Best Hiking & Camping Excursion Guides

Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her. “Strayed’s language is so vivid, sharp and compelling that you feel the heat of the desert, the frigid ice of the High Sierra, and the breathtaking power of one remarkable woman finding her way—and herself—one brave step at a time.” — People (4 stars). — The Boston Globe "One of the most original, heartbreaking, and beautiful American memoirs in years. The cumulative welling up I experienced during Wild was partly a response to that too infrequent sight: that of a writer finding her voice, and sustaining it, right in front of your eyes.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times. Strayed’s journey is exceptional.” — San Francisco Chronicle “One of the best books I’ve read in the last five or ten years. Wild is angry, brave, sad, self-knowing, redemptive, raw, compelling, and brilliantly written, and I think it’s destined to be loved by a lot of people, men and women, for a very long time.” —Nick Hornby. By laying bare a great unspoken truth of adulthood—that many things in life don’t turn out the way you want them to, and that you can and must live through them anyway— Wild feels real in many ways that many books about ‘finding oneself’ . [Strayed] has the ineffable gift every writer longs for of saying exactly what she means in lines that are both succinct and poetic. an inborn talent for articulating angst and the gratefulness that comes when we overcome it.” — The Washington Post “Vivid, touching and ultimately inspiring account of a life unraveling and of the journey that put it back together.” — The Wall Street Journal “Strayed . with a raw emotional power that makes the book difficult to put down. In walking, and finally, years later, in writing, Strayed finds her way again. And her path is as dazzlingly beautiful as it is tragic.” — Los Angeles Times “A fearless story, told in honest prose that is wildly lyrical as often as it is dirtily physical.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune. “This isn’t Cinderella in hiking boots, it’s a woman coming out of heartbreak, darkness and bad decisions with a clear view of where she has been. There are adventures and characters aplenty, from heartwarming to dangerous, but Strayed resists the temptation to overplay or sweeten such moments. Her pacing is impeccable as she captures her impressive journey.” — The Seattle Times “Strayed’s journey was at least as transcendent as it was turbulent. She faced down hunger, thirst, injury, fatigue, boredom, loss, bad weather, and wild animals. Yet she also reached new levels of joy, accomplishment, courage, peace, and found extraordinary companionship.” — The Christian Science Monitor “Strayed writes a crisp scene; her sentences hum with energy. Cheryl Strayed emerges from her grief-stricken journey as a practitioner of a rare and vital vocation. She has become an intrepid cartographer of the human heart.” — Houston Chronicle “A deeply honest memoir about mother and daughter, solitude and courage, and regaining footing one step at a time.” — Vogue “This is a big, brave, break-your-heart-and-put-it-back-together-again kind of book. I snorted with laughter, I wept uncontrollably; I don’t even want to know the person who isn’t going to love Wild. This is a beautifully made, utterly realized book.” —Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted and Cowboys are My Weakness.

Acadia American Samoa Arches Badlands Big Bend Biscayne Black Canyon of the Gunnison Bryce Canyon Canyonlands Capitol Reef Carlsbad Caverns Channel Islands Congaree Crater Lake Cuyahoga Valley Death Valley Denali Dry Tortugas Everglades Gates of the Arctic Glacier Glacier Bay Grand Canyon Grand Teton Great Basin Great Sand Dunes Great Smoky Mountains Guadalupe Mountains Haleakal? Hawaii Volcanoes Hot Springs Isle Royale Joshua Tree Katmai Kenai Fjords Kings Canyon Kobuk Valley Lake Clark Lassen Volcanic Mammoth Cave Mesa Verde Mt Rainier North Cascades Olympic Petrified Forest Pinnacles Redwood Rocky Mountain Saguaro Sequoia Shenandoah Theodore Roosevelt Virgin Islands Voyageurs Wind Cave Wrangell-St Elias Yellowstone Yosemite Zion.

INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards -- 2014 GOLD Winner for Adventure & Recreation Society of American Travel Writers Eastern Chapter -- Gold Award. With history, highlights, maps, and a wealth of photos of each byway, the book is a source of inspiration as well as a planning tool.” - The Wall Street Journal “ 2015 Lowell Thomas Travel Award for Best Travel Book : Broad and deep reporting by Karen Berger combined with the skilled photography of Bart Smith make this not only a beautiful book to hold and skim, but also an extremely informative book for hikers. Author Karen Berger explores America's great hiking trails in this photo-rich coffee-table book. America's Great Hiking Trails should help readers plan the hike that works best for them. Individual chapters describe the essence of what makes each national scenic trail unique…the Appalachian Trail, which starts in Maine and ends in Georgia, is on many hikers’ bucket lists even though it is rarely more than a two- or three-hour drive from major cities; it is hardly the most dramatic of the national trails, nor is it the toughest. The saga of the National Trails System unfolds over its 336 pages, beginning with the genesis of the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, the oldest and most well-known of America’s long distance trails. America’s Great Hiking Trails compiles more than 50,000 miles of trails in one beautifully photographed tome. In the foreword to this 325-page fact-filled invitation to eleven of America’s great national scenic hiking trails, Vermont environmentalist Bill McKibben writes that this will guide you to ‘Beautiful places...few people will come back from these long hikes unchanged. America’s Great Hiking Trails is perfect for anyone interested in outdoor recreation and conservation.” –Pathways. “America's Great Hiking Trails is a hardcover Mac Daddy of hiking books, loaded with 336 pages of drop dead gorgeous photographs and a glimpse into eleven of the country's most iconic hiking trails. Photographer Bart Smith was the first person to hike all eleven of these scenic trails and he has the photographs that will make your jaw drop.

In four years he covered 78,000 miles through 45 countries, living with peasants and presidents, in prisons and palaces, through wars and revolutions. A compelling narrative that moves, sometimes at breakneck speed, over some of the world's most beautiful and mysterious terrain ? Extremely readable, full of keen observation, perceptive insight ?

* Muir is perhaps the nation's greatest conservationist. Other places named in his honor are Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir and Muir Glacier.

Now updated to include newer maps and photos - and lighter in weight to support carefree traveling - this comprehensive guidebook to the Camino de Santiago and its offshoots contains all the information needed by modern-day pilgrims wishing to walk the sacred Way of St. James. John Brierley is a former chartered surveyor and the author of A Pilgrim’s Guide to Camino de Santiago , A Pilgrim’s Guide to Camino Finisterre , and A Pilgrim’s Guide to Camino Portugués .

Starting in Corscia's north-west, in picturesque Calenzana, the route winds south-east, through the heart of Corsica, finishing on the eastern side of the island, just north of Porto Vecchio in the township of Conca. Described in 16 stages with high level/low level alternatives for relevant stages, the route is roughly 200km in length and takes approximately two weeks to complete. He lives near the Lake District and has walked in every county in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales; writing about walks in every one of them.

Stroll atop the walls that encircle romantic Dubrovnik, wander through the Roman ruins in the heart of bustling Split, and set sail to the islands of Korcula and Hvar on the glimmering Adriatic. Since 1973, Rick Steves has spent about four months a year exploring Europe. Ever since, he has spent three months each year in Europe, contributing to guidebooks, tours, radio and television shows, and other media for Rick Steves' Europe, where he serves as content manager.

Routes covered on 35 detailed walking maps in the proven Trailblazer style; all walking times are indicated along with points of interest and gradients. ‘Stedman's wonderfully down-to-earth, practical guide to the mountain, with excellent tips on preparing for the trek and a roundup of routes to the top’. It covers everything, from city accommodations and restaurants nearby to what to see en route, then how to plan and book a trek to Kilimanjaro. ‘Stedman is something of a Kili obsessive...and that shows on every page of this fully revised and expanded edition of his guide...

Now updated to include newer maps and photos - and lighter in weight to support carefree traveling - this comprehensive guidebook to the Camino de Santiago and its offshoots contains all the information needed by modern-day pilgrims wishing to walk the sacred Way of St. James. John Brierley is a former chartered surveyor and the author of A Pilgrim’s Guide to Camino de Santiago , A Pilgrim’s Guide to Camino Finisterre , and A Pilgrim’s Guide to Camino Portugués .

