General Books - Page 3

Riding with Rilke: Reflections on Motorcycles and Books

Ted Bishop

Amazon Price: $19.16 List Price: $23.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: W. W. Norton Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $4.23

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A motorcycle odyssey that combines the sensory seduction of the road with the intellectual rewards of archival research.

Ted Bishop took one last ride before the fall term. When he tried to pass a tractor-trailer at 80 miles per hour, his motorcycle began to vibrate out of control. Bishop was flung into a ditch, breaking his back in two places, shattering a wrist and ankle, and collapsing his lungs. Left with time to write and reflect, Bishop produced Riding with Rilke, an account of the epic motorcycle trip he had completed just before the crash. Here, Bishop takes readers from Edmonton to Austin, through the classic landscapes of the American West, and to a few of America and Europe's most famous cities as he reconciles what it means to be both a road dog and a researcher. Whether describing the shock of holding Virginia Woolf's suicide note in the British Library or the outlaw thrill of cruising small American towns on his Ducati, Bishop meditates with wit and honesty on the tangled interplay of life, work, and art.

Medicine Woman (Arkana)

Lynn V. Andrews

By: Arkana Amazon Marketplace: 8 new & used starting at $1.77

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Subjects -> Reference -> Writing -> Travel
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> New Age -> Mysticism
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Occult -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 49 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Eye-opening 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

If you enjoy learning about spirituality in all different cultures, then you will love this true story by Lynn Andrews. It's definitely a woman-power book, but I'm sure it will hold some truth for men too.

I Love This Book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I love this book and have recommended it to many people over the years. It's an adventure, a spiritual tome, a wonderful intro to Native American wisdom and lore, and just a hell of a fun read! It is most important to begin with this book, since everything else Ms Andrews has penned, has sprung from this effort. Have a good time and tell others of this exceptional story. Additionally, have fun deciding whether or not this is fiction or non-fiction!

Empowering Book for Women in search of Self 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I found this book and was so impressed with beauty and challenges and sacrifices that the writer allowed herself to go through to learn the old ways of the red road and the native american medicine way all her books i have read are great this one the first my favorite ... JG

Powerful symbology, easy to read/understand 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I just pulled out my copy of this book to read ready and was struck by how applicable it is for me today at my journey (54) as it was when I was 40.

Particularly useful for women who may have lead a protected life, this is helpful to help one examine one's fears and anxieties about putting oneself out into the world where one can be "seen" by others!

Canada (Country Guide)

Karla Zimmerman

Amazon Price: $17.81 List Price: $26.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Lonely Planet Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $16.66

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Editorial Review:

Discover Canada

Mosey past moose on the Cabot Trail through to the vast Cape Breton Highlands National Park
Quench your thirst for high-mountain adventure amidst the jaw-dropping scenery of the wild Rockies
Go easy on the maple syrup while sampling the nouvelle cuisine of Montreal and Canada's other foodie havens
Spot caribou and arctic wolves while hiking through 'the land that never melts'

In This Guide:

14 authors, 21,522 km driven in 371 days, 45 moose sightings
All new, inspiring Outdoors chapter and stunning color section on Canada's national parks
Informative interviews with locals from every corner of the country

Snow Sense: A Guide to Evaluating Snow Avalanche Hazard

Jill A. Fredston, Doug Fesler

Amazon Price: $8.95 List Price: $8.95 In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. By: Alpen Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $8.05

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Current Events -> Poverty
Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Hiking & Camping -> Instructional
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Review in Backpacker Magazine, May 1995 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

"Here's a book you should have. I know, I know, everybody says that but this is different. This book lays out what avalanches are and how they happen, and it will save your life. Now notice I didn't say this is a book you should have on your bookshelf. This one should be in the top pocket of your pack. Simply put,"Snow Sense" is a pocket guide to safe snow travel, whether you're hiking, backpacking, skiing, snowshoeing, or mountaineering in high risk areas.

Avalanches don't simply explode out of nowhere. The ones that kill people are usually started by the victims. This book will teach you that such catastrophes are avoidable. You can learn to recognize and evaluate avalanche hazards. You can learn to "read" the snowpack, "read" the mountains, and save your skin. "Snow Sense" is a hands-on, explicit, clear-thinking, hard-hitting field guide that teaches you how. By studying the book's "bulls-eye" clues to snowpack stability, hardness tests, shear block tests, weather analysis, simple physics, and hazard checklists, you'll come away with all you need to know about avalanches and how to avoid being caught by one.

Read it once. Read it again. Take it into the field and practice the skills it teaches. Every time I hear of another avalanche-caused death in the Rockies, I wish the victim had read this book. The survivors must read it.

Editorial Review:

"Snow Sense" is the best-selling, easiest to read, most informative avalanche safety book available. Intended for skiers, snowmachiners, snowboarders, climbers and others who work and play in avalanche country, "Snow Sense" is written to help backcountry travelers learn to recognize, evaluate, and avoid snow avalanche hazards.

