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Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (Vintage Departures Ser.)
by William DalrympleThree brothers from a remote village in the Himalayas are driven by poverty to become monks. One becomes a famous masked dancer; the second an accomplished player of the Tibetan temple trumpet; and the third a great Buddhist scholar. A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend ritually starve herself to death. A woman leaves her middle class family in Calcutta and her job in a jute factory, only to find unexpected love and fulfillment living as a tantric in a skull-filled hut in remote a cremation ground. A prison warder from Kerala becomes for two months of the year a temple dancer and is worshipped as an incarnate deity; then, at the end of February each year, he returns to prison. An idol maker, the thirty-fifth of a long line of sculptors going back to the legendary Chola bronze makers, regards creating Gods as one of the holiest callings in India, but has to reconcile himself to his son who only wants to study computer engineering. An illiterate goat herd from Rajasthan keeps alive an ancient 200,000-stanza sacred epic that he, virtually alone, still knows by heart. A devadasi - or temple prostitute - initially resists her own initiation into sex work, yet pushes both her daughters into a trade she regards as a sacred calling.Nine people, nine lives. Each one taking a different religious path, each one an unforgettable story.Exquisite and mesmerizing, and told with an almost biblical simplicity, William Dalrymple's first travel book in a decade explores how traditional forms of religious life in South Asia have been transformed in the vortex of the region's rapid change. Nine Lives is a distillation of twenty-five years of exploring India and writing about its religious traditions, taking you deep into worlds that you would never have imagined even existed.
China Road: One Man's Journey into the Heart of Modern China (Playaway Adult Nonfiction Ser.)
by Rob GiffordRunning 3,000 miles from the east-coast boomtown of Shanghai to the border of Kazakhstan in the north-west, Route 312 - China's 'Route 66' - is a road that Rob Gifford has always wanted to travel. Gifford's journey and his desire to get to the heart of this country make China Road an outstanding and funny travel narrative - part pilgrimage, part reportage - which illuminates a country on the move.
Kaleidoscope City: A Year in Varanasi
by Piers Moore Ede'I will never forget my first sight of the river in Varanasi, from the narrowness and constriction of the alleys, thronged with activity, to the sudden release of the waterfront, the labyrinth's end . . . It seems that all of life has its assigned place on the stone steps leading down to the Ganges. Some are used for bathing, others for laundry, washing buffalo, puja (worship, ceremonial offering), and this one for the business of death. The smells are of wood smoke, buffalo dung, urine and jasmine flowers. The sounds are of rustling kites and lowing cattle, crackling wood and prayer. . .'Piers Moore Ede first fell in love with Varanasi when he passed through it on his way to Nepal in search of wild honey hunters. In the decade that followed it continued to exert its pull on him, and so he returned to live there, to press his ear to its heartbeat and to discover what it is that makes the spiritual capital of India so unique. In this intoxicating 'city of 10,000 widows', where funeral pyres smoulder beside the river in which thousands of pilgrims bathe, and holiness and corruption walk side by side, Piers encounters sweet-makers and sadhus, mischievous boatmen and weary bureaucrats, silk weavers and musicians and discovers a remarkable interplay between death and life, light and dark.
Psychogeography: Disentangling The Modern Conundrum Of Psyche And Place
by Will Self Ralph SteadmanProvocateurs Will Self and Ralph Steadman join forces in this post-millennial meditation on the vexed relationship between psyche and place in a globalised world, bringing together for the first time the very best of their 'Psychogeography' columns for the Independent. The introduction, 'Walking to New York', is both a prelude to the verbal and visual essays that make up this extraordinary collaboration, and a revealing exploration of the split in Self's Jewish-American-British psyche and its relationship to the political geography of the post-9/11 world. Ranging from the Scottish Highlands to Istanbul and from Morocco to Ohio, Will Self's engaging and disturbing vision is perfectly counter-pointed by Ralph Steadman's edgy and beautiful artwork.
