Travelogue Books

Duncan is best at his research and then going out and finding people to interview for his topics. He doesn't leave anyone out, from 80-year-old homesteaders who refuse electricity or running water, to polygamists, questionable cattle rustlers to religiuous survivalists in New Mexico. He put his heart and soul into this book, and the chapters read easily, going from writing about the history of the places to the current people in the towns along the way.

His descriptions of the surroundings, the descriptions of the people he stays with for his interviews make this book a worthwhile read for lovers of the old Frontier. Although slightly dated now (references are from 1990) there is no doubt that many of the facts still remain; there are still many void regions of the West where few people dare to plant roots.

This book is comparable to Jon Raban's "Bad Lands" of eastern Montana, another good book on how the West was settled. Both were written in the late 1980s/early 1990s. How much of the information is still valid? Duncan toured every county in the US that had less than two people per square mile. Out in West Texas, New Mexico or Montana, that is still a lot of land.

You thought the American frontier had disappeared? Well, Dayton Duncan spent a couple of years visiting those American counties that still meet the definition of frontier -- less than two people per square mile.

In Miles From Nowhere, Duncan sheds light on what it means to live alone, really alone, no neighbors in sight or in small communities where there is no "next town over." There are quite a few counties in the mid-west and far west that meet the Census Bureau definition and the author provides an excellent sampling of what makes people stay or in some case move here.

The place stories are sometimes fascinating and also interesting. One area of Nevada was the fallout zone for early nuclear tests -- chosen because it was almost empty. Duncan explores some of the people who lived under where the white ash fell and explores their continuing health problems as well as their exasperation with an unresponsive government.

In Montana, there are still one-room schools where teachers live in trailers at the school site and teach one to ten kids from an attendance area measured in the hundreds or thousands of square miles. There are people in the mountains of Washington and Oregon who pack their cars with a week's worth of provisions in case they break down because that's how long it could take someone else to happen upon their stalled vehicle. And in Love County Texas, a county with under 1,000 people, the local elections are decided by feuds and family grudges that separate people into warring camps for elected offices which hold no real power and have no real money to spend.

I found a peak into these lives and stories fascinating and couldn't put the book down. Duncan has a way of getting these folks to open up and treats them matter-of-factly in a manner which allows the stories to speak for themselves.

This is a very interesting book that opens up a part of America that almost all of the rest of us will only ever drive through while considering it empty. Its not all empty, in valleys and nooks and up miles of dirt trails and in other hide-a-ways live some of us who are Miles From Nowhere and live a life the rest of us would have a difficult time enduring.

Here Dayton Duncan takes us on a fascinating tour of counties in several Western states that have fewer than two people per square mile - under which communities are considered "virtually uninhabited," at least in terms of standard sociological expectations. In addition to descriptions of jaw-dropping emptiness that people from more populated areas would find either uplifting or terrifying, Duncan provides many engaging stories of the real people toughing it out in these areas in which few are hardy enough to live. Examples are fractured politics among the Navajo in Utah; victims of nuclear testing in Central Nevada; an elderly woman living alone in Montana without modern conveniences dozens of miles form the nearest road; and the compelling story of the last few Seminole Negroes - descended from escaped slaves who mixed with Florida Indians and eventually ended up in West Texas. Included are great examinations of the cyclical boom-and-bust economics and strange politics confronting these lonely places, as they are alternately overlooked, romanticized, dumped on, and fought over by know-it-alls from far away. (On the other hand, Duncan also examines the irony in how such people often despise government interference, even though their existence would likely be impossible without Federal subsidies.) Duncan shows that these under-populated regions are still home to hardy and interesting people who continue to fulfill the American ideal of breaking off from the rat race and making it on one's own. [~doomsdayer520~]

In "Miles from Nowhere," Dayton Duncan travels to all the least populated counties in the continental United States--the frontiers--just about all of which happen to be in the West.
He explains that the definition of "frontier" has to do with how many people live within one square mile, and then he commences to visit all the loneliest, most offbeat, most middle of nowhere spots in the entire country.
What he finds, he writes about in flowing, clear prose, and he does a good job understanding and explaining the lives and lifestyles of the people he meets.
This is the kind of book that makes you pack your bags. It could be dangerous. It could make you load your wife into a car and head out to a mice-infested trailer on some tired patch of Arizona soil where cows block your driveway, your water comes from a windmill, and your nearest neighbor is a gun-toting survivalist who homeschools his kids.
I know it can happen. See my profile for evidence.
The book is worth it alone for its portrait of Alex Joseph, his many wives, and the polygamous citizens of Big Water, Utah. Their group is a subject worthy of whole books, but this is one of the few printed references on them, and Alex Joseph's son told me himself that they consider this book to be almost completely accurate. They like it too.

I read this book several years ago, and it still crosses my mind often. Dayton Duncan is a wonderful author, and you immediately are in the vehicle with him, sitting right along side him and experiencing all the highs and lows of this trip in 3-D. Soon after I read this book, I sought out and read everything else he'd written by then, each of which was a joy to read. If you enjoy road trip books and learning something about the nature of we Americans, you'll not go wrong by reading this book. I've read most other contemporary American road travel books, and this certainly ranks at the very top (along with Bill Bryson's "The Lost Continent"). Get both books, you'll have traveled the length and breath of the country by the time you've finished andyou'll have met some very interesting, fun companions along the way.

A wonderful book and as previous reviews said: terrific reading !
The story is set in times and a culture far away from today's Western reader, but he will immerse and be part of those times and places throughout the time of reading - but also far beyond. While so "living" in a (although only partly) gone-by world with his today's values and judgment as well as prejudices, he realises that he will have to challenge them to be prepared to understand today's world as well.

Richly-drawn characters, fascinating plot, well-paced. The author uses various physical and cultural settings of Asia and India to enrich the reading experience. I've enjoyed this book immensely. I rarely keep books, after I have finished them; this one I will keep and re-read. I recommend it to you for your own reading, and to give as gifts to your reader-friends.

What a good book - wonderful plot with nice twists and turns. I was impressed with this author and loved learning about India during this time period. Some of the reviews have said that you will learn alot about women in purdah - I didn't find this completely accurate. I was expecting much more in that domain, but it was still a really good book.

Mission to Kabul has suspense and rich history - an honorable man to his family and on his mission. This book is hard to put down.

H.Ronkan Lynton has vividly brought us a love story cloaked in the unique culture and politcal atmosphere of India under British rule. Although the story takes place in another century much of the struggles our protaganist faces continue in South East Asia today. Besides being a great read the story is one more step on the ladder of learning more about Eastern cultures. One hopes through reading and understanding we will learn to appreciate our differences.

I recently bought this book before I boarded a flight to Japan and found once I started it, it was hard to put it down. Exciting to read; Ms. Shanebrook has a light and airy writing style that pulls the reader into her life as a model and world traveler. The photos are high quality and very beautiful. Well worth the price.

PS It sounds like the last reviewer must have been a jilted high school boyfriend of pretty Ms. Shanebrook! Cheap Shot!

I enjoyed this book very much and I think you will too! The pictures are nice too! Nice work Jillian.

PS: I'm the only boyfriend Jillian had in high school as far as I know, and I think she is wonderful and so is the book, so any bad reviews were not from me! I had to clear my name. :-)

Thanks :-)

Shanebrook's book is a fantastic read! What a relief to read a travel book that isn't so damn boring! I loved all the stuff about modeling and it was exciting to read about Asia. I've done lots of travelling and normally only read the mainstream guides, but it was great to get an insider's take. I found some great restaurants in Thailand, and have recommended the book to my friends who not only like to travel, but like to have fun. People who travel like adventure, normally, and anybody who likes adventure will loves this book. Great photos!

Jillian Shanebrokk's "Model:Life Behind the Makeup", was a tremendously enjoyable read. This book is filled with adventure and excitement and allows the reader to experience all the breathtaking and exotic places Jillian Shanebrook visits through her extremely vivid and sensual writing.
It is a tale about truly going after your dreams and reading this book reminds you and inspires you.
A popular model in Asia, and voted one of the top two covergirls in Indonesia, Jillian Shanebrook shares this luxurious world with us but describes it through her down to earth, humorous, and perceptive eyes. Her voice is unique and irresistible. Her style is free and playful.
Jillian Shanebrook never takes herself too seriously but she does take her dreams serously and this is contagious. I didn't want the book to end but reading it made me want to go out live adventures like her. I can't recommend this book enough.

