| On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist by Clarissa WardWhat it is: the absorbing memoir of an award-winning journalist (now CNN's chief international correspondent), covering her unconventional childhood and drawing on her nearly two decades of experience reporting from Beirut, Baghdad, Syria, Egypt, and more.
Don't miss: her Moscow encounter with Muammar Gaddafi's lecherous son; her time on the set of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill in Beijing.
Read this next: Lynsey Addario It's What I Do; Marie Colvin's On the Front Line; Janine di Giovanni's The Morning They Came For Us. |
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Magdalena: River of Dreams: A Story of Colombia
by Wade Davis
What happened: Long fascinated with Colombia, anthropologist Wade Davis explored the 1,000-mile Rio Magdalena, which runs the length of the country, making five visits over several years.
Read it for: well-researched historical details; evocative descriptions; the respectful treatment of indigenous peoples.
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| The National Road: Dispatches from a Changing America by Tom ZoellnerWhat's inside: 14 entertaining, evocative essays filled with incisive musings on change and place and covering the author's eclectic travels, usually in a car, across the U.S. over three decades.
Locations include: Spillville, Iowa (where Dvořák composed Symphony No. 9); a porn studio in Los Angeles; the streets of St. Louis; a Mormon historical site after hours; his grandmother's house in Arizona.
For fans of: William Least Heat-Moon's classic Blue Highways; Paul Theroux's Deep South; James and Deborah Fallows' Our Towns. |
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The Adventurer's Son: A Memoir
by Roman Dial
What happened: When 27-year-old Cody Dial didn't return home from a solo trip hiking in Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park in 2014, his dad, Alaskan adventurer and biology professor Roman Dial, went to look for him.
Why you should read it: This captivating, fast-paced story provides a poignant look at the choices we make, father-and-son relationships, and dealing with loss.
For fans of: Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild; Carl Hoffman's The Last Wild Men of Borneo.
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| Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness by Edward AbbeyWhat it is: a classic account, first published in 1968, of author Edward Abbey's experiences, observations, and reflections as a seasonal park ranger in 1950s Arches National Monument in Utah, including a trip by boat down Glen Canyon.
Want a taste? "The ravens cry out in husky voices, blue-black wings flapping against the golden sky."
Read this next: for a newer contemplative look at the desert, try Ben Ehrenreich's Desert Notebooks; for another lyrical look at national parks, pick up Terry Tempest Williams' The Hour of the Land. |
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| Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World by M.R. O'ConnorWhat it's about: After getting lost in New Mexico due to a GPS fail, M.R. O'Connor became fascinated with older methods of navigation, so she met with scientists and traveled to the Arctic, Australia, and Oceania to learn about traditional wayfinding.
Read it for: the vivid descriptions; the multidisciplinary approach to the topic; the intriguing look at spatial cognition and memory.
Reviewers say: "her narrative is a marvel of storytelling on its own merits, erudite but lightly worn" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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Horizon
by Barry Lopez
From pole to pole and across decades of lived experience, National Book Award-winning author Barry Lopez delivers his most far-ranging, yet personal, work to date.
Horizon moves indelibly, immersively, through the author’s travels to six regions of the world: from Western Oregon to the High Arctic; from the Galápagos to the Kenyan desert; from Botany Bay in Australia to finally, unforgettably, the ice shelves of Antarctica.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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