Travel Books

The Worst Case Scenario Handbook : Travel (Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks)

David Borgenicht, Joshua Piven

Amazon Price: $16.95 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Listen & Live Audio Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $0.97

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Be very, very afraid. When you step through your door for an innocent excursion, grave danger awaits. You might be mugged; tied up; attacked by scorpions, piranhas, or tarantulas; trapped in a falling plane or elevator, a runaway train, a car on a cliff, a sandstorm, a riptide, or a riot. But now it's safe to take that vacation anyway. Just pack The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel, and you'll know what to do when you find yourself, say, leaping between rooftops: "Because you will not be moving fast, it is safe to roll head over heels, unlike jumping from a moving vehicle." Now you'll also know what not to do: never pick up a tarantula, as the spines on their abdomens are like little harpoons, and don't yank the reins of a runaway camel ("Pulling on the nose reins can tear the camel's nose--or break the reins"). You may have the sense, if a leech invades your air passage, to gargle with a 50 percent solution of 80-proof alcohol--but without this book, would you remember not to inhale?

In short, this is the most delightfully terrifying, all-true, laugh-out-loud hilarious book since the original Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, which covers such horrors as alligators and quicksand. Don't leave home without it! --Tim Appelo

Blue Highways

William Heat-Moon

List Price: $16.00 By: Simon & Schuster Audio Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $8.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS
Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> Essays & Travelogues

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 114 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

First published in 1982, William Least Heat-Moon's account of his journey along the back roads of the United States (marked with the color blue on old highway maps) has become something of a classic. When he loses his job and his wife on the same cold February day, he is struck by inspiration: "A man who couldn't make things go right could at least go. He could quit trying to get out of the way of life. Chuck routine. Live the real jeopardy of circumstance. It was a question of dignity."

Driving cross-country in a van named Ghost Dancing, Heat-Moon (the name the Sioux give to the moon of midsummer nights) meets up with all manner of folk, from a man in Grayville, Illinois, "whose cap told me what fertilizer he used" to Scott Chisholm, "a Canadian citizen ... [who] had lived in this country longer than in Canada and liked the United States but wouldn't admit it for fear of having to pay off bets he made years earlier when he first 'came over' that the U.S. is a place no Canadian could ever love." Accompanied by his photographs, Heat-Moon's literary portraits of ordinary Americans should not be merely read, but savored.

Assassination Vacation

List Price: $26.00 By: Simon & Schuster Audio Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $4.75

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Popular Culture

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 137 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no other -- a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage.

From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas, Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty, and thought-provoking criticism. We learn about the jinx that was Robert Todd Lincoln (present at the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) and witness the politicking that went into the making of the Lincoln Memorial. The resulting narrative is much more than an entertaining and informative travelogue -- it is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture, including literature, architecture, sculpture, and -- the author's favorite -- historical tourism. Though the themes of loss and violence are explored and we make detours to see how the Republican Party became the Republican Party, there are all kinds of lighter diversions along the way into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a nineteenth-century biblical sex cult.

Charles Kuralt's America

List Price: $25.00 By: Simon & Schuster Audio Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> World -> General
Subjects -> History -> World -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

All New Journeys From The New York Times Bestselling Author Of A Life On The Road

I keep thinking I will find something wonderful just around the bend.

Ever since October 1967, when he set off in a battered motor home to explore America and talk to its people, Charles Kuralt has been one of our premier chroniclers -- a man who has helped us see and celebrate our country in a way we never had before.

After retiring from CBS News in 1994, he set out to spend a perfect year in America -- traveling to his twelve favorite American places, in just the right month for a visit to each. With his well-known warmth, humor and insight, he shows them to us now in Charles Kuralt's America.

From Montana in September and Alaska in June to winter in Cajun country and the North Carolina mountains in spring, Kuralt's accounts are filled with people, stories and experiences. Suffused by a poet's love of language and rich in the spirit and flavor of this infinite and varied land, Charles Kuralt's America is, like its author, a national treasure.

Stories of Survival: Land & Sea

List Price: $29.95 By: Countertop Audio Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $1.84

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Survival Skills
Subjects -> Travel -> Specialty Travel -> Adventure -> General
Subjects -> Travel -> Specialty Travel -> Adventure -> General AAS

Editorial Review:

12 hours of listening time!

