steve Bodio, capturing his love of animals and wild places, his opinionated (and true) observations on our society's maddening political correctness and Puritanism, his embodiment of a well-lived life (again, to paraphrase him on another subject, I'm not sure that he is making much of a living but what a life!), his literary musings that lead one to believe he has read EVERYTHING, and a writing style that is just a joy to read.

Ultimately, this book seems to be saying, that, even in an increasingly tamed and conformist world, there is still quarry to hunt, books to read, birds to watch, adventures to live. It's not a message you'll find in many travel-to-unusual places books. If for that reason alone, read this book.

I just finished Steve Bodio's great book, Eagle Dreams. I was swept away by his vivid word imagery to a "time" and a place that is all too hard to find in the modern world. Bodio instinctively understands the people, the culture, and the animals without the sanitized pap that is all too prevalent in adventure books. The similarities between present-day Mongolian Eagle Hunters and the Plains Indians of the l800s are remarkable. In both cultures, the Eagle has an important spiritual significance.

Jack Kerouac wrote "Sometimes it is necessary to put up with dust and rattlesnakes for the sake of pure freedom." Bodio's book oozes freedom. "Eagle Dreams" should be required reading for all undergraduate anthropology majors. If you only buy one adventure book this year, this should be it.

This book came in with others on Mongolia I had ordered a month ago and so I thought it was just another aspect of this fascinating country I am presently dedicating my attention to. Instead, as usual, generalization is not for human sprit. Opening the book I found out this naturalist grew up in New England as I did, he has italian chromosomes and is a novel Federick II. Immediate simpathy arised. So I dived into this unknown ornitological world (by the way I am scared of birds and I live with terror of an annoying pidgeon that once in a while comes into my kitchen).
First, a notation on the language which is fantastic. I am amazed that such a talented writer writes only about nature and birds and is not better known, but I will surely get my hands on some other books of his.
Second, the cultural milieu that brings the reader to the opening scene (of the eagle actually killing its prey) builds up during the narration and is one of the main subjects of the book. We get an excursus through Marco Polo's travels, Vadim Gorbatov's art work, Andrew's dinosaur discoveries, David Edwards beautiful fotographic images (by the way visit his site and enjoy the eagle and horseman pictures), practically into the author's mind. His references become our references and his dreams ours. One of the fascinanting aspects of this book is the closeness even layman can achieve to the eagle hunting subject.
Third, the book is travelogue or explornography (as the author puts it) and so a get along tale, that as always has the power of getting you to the last page with the curiousity of what is coming up next.
This work is enjoyable, mind and heart raising, didactic and cultural. Truely it can be offered as a gift to curious and encyclopedic friends.

I don't hunt or fish or tramp around in the wilderness but, despite that, I was entranced by this book - couldn't put it down. To me, it's a story of how one person, in this case a brilliant and engaging writer, managed to achieve a dream he'd held since childhood. Bodio is such a fine (and funny!) storyteller that he makes one of the world's most exotic places accessible without making it a bit less exotic. Hunting with eagles in Mongolia doesn't have to be your dream for this book to be one you'll treasure, just like you didn't have to fish for trout to love "A River Runs Through It." I highly recommend this book.

I have used the Everywoman's Travel Journal on trips all over the world. The wide lines inside the journal along with the plastic cover that holds receipts, copies of your insurance papers, & itineraries make it perfect for travel.

Have used this product before. It has all the space and categories I like in a travel journal.

I purchased this journal for my first trip abroad ten years ago, and have purchased one for each of my trips since. It's size makes it easy to carry in a day bag or carry-on luggage. Space is provided for phone numbers, addresses and e-mail addresses. Credit card numbers, packing list, expense lists, etc are all included. This journal is a must for all travelers!

I have used the "Everywoman's Travel Journal"
for seven European trips, and have found it
exceptionally useful. As other reviewers have
mentioned, it contains pages to record
traveling expenses, film notes, an address
section, maps, calendar (missing in newer
editions), and space to record your complete
itinerary.

