1. ISBN13: 9780767913737
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth.

The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron.

After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.

Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.

From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rain forest to the darkest night of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, here is Candice Millard’s dazzling debut.

Customer Review :

The Final Triumph of a Maginficent Life!

I had often heard of Theodore Roosevelt's exploration down through the Amazon Jungle, but had never read the details of this great adventure. "The River of Doubt" gave me that opportunity. Recoiling from his defeat in the 1912 election, invitations to undertake a lecture tour of South America grew into a "Last chance to be a boy." More than that, this journey of exploration down the uncharted River of Doubt, enabled Roosevelt to add his name to the list of great explorers of the earth, along with Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Hernando DeSoto and others who filled in blank spaces on the map.

It takes a book like this, totally devoted to the great exploration, to really convey the enormity of the challenge which met the Roosevelt expedition. Accompanied by his son, Kermit, and Brazil's most renowned explorer this voyage of discovery began by lightening its load at the expense of discharging food and equipment which it would later need. The River of Doubt was a thousand mile ribbon of water snaking through the densest jungle on earth. Challenged by waterfalls and rapids, heat and insects, deadly predators and watchful Indians, the expedition gradually weakened as it raced to reach the outside world before its supplies were exhausted. Drowned and murdered members had to be buried, crush canoes replaced, water hazards bypassed and elusive game hunted as the explorers struggled to complete the journey alive. Toward the end, little more than raw courage kept the men going.

For Theodore Roosevelt, this was a most unusual undertaking for an ex-President. Weakened by disease and infection resulting from a leg injury, TR almost died on several occasions and begged his companions to leave him behind so that the expedition would not be jeopardized. Protected by his son Kermit, he was denied the poison he had brought for just such an occasion and was brought out of the jungle broken, but alive.

This book is well written and holds the reader's attention as much as any mystery novel. An unexpected feature is the detailed description of the Amazonian environment. The narration of the problems presented by the unexpected timing of the ripening of fruit and the elusive traits of the game on which they had depended, introduces the reader into the scientific perspectives of the project. Through this work the reader obtains an appreciation for TR's strength of character. It is almost unimaginable that anyone with the privileges of a former president would undertake such a taxing and dangerous journey. On further reflection, it is equally unimaginable that TR would let such an opportunity pass. As readers of my Amazon reviews know, I am a committed Ted Head and have read extensively about him. In this book, author Candice Millard admits us into the Final Triumph of a Magnificent Life.


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Great read! Who knew Teddy was such a beast??

I had no idea Teddy was such an adventurist. The book was a little slow to begin. I wish the book would have included more details about the dangerous foes they faced in the jungle. Overall though, the book was solid and enjoyable!

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The River of Doubt

This book is in the top two best books I've ever read. The "deep down" mindsets of the former president lay the bedrock for an excitingly true journey. This tale, through history, gave me education, emotion and heroic fantasy.

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River of Doubt

A fascinating,beautifully written account of one of America's iconic heroes.A look at TR and family outside of the more often chronicled political and military arenas.

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A great account of TR's trip.

This is wonderfully written book about the amazon exploits of Teddy Roosevelt. There is no wonder why he is considered one of the best US presidents; whether it is the Panama canal, breaking up the conglomerates of the robber barons (on hearing the news of Roosevelt's trip to Africa, J P Morgan said "America expects every lion to do its duty"), his knowledge & skills as a naturalist (Muir woods, a place I love so much, owes its existence, to a certain extent, to TR), historian, writer or his values as demonstrated in his invitation to Booker T. Washington, Teddy Roosevelt stands out. All the personal tragedies he had encountered in his life might have had an influence in the "strenuous life" he espoused.

Candice Millard has done a wonderful job piecing together all the elements to create a compelling narrative of TR's Amazon trip. The trials and tribulations of the team is explained in fine detail...the book details the environment they encountered i.e. the rapids, reptiles, piranhas, diseases, threat from the local Indian population and how they (TR, Rondon, Cherrie, Kermit and others) finally managed to reach the end of a river that is now named Rio Téodoro. It is said that TR never fully recovered from this trip and it had taken a permanent toll on him.

Thanks to the author for identifying the key role played by Rondon who comes across as a real-life hero.

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1. ISBN13: 9781741791570
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Editorial Review :

Nobody knows Thailand like Lonely Planet. Our 13th edition will have you soaking up the sun on the island paradises of the south, trekking among the hill tribes and riding elephants in Chiang Mai, discovering the ancient temples of Sukhothai and snapping up bargains or being pampered in a spa in Bangkok.

Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.

