General Books

Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart

Tim Butcher

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Published to rave reviews in the United Kingdom and named a Richard & Judy Book Club selection—the only work of nonfiction on the 2008 list—Blood River is the harrowing and audacious story of Tim Butcher's journey in the Congo and his retracing of renowned explorer H. M. Stanley's famous 1874 expedition in which he mapped the Congo River. When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to Africa in 2000 he quickly became obsessed with the legendary Congo River and the idea of re-creating Stanley's legendary journey along the three-thousand-mile waterway. Despite warnings that his plan was suicidal, Butcher set out for the Congo's eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots. Making his way in an assortment of vehicles, including a motorbike and a dugout canoe, helped along by a cast of characters from UN aid workers to a pygmy-rights advocate, he followed in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurers. An utterly absorbing narrative that chronicles Tim Butcher's forty-four-day journey along the Congo River, Blood River is an unforgettable story of exploration and survival.

Egypt (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

DK Publishing

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great Primer on Egypt 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great first book to begin an understanding of Egypt before travel. It covers all major areas in extensive detail; provides suggestions for the best places to visit while in the country; detail pictures of what to look for at various sites;and the last section on travel tips I found invaluable. It is current (2008 ed) and I especially like the size of the book, which can be tucked into a carry-on bag or a back-pack while touring and doesn't weigh a ton. "Don't leave home without it!"

Next best thing to being there 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

As a future traveler to Egypt, any information about traveling there is appreciated. With Eyewitness Travel Egypt, almost every topic I need to know is there. This book discusses the history, the various districts in Cairo, the pyramids, the cruises, hotels, beaches, and facts that you might need to know, but don't know to ask.

The detail is remarkable. The best section that I found for practicality was the 'Survival Guide'. As westerners we assume way too much, so this bit was very welcome.

[...]

Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide

Peter Allison

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Whatever you do, Dont run! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is fun and exciting its defiently a page turner. You just cant stop reading about all his adventures that he is having. And all his experiences and the amazing stuff that he sees while he is on his journey. He did a great job on writing this book! I cant wait to read his next adventures!!

LOL 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Yes, I did laugh out loud.
I should have read it before my trip to the Okavango. I read botanical, animal books, but none captures the experience like this one!. However, since you tend to find amusing what you relate to, I would have missed much. Afterwards, it just reminded me of a wonderful experience. Nevertheless, you don't have to have the experience to enjoy it. The author is funny, funny, funny and manages to give an intriguing and realistic glimpse into the life of a guide. I'm mailing it to all my South African companions.

Wonderful tales 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I'm really into the humorous travel tales and this one is high on my list. Peter Allison followed his dream and wrote about his dream come true in short adventure stories that describe near fatal incidents quite often. His stories make you appreciate the work of a safari guide and their incredible responsibilities to tourists who are often quite stupid in their assumption that wild animals are there to be photographed. Well written and exciting, I loved this book

Egypt (Country Guide)

Matthew Firestone, Rafael Wlodarski, Anthony Sattin, Zora O'Neill

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Lonely Planet Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $15.67

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

oldie but goodie? 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

couldn't get the newest edition before i left for egypt. some of the prices in here might be off. general sites and advice - excellent! added advice: any sites in luxor, go either really early or really late. ignore the people. for kahn el-kahlili in cairo, to get rid of peddlers, just keep walking. they won't follow you past the area in front of their store because it's the next store's territory.

Editorial Review:

Discover Egypt

Find a Cairo coffeehouse to suit your own style; unwind, chat and inhale deeply over a sheesha
Forget hot springs: try a hot sand bath in the middle of the desert
Take belly-dancing lessons from the most famous teacher in Egypt
Relax in the soft light of early morning on a Nile cruise

In This Guide:

Five authors, 295 days of research, hundreds of touts and a week-long scuba course
Special chapter on cruising the Nile: choose from timeless feluccas and splendid dahabiyyas, the Rolls Royce of their era
Illustrated Pharaonic Egypt chapter by world-renowned Egyptologist Dr Joann Fletcher brings the ancient rulers to life
Content updated daily - visit lonelyplanet.com for up-to-the-minute reviews, updates and traveller suggestions

Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff

Rosemary Mahoney

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

What A Brave Lady! 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I recently returned from a tour of Egypt and a 5 day cruise down the Nile, and I've got to say that Ms. Mahoney has written one great story about this charming and mysterious country. Myself being a single woman and traveling alone in this strange land, I must say that this author is spot on with her descriptions and characterizations of everything Egyptian and there aren't enough words to say how much I enjoyed this book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone planning a trip to Egypt, especially single women traveling alone.

