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Armchair Travel August 2019
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Travel with purpose : a field guide to voluntourism
by Jeff Blumenfeld
Travel With Purpose deals not with celebrities, nor the rich and famous. Instead, it relays examples from Blumenfeld’s travels and many others from Las Vegas to Nepal. From health care facilities to impoverished schools. These are stories of inspiration from everyday people, all of whom have definite opinions about the best way to approach that first volunteer vacation.
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Once around Algonquin: an epic canoe journey
by Kevin Callan
Kevin Callan's Once Around Algonquin is an exciting tale of misadventure on the toughest route in Ontario's most well-loved wilderness. While sharing his love of this paddling paradise, Callan details some of the park's history and evolution, interweaving stories from the voyage. Chuckle along with the tales behind the blisters and bruises in this bromance adventure tale, all told with Callan's trademark humor. With a storytelling vibe, 30 chapters share insights and describe some of the challenges of canoe tripping for both the uninitiated as well as for the seasoned canoeist.
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Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
by Cheryl Strayed
In this "unsentimental memoir" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), recently divorced 26-year-old Cheryl Strayed sets out on the 1,100-mile Pacific Coast Trail (PCT), walking solo from California, through Oregon, and on to Washington State. Strayed, a completely inexperienced hiker, had plenty of baggage with her, and we're not just talking about her too-heavy backpack. Though the book is centered around her time on the trail and her dealings with snakes, bears, and blisters, sections of Wild discuss the troubles that sent Strayed (back)packing, including her mother's death, the end of her marriage, and her own reckless behaviors.
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| Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon KrakauerWhat it's about: Researching the commercialization of Mt. Everest in 1996, Jon Krakauer set out with a guide and other groups to trek to the summit. When a snowstorm hit, several people died, including two of the best mountaineers in the world.
What it is: a harrowing and evocative firsthand account of the events.
Read this next: The Climb, by Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt, which offers a competing viewpoint of the tragedy; or the soon-to-be-released essay collection Classic Krakauer, out in October. |
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| Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship by Robert KursonStarring: dedicated treasure hunters John Mattera and John Chatterton as well as legendary technology-averse hunter Tracy Bowden.
What happens: Author Robert Kurson (whose Shadow Divers also features Chatterton) compellingly traces the men's high-stakes quest to find the Golden Fleece, a sunken ship that once belonged to notorious English sea captain-turned-pirate Joseph Bannister.
For fans of: Stephan Talty's Empire of Blue Water, pirates, nautical history, and swashbuckling tales of derring-do. |
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| In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton SidesWhat it's about: the ill-fated 1879 expedition of the USS Jeannette, led by U.S. naval officer and explorer George Washington De Long, who was looking for a passage to the North Pole via the Bering Strait.
What's inside: a dramatic account -- informed by letters, diaries, expedition records, and news reports -- of what happened when the ship became trapped in pack ice for two years.
Read this next: Paul Watson's Ice Ghosts, which details the history of and contemporary search for shipwrecks from an 1845 Arctic expedition. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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