Walking to Hollywood: Memories Of Before The Fall
by Will SelfWalking to Hollywood is a dazzling triptych - obsessive, satirical, elegiac - in which Will Self burrows down through the intersections of time, place and psyche to explore some of our deepest fears and anxieties with characteristic fearlessness and jagged humour.'Very Little' is ostensibly the account of a curative journey to Canada and the USA, but in fact the record of a nematode's progress, as the worm of obsession - with scale and packing and the 'stuff' of our lives - bores through a mind in extremesis. 'Walking to Hollywood' is an extreme satire on celebrity, in which the narrator believes that everyone he meets is played by a famous actor, and that only he can solve the mystery of who murdered the movies. 'Spurn Head' leads Self to a tormented sojourn with a madman whose house is sliding over the edge of a cliff, to a game of checkers with Death, and finally to an encounter with one of Swift's immortal Struldbruggs and a march through a tear in time itself. In Walking to Hollywood Will Self pushes memoir to the limits of invention.
On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads
by Tim CopeThe relationship between man and horse on the Eurasian steppe gave rise to a succession of rich nomadic cultures. Among them were the Mongols of the thirteenth century – a small tribe, which, under the charismatic leadership of Genghis Khan, created the largest contiguous land empire in history. Inspired by the extraordinary life nomads still lead today, Tim Cope embarked on a journey that hadn't been successfully completed since those times: to travel on horseback across the entire length of the Eurasian steppe, from Karakorum, the ancient capital of Mongolia, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Crimea and the Ukraine to the Danube River in Hungary. From horse-riding novice to travelling three years and 10,000 kilometres on horseback, accompanied by his dog Tigon, Tim learnt to fend off wolves and would-be horse-thieves, and grapple with the extremes of the steppe as he crossed sub-zero plateaux, the scorching deserts of Kazakhstan and the high-mountain passes of the Carpathians. Along the way, he was taken in by people who taught him the traditional ways and told him their recent history: Stalin's push for industrialisation brought calamity to the steepe and forced collectivism that in Kazakhstan alone led to the loss of several million livestock and the starvation of more than a million nomads. Today Cope bears witness to how the traditional ways hang precariously in the balance in the post-Soviet world.
Squirrel Pie (and other stories): Adventures in Food Across the Globe
by Ms Elisabeth Luard'Sacrilegious to say it but Elizabeth Luard even beats Elizabeth David. Exquisite writing and wonderful food, and funny too' Prue Leith'Elisabeth Luard proves that no matter where you are, there is food to be gathered, or hunted, or found. Squirrel Pie is a beautifully written tribute to food that has all but vanished from our everyday lives' Alice WatersElisabeth Luard, one of the food world's most entertaining and evocative writers, has travelled extensively throughout her life, meeting fascinating people, observing different cultures and uncovering extraordinary ingredients in unusual places. In this enchanting food memoir, she shares tales and dishes gathered from her global ramblings.With refreshing honesty and warmth, she recounts anecdotes of the many places she has visited: scouring for snails in Crete, sampling exotic spices in Ethiopia and tasting pampered oysters in Tasmania. She describes encounters with a cellarer-in-chief and a mushroom-king, and explains why stress is good news for fruit and vegetables, and how to spot a truffle lurking under an oak tree. Divided into four landscapes – rivers, islands, deserts and forests – Elisabeth's stories are coupled with more than fifty authentic recipes, each one a reflection of its unique place of origin, including Boston bean-pot, Hawaiian poke, Cretan bouboutie, mung-bean roti, roasted buttered coffee beans, Anzac biscuits and Sardinian lemon macaroons. Illustrated with Elisabeth's own sketches, Squirrel Pie will appeal to anyone with a taste for travel, and an affinity for that most universal of languages, food.