In This Guide:

Detailed advice on everything from food & drink to transport & health
Special 'Thailand & You' chapter with tips on culture and etiquette
Extensive Deep South coverage eases your travels in the conflicted region

Customer Review :

Type is ridiculously small - DO NOT BUY

This book appears to contain the compendium of knowledge regarding Thailand. Too bad the font is so small that even my teenage daughter says it hurts her eyes. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK unless you want to use a magnifying glass to read it. Very disappointed.

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Surprisingly mediocre

I really expected more from this book. It had basic info about lodging and food, but really quite basic and obvious stuff. I was frustrated many times looking for places to eat. The section on Koh Samui was almost totally useless. There was nothing here to make it worth the price.

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LP provide the best guide to exploring a country

Lonely Planet guides consistently provide accurate information. It is great especially for people who budget travel, travel light (backpack) and want some adventure.

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The Travel Bible, a bit dated

Known as "The Book", this is the standard for any travel guide to Thailand. I'm glad they are coming out with a new edition, though. On my recent trip, more than half of the restaurants we tried to find in Chiang Mai had either moved across town or shut down since The Book was last published. If you are in the market, pre-order the new edition instead, which will hopefully sport updated information.

By the way, I highly recommend the Chiang Dao Nest - bungalows set in the beautiful forests and mountains north of Chiang Mai, and amazing food despite the remote location.

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Just short...

When I travel, I swear by Lonely Planet, so I'm used to a certain standard of content and clarity. Although I only used about a quarter of this book's total content on my last journey, there were certain instances where more information would have been certainly preferred; and had me and my partner not been as savvy as we were, whole days could've been compromised. However this guide was still extremely helpful, overall.

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1. ISBN13: 9780981461007
2. Condition: NEW
3. Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
4. Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Editorial Review :

The finest guidebook ever written for the Big Island and the only one written by writers who anonymously review the island. They visit every beach, restaurant, activity and trail on the island. The result is this comprehensive, humorous and easy-to-read full color guide that will lead you to more adventures than any other book. A must for travelers.

Customer Review :

The Big Island Revealed

This book has a lot of great information including a lot of background and history. We all have been passing this book around getting ready for our vacation.

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Great book! We used for snorkeling, hiking, and visiting multple beaches.

This book made our two visits to the big island absolutely amazing. The big island has so many pristine beaches beyond the lava fields that are a blast to visit, and this book makes these visits possible. I have found that the descriptions are right on and very complete, and the historical tidbits are interesting and amusing.

The only downside to this book is the organization - quite frankly, the big island is so big and varied that I applaud how the authors handled organization, but there still is some room for improvement. For example, information on a certain beach may be found multiple times throughout the book - the driving section, the beaches section, the activities section, and/or the adventures section. On our second visit to the big island we partnered this book with "Hawaii the Big Island Trailblazer" and liked the pairing (with `Trailblazer' not having near the sense of humor that `Revealed' has, but having very delineated organization!) Aloha!Hawaii The Big Island Trailblazer: Where to hike, snorkel, surf, bike, drive

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Everything you need to know about the Big Island

Has almost everything you need to know about the Big Island except there is very little about traveling with children. It would be very helpful to have a section on things to do with children and places to eat. Overall an excellent book to have if you are traveling to Hawaii.

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The must have book for traveling to the Big Island

My family owns a condo on the Big Island of Hawaii. We keep a copy of this book in all of our rental cars, condo, and home. It gives a fun, comprehensive look at the Big Island. We have tried several of their hikes, excursions, adventures, and restaurants and have never had a bad experience. It is fun to read, and we have spent much of our vacation driving around the island and reading the Ultimate Guidebook as we go. Much of what we have explored on the Big Island comes from the book and what we have found we have written about on our condo's website. [...] If you're going to the Big Island, buy this book early and you will have a vacation of a lifetime.

Rating :

Don't bother with any other book

This was our first trip to the Hawaiian Islands. We were on the big island 4 days. The suggestion to stay on one side of the island was dead on. We found it very hard to see even the one side in the time we had.

Their reccomendation of the Volcano House (they booked us in the Volcano Inn) was absolutely perfect for us. Amazingly inexpensive lodging (less than $100 per night TOTAL, in a corner room with 2 sides glass walls, and a private, incredible view of a tree fern forest, with a light to illuminate it to boot. Talk about an erotic and ecologically stimulating view.

The Kilaues Lodge and Restaurant had incredible food, my wife had ostrich one night and antelope the next. The rabbit stew was amazing. The food here was as good as food we had a the Beach Bistro, a restaurant on Anna Marie island in FL, which is every year rated one of the best in FL, and at 1/2 the cost. Yes, a meal without down restaurant meal elsewhere in Hawaii is $40 or $50 with nowhere near the quality or service.

They were correct a 4-wheel drive vehicle is not required to get up to the volcano-top observatories. They suggested the University of Hawaii free trip which was excellent.