One thing I especially like is the fact that
the spine doesn't crack, and the pages do not
fall out, even with rough handling. There is
a clear plastic dustjacket, with space to store
postcards, tickets, and the like. The journal
is compact, and fits easily into a purse or
pocket. There are plenty of pages to record
extensive daily notes.

Of all of the Travel Journals I have seen or bought,
this one is my favorite.

This is my second journal like this and it is wonderful. It is the perfect size for my purse and easy to write in while traveling. I especially love the cover that protects it from dirt and stains. It has a place inside the cover front and back to keep extra receipts and postcards in while traveling. It is a must for anyone who wants to keep a record of their travel adventures.

This compilation of short stories written by expat women is entertaining, inspiring, funny, and poignant. Exploring cultural idiosyncrasies through these stories forgivingly reminds the reader of her/his own faux pas in foreign lands.
Ultimately, each story is surprisingly varied in its endpoint, but they share a nostalgia for the experience of living abroad, especially for the first time. This would make a great gift for someone about to move abroad, study abroad, or even someone considering it. For those who already have, it certainly is a lovely opportunity to reflect on these experiences...or even write about them!

It is a nice collection of tales from around the world and how it is to be an Expat at that location. Funny insights into things that an expat might miss or why we recreate things that are important to us from our passport country. Aa very good read.

I read this for a company diversity-themed book club. Most of the chapters are really worth reading, making the book a definite buy. You'll be challenged to enjoy all of them, but everyone's taste and experiences are different. Plus, it really makes you thing about the life you take for granted, and where you call "home."

Headed abroad on your first expat experience? Wondering what expat. life is REALLY like? Curious whether the expat. lifestyle is for your family? Christina Henry de Tessan's collection of over twenty superbly written "true tales" about expat. life reveal the jagged mountain ranges and desert plateaus of the emotional geography known as the "expat experience." Six months into my own family's first expat. experience, I wish I had had this book to read and reflect upon prior to stepping onto that jet to Mexico. Especially for those undertaking an international move for the first time without adequate or knowledgeable corporate support, the no-holds-barred accounts of these women's experiences will help you consider your own emotional,physical, spiritual, and intellectual needs as you plan your move. A must read.

Compiled and edited by Christian Henry de Tessan, Expat: Women's True Tales Of Life Abroad is an engaging and impressive collection of true stories about women who have lived in diverse nations around the world, and learned firsthand the delicate balance between keeping true to oneself while accommodating the ways of a different culture. Life in Mexico, Borneo, Japan, Egypt, England, Croatian, the Mediterranean, and more is brought to life from unforgettable perspectives in this original, fascinating, very highly recommended anthology.

Recently I decided that it was time that I ventured to Mexico. I have traveled all over the world but somehow I have missed Mexico. So being the type of person who would wither and die if I had to spend a week in Cabo or Cancun at a resort, I booked a trip to Mexico City with a weekend in Zihuatenejo. Being the type of traveler who likes to discover what lies beneath the surface, I was thrilled to find David Lida's book.

The author who calls Mexico City home has written a book that captures everything I always hope to find in a book about a city and much more. His observations, both wide angle and incredibly close up are always entertaining and build to create a complete vision of one of the world's largest cities right now. The author does not gloss over the rumors we all have heard about the city. He also exposes the reasons why the city can seem so scary to the outsider; its size, lawlessness, and extremities that can make even an experienced traveler a little uneasy. But then he will share a stories of the cities residents and you will feel the connection one can only experience by walking its streets.

I recommend this book to anyone with any type of connection to the city, be it by heritage or for a future traveler. Even if you never intend on stepping foot in Mexico City this book is so entertaining and visual that one might feel like they have seen it for themselves simply by reading Lida's amazing book. It's clear this was a huge undertaking and that fact that it is written by a "gringo" just speaks to the author's boldness.

I read hundreds of books a year, and this one compelled my to write my first review. I just got back from an overseas vacation, and I took Mr. Lida's book with me to read. I absolutely loved it!

My dad was a Mexico City native and I grew up visiting this strange and fascinating place. Lida's first-hand experiences, interpretations of Mexican culture, and definitions of key Mexican topics have helped me understand that City - and my heritage - better than anything thing else.

