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Armchair Travel April 2018
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| Disappointment River: Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage by Brian CastnerWhat it's about: Combining history with travelogue, acclaimed writer Brian Castner engagingly describes his 1,124 mile-canoe trip across Canada, following in the wake of Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie, who, in 1789, set out to find the fabled Northwest Passage.
Is it for you? Yes, if you like books with a thoughtful guide who combines fascinating history and modern-day adventure. |
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| The Monk of Mokha by Dave EggersStarring: Mokhtar Alkhanshali, who grew up in San Francisco's notorious Tenderloin district, lived with his grandparents in Yemen for a while as a teen, and then moved back to the U.S. and made a career in his twenties importing Yemeni coffee. Then, a 2015 civil war left Mokhtar stranded in Yemen, trying to get home via any path he could.
For fans of: Dave Eggers, of course, but also coffee lovers and fans of Ian Purkayastha's Truffle Boy, another fascinating book about a globe-trotting, gourmet food-importing son of an immigrant. |
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| The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light by Paul BogardWhat it is: an engaging, eye-opening look at the importance of night-time darkness. Author Paul Bogard travels the world -- Paris, Walden Pond, Quebec, various national parks across the globe, and other locations -- exploring varying degrees of darkness and light pollution and how that affects what people see (or don't see) in the night sky.
Did you know? The brightest beam of light on Earth is at the top of the Luxor pyramid in Las Vegas. |
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Fraser's penguins : A Journey to the Future in Antarctica
by Fen Montaigne
A dramatic three-decade report on the Adélie penguins reveals how rapid global warming in the western Antarctic Peninsula poses formidable challenges to their survival, in a Guggenheim fellowship-winning account that chronicles a memorable field season in Antarctica.
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| On Trails: An Exploration by Robert MoorWhat it's about: While thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, journalist Robert Moor pondered the history and purpose of trails, planting the seed for this fascinating, elegantly written examination of why we walk where we do.
Why you might like it: Letting his curiosity lead him around the world (from Maine to Morocco and beyond), Moor talks to historians, Native Americans, scientists, and others while quoting everyone from Wendell Berry to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Fans of Robert Macfarlane will especially enjoy this wide-ranging (literarily and figuratively) debut. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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