Acadia American Samoa Arches Badlands Big Bend Biscayne Black Canyon of the Gunnison Bryce Canyon Canyonlands Capitol Reef Carlsbad Caverns Channel Islands Congaree Crater Lake Cuyahoga Valley Death Valley Denali Dry Tortugas Everglades Gates of the Arctic Glacier Glacier Bay Grand Canyon Grand Teton Great Basin Great Sand Dunes Great Smoky Mountains Guadalupe Mountains Haleakal? Hawaii Volcanoes Hot Springs Isle Royale Joshua Tree Katmai Kenai Fjords Kings Canyon Kobuk Valley Lake Clark Lassen Volcanic Mammoth Cave Mesa Verde Mt Rainier North Cascades Olympic Petrified Forest Pinnacles Redwood Rocky Mountain Saguaro Sequoia Shenandoah Theodore Roosevelt Virgin Islands Voyageurs Wind Cave Wrangell-St Elias Yellowstone Yosemite Zion.

With the self-guided tours in this book, you'll walk through the Brandenburg Gate, climb the Reichstag's dome, and flash back to the city's turbulent past at Checkpoint Charlie. Since 1973, Rick Steves has spent about four months a year exploring Europe.

Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her. “Strayed’s language is so vivid, sharp and compelling that you feel the heat of the desert, the frigid ice of the High Sierra, and the breathtaking power of one remarkable woman finding her way—and herself—one brave step at a time.” — People (4 stars). — The Boston Globe "One of the most original, heartbreaking, and beautiful American memoirs in years. The cumulative welling up I experienced during Wild was partly a response to that too infrequent sight: that of a writer finding her voice, and sustaining it, right in front of your eyes.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times. Strayed’s journey is exceptional.” — San Francisco Chronicle “One of the best books I’ve read in the last five or ten years. Wild is angry, brave, sad, self-knowing, redemptive, raw, compelling, and brilliantly written, and I think it’s destined to be loved by a lot of people, men and women, for a very long time.” —Nick Hornby. By laying bare a great unspoken truth of adulthood—that many things in life don’t turn out the way you want them to, and that you can and must live through them anyway— Wild feels real in many ways that many books about ‘finding oneself’ . [Strayed] has the ineffable gift every writer longs for of saying exactly what she means in lines that are both succinct and poetic. an inborn talent for articulating angst and the gratefulness that comes when we overcome it.” — The Washington Post “Vivid, touching and ultimately inspiring account of a life unraveling and of the journey that put it back together.” — The Wall Street Journal “Strayed . with a raw emotional power that makes the book difficult to put down. In walking, and finally, years later, in writing, Strayed finds her way again. And her path is as dazzlingly beautiful as it is tragic.” — Los Angeles Times “A fearless story, told in honest prose that is wildly lyrical as often as it is dirtily physical.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune. “This isn’t Cinderella in hiking boots, it’s a woman coming out of heartbreak, darkness and bad decisions with a clear view of where she has been. There are adventures and characters aplenty, from heartwarming to dangerous, but Strayed resists the temptation to overplay or sweeten such moments. Her pacing is impeccable as she captures her impressive journey.” — The Seattle Times “Strayed’s journey was at least as transcendent as it was turbulent. She faced down hunger, thirst, injury, fatigue, boredom, loss, bad weather, and wild animals. Yet she also reached new levels of joy, accomplishment, courage, peace, and found extraordinary companionship.” — The Christian Science Monitor “Strayed writes a crisp scene; her sentences hum with energy. Cheryl Strayed emerges from her grief-stricken journey as a practitioner of a rare and vital vocation. She has become an intrepid cartographer of the human heart.” — Houston Chronicle “A deeply honest memoir about mother and daughter, solitude and courage, and regaining footing one step at a time.” — Vogue “This is a big, brave, break-your-heart-and-put-it-back-together-again kind of book. I snorted with laughter, I wept uncontrollably; I don’t even want to know the person who isn’t going to love Wild. This is a beautifully made, utterly realized book.” —Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted and Cowboys are My Weakness.

Getting to Nepal from Europe, North America and Australasia Kathmandu ― trekking preparations and what to see Where to stay and eat ― Kathmandu and along the trails Employing a guide or porter in Nepal The environment ― how to minimize your impact on a fragile region and still take hot ‘green' showers Health and safety 60 route maps and village plans Plus – 30 color photos.