The only fault I can find is they did not stress the absolute necessity of a GPS unit. Bring one or rent one. It is nearly impossible to see the road signs at night and even if you can the street names are all Hawaiian. The names have nothing do do with anything you are used to and even if you can read the entire name you can't remember it, and if you can it is so near to other names you can't distinguish them. I am an excellent navigator and we got lost almost everytime we trid to go anywhere at dark or dusk.

Buy the bood. Everyhwere we went that was anywhere off the beaten path folks had it. Supplement it with a specialized book such as one on snorkeling but it should be your main guide. Carry it eveywhere. The maps are amazingly helpful-only if you need very detailed urban directions do you need anything else.

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Editorial Review :

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Customer Review :

Pioneer Historian

As a young college student, Francis Parkman, the later noted historian of the early West, goes to the land of the Lakotas and experiences their life. This is a personal history of the travels of the author through the lands of the Lakota before the great American westward expansion. Tales of Indian life and their "wars" with each other. Also tells first hand of the author's maturation in this environment. Should be required reading for any "lover of the wild west" because "This Was The It Was".

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a great read

Very enjoyable! You can't beat a first person report of traveling through Indian territory! The descriptions of the perils of the journey plus first hand experiences in dealing with the native population make you feel as if you are there, sitting in the teepee, watching as an Indian woman kills and cooks a puppy because you are an honored guest. Great descriptive writing; blood, guts, wildflowers, horses, sunsets, and the beautiful, healthy forms of our Native Americans while they were still free.

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I'm addicted to stories like this

I love to read about the daily living of people in history. I don't know what it is that drags me to it every single time. I liked this story alot.

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Very Interesting

There are a great many things about Native American life on the plains that I did not realize before reading this narrative. The level of warfare for instance. I wonder if this was heightend at that time related to population pressures from the east ( other tribes and whites ) Anyway, the writer tells an amazing tale of risk and daring while describing the lives of the natives- and we find out some things about the attitudes of the newcomers also. Keeps moving along-- no slow spots.

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Editorial Review :

In this sequel to her New York Times bestsellers Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany, the celebrated "bard of Tuscany" (New York Times) lyrically chronicles her continuing, two decades-long love affair with Tuscany's people, art, cuisine, and lifestyle.
 
Frances Mayes offers her readers a deeply personal memoir of her present-day life in Tuscany, encompassing both the changes she has experienced since Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany appeared, and sensuous, evocative reflections on the timeless beauty and vivid pleasures of Italian life. Among the themes Mayes explores are how her experience of Tuscany dramatically expanded when she renovated and became a part-time resident of a 13th century house with a stone roof in the mountains above Cortona, how life in the mountains introduced her to a "wilder" side of Tuscany--and with it a lively  engagement with Tuscany's mountain people. Throughout, she reveals the concrete joys of life in her adopted hill town, with particular attention to life in the piazza, the art of Luca Signorelli (Renaissance painter from Cortona), and the pastoral pleasures of feasting from her garden.  Moving always toward a deeper engagement, Mayes writes of Tuscan icons that have become for her storehouses of memory, of crucible moments from which bigger ideas emerged, and of the writing life she has enjoyed in the room where Under the Tuscan Sun began.
 
With more on the pleasures of life at Bramasole, the delights and challenges of living in Italy day-to-day and favorite recipes, Every Day in Tuscany is a passionate and inviting account of the richness and complexity of Italian life.

Customer Review :

Can You Feel the Magic?

There's something about Italy that evokes poetic adjectives in anyone trying to capture its essence in prose. Such effusions almost obligatory! They are symptomatic of the Italian disease, which, in so many foreign inhabitants of Italy (this reviewer included), is not only virulent but also incurable.

In Ms. Mayes, I detect a fellow chronic sufferer, and as such, I feel for one whose clouds are "flocculent," whose "topiary trees" are "wise," whose hot chocolate is "creamy and unctuous," whose cypresses are "dark-hearted," to give but a few examples. Having absorbed the magic, the author is endeavouring to convey it to her readers, who, unless they themselves have experienced Italy on a long-term basis, will probably not only fail to perceive the enchantment, but will also be immune to it. They may well dismiss such fulsome prose (as heartfelt as it might be) as either overblown or pretentious.

Of course, I'm jealous! I would give anything to be "waking with the splendiferous Tuscan dawns, listening to the bees mining the linden, lying in the grass at night watching the falling stars" (p. 99) instead of waking in the smog-choked Land of Malls, where the bees have vanished and honey is to be found only on the shelves of pricey supermarkets, and the light pollution is so severe that all the stars (except the three bright ones in Orion's belt) seem to have fallen already.