Stories of Survival: Land and Sea Triumphs & Tragedies transports you to various remote destinations around the world, from the highest mountain peaks, to the Labrador coast and beyond. These spellbinding stories of adventure, survival, and tragedies, are sure to keep every listener captivated. Experience what world explorers and adventure seekers endured, from accidents, to natural disasters and treacherous weather conditions. The two titles, Storm and Rescue, compile 19 vivid stories from adventure seekers in their most terrifying and memorable moments.

Storm
Most people associate storms with death-with the kind of force that makes each of us wonder about life and the nature of our surroundings. Some people look for bad weather, or go to places where they're likely to encounter it. Others are at the wrong place at the wrong time. Still, the stories in Storm have more to say than that. They tell us about what happens when people find that treacherous weather-or when it finds them-and we are reminded of the fragility of life, the capriciousness of Nature's will, and how little we can do when both cross paths.

Rescue
Rescue offers riveting stories about what happens when things go terribly wrong in some of the world's most perilous places: the wild west, the Grand Tetons, a remote lake in northern Quebec, the Eiger, and the Labrador coast. The result is a collection of first-rate prose read by masterful narrators that makes for compulsive listening. This title is also the winner of the Listen Up Award from Publishers Weekly.

Eyewitness Phrase Book: French (with cassette)

DK Publishing, DK Travel Writers

List Price: $9.95 By: DK ADULT Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $5.83

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> French
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> Polyglot
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> French

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Featuring pronunciation, a menu guide, a mini-dictionary, hotel information, and emergency phrases.

Sitting at a Parisian bistro, you wish a libation, so you page through this phrase book before you tell the waiter, "Une carafe de vin rouge maison, s'il vous plait." (A carafe of house red, please). Starting by outlining pronunciation, the specific uses of the French word "on" ("I" or "we"), and the genders of nouns, this comprehensive handbook compiles words and phrases commonly required by tourists and business travelers and lists the actual French spellings followed by a listing of the word in English sound syllables. From greetings to deciphering restaurant menus, the this is the perfect French-language traveling companion throughout France. Whether you're trying to order dinner or get back to your hotel, you cannot make your way without knowing what to say, and the Eyewitness Travel Guide Phrase Books are the perfect guide for tongue-tied tourists. These compact, user-friendly books fit right into your pocket or purse, and meet the communications needs of the tourist and business traveler alike. Based on an innovative system of imitated pronunciation, phrases are organized into logical and practical divisions, including time; food and drink; air travel; bus, taxi, and subway information; shopping; health and medical care; and much more. Typical replies to questions you may be asked, as well as signs and instructions you're likely to see or hear, are also given. The guides also include a carefully selected mini-dictionary, and useful conversion tables translating distance, clothing sizes, and weight.

Adventures in a Kayak, Rowboat and Dogsled

List Price: $18.00 By: HarperAudio Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $0.55

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

an AMAZING JOUNEY! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Jon Turk made me feel as though I were on the jouney with him. He takes you through dangerous waters while taking you back through history. I liked the way he intertwined family making him seem all the more real to life. I have never been one to take too many risks in life so I admire this man. He makes you want to go back in time to experience the reality of life. I wish he would write his experience of the actual success of rounding the horn. I also expected him to make a comment toward putting his feet on the table and toasting the queen.

Editorial Review:

This personal account of many journeys and a life in transition is well served by the author's own reading. Turk's voice conveys the same honesty as his prose, as if inviting the listener for a casual evening of stories around the fire. The reading is not always smooth and polished, but this occasional unsteadiness evokes the essence of the uncertainties and struggles that Turk has confronted and made central to his book. The abridged reading retains the spirit of adventure and self-discovery that propelled Turk to explore Cape Horn, the Northwest Passage, Baffin Island, and Greenland. Listeners may well set off to follow his paddle strokes. (Running time: three hours, two cassettes) --Byron Ricks

Frost on My Moustache: The Arctic Exploits of a Lord and a Loafer

Tim Moore

List Price: $72.00 By: Clipper Audio Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $10.95

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the 1850s, a wealthy British philanthropist by the name of Lord Dufferin sailed his yacht into the Arctic Circle and wrote the bestselling travelogue Letters from High Latitudes. In the 1990s, British writer Tim Moore decided to follow Dufferin's steps--by boat, plane, and bike. This retracing of Dufferin's travels across Iceland, into Norway, and to Spitzbergen (prompted when Moore reads the Lord's 19th-century memoir) is told in a lively, self-deprecating style and starts out brimming with funny anecdotes and interesting tidbits, particularly about Iceland, a report-happy land where the government commissions studies about "the effects of centrifugal force at roundabouts" and where "53 percent of the Icelanders believe in elves."