Editorial Review:

Rosemary Mahoney was determined to take a solo trip down the Egyptian Nile in a small boat, even though civil unrest and vexing local traditions conspired to create obstacles every step of the way. Starting off in the south, she gained the unlikely sympathy and respect of a Muslim sailor, who provided her with both a seven-foot skiff and a window into the culturally and materially impoverished lives of rural Egyptians. Egyptian women don't row on the Nile, and tourists aren't allowed to for safety's sake. Mahoney endures extreme heat during the day, and a terror of crocodiles while alone in her boat at night. Whether she's confronting deeply held beliefs about non-Muslim women, finding connections to past chroniclers of the Nile, or coming to the dramaticm realization that fear can engender unwarranted violence, Rosemary Mahoney's informed curiosity about the world, her glorious prose, and her wit never fail to captivate.

Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival

Dean King

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 75 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Some stories are so enthralling they deserve to be retold generation after generation. The wreck in 1815 of the Connecticut merchant ship, Commerce, and the subsequent ordeal of its crew in the Sahara Desert, is one such story. With Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival, Dean King refreshes the popular nineteenth-century narrative once read and admired by Henry David Thoreau, James Fenimore Cooper, and Abraham Lincoln. King's version, which actually draws from two separate first person accounts of the Commerce's crew, offers a page-turning blend of science, history, and classic adventure. The book begins with a seeming false start: tracing the lives of two merchants from North Africa, Seid and Sidi Hamet, who lose their fortunes—and almost their lives—when their massive camel caravan arrives at a desiccated oasis. King then jumps to the voyage of the Commerce under Captain Riley and his 11-man crew. After stops in New Orleans and Gibraltar, the ship falls off course en route to the Canary Islands and ultimately wrecks at the infamous Cape Bojador. After the men survive the first predations of the nomads on the shore, they meander along the coast looking for a way inland as their supplies dwindle. They subsist for days by drinking their own urine. Eventually, to their horror, they discover that they have come aground on the edge of the Sahara Desert. They submit themselves, with hopes of getting food and water, as slaves to the Oulad Bou Sbaa. After days of abuse, they are bought by Hamet, who, after his own experiences with his failed caravan (described at the novels opening), sympathizes with the plight of the crew. Together, they set off on a hellish journey across the desert to collect a bounty for Hamet in Swearah.King embellishes this compelling narrative throughout with scientific and historical material explaining the origins of the camel, the market for English and American slaves, and the stages of dehydration. He also humanizes the Sahrawi with background on the tribes and on the lives of Hamet and Seid. This material, doled out in sufficient amounts to enrich the story without derailing it makes Skeletons on the Zahara a perfectly entertaining bit of history that feels like a guilty pleasure.--Patrick O'Kelley

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown

Paul Theroux

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 68 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Travelogue from a sour-minded writer 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I think I know why Theroux wrote such a whining book about his trip. I have enjoyed thoroughly his other travel books, Iron Rooster, Patagonian Express, etc, but this one...! His constant assertion that aid workers, missionaries, volunteer educators are doing more harm than good gets old quickly, whether one agrees or not. Strange, as he had been one himself in Malawi in the '60s. Repeatedly, he tells us that he is seeing things that tourists (bad word) flying into the airport never see. In Mbenga, the volunteer aid workers had the best rooms! He heard a couple say the word "Paul," and he thought Oh No, he was recognized as a famous writer, and was miffed to find that they were speaking of another writer, the lesser Paul who wrote part of the New Testament. There are too many generalized statements: "Every structure in Africa was in a state of deterioration." (p. 225) Again and again we read of his encounters with delicious looking young prostitutes and of their pleading with him for business, but his virtue remains intact. And at least twenty times along the way we read of his return to writing his "erotic novella." Straining all this out, his travels are both courageous and interesting, and I think I know why he was so negative in his writing. His last week in Africa, his beloved bag with artifacts and passport and money and radio is stolen, and worse, he gets a severe case of the diarretic squirts. The latter stays with him for months after his return home, all during the writing of the book. Had these two unfortunate events not happened the very last days of his great journey, I think we would have been able to read a more pleasant, and I suspect more realistic, account of his travels.

Editorial Review:

In Dark Star Safari the wittily observant and endearingly irascible Paul Theroux takes readers the length of Africa by rattletrap bus, dugout canoe, cattle truck, armed convoy, ferry, and train. In the course of his epic and enlightening journey, he endures danger, delay, and dismaying circumstances. Gauging the state of affairs, he talks to Africans, aid workers, missionaries, and tourists. What results is an insightful meditation on the history, politics, and beauty of Africa and its people, and "a vivid portrayal of the secret sweetness, the hidden vitality, and the long-patient hope that lies just beneath the surface" (Rocky Mountain News). In a new postscript, Theroux recounts the dramatic events of a return to Africa to visit Zimbabwe.

Out of Africa (Modern Library)

Isak Dinesen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this book, the author of Seven Gothic Tales gives a true account of her life on her plantation in Kenya. She tells with classic simplicity of the ways of the country and the natives: of the beauty of the Ngong Hills and coffee trees in blossom: of her guests, from the Prince of Wales to Knudsen, the old charcoal burner, who visited her: of primitive festivals: of big game that were her near neighbors--lions, rhinos, elephants, zebras, buffaloes--and of Lulu, the little gazelle who came to live with her, unbelievably ladylike and beautiful.

