Travelogue Books

It's been more than ten years since I read Cherry-Garrard's account of Scott's journey to Antarctica, but I can still feel the lung-searing cold and hear the hellish, monstrous wind coming out of the center of the continent into which the journey was headed. I have never read of anything more terrible than this expedition including Shackleton's truncated Antarctic nightmare and Lewis and Clark's astonishing and dangerous overland haul from St. Louis to the Pacific.

This particular expedition was one terrible misadventure after another almost from the very start when there is a storm at sea right out of the gate as the ship carrying everyone and everything from Tierra del Fuego is swamped and so much food, materiel, and livestock are lost overboard. From there the bad luck never seems to stop. The very fact that these men continued on under circumstances that would have discouraged and then defeated most human beings is almost past credibility. In particular I remember the constant breaking down of the diesel-engined snow cats, the terrible fate of the Asian ponies, the leopard seals, and the long dark impossible trip that Garrard and one other member of the expedition take in the dead of the Antarctic winter to the Emperor Penguin breeding grounds to retrieve a few precious eggs for science. In winter. In the dark. Wearing 1911 woolen clothes, eating preseved 1911 food, and using 1911 (non-)technology. It took 1911 men to do it. I cannot imagine anyone from our time doing this with that equipment. At times I simply had to stop reading and wonder just how much more hardship human beings could stand. I've never felt so physically uncomfortable, so drained and so worried (as a mere reader!) as I was ploughing through this book which was a feat (the writing of it) in itself.

This is a story about a long-vanished era where grit and determination were measured on a different scale from what we see today. An absolute must for any lover of true adventure. It truly was the worst journey in the world against which any subsequent missioin of its kind - including extra-terrestrial - must be judged.

This book is the author's account of his own journey to find the Emperor penguins nesting grounds in the Antarctic winter, set into the context of Scott's final journey to the South Pole.

As should any really good book, it opened doors to new learning, as it informed about a subject about which I previously knew little, with interest level to match.

What struck me most is reading about unusual Antarctic ice melt conditons nearly 100 years ago, when human-induced 'global warming' could not have been an issue, at least so far as vehicle (and aircraft) pollution is concerned. I could be wrong, of course, but I began to see a bigger picture. That global warming is real and that polluting is bad are givens; that we can do much about the former is likely a conceit.

Also fascinating were the accounts of the nature of killer whales: Prior to this, I had assumed all killer whales were the loveable scamps shown in marine theme parks. Now? I give them a wide berth.

Apsley-Garrard's high regard for his fellow explorers and his gift for description make this book a joy to read. I only wish the editor/publisher had included (preferably inside the front or back cover) a proper map or graphic listing the place names mentioned in the text. The reader has to keep guessing, flipping or seeking out another map source to follow the journeys.

National Geographic ranks this book first on its list of the 100 greatest adventure books of all time. Also, see the DVD March of the Penguins, for the excellent 53-minute film on the making of the movie. This will give some idea of current challenges on a Winter Journey.

In 1911-1912 the author as a young man was part of the ill fated
Robert Falcon Scott British Expedition to be the "first" at the South Pole. The larger history of that effort's limited success and the stories of the lives lost is a well told as historical fact. Within the book lies the Chapter about the author's effort with two other companions to travel in a winter journey for the purpose of observing Emperor penguins in their nesting rookeries. This is the coldest journey "on record" with howling winds at -70 degrees f under total darkness climbing between open crevasses that were endlessly deep to retrieve a few unhatched eggs for scientific research. Once you've read this author's rendition of that "worst journey" no other adventure travelog can compare. Good reading and most unforgettable.

Apsley Cherry-Garrard was only 24 when he set out on Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition. He was the youngest member of the group and, for my money, the best qualified for the later task of writing the complete story. Why? The Worst Journey in the World is an awe-inspiring adventure, told in such a way that you feel the young man's wide-eyed wonder as your own.

Very few novels have gripped and excited me as this book has, and far fewer nonfiction works. Cherry--as his friends called him--writes with a vigor and attention to detail and drama usually reserved for thrillers. The blizzards, storms at sea, killer whale attacks, sub-zero temperatures, and exhausting struggles with sled dogs, ponies, and yawning crevasses are vividly depicted. By the end of the book, you almost feel as though you've been on the journey with him. The "you are there" phenomenon is something I encounter very seldom in a book. This book actually managed to make me cold.

