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Armchair Travel August 2019
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| Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey of John L. Stephens and Frederick... by William CarlsenWhat it's about: Author William Carlsen explored the Yucatan jungle, retracing the steps of U.S. ambassador to Central America John L. Stephens and British architect Frederick Catherwood, who, in 1839, uncovered amazing 2,000-year-old Mayan ruins that forced a rethinking of recorded history.
Don't miss: how Carlsen skillfully brings Stephens' and Catherwood's personalities to life while recounting their adventures. |
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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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| 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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Don't think twice : adventure and healing at 100 miles per hour
by Barbara Schoichet
What it's about: A woman who lost her job, her long-term girlfriend and her mother to cancer within a half a year describes how she found salvation in the Harley she bought on eBay and the journey she took from New York to Los Angeles.
You may also enjoy this video: Indochina Expedition [DVD]: a 71 day motorcycle travel adventure through 6 countries (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore) covering over 8,000 miles. "From the cover: A highly captivting motorcycle travel video documentary filled with adventure and rich culture."
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Into the silence : the Great War, Mallory, and the conquest of Everest
by Wade Davis
What it's about: A vivid account of Britain's epic attempts to scale Mount Everest in the early 1920s draws on the letters and diaries of George Mallory to trace such topics as the role of 19th-century imperial ambition in the expedition and the way in which the ascent reflected England's post-World War I redemption efforts. By the award-winning author of The Serpent and the Rainbow.
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The stowaway : a young man's extraordinary adventure to Antarctica
by Laurie Gwen Shapiro
What it's about: Documents the true story of a scrappy teen from New York's Lower East Side who stowed away on a daring expedition to Antarctica in 1928, tracing the sensational heyday of the time and how high schooler Billy Gawronski jumped into the Hudson and snuck aboard the expedition's flagship, eventually becoming an international celebrity.
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The places in between
by Rory Stewart
What it's about: Traces the author's 2002 journey by foot across Afghanistan, during which he survived the harsh elements through the kindness of tribal elders, teen soldiers, Taliban commanders, and foreign-aid workers whose stories he collected along his way. By the author of The Prince of the Marshes.
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We carry Kevan : six friends, three countries, no wheelchair
by Kevan Chandler
From the cover: "Kevan is just one of the guys. It's impossible to know him and not become a little more excited about life. He is an inspiring man permeated by joy, unafraid of sorrow, full of vitality and life! His sense of humor is infectious and so is his story. He grew up, he says, at "belt-buckle level" and stayed there until Kevan's beloved posse decided to leave his wheelchair at the Atlanta airport, board a plane for France, and have his friends carry him around Europe to accomplish their dream to see the world together! Kevan's beloved posse traveled to Paris, England, and Ireland where, in the climax of their adventure, they scale 600 feet up to the 1,400-year-old monastic fortress of Skellig Michael. In WE CARRY KEVAN the reader sits with Kevan, one head-level above everyone else for the first time in his life and enjoys camaraderie unlike anything most people ever experience. Along the way they encounter the curiosity and beauty of strangers, the human family disarmed by grace, and the constant love of God so rich and beautiful in the company of good friends. WE CARRY KEVAN displays the profound power of friendship and self-sacrifice"
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Central Mississippi Regional Library System
100 Tamberline Street
Brandon, Mississippi 39042
601-825-0100
http://www.cmrls.lib.ms.us
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