A Death in Brazil: A Book of Omissions
by Peter RobbDelving into Brazil's baroque past, Peter Robb writes about its history of slavery and the richly multicultural but disturbed society that was left in its wake when the practice was abolished in the late nineteenth century. Even today, Brazil is a nation of almost unimaginable distance between its wealthy and its poor, a place of extraordinary levels of crime and violence. It is also one of the most beautiful and seductive places on earth. Using the art, food and the books of its great nineteenth-century writer, Machado de Assis, Robb takes us on a journey into a world like Conrad's Nostromo. A world so absurdly dramatic, like the current president Lula's fight for power, that it could have come from one of the country's immensely popular TV soap operas, a world where resolution is often only provided by death. Like all the best travel writing, A Death in Brazil immerses you deep into the heart of a fascinating country.
Florence: A Delicate Case (The\writer And The City Ser.)
by David Leavitt'Florence is the only European city I can think of whose most famous citizens, at least in the last 150 years or so, have all been foreigners.' Thus David Leavitt writes in this lively account of expatriate life in the city of the lily. His narrative begins by asking why Florence has always proven to be such a popular destination for suicides, then moves into an analysis of what makes the city, in Henry James's words, such a 'delicate case.' Why, for instance, has Florence always drawn so many English and American visitors. (At the turn of the century, the Anglo-American population numbered more than 30,000.) Why have men and women fleeing sex scandal traditionally settled here? What about Florence has made it so fascinating and so repellent - to artists and writers over the years? Moving between present and past, Leavitt's narrative limns the history of the foreign colony from its origins in the middle of the nineteenth century until its demise under Mussolini, and considers the appeal of Florence to figures as diverse as Tchaikovsky, E. M. Forster, Ronald Firbank, Mary McCarthy, Mrs Keppel (mistress to King Edward VII) and Henry Labouchere, author of the Labouchere Amendment, under the provisions of which Oscar Wilde was convicted.
Rogue Elephant: Harnessing the Power of India’s Unruly Democracy
by Simon DenyerAt the beginning of the twenty-first century, India stood on the brink of an exciting new era. Yet only a decade later, a series of corruption scandals and acts of violence against women had tarnished the nation's image and slowed her economic growth. When Narendra Modi became India's fifteenth prime minister in May 2014, he promised to revitalise a nation which seemed to have lost its way. With a record turnout, the elections were a powerful testament to Indians' aspirations for a brighter future. Rogue Elephant uncovers the gripping struggle between powerful vested interest groups and those trying to foster change. Simon Denyer exposes the failures that undermined India's self-confidence and paved the way for Modi's triumphant victory, but also examines the heroic efforts of those who are fighting for a better future in the world's largest democracy.
Psycho Too
by Will Self Ralph SteadmanWill Self and Ralph Steadman join forces once again in a further post-millennial meditation on the vexed relationship of psyche and place in a globalised world; Psycho Too brings together a second helping of their very best words and pictures from 'Psychogeography', the columns they contributed to the Independent for half a decade. The introduction, 'Journey Through Britain' is a new extended essay by Self, accompanied by Steadman's inimitable images. It tells of how Self journeyed to Dubai, that Götterdammerung of the contemporary built environment, in order to walk the length of the artificial Britain-shaped island, in the offshore luxury housing development known as 'The World'.Ranging from Istanbul to Los Angeles and from the crumbling coastline of East Yorkshire to the adamantine heads of Easter Island, Will Self's engaging and disturbing vision is once again perfectly counter-pointed by Ralph Steadman's edgy and dazzling artwork.
Off The Rails: 10,000 km by Bicycle across Russia, Siberia and Mongolia to China
by Chris Hatherly Tim CopeThis is the true story of two twenty-year old Australians who travelled for fourteen months on recumbent bicycles from Russia, across Siberia and Mongolia, to Beijing. It is as much a story of perseverance, passion, and belief as it is about the people and remarkable landscapes of Siberia and Mongolia. Tim and Chris are not just fearless adventurers but philosophers on wheels, willing and able to open themselves up to everything from the voice of the Steppes to the Russian villagers and the nomads of the Gobi desert. From this they draw an often funny, moving and inspirational tale of living out a dream. Mixed into this journey is the story of their tumultuous relationship as two opposing wills battle it out in the midst of heat, snow and hunger.