The Worst Journey in the World is not solely devoted to the adventure and the final tragedy of finding Scott and his men frozen to death. Cherry takes time out to comment on the scientific significance of their work in Antarctica, of the need for exploration regardless of immediate results, and, in conclusion, of why Scott's return from the Pole ended so bitterly. These sections of the work put the adventure into perspective, so that not only do you experience the good and bad times with the expedition, you learn what ideals drove them and what was at stake with every piece of bad luck.

The book isn't perfect, of course. Some of the scientific information Cherry relates is, of course, now outdated. The book starts off rather slowly, and the reader must pick up and remember the names of the other expeditionary members on their own--Cherry does not list or describe the others in detail until somewhere near the middle of the book.

That said, The Worst Journey in the World is still an outstanding nonfiction adventure. Once I started this book I could read nothing else. Anyone with an interest in the Antarctic, history, or exploration in general will find this book fascinating.

Highly recommended.

What is Los Angeles? The utopical golden land of new beginnings or the ruinous end of the American dream? It is both, as this anthology will show. A precious book for everyone looking for a comprehensive collection of the manifold ideas and representations Los Angeles has inspired through its history, "Writing Los Angeles" comprises two centuries of great literature. From William Faulkner to Joan Didion, from Nathanael West to James Ellroy, every great author shows a different aspect of the City of Angels: City of noir, city of apocalypse, city of pictures, city of dreams and nigthmare, "autopia", "lost world" and what else?
I found this anthology pretty useful and inspiring. Though not all voices are heard with the same intensity, it comprehends works by novelists, architects, journalists, urbanists. There are American voices and European voices, angry ones and enthusiastic ones. A must-be for every kind of audience.

Compiled and edited by David L. Ulin, Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology is a unique and diverse collection of fiction, poetry, essays, journalism, diaries, and more, contributed by over seventy writers (ranging from William Faulkner, M.F.K. Fisher, and Bertolt Brecht, to Ray Bradbury, Norman Mailer, and Tom Wolfe), and showcasing the "City of Angels". Through varied eyes, the teeming and diverse West Coast metropolis manifests its best and its worst during its eventful history as Writing Los Angeles explores a wide range of issues and events ranging from the post World War I economic boom to recent and nationally televised violence. A very highly recommended compendium of artistic, emotional, severe, gritty, nostalgic, and clear-eyed literary pieces, Writing Los Angeles vividly brings a city and its people to life throughout the generations.

Los Angeles has always meant/will always be/is many things to many people. Some write it off as the City of Pilates-loving, Yoga meditating, Chai Tea Consuming Crack Pots. Well, yes...it is that and so much more as exemplified in the mind expanding, colossally comprehensive, edited by David Ulin: "Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology." That so many important writers have deemed Los Angeles as appropriate subject matter, both positive and negative, only supports the notion that the City of the Angels "gets" to everyone who comes in contact with it. Some like Faulkner and Fitzgerald came to Hollywood late in their careers and left disillusioned to say the least while Nathanael West and James M. Cain thrived and wrote some of their best stuff here.
"Writing Los Angeles" is exhaustively researched and some of the expected writers are represented here: Cain, West, Ellroy, Didion but what of Simone De Beauvoir and Umberto Eco? Probably the most important thing Ulin has done is introduce us to SoCal writers we didn't know or of whom we've forgotten: D.J. Waldie or Ruben Martinez, for example.
If nothing else, Ulin has proven that Los Angeles is fertile ground for the creation of writing of the highest order. And for this, we Los Angelenos are forever in his debt.

"definitive" is a an overused adjective... but this volume is indeed just that. ulin's winning (and sometimes surprising) selection of material captures the breadth and depth of a literary milieu artfully and evenhandledly. (ulin must be uniquely well read and/or uniquely familiar with his material - some of his choices, e.g. robert towne's intro to chinatown screenplay, are fun just to consider in a potentially crusty dusty Lirbrary of America anthology). forget the heavy intellectual (and physical!) weight of this tome -- this is no door stop or boat anchor, its a joyous sojourn in the searing sun. brevity, clarity and wit!