If you've ever dreamed of traveling the world, flying off to Europe, a honeymoon the Seychelles, or just taking your family toDisney or a trip to London, How to Travel the World on $50 a Day will give you the practical, step-by-step instructions to get your there - from start to finish on $50 a day (or less). He interviews dozens of other travelers about their success on the road and how you can apply that to your own trip. “Whether you’re a savvy backpacker or just dreaming of getting a passport and going overseas, Matt’s collection of easy-to-employ money-saving strategies will open your eyes to the near-infinite ways of seeing the world without busting your budget.” —Matt Gross, former New York Times Frugal Traveler. Filled with insider strategies and resources, it’s a valuable primer for your upcoming adventures.” —Tim Leffel, author of The World’s Cheapest Destinations.

The official guide to 95 miles of the Appalachian Trail from the Pennsylvania line, south through the center of Maryland, briefly into West Virginia through Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, and down along the West Virginia-Virginia line to the entrance to Shenandoah National Park.

* Muir is perhaps the nation's greatest conservationist. Other places named in his honor are Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir and Muir Glacier.

Complete with expert tips on wandering the redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains, finding hidden waterfalls in Big Sur, and sampling the savoriest of wineries in Carmel Valley, Moon Monterey & Carmel gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience. While researching and writing this book, Stuart hiked through lesser-known sections of Yosemite National Park, discovered the stunning Eastern Sierra community of June Lake, stared deep into the Grand Canyon, and enjoyed the diverse offerings of San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

Talk about a bucket list: here are natural wonders—the dazzling glowworm caves in New Zealand, or a baobob tree in South Africa that's so large it has a pub inside where 15 people can drink comfortably. Not to mention the Great Stalacpipe Organ in Virginia, Turkmenistan's 40-year hole of fire called the Gates of Hell, a graveyard for decommissioned ships on the coast of Bangladesh, eccentric bone museums in Italy, or a weather-forecasting invention that was powered by leeches, still on display in Devon, England. “Fair warning: It's addictive.” — NPR, “Cosmos & Culture” “In this gorgeous collection, the celebrated Atlas Obscura website is condensed into 480 pages of awe-inspiring destinations. “Odds are you won’t get past three pages without being amazed at something truly strange that you didn’t know existed.” — San Francisco Chronicle. “Richly illustrated, delightfully strange, this compendium of off-beat destinations should spark many adventures, both terrestrial and imaginary.” — Boston Globe. “Whether describing a Canadian museum that showcases world history through shoes, a pet-casket company that will also sell you a unit for your severed limb, a Greek snake festival, or a place in the Canary Islands where inhabitants communicate through whistling, the authors have compiled an enthralling range of oddities. Featuring full-color illustrations, this hefty and gorgeously produced tome will be eagerly pored over by readers of many ages and fans of the original website.”— Booklist (Starred Review). a wonderful browse [for] armchair travelers who enjoyed Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York and Frank Warren’s PostSecret .” — Library Journal. It's the kind of book that makes you want to pack in your workaday life and head out to places you'd never have dreamed of going, to see things you could not even have imagined. “ Atlas Obscura is a joyful antidote to the creeping suspicion that travel these days is little more than a homogenized corporate shopping opportunity. Here are hundreds of surprising, perplexing, mind-blowing, inspiring reasons to travel a day longer and farther off the path. Never start a trip without knowing where a haunted hotel or a mouth of hell is!”. —GUILLERMO DEL TORO, filmmaker, Pan’s Labyrinth “ What a strange and wonderful book! Each page reveals some hidden realm—a realm that is frightening, or funny, or magical, or simply mad, but that always leaves the reader in wonder.”. —DAVID GRANN, author of The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. Be grateful when visiting the Karni Mata Rat Temple if one of the 20,000 venerated rodents runs across your bare foot—it is considered good luck.

Now, Brandon is back with the Humans of New York book that his loyal followers have been waiting for: Humans of New York: Stories .

Discover the varied geology, the cultural history, and the natural beauty of the foothills, mother lode, and delta regions in 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Sacramento.