Avalanche accidents do not happen by accident; they happen for particular reasons. "Snow Sense" addresses the critical terrain, snowpack, and weather variables that make it possible for a slope to avalanche along with the human factors that allow most accidents to happen. If you don't want to become an avalanche victim, read this book.

Frommer's Cruises & Ports of Call 2009 (Frommer's Complete)

Matt Hannafin, Heidi Sarna

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Frommers Amazon Marketplace: 47 new & used starting at $13.52

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Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> Cruises

Editorial Review:

America’s #1 bestselling travel series

Written by more than 175 outspoken travelers around the globe, Frommer’s Complete Guides help travelers experience places the way locals do.

• More annually updated guides than any other series
• 16-page color section and foldout map in all annual guides
• Outspoken opinions, exact prices, and suggested itineraries
• Dozens of detailed maps in an easy-to-read, two-color design

A cruise is a complete vacation, so it's important that you choose the one that's right for you. Frommer's Cruises & Ports of Call 2009 is the most user-friendly, opinionated, and comprehensive guide you can buy before you set sail. We provide in-depth coverage on cruises departing from U.S. ports to the Caribbean, Alaska, Mexico, Bermuda, and Canada.

Unlike rating systems used in other guides, our system is simple. We break down the essential elements of a cruise experience (dining, activities, children's activities, entertainment, service, overall enjoyment, and overall value), and rate them from "poor" to "outstanding." Photos of each ship combine with the text to give a better sense of the very real differences among the various lines.

Most important, this is the only cruise guide that provides the real prices people pay for cruises, not just the rack rates. Other guides tell you that a seven-night cruise aboard Holland America’s Noordam costs $2,639. You can pay that if you want to, but only Frommer's tells you that the same cruise is selling for $899. We give both the rack rates and the discount price for every cruise we review. This feature alone makes Frommer's Cruises and Ports of Call by far the most valuable trip-planning book among cruise guides.

Our authors, noted cruise experts who've personally checked out every ship sailing in and around North America, offer candid and unbiased opinions on them all. They are completely up to date, with all the latest developments and the newest ships. You'll also get complete coverage of the major port destinations, with advice on how to spend your limited time ashore.

The Grey Seas Under: The Perilous Rescue Mission of a N.A. Salvage Tug

Farley Mowat

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: The Lyons Press Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $4.99

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Subjects -> History -> Military -> Canada
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Foundation Franklin: The Salvage Tug Sans Peur 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

As a sea officer, I learned about salvage tugs,the men who man them and the ships they've saved from stories told around the dinner table in the officers' saloon and in bars around the world. You just pray you and your ship will never have need of their services.

There are many deep-ocean tugs whose names are well known in the maritime community, but Foundation Franklin was the queen of her kind. In ten words or less, if you were in trouble and she got a line on you, chances were you'd make it home. From a seafarer, there is no higher praise.

Farley Mowat tells her story, from her owners acquiring her as Royal Navy surplus in 1919 until she was laid up for the last time, with loving attention to detail. He writes of her missions, from the comparatively mundane to the incredibly dangerous, in such a way that you feel the deck moving under your feet and the cold North Atlantic spray lashing your face. He puts you squarely in the middle of the action. True, the finer points will be best appreciated by those of us who make or have made our living on the deep blue, but the writing is so rich even landsmen and armchair sailors will understand and come to respect the intrepidity of the deep ocean salvage men. That's reason enough to read this book.

But more to the point, Mowat manages to convey to his readers the pride that sailors feel when some of their own pull off a difficult mission. He chronicles a little known and unappreciated chapter of the Second World War: the Merchant Mariners who faced the perils of U-Boats, bomber attacks and of course the ordinary hazards of foul weather sailing; and who, by getting the cargo through, enabled the armed forces to win the war against the Nazis. After reading the book, you will understand why we feel reassured by the knowledge that Foundation Franklin's bell still hangs in the offices of her salvage company - and that when they ring the bell to tell her successors that there is a ship out there in trouble and to get a move on, there are still brave men to answer her call.

Editorial Review:

The hair-raising rescue missions of a deep-sea salvage tug that saved hundreds of lives during two decades of service in the North Atlantic.

Ride Atlas of North America: U.s. / Canada / Mexico

Amazon Price: $23.07 List Price: $34.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Rand McNally & Company Amazon Marketplace: 26 new & used starting at $18.07

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Informative 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This is great atlas, I would recomend it to anyone who travels on a mototcycle or drives a car. The ride atlas is very detailed it shows the best routes that a motorcyclist like myself would need to take to see the best part of the U.S. Another great feature is it's water proof don't have to worry about it coming apart in the rain, it's very well made and should last for years if you ride a motorcycle and been looking for an atlas to take with you then this is it, it's fits in saddle bags as well.

Dave Tate

extremely great and convenient map 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

this map has it all...very detailed road content found in the large rand maps with a tough, closeable magnetic binder that fits nicely in any saddlebag. it has good suggestions for scenic rides and some state laws for anywhere you can ride a motorcycle. i dont ride a harley and dont necessarily care for them either, but this is one 'harley' item i had to have. the only negative thing i can think of is that due to its size, many states are split onto seperate pages. it is a necessary evil, however they tried to mitigate it by creating a 'overlap' of the map area on each consecutive page so you can quickly refind your spot/road.