Travels with a Mexican Circus
by Katie HickmanKatie Hickman went to Mexico looking for magic. She found it in the circus – Big Top, clowns, elephants and all – where cheap, torn materials and tarnished sequins are transformed into nights of glittering illusion. Gradually adjusting to the harsh ways of the circus's nomadic lifestyle, she soon became absorbed into this hypnotic new world, at first as a foreigner but later as 'La Gringa Estrella', a performer in her own right. Travels with a Mexican Circus is an unforgettable account of a year-long journey through an extraordinary and bizarrely beautiful country.
Bella Figura: How to Live, Love and Eat the Italian Way
by Kamin MohammadiIn 2008, Kamin Mohammadi found herself worn down – by the increasingly unrealistic expectations of her high-flying job in the magazine industry, by her fluctuating weight and health issues, and by her non-existent love life. Made redundant from her job, she fled the bleak streets of London for a friend's sun-dappled apartment in Florence. There, among the cobbled streets, the bustling, vibrant markets and the majestic palazzos, Kamin found a new lease of life. Leaving behind her ascetic diets and compulsive exercising, she began to imitate the ways of the carefree Italian women she saw around her – the morning café rituals, the long lunches – taking pleasure in the finer things. Within weeks she had regained her health, her natural figure and her zest for life – and even a lover or two. At once lyrical and practical, Bella Figura shows us how to make every aspect of life as beautiful as it can be. From how to choose the perfectly ripe tomato to how to walk down the street in style, Kamin Mohammadi explores the intricate nuances of Italian culture, and sets down a simple guide to a better, more elegant – and ultimately more satisfying – life.
Between Eternities: and Other Writings
by Javier Marías Margaret Jull CostaA new and exhilarating collection of writings from the author of The Infatuations and A Heart So WhiteInternationally renowned writer Javier Marias is a tireless examiner of the world around us, an enthusiastic debunker of pretensions of every kind, and a true polymath. This new collection of essays shows the full extent of his curiosity and wit, ranging from the literary to the philosophical to the autobiographical, from football to cinema, comic books to mortality to 'Why Almost No One Can Be Trusted'.Trenchant and wry, subversive and penetrating, Marias demonstrates a dazzling intellectual vigour, showing with exhilarating verve why he is so often said to be Spain's greatest living writer.
Silence: In the Age of Noise
by Erling KaggeTHE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERThis breathtaking, inspiring little book teaches us how to find precious moments of silence - whether we are crossing the Antarctic, climbing Everest, or on the train at rush hour.'Quietly, wisely, Silence makes a case for dumbing the din of modern life, and learning to listen again' Robert MacfarlaneWhat is silence?Where can it be found?Why is it more important than ever?Norwegian explorer Erling Kagge once spent fifty days walking solo across Antarctica, his radio broken.In this charming, quietly life-changing book - now an international publishing phenomenon - he takes us on a journey to unlock the power of silence. And he shows us how to find perfect silence in our daily lives, however busy we are.'A bestseller on why finding inner silence is the key to happiness . . . bound to hit our sweet spot for wanting to unplug and disconnect from the world' Evening Standard'Fascinating' The Times'As an explorer Erling Kagge is world class; as a writer he is equally gifted. This breathtaking, inspiring little book teaches us how to find precious moments of silence - whether we are crossing the Antarctic, climbing Everest, or on the train at rush hour' Sir Ranulph Fiennes'Erling Kagge is a philosophical adventurer - or perhaps an adventurous philosopher' New York Times
The Fish Ladder: A Journey Upstream
by Katharine NorburySHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2016LONGLISTED FOR THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD 2015TELEGRAPH BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2015Katharine Norbury was abandoned as a baby in a Liverpool convent. Raised by loving adoptive parents, she grew into a wanderer, drawn by the beauty of the British countryside. One summer, following the miscarriage of a much-longed-for child, Katharine and her nine-year-old daughter Evie decide to follow a river from the sea to its source. But a chance circumstance forces Katharine to the door of the woman who gave her up all those years ago. Combining travelogue, memoir, exquisite nature writing, fragments of poetry and tales from Celtic mythology, The Fish Ladder is a captivating and life-affirming story about motherhood, marriage, family, and self-discovery, illuminated by the extraordinary majesty of the natural world.