Girl in the Woods is Aspen Matis's exhilarating true-life adventure of hiking from Mexico to Canada—a coming of age story, a survival story, and a triumphant story of overcoming emotional devastation. Dealing with a problem that has sadly become all too common on college campuses around the country, she stumbled through her first semester—a challenging time made even harder by the coldness of her college's "conflict mediation" process. “A lovely tribute to the healing power of wilderness.” (Nicholas Kristof, winner of the Pulitzer Prize). It becomes a new organ—of doubt, questioning—that remakes both the body and the mind.” (Greil Marcus, Rolling Stone rock critic and New York Times bestselling author). This book will astonish you.” (Shelly Oria, author of New York 1, Tel Aviv 0). Girl in the Woods teaches us that writing is a way to heal, empower ourselves, and turn our worst experiences into beautiful art.” (Kenan Trebincevic, author of The Bosnia List).

Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her. “Strayed’s language is so vivid, sharp and compelling that you feel the heat of the desert, the frigid ice of the High Sierra, and the breathtaking power of one remarkable woman finding her way—and herself—one brave step at a time.” — People (4 stars). — The Boston Globe "One of the most original, heartbreaking, and beautiful American memoirs in years. The cumulative welling up I experienced during Wild was partly a response to that too infrequent sight: that of a writer finding her voice, and sustaining it, right in front of your eyes.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times. Strayed’s journey is exceptional.” — San Francisco Chronicle “One of the best books I’ve read in the last five or ten years. Wild is angry, brave, sad, self-knowing, redemptive, raw, compelling, and brilliantly written, and I think it’s destined to be loved by a lot of people, men and women, for a very long time.” —Nick Hornby. By laying bare a great unspoken truth of adulthood—that many things in life don’t turn out the way you want them to, and that you can and must live through them anyway— Wild feels real in many ways that many books about ‘finding oneself’ . [Strayed] has the ineffable gift every writer longs for of saying exactly what she means in lines that are both succinct and poetic. an inborn talent for articulating angst and the gratefulness that comes when we overcome it.” — The Washington Post “Vivid, touching and ultimately inspiring account of a life unraveling and of the journey that put it back together.” — The Wall Street Journal “Strayed . with a raw emotional power that makes the book difficult to put down. In walking, and finally, years later, in writing, Strayed finds her way again. And her path is as dazzlingly beautiful as it is tragic.” — Los Angeles Times “A fearless story, told in honest prose that is wildly lyrical as often as it is dirtily physical.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune. “This isn’t Cinderella in hiking boots, it’s a woman coming out of heartbreak, darkness and bad decisions with a clear view of where she has been. There are adventures and characters aplenty, from heartwarming to dangerous, but Strayed resists the temptation to overplay or sweeten such moments. Her pacing is impeccable as she captures her impressive journey.” — The Seattle Times “Strayed’s journey was at least as transcendent as it was turbulent. She faced down hunger, thirst, injury, fatigue, boredom, loss, bad weather, and wild animals. Yet she also reached new levels of joy, accomplishment, courage, peace, and found extraordinary companionship.” — The Christian Science Monitor “Strayed writes a crisp scene; her sentences hum with energy. Cheryl Strayed emerges from her grief-stricken journey as a practitioner of a rare and vital vocation. She has become an intrepid cartographer of the human heart.” — Houston Chronicle “A deeply honest memoir about mother and daughter, solitude and courage, and regaining footing one step at a time.” — Vogue “This is a big, brave, break-your-heart-and-put-it-back-together-again kind of book. I snorted with laughter, I wept uncontrollably; I don’t even want to know the person who isn’t going to love Wild. This is a beautifully made, utterly realized book.” —Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted and Cowboys are My Weakness.

Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds is a captivating photographic portrait of the greatest British gardens and the lords, ladies and gardeners who own and manage them, with a focus on the counties of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. 'Victoria and Hugo use their local knowledge and passion to spectacular effect, getting right under the skin of each garden and family who owns it...this enchanting book depicts paradise found'.

