Armchair Travel
October 2020
Recent Releases
Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park
by Conor Knighton

A CBS Sunday Morning correspondent presents a behind-the-scenery look at his year traveling to each of America’s National Parks, which turned out to be the road trip of a lifetime that changed his views on everything from God and love to politics and technology. 
Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl
by Jonathan C. Slaght

When he was just a fledgling birdwatcher, Jonathan C. Slaght had a chance encounter with one of the most mysterious birds on Earth. Bigger than any owl he knew, it looked like a small bear with decorative feathers. He snapped a quick photo and shared it with experts. Soon he was on a five-year journey, searching for this enormous, enigmatic creature in the lush, remote forests of eastern Russia. That first sighting set his calling as a scientist.
The Adventurer's Son: a memoir
by Roman Dial

An Alaska Pacific University scientist and National Geographic Explorer recounts his two-year effort to uncover the fate of his adventurer son, who in 2014 disappeared into the untracked rainforest of Corcovado National Park. 
Sovietstan : travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan
by Erika Fatland

Draws on the author’s undercover visits in a report on the five Central Asian regions that established independent statehoods in 1991 that discusses how ancient history, cultural traditions and Soviet influences have shaped their government experiments in democracy and dictatorship.
The Seine: the river that made Paris
by Elaine Sciolino

The former New York Times Paris bureau chief and author of the best-selling The Only Street in Paris presents a vibrant tour of the Seine that traces its rich history and the stories of contributors from all walks of life.
Alone
Alone in Antarctica: The First Woman to Ski Solo Across the Southern Ice
by Felicity Aston

A physicist and meteorologist discusses her two-month journey across Antarctica on cross country skis, making her the the first woman--and only the third person in history--to ski across the entire continent alone
Traveling With Ghosts
by Shannon Leone Fowler

The accident: Shannon Leone Fowler was swimming with her fiancé off the coast of Thailand when a poisonous box jellyfish wrapped around him, killing him in minutes.

What happened: Grief-stricken and unable to face the ocean and return to her marine biology studies, she traveled solo.

What sets it apart: In addition to describing trips taken by Fowler and her beloved, this engrossing, thoughtful travelogue details her travels after his death to places like Auschwitz, Bosnia, and Romania.
Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude
by Stephanie Rosenbloom

What it is: New York Times travel writer Stephanie Rosenbloom's evocative travelogue describing solo trips to four cities in four seasons.

The pairings: spring in Paris, summer in Istanbul, fall in Florence, winter in New York.

Why you might like it: In addition to travel tips, including ones addressing safety, the book examines the pleasures of solo travel and new adventures, underpinning points with scientific studies.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
by Cheryl Strayed

Starring: Cheryl Strayed, a 26-year-old novice hiker whose troubles -- her mother's death, the end of her marriage, her own reckless behaviors -- send her solo hiking 1,100-miles of the Pacific Coast Trail (PCT), from California to Washington State.

Is it for you? Though the warm, witty book is centered around her time on the trail (snakes, bears, blisters), it also covers her emotional journey.

Media buzz: The bestselling Wild was the basis for the 2014 film starring Reese Witherspoon with a screenplay written by novelist Nick Hornby. 
Wild by Nature: From Siberia to Australia, Three Years Alone in the Wilderness on Foot
by Sarah Marquis

Using her wits and skills as a hunter to get by, a woman describes her solo 10,000-mile trek across the Gobi desert where she encountered mafiosos, drug dealers, thieves on horseback, temperature extremes, dehydration, ringworm and dengue fever. By a National Geographic Explorer of the Year. 
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