Tag Archives: travel

A Plain Life

Posted on November 6, 2019 by smellincoffee

A Plain Life: Walking my Belief © 1998 Scott Savage 224 pages You have to be careful about working in a library. Sometimes books change your life.  Scott Savage and his wife were both librarians whose environmental interests put them … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Mark Twain and the Swiss Family Robinson

Posted on May 22, 2019 by smellincoffee

May’s theme for the classics was “Adventure”, as I paired Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain with The Swiss Family Robinson.     Twain’s former is  a collection more than a monograph, as he presents together his recollections of growing up … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Tip of the Iceberg

Posted on March 29, 2019 by smellincoffee

Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000-Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, the Last Great American Frontier© 2018 Mark Adams336 pages In 1899, railroad tycoon Edward Harriman organized a multidisciplinary expedition to Alaska, bringing with him some of the best scientists and … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Talking to the Ground

Posted on November 12, 2018 by smellincoffee

Talking to the Ground: One Family’s Journey on Horseback Across the Sacred Land of the Navajo© 1995 Douglas Preston284 pages “How does the trail look?” Christine asked.“Ask me at the bottom,”  I said, feeling a certain queasiness in my stomach. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Bicycle Diaries

Posted on November 3, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Bicycle Diaries: My 21,000 Mile Ride for the Climate© 2014 David Kroodsma428 pages The Bicycle Diaries combines travel and climate-change advocacy, both literally as a trip and throughout the book. As Kroodsma makes his way through Mexico, Central America, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Mirrors of the Unseen

Posted on May 16, 2018 by smellincoffee

Mirrors of the Unseen:  Journeys in Iran © 2006 Jason Elliot 432 pages Readers uninterested in the origins and history of Islamic art, metaphysics, or pigeons, should skip to the next chapter, here. In the late nineties, before Afghanistan was … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Short rounds: things that are not Star Trek, like North Koreans and Aeneas

Posted on May 5, 2018 by smellincoffee

Believe it or not, I have been reading books without a Star Trek label appended to them this week. Just recently I finished off Don’t Go There, a short collection of travel pieces that interested me with its mention of visits to … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

House of Rain

Posted on February 17, 2018 by smellincoffee

House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest© 2007 Craig Childs482 pages Throughout the southwest United States and northern Mexico there are ruins from a people long gone, people remembered as the Anasazi. The name is not … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Country Driving

Posted on December 12, 2017 by smellincoffee

Country Driving: A Journey through China from Farm to Factory© 2010 Peter Hessler448 pages First things first: that statue on the cover intrigued me enough that I bought both books that used photographs of it.  Emperor Far Away made nary … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

The Emperor Far Away

Posted on November 30, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China© 2014 David Eimer336 pages The Emperor Far Away takes readers on a journey along China’s outer rim, beginning in the western steppes where the ‘Chinese’ are a minority,  and following … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments