Best U.S. Regional Travel
Inspired by the frugality and philosophy of Henry David Thoreau, Ilgunas undertook a 3-year transcontinental jour¬ney, working in Alaska as a tour guide, garbage picker, and night cook to pay off his student loans before hitchhiking home to New York. For recent University of Buffalo liberal-arts graduate Ilgunas, however, the sight of $32,000 printed in black and white on a Sallie Mae loan statement yielded a life-changing epiphany. Instead of remaining shackled to his low-wage job at a Niagara Falls Home Depot and rooming with his parents to better whittle away his debt, Ilgunas struck off to remote Coldfoot, Alaska, to get a taste of wilderness living while working as a cook and sometime nature guide. Many years, odd jobs, and escapades later, including hitchhiking across the U.S., paddling a canoe as a “voyageur” across Northern Canada, and joining a cleanup crew in Katrina-ravaged rural Mississippi, Ilgunas was finally debt-free. Inspired by Thoreau’s example of low-impact living, and determined to minimize housing expenses to avoid another mountain of debt, Ilgunas spent the last of his savings on a used vehicle he variously dubs the titular “Walden on wheels” or “a creepy red van.” Replete with colorful anecdotes and disarming wit, Ilgunas’ account is both a goad for chronic debtors and an irresistibly engrossing true-life adventure tale. --Carl Hays " Walden on Wheels [is] a remarkable memoir that manages to stay light on its feet while saying a great deal about the state of modern American society. "Replete with colorful anecdotes and disarming wit, Ilgunas’ account is both a goad for chronic debtors and an irresistibly engrossing true-life adventure tale." " Walden on Wheels , a remarkable memoir that manages to stay light on its feet while saying a great deal about the state of modern American society. Thoughtful and well-crafted, [and] inspiring to read, Walden on Wheels , reminds one that life is made up of the little things, the experiences gained, the adventures survived, rather than the consumables acquired." "Wrapped in a powerfully told, often self-deprecating travel memoir, Walden on Wheels delivers important, even life-changing, insights into navigating your way to a saner life in a sometimes insane, debt-driven, consumer culture." "Among many other delights, Ken Ilgunas offers a fresh, provocative perspective on the student debt debate in his rollicking coming-of-age memoir—a funny and inspirational debut."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A really interesting read."
"I think I can relate to him."
"And it lead him to experience hardship, hard work under difficult circumstances such as cold, wet, long hours in no mans land. He met many different kinds of people as he worked and traveled across country hitch hiking."
"The writing was excellent and very witty and the echoes of Thoreau's Walden were subtle but unmistakeable, including the charts of what he spent on living in the van and the frequent romantic descriptions of nature that at times seemed just a tad over the top."
"This writer has much to say and I predict a great literary future."
"It's inspirational that the author dug himself out of debt in such a unique manner, but a lot of the challenges faced doing it had to be tough including weather conditions, eating and cleaning conditions, safety and security - even moreso than the author had room to document."
"Ken is a very interesting and down-to-earth writer who can really empathize with the adventurous millennial who graduated from university and can't stand being a slave to student loan debt."
"Thank you, Ken, for writing about your adventures."
Take in a gondolier's sweet song while gliding past Venetian palaces, sample olives and wines as you traverse Tuscany's storybook hills, or be humbled amid thousands of years of Roman history and art; all with your trusted travel companion. Full-colour maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - including history, art, literature, cinema, music, architecture, politics, cuisine, wine, customs Free, convenient pull-out Rome map (included in print version), plus over 137 colour maps Covers Rome, Turin, Piedmont, the Italian Riviera, Milan, the Lakes, Dolomites, Venice, Emilia-Romagna, Florence, Tuscany, Umbria, Abruzzo, Naples, Campania, Puglia, Sicily, Sardinia and more. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travellers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. Garwood has a history degree from York University.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Now that I'm older bigger print would help."
"Excellent preparation for my trip touring Italy."
"After reading the first 30 pages on my iPad, it is frustrating to see that some images are missing and format of the pages is "glitched"."
"The perfect book for a visit to Italy."
"I was traveling mostly off the beaten path and I should have known that this is much more tailored to the sheer volumes of touristy (and amazing) places to see."
"Lonely Planet books are the best!"
"This book was completely disorganized and so hard to follow."