The Yogurt Man Cometh by Kevin Revolinski is a wonderful travelogue/memoir. Revolinski, an American from Wisconsin, decides to become an English teacher at a private school in Ankara. He spends a year there at Büyük Kolej in the Gaziosmanpaa section of Ankara, quite close to where I used to live. He describes school life which reminded me of my own middle school-high school days at a similar school in Ankara. The Ankara he describes is of the late 90s and while much has changed since the days I was there, many things appear to have remained the same. I enjoyed reading his descriptions of living in Ankara as well as the sightseeing trips he took to various parts of the country. He paints a vivid picture of Turkey, the people, the culture, the food, and the book is full of warmth and humor.

This has got to be one of the most informative books on the adventure of teaching in Turkey -- and the funniest, too. Hopefully the author will write more!

"The Yogurt Man Cometh: Tales Of An American Teacher In Turkey" is Kevin Revolinski's memoir of what he saw and did as a faculty member of a private school In Ankara, Turkey, where he taught English to classroom students from 1997 to 1998. Kevin combines and chronicles his many adventures traveling as well as his memorable teaching experiences. Writing with an impressive candor about encountering Turkish culture, having cope with a new language, explorations of seeming timeless and surreal landscapes, making lasting friendships, even his attempts at cross-cultural flirtation and acquiring a taste for 'raki', "The Yogurt Man Cometh" is an entertaining as it is informative - as well as being especially recommended reading for anyone considering embarking upon their own business or recreational trip to Turkey.

Kevin Revolinski's first day in Turkey as an English teacher is spent trying to make two Turkish yogurt salesmen understand that he doesn't really want to buy six kilos of yogurt. Intrigued? The adventures only get more interesting and personal from then on: from trying to teach Turkish children English while simultaneously learning about futbol and Turkish pop stars from them, to traveling in Syria and suffering a rather nasty bout of amoebic dysentery, Revolinski offers a no-holds-barred look at a country that doesn't get nearly enough attention in the travel writing canon. A quick, fun read, and one guaranteed to make you hungry for travel and new experiences.

I read & collect everything I can find on hunting in Africa. I rate this as one of the best of the modern books on the subject.

It is beautifully illustrated, nicely bound, and well-written - it is hard to believe an officer actually wrote this! (Tongue-in-cheek here.) It is both informative and entertaining.

I hope it is a great seller for Donarski and for Stackpole. It is good to see them putting out a book like this.

I'm not a big-game hunter and am not interested in becoming one, but I knew I would love this book when I read an excerpt in Sports Afield. Hunters will find much to admire in it, but it is about much more than hunting. The author proves himself an amiable, enthusiastic, reliable, and knowledgeable companion as he blends his compelling stories with a great deal of useful information about traveling to and within Africa. He manages to do it all with skillful literary touches and enough light-hearted moments to keep a reader chuckling. And he never blows smoke up your skirt. This is the straight dope -- and it conjures up the sights, sounds, and smells of one of the planet's most magical places.

David Graham of the Flint Journal was the critic who recommended this book. He said it brought back the verve and honor to the safari genre. He couldn't have been more correct.

This book is not just for hunters-- it is for anyone looking for an adventure tale that occurs in real time. Sure, there's good stuff for travelers to Africa to know, but the meat of this book is the journey. It is simply very well done.

Oh, the photography is stunning. It should have been a coffee table book simply for the quality of the photos.

Africa veterans will remember their first trip with smiles and tears, Africa virgins will have their dreams burn all the brighter.

Wow! For someone like me who could never get into technical articles and books about the Internet, Ralf Hirt's 8W8 Global Space Tribes is as refreshing as a cool breeze in Death Valley.

I found myself thinking I was one of the characters in the novel waking up in EA-RA and sitting down for breakfast wondering what new insights, digital or otherwise, waited to be revealed to me that day. It made me think what different ideas I might have come up with if I had been sitting down at the table with the Golden Skyers.