This was a great read. I brought it along with me on vacation and I read the whole thing cover to cover before I got home. It's a behind-the-scenes look at a model's life, from her start in Indonesia to traveling all over. The model, Jillian, seems very down-to-earth and introspective about life. Her story makes me want to have my own adventure...

A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome was published in 1992 and replaced the 1929 Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome which had become dated (the text of that is in the public domain). The book gives an excellent introduction to all of the monuments in the city of Ancient Rome.It has appropriate diagrams etc and an excellent bibliography. It - along with the Oxford Classical Dictionary - is a must for a library of those interested in Ancient Rome and is suited for both classical students plus interested lay readers.

I have lived in Rome for 12 years and have become an avid enthusiast of ancient Roman history. History is inextricably connected to physical locations. The Topographical Guide has proven to be invaluable. There is not one location in Rome that I have looked up that I did not find. The who, what, when, where and why of the location is concisely and clearly presented in a very easy reading style. I consider it a must for any student or enthusiast of Ancient Rome.

There is a wealth of fascinating textual information in this book, together with about a hundred illustrations, mostly architectural plans or fragments of the ancient marble plan. The author states that it was a deliberate decision not to include drawings or photographs, since these are available in Nash's Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome -- but that work is very rare and expensive. His decision is understandable, but it is harder to account for the complete absence of maps. A couple of flyleaf maps of the ancient and modern city would have been very helpful in orienting the reader.

This is definitely worth the money. It is a very, very detailed work with many references to things I'd never even heard of. I've successfully used it as a reference for several papers, and recommend it to anyone-- especially classicists who're interested in the finer points of Rome's architecture, geography, and history. This is an excellent way to learn more about less common aspects of Rome, as well as the big things like the Pantheon, etc.

All in all, it's an excellent reference and a great read as well-- I highly recommend it.

With this magnificent work in hand one can read the ancient historians and understand what you are reading, street by street, site by site. New information and research has been presented in the 60 plus years since the last dictionary of ancient Rome, and it makes this new topographical tome so exciting. If you are going to Rome and have a strong arm as well as a strong interest in what was where and when, then this admittedly heavyweight book will not be too much to take along. Perhaps most fascinating are those wonderful maps which present past and present on sites long lost to the avid Roman visitor. You may not see what was there by looking at the present site, but you can understand what was there better with this book. For the college student who may be planning a career or a deep interest in classical Rome, this book will be worth the price many times over! Best of all is the list of all the classical references for each building, site, or even, in some cases, statues or adornments. This book is more than a gift of scholarship, it is a gift of love of the history of Rome and for all those who will come along in the future to study it.

I love the way Toni Mirosevich's mind works-- her leaps and associations, her amazing metaphors, her wit and her honesty. Some essays are narratives with unforgettable characters, such as the homeless man with a hole in his chest. Other pieces meander, dip and dive into material rich in images, ideas, feelings. I particularly enjoyed Mirosevich's essay about an unusual acquisition of a Victorian dining table which explores everything from aging and loneliness to gentrification and greed. And her essays about her visit to Croatia, where her grandmother was born, are very powerful. Toni Mirosevich is wise and compassionate and very very funny. Read this book; it's a treasure.

Toni Mirosevich writes, "All we have is what we can conjure." And in the hands of this writer, she conjures far beyond expectation. In each essay, she lets herself linger, ponder, to ask questions and suddenly you are far from where you thought she was going to take you. But you are exactly where you want to be-- surprised, delighted by a narrative that is quick with humor and wit and heart.

What I like about this book is how the author lays out the details of both remembered events and current situations in which she finds herself and then allows perspective to transform them. The short narratives act like prisms reflecting rays of thinking into unexpected places. Like all good writers she makes this seem easy. She will take you from a place next to her at the childhood table sharing fish stew and the vicissitudes of family life to a more perspicacious realm where the grown-up voice has a tale to tell. Good book to pick up and start anywhere!

Pink Harvest is a wonderful collection of short stories by Toni Mirosevich, San Franciscan poet and writer. In narratives that describe her search for cultural roots, growing up in the Croatian community in the Pacific Northwest, exploration of family relationships, spirituality and superstition, the growing pains of adolescence, and the stresses of everyday adult life, Mirosevich provides readers with a view of the human condition that is poignant and all too recognizable.