It's difficult to really know something well when you're steeped in it since childbirth; Mexico City was like that with me. Its true nature was lost to me. It was just a place I had to go to visit my family.

Lida's insight into such common, but nuanced, words such as "ahorita", "chile en nogada", and "Malinchismo", just a few of the examples, have helped me truly appreciate Mexico City's complexity.

I'm really saddened not to have my Dad around, so that I can toss out some of the things I learned from Lida's book.

David Lida helped me view Mexico City in a different way and appreciate it, quirks and all. It's also help fill in many pieces of my life puzzle. And, I appreciate the fact that the book is also a valentine to his adopted City, not just a scathing criticism of a metropolis that's run amok.

Lida's book has helped validate Mexico City culture, history, and heritage, and for that I will always be grateful. I highly recommend this book.

Reading this book felt like sitting in a small coffeehouse and having a series of conversations with a good friend. I have only been to Mexico City once and plan to visit again. David Lida's book helps me as I try to understand Mexico City and not be so overwhelmed by its sheer size and energy. He tells stories about all aspects of life in Mexico City and gives insight to what it means to be in Mexico City, whether you live there or are just visiting. It is worth reading more than once.

I musat say, I was suprised when I first had a look at this book, namely due to the fact that there are so few authors out there bothering to write about the neglected metropolis to the south. Lida has done so, and with particular insight. Interested in getting to know the REAL Mexico City? Lida will take you there, from the fringes of Santa Fe to the steps of Teotihuacan. Although I don't like saying that a particular writer has captured the soul of a place, Lida has come awfully close. Great job!

Ever motivated by his affection for Mexico City, David Lida presents First Stop in the New World, about the people and places that have shaped his own conclusion on what it means to live in the labyrinth that is el Distrito Federal. First Stop is written in the style you would expect from someone with years of experience in journalism, with a witty and authentic voice that can inform us about Mexico City like any lifelong capitalino, and still remain refreshingly apolitical. He is not afraid of clarifying the truth behind the "Wal-mart next door to the Pyramids" rumor, or the exaggeration of the frequency of kidnappings. Want to know the truth behind these two sensational stories? Read this book to find out.

Lida's literary style comes through his investigative narrative, (and evokes his other career as a short story writer), filled with characters that are fodder for stories in their own right, as he admits. He recounts details as varied as Mexico City herself - how the the culture drives the sexuality of the inhabitants; how the city inspires ingenious ways for people to become entrepreneurs; and how the urban landscape even affects what people eat and how they eat. Lida is clearly in love with the city he calls home, and like a passionate lover, the City can sometimes hurt the one who loves her: readers will be jarred by Lida's composed, calm testimony about his ordeal as a victim of an "express kidnapping". It would have been easy for anyone to write about this with certain bitterness, but Lida did not let this experience keep him away from el D.F.

As a chilangofile myself, I am happy to find that as joyously overwhelming as Mexico City is, Lida's book is not improvised like the very lives and urban sprawl he writes about; it is carefully composed with ringside accounts of someone who has been there, and stayed to tell the stories, without the insular judgment of an infrequent tourist "surviving among the natives." The book reads less like generic publications on Mexico and closer to literary journalism, which makes First Stop in the New World a book worth reading multiple times, both for its smooth prose and the startling metropolis it chronicles.

You can't judge a book by its cover or, in the case "Following the Wrong God Home", by the advertising blurb on the dust jacket. An acquaintance who works at a local bookstore fairly frothed at the mouth while singing the praises of this book, and she had only finished half of it (the first half). As her tastes agree with my own generally and as Mormon history happens to be my bag, I bought it and started to read.