The Man Who Broke Out of the Bank and Went for a Walk across France
by Miles MorlandAt the age of 45 Miles Morland resigned from his highly paid job as head of the UK division of a major American bank and went for a walk with his wife in France. Neither of them was used to walking further than the distance between a restaurant and a waiting taxi. They walked from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 350 miles through the foothills of the Pyrenees, staying in small country inns and occasionally sleeping out along the way. The author describes the pleasures and agonies of the walk and reflects frequently and with relief on the life from which he has escaped. The pressures of his former life had affected him in many ways, the repercussions including divorce and then remarriage to his former wife Guislaine.
Tourism in the City: Towards an Integrative Agenda on Urban Tourism
by Nicola Bellini Cecilia PasquinelliThis book critically explores the interconnections between tourism and the contemporary city from a policy-oriented standpoint, combining tourism perspectives with discussion of urban models, issues, and challenges. Research-based analyses addressing managerial issues and evaluating policy implications are described, and a comprehensive set of case studies is presented to demonstrate practices and policies in various urban contexts. A key message is that tourism policies should be conceived as integrated urban policies that promote tourism performance as a means of fostering urban quality and the well-being of local communities, e.g., in terms of quality spaces, employment, accessibility, innovation, and learning opportunities. In addition to highlighting the significance of urban tourism in relation to key urban challenges, the book reflects on the risks and tensions associated with its development, including the rise of anti-tourism movements as a reaction to touristification, cultural commodification, and gentrification. Attention is drawn to asymmetries in the costs and benefits of the city tourism phenomenon, and the supposedly unavoidable trade-off between the interests of residents and tourists is critically questioned.
Leontyne: By Barge From London To Vienna
by Richard GoodwinObserving the barges from the Pont des Arts in Paris sparks in Richard Goodwin a strong desire to join their nomadic lifestyle. And so he buys Leontyne – or Leo to her friends ¬– an ancient, rusty barge that has been plying the Thames for over sixty years. After patching her up and roping in some wise men of the rivers, Richard plans an epic journey; one that will take him across the stormy channel, along beautiful rivers and canals, through river cities and tiny villages, from London, all the way to Vienna.First published in 1989, Leontyne: By barge from London to Vienna is full of colourful characters met along the way, the amusing trials and tribulations of a cantankerous boat and the rich culture of the countries Goodwin passes through.
Zen and the Art of Donkey Maintenance
by Robert CrispI looked again at the folded map of Europe in my hand. Then I crossed the road to the Continental booking office and bought a ticket for Salzburg in Austria. "Return?" asked the clerk. "Definitely not," I told him. In December 1966, the New Year looked exciting for fifty-five-year-old Robert Crisp. As a man whose youth was spent in constant adventure, leading a calm, domestic life in England had become a burden from which he needed to break free. Named by Wisden as "One of the most extraordinary men ever to play Test cricket" Crisp served as a soldier in the Second World War in Greece and North Africa for which he was decorated for bravery, later becoming a writer and journalist.With his marriage over and his sons old enough to fend for themselves, Crisp decided to start a new life. With sixty pounds in his pocket, his wartime disability pension of ten pounds a month, and a plan to write about his adventures under a pseudonym, his journey began. Through twenty columns filed from abroad over years of rustic living and travel, Crisp, as Peter White, shared his experiences of hitch-hiking through Yugoslavia, settling in a beach shack in Greece where he attempted to cultivate the stubborn land, and a nearly fatal solo boat trip around Corfu. As the first year of his dream life came to a close, he found out that the stomach pain he had been suffering was not a side effect of too much Greek wine, but cancer. With a prediction of only one year to live, he set off on a trek around Crete, his only companion a donkey with plenty of personality.Robert Crisp's account of his travels, originally serialised in the Sunday Express, is an honest, funny, touching account of this charming rogue's journey through a foreign land and culture in search of inner peace and happiness.