Experience Maori culture, be wowed by beautiful glaciers or hike through gorgeous scenery; all with your trusted travel companion. Colour maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - Maori culture, history, cuisine, arts, music, landscape, wildlife Free, convenient pull-out touring map (included in print version), plus over 90 maps Covers Auckland, Bay of Islands, Coromandel Peninsula, Central Plateau, Rotorua, East Coast, Wellington, Marlborough, West Coast, Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown, Fiordland, Southland and more. Downloadable PDF and offline maps prevent roaming and data charges Effortlessly navigate and jump between maps and reviews Add notes to personalise your guidebook experience Seamlessly flip between pages Bookmarks and speedy search capabilities get you to key pages in a flash Embedded links to recommendations' websites Zoom-in maps and images Inbuilt dictionary for quick referencing.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book was the end-all-be-all for references and recommendations in New Zealand."
"Very informative, with up to date information and good recommendations on activities, restaurants, etc."
"Incredibly helpful in planning my trip to New Zealand."
"Provides most of the necessary information."
"We stuck mostly to the book and had an amazing trip."
"Informative and easy to use and enjoy."
"For trip planning, background history, information about the country and important travel tips to know it is great."
Best Central U.S. Regional Travel
They were pushing, adventurous, and fearless men, who thought nothing of laying down their lives in the service of a friend, or often, it might be, only as a matter of humanity. Equipped with nothing but their skill and endurance, a few ponies, a gun or two, and provisions enough to last them for the day, they set out to make their way through a vast wilderness that held all the terrors of the unknown. In 1882, while Mr. Hamilton was a witness in the Star Route trial in Washington, the Smithsonian Institution endeavored to photograph these signs, but with indifferent success. His story also gives, for the first time, an account of three years of the life of the great scout and mountaineer, Bill Williams, one of the prominent figures in the early history of the plains. William Thomas Hamilton was born into a wealthy family in England but was brought to American when he was two years old.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The contents are too perfectly well described by the title to require much comment, although I will say that, having reached the end, I am disappointed that more attention wasn't paid to describing and explaining the art of trapping to us moderneers who haven't much of a clue beyond the obvious broad outlines. While many incidents are mentioned, it is often passed over so cursorily that, in hindsight, I'm not sure I always even knew,what the particular animal being trapped was. Since much of the history takes place in the northwest, from Montana to Washington, beavers are often mentioned as being the prey, but what was being trapped in other places is less clear to me--and in any case, I would have liked to have been told how the work was actually carried out in more detail."
"Lots of heir raising adventures of trapping, trading and fighting with the Indians over the last 60 years of the 19th century."
"Interesting but short for a 60 year time frame."
"He describes mostly his early life as a trapper criss crossing the American West."
"A great example of the trappers life, this book points out that all of the individual trappers had different experiences and different repsponses to the lives they led."
"Recommend to anyone interested in the mountain man era."
"The book tells the story from the point of view of a white trapper which was not always sensitive to the Native American point of view, but it is what it is and is a valuable historical account."
"This book was fun to read, kept me interested all the time."
Best Midwest US Travel Guides
A must-read for any of the thousands of listeners who made Boers part of their daily routine, The Score of a Lifetime is a freewheeling, frank portrait of a man, a career, a station no one thought would survive, and a city that loves its sports. Terry Boers is a legend in Chicago sports media.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I was staying with the in-laws in a small town due west of Chicago, not unlike where Terry grew up. I was bored and flipping through the radio dial as I like to do when I'm somewhere different, when suddenly I hear guys arguing sports. We went back to Virginia and I forgot about the Score until May 1992, when I transferred to Naval Station Great Lakes. He could have added another hundred pages giving us an in-depth peek at those magical early years and really shined a light on the ins and outs of sports radio."
"This book is written so that you feel as though you are sitting next to Terry in the studio, or at one of Chicago's finest places to watch 4 legged creatures race."
"As a longtime listener and caller to The Score (as Government Fromage), Terry's ability to turn the mundane into comedy and the redundant into required listening is an art form."
"It doesn't have to be an audio book, because the writing is so clearly Terry's voice that you can't help but hear him speaking the words on the page."
"His style of humor and entertainment is often attempted but never successful executed by other radio hosts."
"Terry is a favorite of mine as I listened to his show off and on."
"If you are a Chicago Sports fans, The Score fan, or a B&B listener, this is a fantastic read."
Best Northeast US Travel Guides
The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes — and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings. When this American transplant to Britain decided to return home, he made a farewell walking tour of the British countryside and produced Notes from a Small Island . Accompanied only by his old college buddy Stephen Katz, Bryson starts out one March morning in north Georgia, intending to walk the entire 2,100 miles to trail's end atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. As Bryson and Katz haul their out-of-shape, middle-aged butts over hill and dale, the reader is treated to both a very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail, the people who created it, and the places it passes through. Awed by merely the camping section of his local sporting goods store, he nevertheless plunges into the wilderness and emerges with a consistently comical account of a neophyte woodsman learning hard lessons about self-reliance.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm a sexagenarian who, on a recent vacation, happened to walk out and back on the first three miles or so of the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail (Springer Mtn, GA) and, in a fit of exhilaration, decided then and there that I would, by golly, hike the AT before I died. As I was joyfully entertained by his incisive sense of humor, I was simultaneously and seriously learning history, biology, geology (and several other -ologies) as well as being discomfitted by Bryson's documentation of our culture's dismissive practices regarding ecology."