I read 8W8 on a flight from New York City to LA. I was doing the Okay Fellow trip in reverse. It was almost spooky as when I began looking down and trying to put myself in his position. I began wondering what it was that I was seeing. All of a sudden, I realized that I had always had a nagging feeling that what I had been seeing wasn't really what it appeared to be. By the time we circled in from the ocean into LAX, I had stopped thinking LA as a basin and, instead, I was seeing it as a huge mountain with a large base rising higher than Everest. I remember thinking it was a good thing that the pilot was back in Web 2, because we might have crashed right into that mountain.

Before 8W8, I had never understood the future of the Internet so clearly and what it meant to me personally or the world in particular.

R. Arnold

"8W8 Global Space Tribes" leads us trough a flattened pre-Columbian InterWorld which defines the next metamorphosis of the Internet Web 3, and perhaps beyond. Rather than following a convoluted trail through a multidimensional world, the writer brings us to one spot, a vortex where all aspects of our physical world come together; where each individual identifies her or himself as a member of a tribe. Members of these tribes can be living in the Amazon, the Urals or Nebraska, however, more than a common mindset knits these tribes together: they share a common weltanschauung.

Using the clever device of a helicopter (8W8 Heli), resources, markets and capital flow can be mapped like rain water forming rivulets; then streams, rivers and, ultimately oceans. For me as a businessperson and a fan of new technologies, this book has been awesome since it reveals what, hithertofore, had been invisible... the "Golden" flow.

Ralf Hirt's 8W8 Global Space Tribes goes beyond the concept of a flat
world, it draws the reader into a virtual "What if?" reality. What if
the Internet could be used to erase national borders and
ethno-cultural divides creating entirely new social systems... global
space tribes!

Taking a ride in Hirt's 8W8 Global Space Tribes' Helicopter is more
than experiencing the Web 3.0 envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee as "an
overlay of scalable vector graphics (with) everything rippling and
folding and looking misty:" it's entering a 5-D world where Time and
Space serve as connective tissue further compressing an already
flattened world.

Eschewing technical jargon that could alienate the average
non-techgeek, Hirt, instead, introduces the reader to 15 individuals
who call themselves the Golden Sky. They are an IT think tank composed
of international business people, lawyers, politicians,
environmentalists, a musician, a doctor and a philosopher, all of whom
share one thing in common--a futuristic vision of the future. They come
together on the Big Island of Hawaii, in the home of one of their
members, Winston Chee, an IT entrepreneur, for a week-long break out
in which they intend to focus on an IT conundrum: how to make the
invisible, visible.

The author cleverly uses the house, itself, as a living entity that,
in many ways, embodies many of the same elements as their quest.
Called EA-RA, it is a six-story mansion built into the side of a
mountain. It's exterior is a semicircular sheet of black glass infused
with golden fiber which faces south and stretches in a semicircle 180
degrees from east to west. The effect is that it not only catches the
sunrise but the setting sun as well, all the while reflecting the
sun's rays like a golden mirror. Unseen and undetected from outside is
the vast interior which encloses a self-sustaining environment
including a farm on its ground floor, the entire panoply and
requisites of a modern spa and convention center on the the five top
floors, all of which are hidden from view to the outside observer.

The hero of the piece is a San Francisco based IT journalist called
Oskar Kiernan Feller, or more commonly called by his friends, O.K.
Fellow. He is probably a manifestation of the author, himself,
conflicted and driven. It is O.K. Fellow whom we first meet as he sits
in an airplane flying from San Francisco to an IT conference in
Berlin. It is a trip he has made many times in the past, but on this
trip he is gripped with a sense of anxiety. He has flown millions of
miles without an incident, but his mind has made a calculation that at
some point there had to be a "statistical fluctuation" which might
result in...? He tries to stop thinking about it by repeating a mantra
silently to himself.

Ultimately, somewhere over St. Louis he experiences an existential
moment when he begins to question what he is seeing. That results in a
dialectical switch where, for a moment, he is watching himself trying
to find like-minded individuals among the houses and buildings below.
We are introduced to all the main characters in the first two
chapters. Except for their different vocations, they all share the
same uneasiness as O.K. Fellow. They want to see the unseen elements
of their world. For some, it's a search to find people as
themselves,for the others, it is to be able to see the actual flow of
elements into streams and rivers which make up what they call "Global
Space Tribes."