The Geography of Tourism of Central and Eastern European Countries
by Krzysztof Widawski Jerzy WyrzykowskiThis book presents a comprehensive overview of the tourism market development in Central and Eastern European countries. It is divided into 13 chapters, including a chapter dedicated to Belarus, all richly illustrated with colorful maps and illustrations. The book presents the output of international conferences organized every two years by the Department of Regional Geography and Tourism of the University of Wroclaw which have served as inspiration for this book. Chapter 1 provides the characteristics of 20 post-communist countries of the region on the international tourism market and it sets the background and context for the following chapters. Chapters 2 to 13 present the condition of research on tourism, tourist attractions, tourist infrastructure, tourism movement, main types of tourism as well as tourist regionalization in 12 Central and Eastern European countries. All chapters have been updated with reference to the statistics.This book is a revised and updated version of “The Geography of Tourism of Central and Eastern Europe Countries” published by the Department of Regional Geography and Tourism of Wroclaw University in 2012. It has been developed by a group of specialists through their exchange of research experience in the scope of international tourism in Central and Eastern Europe.
The Vikings: Voyagers Of Discovery And Plunder (General Military Ser.)
by René Chartrand Keith Durham Mark Harrison Ian HeathThe history of the Vikings is bloody and eventful, and Viking warriors capture the popular imagination to this day. They made history, establishing the dukedom of Normandy, providing the Byzantine Emperors' bodyguard and landing on the shores of America 500 years before Columbus. Beautifully illustrated with colour photographs and original Osprey artwork, this book presents a new window into their way of life including detailed studies of the Hersir, the raiding warrior of the Viking world, and the legendary Viking longship.
Design Science in Tourism: Foundations of Destination Management (Tourism on the Verge)
by Daniel R. Fesenmaier Zheng XiangThis book explores the impact of design science and design thinking on tourism planning, gathering contributions from leading authorities in the field of tourism research and providing a comprehensive and interconnected panorama of cutting-edge results that influence the current and future design of tourist destinations. The book builds on recent findings in psychology, geography and urban and regional planning, as well as from economics, marketing and communications, and explores the opportunities arising from recent advances in the Internet and related technologies like memory, storage, RFID, GIS, mobile and social media in the context of collecting and analyzing traveler-related data. It presents a broad range of insights and cases on how modern design approaches can be used to develop new and better touristic experiences, and how they enable the tourism industry to track and communicate with visitors in a more meaningful way and more effectively manage visitor experiences.
Tiny Games for Home (Osprey Games Ser.)
by Hide Seek Paulina GanucheauDesigned to give the maximum amount of fun for the minimum amount of rule-reading, Tiny Games for Home will let you find the perfect game for whatever situation you're in. All you need is this book, and the stuff that's around you. (Friends optional) There are games to play with spoons and sofas and TVs and turnips and books and bottles. Games about words, games about celebrities, games about the things and the people and the places in your life. Games for TV commercial breaks, games for toast, and games for lying in bed. Whether you're feeling creative or competitive, silly or energetic, we've got you covered."It's like carrying around a collection of Victorian parlour games – except the Tiny Games take advantage of modern social settings and contexts. They're amusing, raucous and inventive†? - The Guardian