"In total Bryson hiking around 800 miles of the 2,500 mile trail."
"You young guys can deal with that...[...], I should have done this trail 30 years ago!! What's funny is just a couple weeks back we did a small day hike in north Georgia on the High Shoals trail, down to a beautiful water fall, just a 1.2 mile hike. On the hike back up to the car I was huffing and puffing, my hip was hurting, I was sweating heavily in GOOD weather... and I think I want to do this with a 40 pound pack on my back??!! We spoke with the first two guys, one who wanted to celebrate his 65 birthday on the trail, the other guy, much younger, hiking the trail for several days on his own. I topped off their water bottles and thanked them, thinking I should do this hike!"
"Was told it was "Hilarious.""
"Read one and except for a few events, you've pretty much read them all and almost any extended backpacking trip involves the same rigors, risks, weather and that mixture of misery and exhilaration."
Best South U.S. Regional Travel
The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes — and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings. When this American transplant to Britain decided to return home, he made a farewell walking tour of the British countryside and produced Notes from a Small Island . Accompanied only by his old college buddy Stephen Katz, Bryson starts out one March morning in north Georgia, intending to walk the entire 2,100 miles to trail's end atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. As Bryson and Katz haul their out-of-shape, middle-aged butts over hill and dale, the reader is treated to both a very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail, the people who created it, and the places it passes through. Awed by merely the camping section of his local sporting goods store, he nevertheless plunges into the wilderness and emerges with a consistently comical account of a neophyte woodsman learning hard lessons about self-reliance.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm a sexagenarian who, on a recent vacation, happened to walk out and back on the first three miles or so of the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail (Springer Mtn, GA) and, in a fit of exhilaration, decided then and there that I would, by golly, hike the AT before I died. As I was joyfully entertained by his incisive sense of humor, I was simultaneously and seriously learning history, biology, geology (and several other -ologies) as well as being discomfitted by Bryson's documentation of our culture's dismissive practices regarding ecology."
"Read one and except for a few events, you've pretty much read them all and almost any extended backpacking trip involves the same rigors, risks, weather and that mixture of misery and exhilaration."
"One of the funniest books you will every read."
"Bill's storytelling captured me immediately...I was taking every step he took, I enjoyed every vista he looked out on, I was eavesdropping on his conversations with his fellow hikers and feeling the spectrum of emotions held for his friend and hiking companion."
"An adventure that walks you experientially and historically through the nation's longest series of trails from Georgia to Maine while feeling every fear from blisters, hunger, thirst, wildlife, climate changes, man's limitations and nature's nuances, all the while trekking with a forty pound pack on your back, and any one of these could do you in, well it's a wonder why the wild is so compelling."
"With the film in theaters, I decided to pick it up and give it a go. I loved this book, and place it among Jon Krakauer's "Into the Wild," Cheryl Strayed's "Wild," and Elizabeth Gilbert's "The Last American Man" in terms of well-written essays that explore our yearning to return to a simpler, untethered way of life."
"Unfortunately some of his stories about what happened to people along the trail, made me not that interested in walking any trail."
"I think Bill Bryson is an incredibly good writer whose humor extends to poking as much fun at himself as he does at others."