You must buy this book. I'd pre-ordered it here at Amazon, and when it arrived, I tore into it greedily and was done in a matter of hours. Toni's writing is like that for me. On occasion, I'll stumble across her work in San Francisco Chronicle Magazine--and I recognized some of the pieces in this book as having been originally published there--and I can count on having the same basic response to whatever yarn she may be spinning: towards the end of the piece, there'll be a sudden flash of insight. (Call it an epiphany if you must.) Sometimes it's pleasant; sometimes it's disturbing. Regardless, whatever it was that struck me will stay with me all day, and I'll keep coming back to it, turning the idea over in my head, no matter how whimsical the insight may've been.

Pink Harvest is a series of short creative nonfiction pieces, linked together either thematically or chronologically, or even loosely linked by a word that reverberates into the next story. Toni Mirosevich's brush reaches fairly broad--to Italy, Croatia, the Pacific Northwest, San Francisco, to home just south of the city along the Pacific Coast. Yet the book feels remarkably close; that's how brilliantly Toni is able to paint her world and bring you right into the very foreground. She writes about encounters with people: friends who grow apart, friends who come back together, friends who reveal a secret kept hidden for years. She writes about family: a political discussion with mom, or dad, who ekes out a living from the sea, yet recognizes how wealthy they are when he can show his daughter a small herd of white deer. Largely unsuccessful at prying out of her mother her Nana's stories of the Old Country, Toni seeks out the past in returning to Croatia (meanwhile cringing after the break-up of the Soviet Union that her name, Mirosevich, is so close to Milosevic, which leads to ruminations on violence and guns.) There's also the old man who dies in her neighborhood, leaving behind a home no one knew harbored a million-dollar view. Then there's the spat with his daughter over a writing table she originally hadn't wanted. Toni's partner, Shotsy, a nurse, always hovers on the edges, entering and exiting the narratives, but some of the stories must have come from conversations over dinner, after work: There's the story of the broken, alcoholic ex-Marine who torments his family. The unexpected, underlying message is simply to cherish them, to love them more. But lest that sound schmaltzy, elsewhere in Mirosevich's world, upside-down paintbrushes in a jar can become a heart-stopping insult.

Toni's prose is straightforward yet beautiful, never precious but dead-on descriptive. The book never sags or loses momentum. Every single story holds a surprise. These tales of happenstance capture, I think, what Virginia Woolf meant by "moments of being."

As I said, you must buy this book. Or buy two. Keep one and pass the other along. I also highly recommend another book of Toni's, Queer Street.

Writer Rob Campbell gives us a personal look at the important place in our lives that our cars occupy. Who doesn't think back to the car we drove in high school, what car our first boyfriend took us to the prom in, what car we bought after getting that first great job; we choose cars as an expression of ourselves as much as the clothes we choose or the foods we eat. The writer's examination of the connection between self and self-expression are fascinating, and all too true.

For the non-car obsessed a facinating, introspective journey. For those who's cars are a bodily extension, a must-read. The first chapter, 'Sun, Fun, Stay, Play' really captures all the searing pain of growing up in Bakersfield, inside and outside of your cruising car.

A lovely book that does a satisfying job of blurring the lines between memoir, journalism, and quirky meditation. Expresses the ineluctable emotion we all feel for our cars, past and present that we sometimes mistake for materialism.

As a reader who is obsessed with books, orchids, and technology -- it is not hard to imagine how one can be obsessed about cars. In fact, at a younger age I would have categorized myself as such, until I read this book. Now I know what it really means to be "obsessed!"

Campbell uses these essays to enlighten, tease, rant and mostly entertain. It is a thoroughly American journey that runs the spectrum from Angst to Zen. Highly recommended.

I am not a big reader, so the agent of this book told me to start with a brief section on page 134 (called "Breakdown #2). I was blown away. Campbell, the author, is HIV-positive, but totally enlightened and enlightening. He's hilarious, but also warm and honest and accepting. MUST READ for anyone HIV-pos or anyone who knows anyone HIV-pos.

Catherine has the unique ability to transport you with her words.....you feel the story coming alive....and you want nothing more than to go to these places and experience them yourself.