The Random House colophon made its debut in February 1927 on the cover of a little pamphlet called "Announcement Number One." Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, the company's founders, had acquired the Modern Library from publishers Boni and Liveright two years earlier. One day, their friend the illustrator Rockwell Kent stopped by their office. Cerf later recalled, "Rockwell was sitting at my desk facing Donald, and we were talking about doing a few books on the side, when suddenly I got an inspiration and said, 'I've got the name for our publishing house. We just said we were go-ing to publish a few books on the side at random. Let's call it Random House.' Donald liked the idea, and Rockwell Kent said, 'That's a great name. I'll draw your trademark.' So, sitting at my desk, he took a piece of paper and in five minutes drew Random House, which has been our colophon ever since." Throughout the years, the mission of Random House has remained consistent: to publish books of the highest quality, at random. We are proud to continue this tradition today.

This edition is set from the first American edition of 1937 and commemorates the seventy-fifth anniversary of Random House.

Bill Bryson's African Diary

Bill Bryson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 54 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A Brilliant Entry and for a Great Cause 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Bill Bryson is the funniest travel writer working today, I believe, and even when he takes on what is an unpleasant task - visiting one of the most depressed areas of the world in order to raise funds for CARE, he does it in a hilarious way.

In this short little book, Bryson not only shares with us his (by turns) funny and heartbreaking journey, we also get to meet some amazing people. The lady who works twelve-hour days in order to get a profit of some $7 or $8 - the farmer who has made a fantastic farm and is very proud of it - the villagers who come out to welcome the visitors with open arms because of a well that was built, eliminating the need for the women of the village to make a seven-hour roundtrip journey to the nearest water source. This is what it's all about - this is the magical work that CARE does with the funds that are donated.

Bryson is his usual, witty self, freely confessing that the homework he did in preparing for his trip was watching Out of Africa numerous times, and he thought that he was going to be on an estate being served coffee for most of the trip. The reality was somewhat different, but still far afield from what he expected. That I not only laughed out loud but insisted on reading choice bits aloud to my husband is a testament to the talent and humor that Bryson brings to everything he does.

Editorial Review:

“Here is a man who suffers so his readers can laugh.” — Daily Telegraph

Bill Bryson travels to Kenya in support of CARE International. All royalties and profits go to CARE International.

Bryson visits Kenya at the invitation of CARE International, the charity dedicated to eradicating poverty. Kenya is a land of contrasts, with famous game reserves and a vibrant culture. It also provides plenty to worry a traveller like Bill Bryson, fixated as he is on the dangers posed by snakes, insects and large predators. It is also a country with many serious problems: refugees, AIDS, drought, and grinding poverty. The resultant diary, though short in length, contains the trademark Bryson stamp of wry observation and curious insight.

Kilimanjaro: The Trekking Guide to Africa's Highest Mountain - 2nd Edition; Now includes Mount Meru

Henry Stedman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Kilimanjaro Climbing Resources 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I purchased the Second Edition (September 2006) of "Kilimanjaro: The Trekking Guide to Africa's Highest Mountain" in July 2007. Within a week (as I was sitting on airplanes far too often and had time to read), I had read the 300+ page book cover to cover.

The book is excellent, informative, and often humorous. The trail descriptions are detailed and precise, and the other guidance (medical, financial, logistical) is essential. With a little effort, I matched the trail descriptions to a superb map that I purchased at the same time and quickly gained an understanding of the various routes, options, outfitters, and issues. (The map is "Kilimanjaro Map," scale 1:62,500, 3rd edition, ITMB Publishing.)

One comment: there are many trails (or potential trail combinations) offered by the various outfitters and trekking agencies on Kilimanjaro, so you will likely find yourself flipping back and forth through the book to follow YOUR route. Give yourself time to absorb the book thoroughly. And be prepared with your highlighter and notepad close at hand so that you can identify the portions of the book most relevant to your specific route and itinerary.

If you're considering a climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro, or have a friend or family member considering doing so, you will find this book to be very useful.

Editorial Review:

"Kilimanjaro is a snow covered mountain 19,710 feet high, and is said to be the highest mountain in Africa. Its western summit is called the Masai ‘Ngà’je Ngài’, the House of God. Close to the western summit there is the dried and frozen carcass of a leopard. No one has explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude."--Ernest Hemingway in the preamble to The Snows of Kilimanjaro The best and easiest way to see and experience this exciting place is to do it with this guide! Kilimanjaro A Trekking Guide contains a comprehensive trail guide, including 35 maps, that will make the experience of mountain climbing possible for even the most novice climbers. The guide includes tips on trip planning, where to eat/sleep, city guides, and it also includes a section on background information (flora and fauna, geology, history, and the culture of the Chagga people who live there).