After the first chapter, I put it down and scratched my head. Somehow the reading wasn't going as planned. I've read hundreds of volumes on as many aspects of Mormonism as I can think of, but something wasn't clicking with me. I didn't want to admit to my bookstore acquaintance that I didn't "get it". So in an act of preemptive bravado, I plunged back into its pages, determined not to be outunderstood by the bookstore lady. As chapters rolled by, I grew more accustomed to Scott Chisholm's meter. Although I'm sure his method may be shoehorned into "the seven holy principles of good prose" and thereby explained, this book does not have the feel of such an effort. Rather, the structure and tenor of the tale mirror the rhythms of the difficulty of those first Mormon pioneers. Instead of simply describing the experience, he paints it as a work or art. Like the Russian masters, the most poignant observations of life are made by those who have experienced the worst of it. Suffering has no value without the introspection that follows and Scott Chisholm guides us through that experience.

Spoiler: the Mormons do make it to Utah.

Clive Scott Chisholm recounts his walking retracement of the Morman trail across Nebraska and Wyoming to Brigham Young's"Zion",Utah.This book is about people,places,perceptions,and the nebulous envisagement of the American Dream.
To Chisholm,born into a Morman Family and faith,the walk it vividly personal.He weaves parenthetical"Acccording to Hoyle" chronicles of Morman history in each chapter.
The author crosses the bounds of genre with timely placed sidebars.He touches geography,natural history,hydraulics,soil management,native indian movements,railway and highway beginnings,politics and a host of others.
He describes eating,sleeping and entertainment establishments past and present;"watering-holes",museums and libraries with a generous portion of humor.There are no sacred cows,be it presidents or prophets.
This book just gets better as it goes.Clive Scott Chisholm doesn't disappoint his readers by slipping off the rails in the final chapter.He runs strong to the end.
The last entry adds a homey"Where are they now"(fifteen years later) about many of the people and personalities we meet in the book.
End

scott MacDonald wrote a book called "The Garden in the Machine" and this book reminds me of "Following the Wrong god home" because they both discuss the meaning of landscape. But if you read both books together you can see how Chisolm's book on the mormons is much more personal mostly because he actually is doing the traveling himself and having the experiences he is talking about. I think that a lot of people who don't know anything about Mormon history could love this book because he is using the mormon history as a way of writing about the western dream. The writing of this book is superb and it is one of those rare books that I never wanted to finish.

I was enthralled by Clive Scott Chisholm's brilliant meld of personal experience, social criticism, and history. On his 1100 mile trek from Omaha to Salt Lake City, he encounters a rich variety of experiences involving the weather,the landscape, historical markers, towns, and human personalities which he describes in vivid detail. Independence Rock in Wyoming, for instance, evokes a discussion of the natural forces which created it and its role as "a geological semaphore of good-bye" for travelers venturing into the unknown West.
Threaded through this account are Chisholm's thoughts about his life, his friends, western history, and particularly about "the American Dream" and the Mormons. He is often brutally frank in his judgments, especially of the Mormon leader, Brigham Young, for whom he can say nothing good. All-in-all, this is a brilliantly written, deeply personal account of one man's adventure in space and time.

Is the American Dream an empty hole(or whole)? Clive Chisholm takes a hard look at that in his trek across the American West, following the trail the Mormons blazed in 1847. Those Mormons were seeking their dream, their promised land. Chisholm, looking deeply at their experience through their journals, overlaps them with his modern day rediscovery of what is left of their trail. In the process, he digs deeply at the Mormon faith, at himself and at all of us, trying to find what gives us the courage and the passion to get up each morning and try it all again. The stories of the young brides who, far from home, died the horrible death of cholera, and his battles with dysentery and toothache; how they drug all their worldly belongings in handcarts, and he a dilapidated hand-golfcart, soon discarded in a highway culvert. Their is no shortage of dispair and heartache for either story, yet there is hope. Chisholm fills the pages with his gift of humor, and the quirky characters that he collects like mile markers on his road. He masterfully weaves both stories together. In the end, he questions what it all meant. Americans, he determines, believe everything works out simply because they are Americans. It's not the same experience for the rest of the world but we, as americans, are comprised of the peoples of all the world. We inherit a legacy of ancestral dreams. The dream is a lie, but it's the dreaming that counts. That's what fills our "common well of human hope." Buy it.

"its bedside manner is decidedly more reassuring and less alarmist" [than the Lonely Planet guide] Sunday Telegraph book of the week May 2000

Best Title Award for October 1999 from Big World Magazine (Pennsylvania) "This clear concise manual explains how to avoid the icky side effects of travel"

"the most amazing collection of well-written, easy to read, and jargon-free information flowing off every page of this book." Doctor (autumn 1999)

"Whilst her theoretical knowledge is extensive, it is her personal experience that adds great charisma and humour to the very informative text, making the book a true pleasure to read." Travel Wise: newsletter of the British Travel Health Association Autumn 1999

"offers practical advice for disease prevention and treatment, based on the author's and travellers' personal experiences in a clear and concise way."
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1999) 93 539

"clear, easy to read, comprehensive manual... everything from jet lag to the psychological problems of being a long-term expat spouse." Carousel: diplomatic service families association magazine Autumn 1999

"excellent" Wanderlust June/July 1999

"magnificent book... readable and accessible" Expeditioner (Brathay Expeditions, spring 1998)

"indispensable...some of the most realistic, practical advice about trekking" Independent on Sunday, London (May 4, 1997)

"recommended" Marie Clare May 1997

"covers insect bite treatments, acclimatization, AIDS avoidance, snake-bite treatment and travel related skin problems." Los Angeles Times (Mar 9 1997)

"at once attractive, user friendly and a good read." Discovery - Cathay Pacific (May 1996)

"Amusing and informative...By far the best book of this type" Sesame: Scientific Exploration Society Newsletter, UK (spring 1995)

"Interesting off-beat guide" Observer, London (May 14, 1995)

"coverage is excellent...sensible...accurate and well researched...single authorship makes it an easy read" Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1995)

"with tips on avoiding afflictions such as `sahib's knee' when mountain walking." Australian Gourmet Traveller

"advice...from immunisation to dealing with snake-bites. General Practitioner (July 14, 1995)

"there is even a section in `Sex and the Single expat'. An extremely useful book." Good Book Guide (July 1995)

"essential reading" Marie Claire June 1995

"useful reading" Daily Telegraph (London) 10 June 1995

"a must for anyone going travelling." Wanderlust February 1995

"The sensible precautionary advice covering common and uncommon ailments is not only thorough, but also made more palatable by the case histories and touches of humour." The Book Seller 13 January 1995

"an irresistible little book... Each topic is in easy-to-follow sections, with anecdotes and case histories to illustrate the medical guidelines." Globe (London)

Even if you're not going to be travelling in remote places, this book is wonderful. Jane Wilson-Howarth's no nonsense (and funny) tone makes this book an excellent read, even if it's just for the vicarious thrill of knowing which parasites you might encounter.

This a gem of a book- not for the squeamish (though they wouldn't be travelling off the beaten path, would they?!) and definitely not to be given to your hypochondriacal aunt before she goes on her next overseas vacation- but great for everybody travelling outside of say, North American & Western Europe. V. practical, v. succinct & v. realistic. Great help in planning your trip, esp. if you are anyway intrepid in your travels. And loads of fun to read, with lots of v. funny bits.

Cadogan's Bugs, Bites and Bowels is the best health guide for travellers. I travel a lot for work and pleasure and always use it when preparing to leave. The text is bang up to date and easy to understand. You get all the details on where you're at risk, signs to look for and lots of advice on what to do if your luck runs out - for each and every possible ailment.

Everyone who is planning a trip outdoors should get a copy. Five Stars.

I seem to collect health travel books. We live in Mexico and beleive in being our own best health advocates anywhere. Of all the books I have seen in the past five years dealing with travel health, Bugs, Bits & Bowels surpasses my previous favorite, one in the Moon Travel Series which is currently out of print. Wilson-Howarth is concise, yet seeming thorough, with a presentation easily understood. Even bits of humor sprinkled in.