Eventually, they develop the concept of a virtual helicopter which
they imagine could hover above the earth with an instrument panel.
This tool could discern hidden values from single elements to
concentrations of elements, "mountains," as they eventually see them.

This is a fast and enjoyable read for both the lay reader as well as
the technophile.

Accidental Enlightenment is a travel book with a difference. Like many other travelogues, this book serves as a narrative of the author's adventures and misadventures. These journeys are quite extensive throughout the United States and Canada with visits and somewhat longer excursions to most every corner of the world. Like the best of these travelogues, this book takes time to explore not only the scenery but also the real culture of the people that he comes in contact with.

It is in this later aspect that I believe Accidental Enlightenment sets itself apart from most other similar books. The author not only explores the plethora of cultures on this planet but actually connects with individuals. Furthermore, the majority of these people are regular everyday folks living their lives as best they know how.

In a world that seems to value extreme characters and ignores the realities of the real people, I found this focus refreshing. Furthermore, the genuine way and depth that these stories were told made me feel connected to these individuals and to the world as a whole.

Another thing that really impressed me with the author's story is that these experiences really were life changing for him. Not only did he find his direction in life but he serves to connect others through The Gulliver Project, a corporation committed to inspiring people to bridge cultures through practical, spiritually grounded principles of Trans-cultural Communication.

There is a big world out there and Steve Banick has seen many corners of it. His stories about these encounters make "Accidental Enlightenment" a tremendous read. His prose is engaging and the themes of these stories leave the reader thinking about a lot more than simply travel and adventure long after they have finished this book. I consider Banick to be an excellent writer and I look forward to new titles from him. There are many trips on this planet that I still wish to take and I think there are many others like me who share this desire to see more of our world. This book offers the reader a number of valuable and poignant insights in how one might approach trips of this kind. Where to go, what to do, how to engage the locals, how to observe the events unfolding around you in a new and unfamiliar place. All of these themes can be found in "Accidental Enlightenment". I highly recommend this to be on your reading list as you will probably find yourself with a slightly new perspective after you have had a chance to absorb all that Mr. Banick has to say in this book.

What a ride! Those are the words that would best explain this read by author Stephen Banick. Here is a man who devoted a year of his life to travel the world and in doing so found his destiny, and changed his future.
Accidental Enlightenment is not your ordinary run of the mill chit chat about travel. In this work our author does indeed give you some tips on traveling, some interesting places to visit and tells many of his adventures, but he goes further. He shares with you how the places and people he went to and met touched the very core of his soul and changed his life. He embraced with openness and acceptance the many ways of the people he encountered; from their beliefs, right down to the food they ate. His words and his interaction with everyday people from different countries help to bridge the gap and the mysteries that shroud our lives in that area.
His writing is honest and bold, sharing whole-heartening with you the world as he tasted of it. A very interesting read that draws you right into the heart of the adventure of travel and the world we live in.

You could live in London all of your life, and never see Buckingham Palace. You could live in Washington D.C., and never see the White House. You could live in Alaska, and never see the beautiful wilderness that surrounds you - and that's what happened to author Sherry Simpson. "The Accidental Explorer: Wayfinding in Alaska" is her tale of accidentally discovering the vast natural wonder surrounding her during an epic solo hike across it all, despite not being much of a seasoned hiker. Written with humility versus the nature that she is simply a simple city girl facing vast odds, "The Accidental Explorer: Wayfinding in Alaska" is highly recommended for any true adventure collection and for anyone who wants to read a tale of explorer about someone who is not so much unlike them.

The more I read her work, the more convinced I become that Sherry Simpson is not only Alaska's most accomplished essayist, but that she ranks among the best in the nation. The latest proof is The Accidental Explorer: Wayfinding in Alaska. At one level, this collection of 10 personal essays recounts memorable trips into Alaska's wild places (most, but not all, emphasizing her own travels), written by a person who thinks hard about things, is willing to take risks, and has a wonderful talent for self-deprecating humor and story telling. The remote areas she writes about range from Glacier Bay to Denali National Park, the vast flatlands of the Yukon River basin, and an imposingly wild stretch of the Alaska coast that remains unnamed. But the specific places aren't as important as her experiences, lessons learned, questions raised, and the ideas that Simpson mulls in that restless, roving, worrisome mind of hers. Early on she admits to being a fretter. The reader gains as much, if not more, from her fretful and inquisitive mind as from the adventures themselves.