Talk about a bucket list: here are natural wonders—the dazzling glowworm caves in New Zealand, or a baobob tree in South Africa that's so large it has a pub inside where 15 people can drink comfortably. Not to mention the Great Stalacpipe Organ in Virginia, Turkmenistan's 40-year hole of fire called the Gates of Hell, a graveyard for decommissioned ships on the coast of Bangladesh, eccentric bone museums in Italy, or a weather-forecasting invention that was powered by leeches, still on display in Devon, England. “Fair warning: It's addictive.” — NPR, “Cosmos & Culture” “In this gorgeous collection, the celebrated Atlas Obscura website is condensed into 480 pages of awe-inspiring destinations. “Odds are you won’t get past three pages without being amazed at something truly strange that you didn’t know existed.” — San Francisco Chronicle. “Richly illustrated, delightfully strange, this compendium of off-beat destinations should spark many adventures, both terrestrial and imaginary.” — Boston Globe. “Whether describing a Canadian museum that showcases world history through shoes, a pet-casket company that will also sell you a unit for your severed limb, a Greek snake festival, or a place in the Canary Islands where inhabitants communicate through whistling, the authors have compiled an enthralling range of oddities. Featuring full-color illustrations, this hefty and gorgeously produced tome will be eagerly pored over by readers of many ages and fans of the original website.”— Booklist (Starred Review). a wonderful browse [for] armchair travelers who enjoyed Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York and Frank Warren’s PostSecret .” — Library Journal. It's the kind of book that makes you want to pack in your workaday life and head out to places you'd never have dreamed of going, to see things you could not even have imagined. “ Atlas Obscura is a joyful antidote to the creeping suspicion that travel these days is little more than a homogenized corporate shopping opportunity. Here are hundreds of surprising, perplexing, mind-blowing, inspiring reasons to travel a day longer and farther off the path. Never start a trip without knowing where a haunted hotel or a mouth of hell is!”. —GUILLERMO DEL TORO, filmmaker, Pan’s Labyrinth “ What a strange and wonderful book! Each page reveals some hidden realm—a realm that is frightening, or funny, or magical, or simply mad, but that always leaves the reader in wonder.”. —DAVID GRANN, author of The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. Be grateful when visiting the Karni Mata Rat Temple if one of the 20,000 venerated rodents runs across your bare foot—it is considered good luck.

Talk about a bucket list: here are natural wonders—the dazzling glowworm caves in New Zealand, or a baobob tree in South Africa that's so large it has a pub inside where 15 people can drink comfortably. Not to mention the Great Stalacpipe Organ in Virginia, Turkmenistan's 40-year hole of fire called the Gates of Hell, a graveyard for decommissioned ships on the coast of Bangladesh, eccentric bone museums in Italy, or a weather-forecasting invention that was powered by leeches, still on display in Devon, England. “Fair warning: It's addictive.” — NPR, “Cosmos & Culture” “In this gorgeous collection, the celebrated Atlas Obscura website is condensed into 480 pages of awe-inspiring destinations. “Odds are you won’t get past three pages without being amazed at something truly strange that you didn’t know existed.” — San Francisco Chronicle. “Richly illustrated, delightfully strange, this compendium of off-beat destinations should spark many adventures, both terrestrial and imaginary.” — Boston Globe. “Whether describing a Canadian museum that showcases world history through shoes, a pet-casket company that will also sell you a unit for your severed limb, a Greek snake festival, or a place in the Canary Islands where inhabitants communicate through whistling, the authors have compiled an enthralling range of oddities. Featuring full-color illustrations, this hefty and gorgeously produced tome will be eagerly pored over by readers of many ages and fans of the original website.”— Booklist (Starred Review). a wonderful browse [for] armchair travelers who enjoyed Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York and Frank Warren’s PostSecret .” — Library Journal. It's the kind of book that makes you want to pack in your workaday life and head out to places you'd never have dreamed of going, to see things you could not even have imagined. “ Atlas Obscura is a joyful antidote to the creeping suspicion that travel these days is little more than a homogenized corporate shopping opportunity. Here are hundreds of surprising, perplexing, mind-blowing, inspiring reasons to travel a day longer and farther off the path. Never start a trip without knowing where a haunted hotel or a mouth of hell is!”. —GUILLERMO DEL TORO, filmmaker, Pan’s Labyrinth “ What a strange and wonderful book! Each page reveals some hidden realm—a realm that is frightening, or funny, or magical, or simply mad, but that always leaves the reader in wonder.”. —DAVID GRANN, author of The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. Be grateful when visiting the Karni Mata Rat Temple if one of the 20,000 venerated rodents runs across your bare foot—it is considered good luck.