Bottom line: If your lodestar blazes over Italy, buy this book--especially if you are fascinated by lengthy descriptions of the renaissance paintings and frescos of Luca Signorelli that you can look up on Google Images, and enjoy philosophical epigrams such as "Time, the big breadbasket we fill, raid, fill, and empty" (62). If you prefer a story simply told, and are not especially interested in the daily lives of Chiara, Claudio, Roberto and other people whom you do not know; and you do not care to "feel the greeny translucence of a thin slice of fennel" (p. 99), buy a DK Guide to Italy, a plane ticket, fly over, stay for at least a year, and you will come to understand what all the poetic fuss is about.

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Lovely addition to the Tuscany collection by Frances Mayes

Frances Mayes, author of a series of books on her life in Tuscany, has penned another volume in the series. The newest, "Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life," is a charming account of her present-day life in Tuscany and her travels through Italy.

Mayes' home in Tuscany, Bramasole, was an abandoned thirteenth-century farmhouse in the mountains near Cortona that she renovated. She chronicles the seasons she and her husband spend in Italy, early spring through summer, ending with her return to her home in the U.S. in the late fall.

In this book, she and her husband branch out to explore Umbria and the Marche. She is on a quest for works of art by Luca Signorelli and his teacher, Piero della Francesca. Along the way, she meets the residents of the regions and manages to eat her way through the menus she encounters.

One of the delights repeated in this book is a series of recipes from the areas she visits. They sound so good that you are torn whether to continue read to read the book, or put it on the kitchen counter and cook the latest recipe she offers.

Whichever you decide to do, you will enjoy the fruits of this latest volume in Mayes' saga of Tuscany and its environs. It is a delight and a welcome diversion from the harsh realitites of life today.

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Tuscany Continued

Every Day in Tuscany continues the chronicles of Frances Mayes experiences surrounding Bramasole, the home in Cortona, Italy she acquired and has been restoring over the past twenty years.

If you enjoyed her book Under the Tuscan Sun you will find probably find this one a pleasure to read.

The book is often like a personal journal or diary, recording her thoughts about the people, plants, food and events of daily life in Tuscany.

A lot of the book is devoted to excursions to locate and view the art works of Luca Signorelli. She spends a lot of time describing the paintings, the subject matter and the location of his works. If you have a particular interest in Signorelli and his art work, then this book may provide some additional insight into his works. It does give you a good guide to the locations of many of his paintings.

Mayes shares some interesting stories about her life and her interaction with friends in and around her home. Food is such an important part of life for the Italians and she goes into great detail describing various meals. There are quite a few recipes in the book.

At times the book is a little disjointed. But if you would like to get an inside look at life in and around Tuscany, this will give you that. It captures her thoughts and feelings and she does a good job of painting a picture of life in Tuscany.




Rating :

a meander thru a year in Italy

Loosely organized around the seasons, this book follows the author as works by favorite painters are visited, guests arrive, friends in town are met, festivals held, and the comforts of her adopted town of Cortona visited. Without giving the plot away, I can say that in one moving chapter Mayes fears for her acceptance in Cortona but discovers (or perhaps emerges) secure in the knowledge she is part of the town fabric. Instead of a focus on the project of buying and restoring a house, this book is more about conveying the experience of the author's life.

That all said, this wasn't a book I really enjoyed. In the best of expat books the pages melt away and I almost feel I am there looking over the authors' shoulder as the experiences unfold. But the sentence style in this book kept me from feeling immersed in her world. Adjectives must have been on sale when Mayes was writing, because almost every sentence was so liberally salted that they made the thought difficult to follow. Here is a typical sentence: "The cold iron clapper hitting the frozen bell produces clear, shocked, hard gongs that reverberate in the heads of us frozen ones in the piazza, ringing in our skulls and down to our heels, striking the paving stones." After a few pages of this *my* head was ringing.

Rating :

Enjoyable read that gets self-indulgent on occasion

I haven't read Frances Mayes' previous work, so I am judging this book all by itself. I enjoyed reading about her experiences and passions while in Tuscany: food, art, architecture and community. As a foodie, I personally loved her forays into her culinary experiences and her involvement in her Tuscan community. I think the inclusion of her favorite recipes is a nice touch. However, I find Mayes' musings on art (she's obsessed with Renaissance painter Luca Signorelli) and architecture rather unrelateable and self-indulgent.

The book never claimed to be anything more than a chronicle of the author's "love affair with Tuscany's people, art, cuisine, and lifestyle", so I wasn't disappointed by the lack of a unifying story line of theme. Many readers may enjoy this diary-style musings of life in Tuscany as long as they know not to expect a story in the classical sense. Overall, this is an enjoyable read and I can't wait to try out the mouth-watering recipes!

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