Upon opening the package I had received, my breath was taken away when I discovered the magnificent cover of the Roads Less Traveled: Dispatches from the Ends of the Earth. The glorious Taj Mahal awaited me-but this time with a perspective off the beaten path.
This book offers various in-depth tales from far-off lands around the globe that many of us do not have the chances to visit much less feel a part of. With the Roads Less Traveled, the reader is offered the opportunity to globetrot without a passport-to feel the cold Antarctic winds, the heat of Honduras and to experience an Andean Trek. For those domestic tales, readers may reminisce about stories of their own, but have a new twist on past experiences.
Many kudos to Ms. Watson on this book!!
Hopefully there are future excerpts and essays to come!

Nominated for a prestigious Minnesota Book Award, 2006

"A tourist goes away but a travel writer comes back and tells others about the trip."

For 30 years (1978 to 2004) as travel writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune (where these columns first appeared), Catherine Watson takes us traveling. If traveling to you is only things you see, then you will find this book "too soft." Watson takes us to visit the people and each area's oddities (that's a good thing) or uniqueness.

The chapters are each a column titled and dated so you get a historical reference as well. This is the perfect book if you have only small bursts of reading time.

The cover is of the magnificent Taj Mahal in India. The building is captured in her wonderful descriptions of sites and sounds there. Now I know the history: Taj was the beloved and adored wife of the Shah, and at her untimely death, he had the Taj Mahal built across the river from the palace so he could look at it every day.

With Watson we travel the world to these places and dozens more:

-- Visiting Vietnam and its people in 1996, 20 years after the "American war," as they call it, ended there. She saw abandoned American military trucks now fully engaged in their commerce.

-- Getting a cleansing/cure/healing in Sonora, Mexico.

-- Renting a villa in Acapulco.

-- Crossing into East Germany in 1995 where the second language for most adults is Russian (not the English of West Germans). Here she writes about the spectacular glass-blown Christmas ornaments and the families who've made them for generations.

-- Polar bears in Churchill, Canada, where she gets up close and personal with nature.

In 1996 she even wrote about Minnesota, her and my home state. She was the tour guide for a visiting journalist from Holland to whom Minnesota was America as she had not visited any other city.

Watson has seen and done things I've always wanted to--and things I'd never be brave enough to attempt--and everything in between.

Armchair Interviews says: Travelers (those who go and those who dream of going) will love Roads Less Traveled: Dispatches From the Ends of the Earth. The book is really more about the people who happen to live in destinations admired by tourists.

Roads Less Traveled: Dispatches from the Ends of the Earth is a collection of travel essays by Catherine Watson, the chief travel columnist and photographer of the Minneapolis "Star Tribune" newspaper from 1978 to 2004. Divided into segments that devote a short and sweet 4-10 pages or so to each destination, Roads Less Travels recount highlights of the author's journeys to Spain, India, Mexico City, Vietnam, Australia, Bhutan, Antarctica, Kilimanjaro, and many more exciting and far-off places. A truly eclectic and fun compilation of the sights, sounds, smells, and one-of-a-kind experiences present all around the world.

I love Catherine Watson's stories because she strikes a perfect balance between lyricism and accessibility, and between the personal and universal. There's room for the reader in her sometimes tender, sometimes brave stories of world (and backyard) travel. The pieces, which originally ran the Star Tribune Travel section, are short in length, but long on beauty and insight. If you haven't read Watson's work, try it. It's a satisfying antidote to the overhyped, PR-driven world of travel writing.

I've read a lot of motorcycle travel stories, and done sone travelling myself in africa on a motorcycle. But this story is a great novel and a great journey. Better than e.g. Jupiters Travels.

What a shockingly delightful and profoundly moving book! Not only is Bealby a highly accomplished adventure motorcyclist, he proves to be a most estimable writer -- call him Mathiessen on a motorcycle. I've read plenty of ham-handed motorcycle adventure accounts; this one is of the highest caliber, on par with Robert Fulton Jr.'s "One Man Caravan."

Bealby chronicles his heroic odyssey on a Yamaha Tenere through unforgiving regions of Africa with humility and gratitude. You'll find no chest-beating or tedious complaints here. The work is gorgeously written, richly textured, and acutely observant of both man and nature. Seductive, sensory, lyrical, and rhapsodic, this book immerses you in exotic -- even surreal -- territory with superb grace. Motorcyclist or not, you will revel in this awesome adventure.