The Wilderness World of John Muir

John Muir

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Mariner Books Amazon Marketplace: 54 new & used starting at $3.45

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Real Estate -> General
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An excellent place to start 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

Whether you are interested in John Muir specifically or just want to read about an interesting life, this book is an excellent place to start.

John Muir had an incredible and important life, and it is told here succinctly in his own words, excerpted to emphasize the profound. It is a glimpse into a lifestyle 99.9% of us will never know, yet it is truly important to our times. His love of nature, adventure and exploration is a reminder of why we need to experience more than our 9 to 5 workdays and why we need to apply ourselves to the protection of the Earth.

Muir was a gentle but strong man, a genius with simple needs, solitary yet influential. This book is a terrific way to look into his life and his time and to gain some inspiration into our lives and our times.

Editorial Review:

During John Muir's extraordinary life as a conservationist, he traveled through most of the American wilderness alone and on foot, without a gun or a sleeping bag. In 1903, while on a three-day camping trip with President Theodore Roosevelt, he convinced the president of the importance of a national conservation program, and he is given major credit for saving the Grand Canyon and Arizona's Petrified Forest. Muir's writing, based on journals he kept throughout his life, gives our generation a picture of an America still wild and unsettled only one hundred years ago. Edwin Way Teale has collected here the best of Muir's writing, selected from all of his major works, including MY FIRST SUMMER IN THE SIERRA and TRAVELS IN ALASKA. THE WILDERNESS WORLD OF JOHN MUIR provides "reading that is often magnificent, thrilling, exciting, breathtaking, and awe-inspiring" (Kirkus Reviews).

Canada (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

DK Publishing

Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: DK Publishing, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $3.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not Perfect! 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is a very attractive book with lots good pictures and information on countryside, historical sites and so such. However, it contains almost nothing on modern Canada and its cities and also doesn't have much information on Northern Canada. This book is fine for the tourist who only wishes to see historic buildings and Niagra Falls but not very good anyone else. The maps and and information on accomadation, restaurants and so on is also not particularly good, as with most Eyewitness guides.

Instead of travelling - almost like travelling 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have just recently received this book and went through it and of course liked it a lot. I was in Toronto,Montreal, Niagra Falls and it was so nice to go through those places through the book and also checking the other places where I had no chance to go. I like these Eyewitness travel guides how they are build , they give a nice overview on a country or city and of course the lovely photoes and drawings those help a lot.
This is my 32.nd book from this travel guide series and I was not disappointed by buying this one also.

Editorial Review:

Features: Newfoundland, Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Montreal, Quebec City, the St. Lawrence River, Quebec, Toronto, Ottawa, Eastern Ontario, the Great Lakes, Central Canada, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, the Rocky Mountains, British Columbia, and Northern Canada.

Top 10 Montreal & Quebec City (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides)

DK Publishing

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Subjects -> Travel -> Canada -> Cities -> Montreal
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Subjects -> Travel -> Canada -> Provinces -> Quebec

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

Overall good guide to accompany your trip to Montreal/Quebec 4 out of 5 stars.
24 of 24 people found this review helpful.

This guide book is filled with colorful pictures and list top-10 tourist spots in Montreal and Quebec, it almost list top-10 tourist spots, dining, shopping, night life etc in different sections of the cities. Overall it's an excellent guide book to accompany one's trip to Monteral/Quebec.
The only problem is after visiting some of the top-10 spots I find myself disagreeing with the choice of the author. While some interesting spots were left out of given less attention. Some information is also outdated or incorrect, such as museum opening hours.
For example, while the cross on Mount Royal has historical significance, the steel structure itself is unimpressive and I doubt whether it's worth walking half-way through Mount-Royal Park just to see the cross.
Another example is the Museum of French America in Quebec city, which houses many interesting exhibits but it wasn't even mentioned in the guide.
Apart from tourists spots, I also find myself disagreeing with some top-10 restaurants picks. For example, the Alphenaus restaurant (in downtown Montreal) recommended by the guide is located in a kind-of-run-down neighbourhood and AAA only gives it 2 diamonds. There are some good picks though, like Le Latini in Montreal.

One last glitch about this travel guide is the inclusion of some seemingly irrelevant information. While it's good to know about Celine Dion or the separatist movement, I'm not sure how useful that information is to my trip.

Summary:
The good:
Clear, concise, numbered list of tourist attractions, restaurants, etc. Also some travel tips. Most attractions lists are show on mini-map and nearest metro station, which makes the job of finding that attraction/restaurant a lot easier.

The bad:
some out-dated information, some top-10 picks questionable

The bottomline:
This is an excellent guide to accompany anyone travelling to Montreal/Quebec city

Editorial Review:

From the top 10 festivals to the top 10 places to eat, shop and sleep ­ this guide will lead you straight to the very best Montréal and Québec City have to offer.