Here Be Yaks chronicles the author's experiences traveling in Tibet. She provides detailed descriptions of the land and people as well as the difficulties and pleasures of the trip. Her goal on the trip was Mount Kailash and to settle question of the source of the Sutlej River as well as a spiritual journey of her own. Most books of this type are not particularly interesting to read through but this one is an exception. She adds so much detail and history that you come to appreciate the trip as well as the country, the geography, the people, and the culture. She wisely does not include the political factors of the country except to the extent that they directly affect her ability to travel safely or provide an important historical explanation as to why something is the way it is. If you have any interest in Tibet at all you will probably appreciate this book.

Manosi Lahiri's book is a magnificent story of ordinary people on an extraordinary adventure. Mrs. Lahiri combines a cartographer's eye for geographical detail with sensitivity to the thoughts of companions, and a storyteller's flair for the interesting.

HERE BY YAKS takes the reader along a trail following ancient paths that are still lightly travel today. It gives the reader a glimpse of Tibetan culture which is often mentioned in casual conversation but is little understood or actually experienced.

The book has all the elements of a search for a Shangri La taking one through a kaleidoscope of landscapes and people in the solving of a geological mystery. It's a great read. I recommend it highly.

Her Be Yaks: Travels in Far West Tibet is a travelogue chronicling a group of ordinary people who embarked upon an extraordinary journey to Tibet's Mount Kailash, a peak revered by four faiths. They battled physical exhaustion and altitude sickness on their arduous journey, all to perform the sacred kora (circumambulation) of Mount Kalish and seek religious inspiration. Author Manosi Lahiri was one of this group, searching for consolation after the loss of her ancestors; in the course of journey, she solved a geographic mystery concerning the source of the river Sutlej, a matter that had been contended for centuries. Part adventure, part scholarly narrative, Here Be Yaks is an amazing look at Tibet through a visitor's eyes, and highly recommended.

This traveller's account reminded me vividly of my own trip across Tibet in 1987. Twenty years later it conjured up memories of capricious weather, devout pilgrims, rancid yak butter, tea which might be better called soup, the unfathomable devotion of Tibetans, sunburned noses, indescribable sanitation, breathtaking temples and palaces, the appalling destruction of monuments and buildings by Red Guards and above all, the landscape. Is there anywhere else on earth that comes close to matching the colours, drama, inaccessibility and mystery of Tibet's topography? The star of this journey is the landscape, brought to us with the eye of a geographer. Not only does the author bring dramatic vistas alive as she travels from Lhasa to Tsaparang, she explains them too with textbook clarity. Her journey, part pilgrimage, homage and exploration, takes the reader to Mount Kailash, sacred to Buddhists, Hindus and Jains and more interestingly, to the little visited and destroyed Tsaparang, centuries ago the capital of ancient Guge in far west Tibet. Over the centuries it has been visited by Jesuits, Kashmiri Muslims and intrepid travellers and explorers, not always happily. But as the author recounts, the greatest destruction to Tsaparang and its temples and art, happened in our own lifetime at the hands of Cultural Revolution zealots. Still, with an explorer's optimism and determination, she scrambles up the ruins of Tsaparang into chambers hewn out of the hillside and discovers wanton destruction but also the vibrant remains of murals, hundreds of years old. To have come this far and seen what few of us can only dream of, is a singular accomplishment. Yet there is one last goal to tackle: a return to Tibet's landscape to research the source of one of Asia's great rivers, the Sutlej. Is its commonly accepted source near Mount Kailash and Lake Manosarovar correct? Or is there a mystery to be solved? Using accounts of earlier explorers, especially Sven Hedin and Swami Pranavananda, and applying a geographer's keen eye and GPS and satellite imagery, we can add the name of the author to her illustrious forebears. For she makes a compelling case for discarding the popularly accepted source of the Sutlej for another. This entertaining book therefore is not just a travelogue. It is a piece of history which on my bookshelf rests besides Hedin, Swami Pranavananda and Alexandra David-Neel's accounts of their journeys to incomparable Tibet.

This is a most gripping and unusual book. A good story, travel interest, personal feelings and if that were not
enough true scientific research! To anyone who might be planning a journey to Tibet this will give invaluable pointers over where to go, how to, what to take and critical cultural elements. The international perspective of the author is combined with local knowledge and insight of she and her travelling companions.