Proving his literary virtuosity, Bealby expertly weaves the tragic tale of the death of his beloved Mel throughout his ultimately cathartic and redemptive account. A truly magical work. Buy it. Three cheers to Jonny Bealby!

There are many books in the motorcycle adventure travel genre, but few have been written by someone who is a good writer. Jonny Bealby does a great job of relating his journey across Africa from the northern deserts to the tropical jungles on a Yamaha Tenere with an appropriate mix of story telling, philosophy, and motorcycling. This book is the same league as "Obsessions Die Hard" by Ed Culberson in terms of adventure, entertainment and readability. Highly recommended for the armchair adventurer!

I have two main hobbies, off road motorcycling and reading, so when i bought RUNNING WITH THE MOON, i knew i was onto a winner and would enjoy it even before i had turned a page. From the tragic prologue to the epilogue after his incredible journey is over this book is a real rollercoaster of emotions (sorry about the cliche , but its true). You almost feel like you were there, and i wished i could have been to assist him when the bike got bogged down in thigh high water filled jungle tracks ,i know from experience what its like to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with a broken down bike. But then again there is a BIG difference between the middle of nowhere in the Yorkshire Dales, and the middle of nowhere in the Congo!(no gorillas in Yorkshire!). I also wanted to buy him a drink to cheer him up when he was stood up in Cairo, although that did eventually have a happy outcome. Initially i bought this book because of my interest in motorcycles, but non bikers dont be put off, i can heartily recommend it to anyone with a sense of adventure. Excellent!

"Running with the Moon," an autobiography by JonnyBealby recounts the adventures of a man on a motorbike travellingthrough Africa in hopes of finding insights and answers to his lifeafter the sudden death of his fiance. What makes this book so notable is the fact that a journey of the sort undertaken by the author would be impossible in todays age due to the political state of the majority of African countries in the present. After the death of his fiance while travelling in Kashmir Jonny Bealby returns to an England which is not the same. Day to day life having changed into a struggle of lost hopes and loves. Challenged by this austere new world and compounded by his confusion he decides to undertake a journey across Africa apon a motorcycle. Accompanied by his best friend Neil, the two prepare for their journey and set off, a Yamaha Tenere under each...A fascinating insight into the beauty and sadness of a man who uncovers Africa for the reader and once again reclaims the peices of himself lost to him by past tragedies. Defianitely a must for the reader with a soft side for travel and adventure.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has lived or is contemplating on moving to Europe. Alex's highlights of his family adaptation to a new country and culture provide a great sense of the emotional and operational adjustments that anyone new to a country will likely experience.

I was an ex-pat from the US to Germany and found it quite amusing how similar his experiences were with my own. Everyday is a wonderful new experience- some frustrating some very amusing- overall a must do if you have an opportunity to live somewhere else in the world for a period of time.

It is a very quick read- I read it on a flight from West to East Coast.

ENJOY!!

I have read many travel books about short visits to Spain, and I have seen books for individuals planning to move permanently to Spain, but this book is the only one I have found that addresses the needs of individuals traveling to Spain for 4 months to a year.

This interesting and easy to read book is the true story of an American family which relocates temporarily to Spain. The chapters include useful information about Spanish customs, culture and history, punctuated by charming stories of the family members' adjustment to life in Madrid.

A Sabbatical in Madrid: A Diary of Spain will help the temporary resident "hit the ground running," with enough basic information that he can establish himself quickly and make the most of his experience in Spain. I recommend it to students who will be studying in Spain (and to their parents) and to teachers and business people who will be living and working temporarily in Spain.

Written in diary form, Macario's book is a great read! I have only spent limited time in Madrid but have toured large sections of the country. As a result, I found it difficult to put the book down as I found myself reading about places I had been and things that I had done. I too shopped at Corte Inglés and brought home Mephisto shoes. I too became curious about bull-fighting and its lore. Nevertheless, the potential reader should not look at this as an insider's book. On the contrary, once one gets over the intimacy of experiencing this family's daily life and experiences, with which everyone can identify, there is a cornucopia of information written in a very easy-to-read format. There are so many varied glimpses of the author's reactions to things that they experienced and places they went, as well as a compelling description of daily life as albeit temporary transplants in Madrid. The details are what make it fascinating. It is a travelogue as well as a fascinating story of family life. Who would not be anxious and then gratified to learn that the small children's initial antagonism to a strange place and strange school, with people saying things they did not understand, would gradually give way to relative fluency and enjoyment of the madrileño way of life? I highly recommend this to anyone about to spend time abroad with their family, and to anyone thinking of visiting Spain for more than a day or two. ¡Vale la pena!