While Moore continues to unleash an often funny ramble about his northern excursion, something happens mid-book around the time he learns he's lost a work-related lawsuit back in England: perhaps Moore's mind is disintegrating in the polar blasts or he's lost his will to sustain an audience, but the writer's style becomes more manic, his recorded observations are frequently peppered with the base and crude, and his obsession changes from the travels of Lord Dufferin to the fate of one of Dufferin's colleagues, Wilson. The same writing voice that keeps one amused through the first half of the book starts to annoy by the end, as Moore stops providing much relevant info, and instead goes on at great lengths about the price of hot dogs, his nights of drinking and frequent bouts of nausea. Too disgusting in parts to warrant a recommendation to those easily shocked, this jumbled travelogue is nevertheless an often entertaining look into Tim Moore's personal Arctic madness. --Melissa Rossi

Notes from a Small Island

Amazon Price: $25.95 List Price: $25.95 Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks By: Random House Audio Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $1.29

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> Political
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 279 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Reacting to an itch common to Midwesterners since there's been a Midwest from which to escape, writer Bill Bryson moved from Iowa to Britain in 1973. Working for such places as Times of London, among others, he has lived quite happily there ever since. Now Bryson has decided his native country needs him--but first, he's going on a roundabout jaunt on the island he loves.

Britain fascinates Americans: it's familiar, yet alien; the same in some ways, yet so different. Bryson does an excellent job of showing his adopted home to a Yank audience, but you never get the feeling that Bryson is too much of an outsider to know the true nature of the country. Notes from a Small Island strikes a nice balance: the writing is American-silly with a British range of vocabulary. Bryson's marvelous ear is also in evidence: "... I noted the names of the little villages we passed through--Pinhead, West Stuttering, Bakelite, Ham Hocks, Sheepshanks ..." If you're an Anglophile, you'll devour Notes from a Small Island.

Fodor's Italian for Travelers (Audio Set) (Fodor's Languages for Travelers (Book & Cassette))

Fodor's

List Price: $16.95 By: Living Language Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> General AAS
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> Italian
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> Phrasebooks - General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Definitely not a stand-alone tool 2 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I strongly agreed with the reviewers who described the Fodor's CD as poorly organized, too quickly spoken, and not terribly useful. In some instances they stated the English term and then followed it with the Italian; in others they stated the Italian term first. Because there was no warning about the switch, if you're not on your toes you may find yourself repeating the wrong Italian term for the English word you believe you are translating.

The dialogues, while spoken at natural speed) are often not translated into English on the CD. You can go to the book to read the translation, but if you're using the CDs in traffic as I did, that's impossible. The CD ended so abruptly I thought perhaps my player had failed. All in all, it seemed as though the DC was designed and produced rapidly and without much thought.

The book and CD are a great combination when your goal is to learn specific vocabulary and then hear the pronunciation of those specific key words. What I learned on the first CD - particularly numbers, dates, and times - was extremely helpful during my trip to Italy. (Although I have to admit that I listened to these sections of the CD repeatedly because I knew they would be essential.) But the CD would be a much stronger tool if it were consistently organized and included translations of the dialogues.

When I had time to work on the language before my trip to Florence, I often put the Fodors CDs aside in lieu of the Michel Thomas "Speak Italian" CDs, which were also a two-CD set, but taught me the basics language rather than memorized phrases. Using Michel Thomas, I was able to construct my own, fairly complex sentences in Italy by simply looking up one or two additional vocabulary words.

In terms of a phrase book, I preferred Rick Steve's. Steve's contained more practical phrases and information - some downright amusing - and it fit better in my pocket during the trip.

Editorial Review:

·All the essentials for learning to speak and understand Italian for your travels in a single package
·From arrival to departure, expressions for dining out, asking directions, socializing, and more
· A 288-page phrasebook with a two-way dictionary and more than 3,800 words and phrases
·Two 45-minute cassettes, accompanied by an audioscript, with essential phrases and sample dialogues spoken by native speakers
· Easy-to-use phonetics, grammar basics, English translations, travel tips, and more
· From the most respected names in travel and language instruction.