A good book is capable of opening your eyes to a whole new reality, Ms. Durham does that here. An Italian historian once wrote that the Albanian territories were across the Adriatic Sea yet less known than darkest Africa, this is a valiant effort to remedy that. Ms. Durham ventures, illegaly, into northern "High" Albania with an intrepid curiosity and through Western eyes proceeds to open up the vast horizons of Albanian culture. Imagine a society so isolated by the Alps and suspiscion of outsiders that they still have a ready grasp on pre-Christian traditions and myth. Read this and learn of the highland clans, the "besa", the rights of blood and honour that decimated entire generations of males and oh so much more.

Ms. Durham managed to earn the love and respect of those that trusted no one and had been maltreated by all. She lobbied tirelessly, if vainly, for her adopted people for her entire life and in the end was embraced as the "Queen of the Mountain People." This truly is an exceptional book. Read it.

Edith Durham was a remarkable British woman which after an illness that caused her depression. Her doctor recommended that she changes the place where she lives and she did. She sailed to Balkans and it was then when her lifelong involvement with the people of Balkans began.

"As I knew there was no case on record of a stranger being "held"
in North Albania, and moreover, The Albanian is an old friend of mine" - she writes and there she was in Albania even though they were under occupation by Turks at the time.

Even though it is more like a armchair travel book, Edith gave us a lot of historical facts about Albanians. She writes a lot about Illyrians and Skenderbeg. She talks about times when Slavs with an enormous number came to Balkans for the first time.
But what makes this book so pleasant is when she writes about her time spent with various Albanian tribes. There are so many "tales" such as those with Witches. There is a "tale" about an Albanian woman who killed her husband who sold her brother's life to the turks for a bag of gold.
There is a lot of everything and this book is just wonderful by all means. Even though I am an Albanian there were lots of things I learned that I didn't know before.

So if you really need to learn more about Albanians, their traditions and their history - one must chose Edith Durham's book
"High Albania"

Highly Recommended

This is a fascinating first-hand exploration of one of the least travelled lands in the Balkan regions. Ironically, it was actually more accessible to travellers in 1909 than for most of the 20th century. Full of amazing tidbits: Albanians counted kinship through their male line to the remote past, but the sister of one's mother was "some sort of relation." Ms. Durham (who must have had the soul of David Livingstone) stayed with Albanians who refused to believe that nights in summer were shorter than in winter. Albanian men were constantly "in blood" with other tribes because they had killed to "cleanse their honor" to a degree that the Hatfield/McCoy feud seems like a happy band of brothers in comparison. Top-notch first-hand vintage travel: Recommended.

Edith Durham is the undisputed "Queen of the Northern Albanian Alps". She takes you along her tour in Victorian/British-English fashion through the Northern Albanian Alps just after the turn of the century and you feel as if you were just whisked away to ford the streams and climb the mountains with her.

Remarkable as it was to have traversed this landscape in 1909, it was nothing short of a miracle for a woman to have done it. She gained the respect of those she met, showing respect for the great traditional law of the Gheg Albanians--the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini. She was offered "bread and salt" at every table and never doubted the Albanian people's ability to show mikpritje (hospitality) towards an outsider as herself.

Furthermore, I loved the stories she relates about her visits to the specific tribes. She peppers them occasionally with Albanian parables that she was told along the way. For me, this book was amazing and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

The totally engaging travel diary of a woman who explored High Albania in the years before the constitution. It is illustrated, though sparsely, with her own charming sketches.

The book explains the complex tribal system of social relationship where strict rules on intermarriage inevitably spark off tribal blood feuds. It is another view of this worlds love affair with the gun. You will be intrigued by the tradition of the "Albanian virgin".

I came to understand better, through reading this book,the civilizing power of government. The author also deals with the development of the concept of individuation and personal responsibility. This is often accompanied by the original folk stories that Ms Durham recorded.

Edith Durham became for a time unofficial "Queen" in recognition of her contributions to social welfare. The daughter of an English surgeon, she never married, but fell in love on a holiday trip and gave her life to a people. I would like to read more by, or about this woman.