Excellent book: useful and very instructive and entertaining. A must read for anybody planning a visit to Spain of one day, one week, or one year. The longer the planned visit the more necessary it will become to read the book for learning about Madrid as part of Spain, and about Spain as part of Europe. This is one of the book's most remarkable strengths: it teaches us about the city and the country in a way that helps us to understand them, their peoples, and also Europe and Europeans. The book is a cornucopia of practical tips as well as insights on many things (from the Euro currency to favorite sports, and politics, and bullfights) a traveler must know when visiting a European country, Spain in this case. I think entertaining and instructive are the best words to describe this book. For example, the visit to the Museum of Queen Sofia in Madrid and the description of El Guernica (the famous painting by Picasso) and the author's reaction to it are extremely powerful and helpful for those who want to see the picture for the first or the nth time. The same can be said about his visit to El Prado and his comments about Las Meninas and Dali's paintings. In addition, the book contains innumerable passages useful for visitors who want to see the essentials in several other cities beyond Madrid. The book should be of particular interest to first-time travelers since it addresses their typical needs, affinities, and fears while providing clues on how to deal with them. The book is also a unique resource for those who have children and plan to stay for a while.

I found "A Sabbatical in Madrid" to be a delightful combination of anecdotal descriptions and interesting factual tidbits. Although I myself have lived in Madrid I still learned a few new bits of trivia which further added to my enjoyment of the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Spain. Those who have already had the pleasure of visiting there will nostalgically smile upon reading of favorite places in Madrid and the side-trips to Segovia, Toledo and elsewhere. People who have not yet traveled to this wonderful country will get a sense of life in Madrid which will likely increase their interest in planning a journey there to experience it first-hand.

There is often a schism between our everyday life and our dreams of someday. Someday often stays out reach of us like an carrot on a stick until circumstances that would have allowed the dream no longer exist. Michael Burke gently opens the someday window and steps through. He takes you with him. He gives a balanced and real look at what is on the other side. He speaks with a fine voice that puts you in the raft, in his head, till you smell the wet stuff and feel the angst. He makes a case for making someday happen while you can. He tells a tale that made me look forward to the quiet part of the evening, after the kids were in bed, so I could be back on the river again. The Same River Twice is fertile ground to plant you own someday seeds in. I found it an inspriation.

I guess I am lucky to be attending Univeristy of Maine at Farmington, where a lot of non fiction writing has come from recently (Gretchen Legler AND Michael Burke).
I went to Professor Burkes reading last night and it was so fun. His book is full of humor, at least, the passages he read were. I haven't read the whole book (yet).
But from what I heard, I am buying it and I would recommend it!

I read this book almost in one sitting. Micheal Burke tells a good story and gives the reader the feeling of being on the river and experiencing the beauty of situation while taking us along on his own personal journey. Very good read!

What happens to white-water guides when they leave the rivers? Michael Burke gives us one answer: they never leave the rivers, and the rivers never leave them. Burke's story is part memoir, part "road trip," and part love story about the wild places that "can't be improved by changes." His tale of a 1991 trip down the wildest of British Columbia's rivers is one hundred percent enjoyment.

Having guided seasonally since he was a college student, Burke at thirty-eight was married, a professor at a college in Maine, with a baby on the way. This ambitiously planned trip was a three-week-long pilgrimage to the places where a distant relative, Sid Barrington, had lived a life of legend on the wild rivers of long ago. Burke, along with a stranger named Max whose only qualification was availability, set out with an ancient rubber raft, a heavy load of gear, a rifle in case of bears, and jury-rigged arrangements with bush pilots. From this unpromising start, Mike and Max had a soul-stirring experience in this "humbling land."