As with the best of essays, these are multi-layered gems. Besides sharing her sometimes funny, other times sad or disconcerting, occasionally frightening, and always humbling passages through Alaska's wilds, Simpson writes movingly and unflinchingly about home and family. One of the strongest essays, I think, is "Fidelity," which in large part reflects upon about a troubled time in her marriage and the importance of what endures. In fact home and wilderness - and various notions of each - are juxtaposed against each other throughout the book and that juxtaposition creates one of the book's delicious tensions. Simpson is also fascinated by both the Euro-American explorers (many of them military men) who made the earliest Westernized maps of Alaska, and Alaska's Original Peoples, who created their own internal maps of the landscape while building a far more substantial and lasting relationship with the places they have come to know over the millennia. Both "The Mapmaker" (which focuses on mapper-and-explorer-turned-homesteader Bill Yanert) and "Hypothetical Geographies" take the reader to unexpected terrain as they consider the various ways we humans "map out" new territories and homelands. There's lots more here: the importance of stories, the dangers of not paying sufficient attention to advice, instincts, or the landscape itself (death and the specter of death are frequent elements of the stories, including a wonderfully provocative piece on Chris McCandless, of Into the Wild fame - or notoriety - in "A Man Made Cold by the Universe"); and the internal tensions carried by a writer who wonders "how could I ever reconcile this constant restlessness with the desire to know and love one place?" The essays superbly blend Simpson's personal idiosyncrasies with larger questions about discovery, longing, imagination, and how it is that each of us finds - or seeks to find - his or her own place in the world.

A final thought: I'd previously read (and in one case, heard) versions of five of the essays included in this collection; and I found each to be powerful and illuminating this time around. In short, these are essays you can return to again and again, and take away some new insight or delight. That's essay writing at its best.

Sherry Simpson's earlier essay collection, The Way Winter Comes, was topnotch. The Accidental Explorer is even better. Her voice has mellowed some since her last book, and this seasoning imparts a difficult wisdom--the price of living an examined life. Two of the essays, "Impedimenta" and "Fidelity," are more than worth the price of the book. Excellent.

This book describes the journey that the author and his wife took together from their home in New York City to distant Arabia in the 1920s. At the beginning of the book, Seabrook describes some of his motivations for making the trip. He tells us that he had always been fascinated with Arabia, ever since he was a child. He also provides us with perhaps the best definition of simple tourism I have ever encountered, "I went for no useful, moral, scholarly, political humanitarian, or reasonable purpose whatsoever. I went for the joy of it, and because I believed I should love it." As we read further, however, it begins to become clear that perhaps Seabrook did have an ulterior motive after all. Whether by design or by fate, Seabrook's itinerary took him from one religious leader to another. Even when the persons he was staying with were not known primarily for their religious leadership, Seabrook constantly plied them with questions about their faith. He was a seeker, on a pilgrimage to learn all he could from the great variety of men of faith in the Middle East.

Seabrook rode with the Bedouins in the desert, and visited with the Druses in the mountains of Syria. He plied a Sufi sheikh with a thousand questions, and then went on to be a guest of the Yezidees, a tribe of devil-worshipers. Seabrook was primed for adventure, and had learned enough Arabic before his trip to get by without a translator. He was passionate about religious discussion, and open to trying new customs, including even reciting the Muslim prayer which serves to indicate adoption of the faith. In doing so, he had thus converted to Islam, although there is little in the remainder of the book to demonstrate that he had been serious about this undertaking. Later in the book, he interviews the Sufi Sheikh el Melewi and hears the answer he had perhaps been seeking, "No words, my son, can impart from one man to another the final secret. For God is the divine harmony in all things-in the circling of the earth and stars, in the measured heart-beats of the human body, in the rhythmic act of procreation; in fire and water, in the rolling thunder and rushing winds; in the flight and songs of birds or tiniest insects; in the breath of life itself as the air is drawn into the lungs and expelled through the nostrils. All paths can lead to God, and each must choose the one seeming best for him."

The book is illustrated with numerous pen-and-ink drawings, supplemented by several sections of black-and-white plates. In addition to Seabrook's musings on religious topics, he also describes the customs of the tribes he visited with, many of which have changed greatly since his time. The book provides a fascinating window into a time and place that have passed almost entirely from memory.

The first time I read this book I was stunned by its beauty and power. I held off re-reading it for a decade to preserve the impact of reading it anew. It is a marvellous travelogue of one man's journey into the hospitality and culture of the desert, and a revelation of religious discovery which mocks all intolerance. Well worth reading and cherishing.

This book does not simply report, it enlightens. Seabrook is a skillful author who masterfully relates the culture of the Arabian people he befriends. He tells dozens of fascinating stories, which he learns from his honorable hosts (I particularly enjoyed the tale of Gutne's eyes). The condition and station of women is written about, and the reasons for different cultural practices, such as honor killings in the Druse culture, are examined. Rather than judging these people and presenting women's oppression as an element of a less advanced culture, Seabrook objectively writes the views that his new comrades present. Certain practices begin to make sense as the reasons different cultures adopted them are made clear. While I could not possibly condone killing someone for marrying outside of one's own race, I could begin to understand the historical context that fostered the idea. Seabrook also writes about modesty, methods of cleanliness, medicinal practices, and what is eaten. Fermented goat's milk and rice are standard fare. The description of feminine beauty and dress in this story are simply unparalleled. "A two-year-old baby daughter was like a little doll or a princess from some fairy-tale. Her eyelids were blackened with kohl; her face was painted, delicately and with art; her hair was twined with bright coins and jewels; her finger-tips were stained pink with henna like the rosy dawn." Another attribute of this book is its approach to religion. Seabrook seeks out as many truths as the religious sects are willing to release. He writes about the rumors he hears, the holy men he meets, the interpretations his traveling partners offer, and the ceremonies he witnesses. In the end, I was left with the impression that we all share the same God, and Seabrook makes this argument without forcing it down the reader's throat. This was a splendid, engaging read, and I highly recommend it.

I truly laughed out loud at the clever, dry wit with which this tale is skillfully told. The author's insightful observations and well crafted narrative were a real joy to read. I confidently recommend it to anyone who appreciates the idiosyncracies of culture and travel or who is a fan of a well-turned phrase. It will make you want to go in search of your own adventures.

Thankfully bereft of the artificially upbeat gloss of travel guides, Marta Hoilman breezily presents a three dimensional portrait of expatriate life in Jakarta. Hoilman's Adventures flash rapier wit, lending humor and life to the privations and improvisations that life in Indonesia invoked. From indomitable roaches to glorious side trips, Hoilman briskly shares her adventures. If you want the "inside baseball" on expatriate life in Jakarta, then you have found a must read.

If Elvis were alive today he would write a song about Ms Hoilman's way with words. Can't wait for the next installment.

As a researcher of ancient Middle Eastern culture and thought, I found "Ancient Israel" to be one of the definitive volumes ever concerning this relatively vague field. A+.

This is a indepth look at Ancient Israel, but not at all dry. The author has a dry wit and great enthusiasm for his subject. Although he uses alot of Hebrew language references, I was still able to understand his explanations. The author's personal faith in the Christian God is evident and refreshing. He is not out to tear apart the Old Testament, but to help other's better understand the life and times in which it was written. For anyone who has had questions after reading the Old Testament, I highly recommend this book. Submitted by Wendy Lang, Orillia, Canada

This book is FINALLY back in print in the USA and for a very reasonable price! this is part of Eerdman's "Biblical Resource Series". "The purpose of The Biblical Resource Series is to bring back titles that the scholarly community regards as ESSENTIAL RESOURCES for the biblical thinker of today." This is well organzied so even the beginner can easily find information, and covers Nomadism, Family Institutions, Civil Institutions, Military Institutions, and Religious Institutions. An encyclopedia of sorts! Roland de Vaux (1903-1971) was esteemed both as a biblical historian and as an archaeologist. If you get this book, you also need to purchase Archaeology of the Land of the Bible by Amihai Mazar available here. Both will get you moving in the direction of biblical studies.