Putting in by plane to breathtaking Chutine Lake, they worked their way down glacier-fed rivers with wild names: the Chutine, the Stikine, the Sheslay, the Taku. Along the way they encountered black bears, grizzlies, moose, and on one memorable evening a wolf with two pups. Burke's deep love of the challenging terrain is evident throughout the book.

Stories of the old river runner, Sid, are woven in, along with some hair-raising stories of Burke's younger days as a guide; a wild, adrenaline-saturated life that he remembers with affection at this settling-down time of life. Thoughts of his pregnant wife are with him always but he was unable to resist the pull of the river.

Why do this crazy, dangerous thing? Burke writes about the meaning of memory as a defining concept; about freedom and control. But mostly it's because he loves the rivers. "Rivers," he writes, "are an experience of time. The river is more human than the ocean, limited like humans are, yet sweeping forward in its implacable way, like time itself sweeping past. We are proportioned to rivers..."

Have you ever stood on the slope of a mountain and felt its age and power? Looked up into the weird blue ice of a glacier and heard its deep voice? Or even felt the edge of a river on your ankles and known that it flowed according to forces older than time? Then you should read this book. The geography is bewildering but just put in at the beginning and let the current take you to the end, rapids and all. You're sure to feel the awe and beauty of the planet's wild places. Go there, even if it's just in a book.

Linda Bulger, 2008

This work is a delightful memoir that is a pleasure reading, starting from the first page, right along to the last word of the last page. This is the story of a man; a middle aged man at the time the story takes place, and at the same time is a history lesson, a journey of enlightenment, and a tour into one of the truly wild areas left in North America. It is also, and most importantly, a very insightful look at human nature.

The author, Michael Burke, dropped out of the University of California-Berkeley, and became, through faking his lack of experience, a white water river guide. Burke has apparently been guiding now for over thirty five years. The author obviously continued his education, as he now teaches at a University, and beyond a doubt, the guy can certainly write. In 1991, when the author was 38, he found himself with a pregnant wife, two step-children, an academic career, living in Maine and driving a station wagon. Now, although the author does not admit to the fact, it is pretty obvious he is probably losing some of his hair, getting less muscle tone than he had when he was twenty, and, most importantly,(again, not really stated)is feeling rather trapped. Gosh, it does not take much of a creative leap to figure out that a gigantic mid-life crises is about to descend on this poor guy. This is okay though, at least Burke faced his crises with class, like a man, and did not go the route of gold chains around his neck, a little sports car, a poor comb-over and chase twenty year old undergrads around campus; something we see all too frequently. Rather, he returned to the roots of his youth, the river!

The Same River Twice is the story of Michael Burke's journey down three rivers in the Canadian Wilderness of British Columbia. Using his old river raft, a left over from his youth, and in the company of a relative stranger, a fellow adventurer, who was chasing his own demons, the author starts on a very poorly planned adventure. The premise of the trip is to find and trace the territory traveled by distant relative of the author's, who himself was a famous river man during the Klondike glory days at the turn of the century. The author feels a connection with this long dead river man and wants to strengthen this connection with information. The story Michael tells of his trip is interwoven with stories of this old river man mixed with tales of the author's own glory days as a professional guide on some of the most famous white water rivers in North America. This three section story is wonderfully intertwined and the author has the ability to make you feel you are in all three eras with him, as he physically and mentally journeys through them.

Burke's ability as a descriptive writer is truly wonderful. His true love for the wilderness, for the wild places in our planet, for wildlife, solitude and yes, danger, comes shinning through on every page. You can actually squint in your mind's eye, as you read his prose and picture what he is seeing as he writes. The author makes a point that this sort of thing, once experienced, never quite leaves your blood. Great bodies of water have been apart of our souls throughout time...once you are hooked, you are hooked for life.

This work is truly a satisfying read, one of the better reads I have had in sometime now. I will quite likely give this one a second going over down the road. I must admit that I would love for this author to give us another book, telling of his adventures on the other rivers that he ran while learning his trade. The author can be quite humorous at times and I suspect was and is quite good at camp fire stories. It would be a delight to read some of them. NOTE: There seems to be a great deal of nonfiction writing coming out of Maine right now, and has been over the past few years. To be quite frank, the only thing I really knew about Maine was that they had Moose, potatoes, had a good store to order clothes from, and made good canoes...now I find the place is full of good writers...go figure.