Best Western U.S. Regional Travel
Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection: This special eBook edition of Cheryl Strayed’s national best seller, Wild ,features exclusive content, including Oprah’s personal notes highlighted within the text, and a reading group guide. Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2012: At age 26, following the death of her mother, divorce, and a run of reckless behavior, Cheryl Strayed found herself alone near the foot of the Pacific Crest Trail--inexperienced, over-equipped, and desperate to reclaim her life. While readers looking for adventure or a naturalist's perspective may be distracted by the emotional odyssey at the core of the story, Wild vividly describes the grueling life of the long-distance hiker, the ubiquitous perils of the PCT, and its peculiar community of wanderers. But Strayed doesn't want sympathy, and her confident prose stands on its own, deftly pulling both threads into a story that inhabits a unique riparian zone between wilderness tale and personal-redemption memoir. Two months before Wild was published I stood on a Mexican beach at sunset with my family assisting dozens of baby turtles on their stumbling journey across the sand, then watching as they disappeared into the sea. Echoing the ever-popular search for wilderness salvation by Chris McCandless (Back to the Wild, 2011) and every other modern-day disciple of Thoreau, Strayed tells the story of her emotional devastation after the death of her mother and the weeks she spent hiking the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail. As her family, marriage, and sanity go to pieces, Strayed drifts into spontaneous encounters with other men, to the consternation of her confused husband, and eventually hits rock bottom while shooting up heroin with a new boyfriend. Woefully unprepared (she fails to read about the trail, buy boots that fit, or pack practically), she relies on the kindness and assistance of those she meets along the way, much as McCandless did.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I almost didn’t make it past the first 1/3 which is where we meet Cheryl in her most raw and wounded form. Too, she is fine being alone in the wilderness, despite her people skills, and this, along with her descriptions of the land and struggles, make for good reading. While I would never choose to live my life as she has, the fortitude to endure a self-sought and the much needed initiation into adulthood, while walking over a thousand miles, and looking at her psychological processes, earned my respect."
"This is one of those books where you see the movie first, then discover it was based on a book and a true story."
"There are interesting parallels and contrast between "Wild" and "Tracks", a book about a young Australian woman, similarly though less profoundly disaffected with her life, who makes a trek from Alice Springs to the Pacific Coast of Australia with 4 camels."
"The book jumped to page 259 after page 210- which read a sex scene."
"Reading Cheryl Stray's reflections upon the too-soon-death of her mother and an abusive, mostly absent father, would benefit any young person struggling to understand and overcome the strangling emotions that come from a difficult beginning. Her writing is crisp, however, it seemed her dialogue was mostly about her devastated feet, deters she made off the trail, the people she met at various rest stops along the way, and her constant cravings for food."
"There are so many great things I could say about this book and how much I loved it, but I'll leave you with this: Cheryl Strayed paints an emotional, visceral portrait of life on the Pacific Crest Trail that appeals to more than just long-distance hikers."
Best U.S. State Travel
Living in a tent even through brutal winters, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store edibles and water, and to avoid freezing to death. It is a gripping story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude, community, and what makes a good life, and a deeply moving portrait of a man who was determined to live his own way, and succeeded. Though the ‘stranger’ in the title is Knight, one closes the book with the sense that Knight, like all seers, is the only sane person in a world gone insane—that modern civilization has made us strangers to ourselves." —Jennifer Senior, The New York Times "Michael Finkel has done something magical with this profound book… [His] investigation runs deep, summoning…the human history of our own attempts to find meaning in a noisy world."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Not only is this story of Chris Knight one of the most compelling that I have read in some time, but the lengths that you went to, to research his venture into the woods of Maine, to understand him, to get to know him, clearly better than anyone else has, and to represent him with such dignity, astounds me. While some, especially those whose homes were burgled, might still never understand what would cause a person to want to live in such extreme conditions let alone in solitude, far removed from the ‘regular’ world, after reading the book, while I will never spend a night, let alone an hour in the woods, what drew Knight makes sense to me now. It’s not to say that after reading THE STRANGER IN THE WOODS that every reader will feel compelled to pick up and leave their jobs, families, and the comfort of modern society behind, but it sure does offer food for thought."
"I wanted to read this book as the Maine woods have been a part of my life and I was unfamiliar with this story until I saw this book. I realized from the start that at the core of this story was an important topic I already have been worrying about that I feel American society either is unaware of or is purposefully ignoring: the neuro-atypical person and the challenge of how they will live (not thriving but suffering) in modern America. Knight was content and found peace in living that life until he was caught with the help of sophisticated surveillance equipment while robbing food from a nonprofit camp for disabled children (including kids on the Autism Spectrum). The heartbreaking part of this story is that the suffering that Knight endured was due to square pegs not fitting in the round holes of modern American society, his relief and contendedness was found living in isolation in nature, but this is not really allowed in America, and when possible it's only available to those who are able to financially support themselves due to an inheritance or some income stream that they are lucky to find that meshes with their talents and abilities. But this book provides more food for thought, for me at least, than just Knight's hermit years story. I hope this book is a catalyst for Americans to think about this issue, with the rising rates of Autism and mental illness, we have more people this decade than ever before who are not fitting in with the mandatory American public school system and who are not fitting in to work jobs as adults enough to support themselves independently let alone the issue of if a person is happy or content."
"Many of us dream of secluding from the busyness of modern living—the fast-paced, noisy, cyclical nature in which life has become; yet many of us do not have the courage or tenacity to pursue such a dream, much less achieve this dream for the amount of time that Knight did. On a practical level, Michael Finkel has written this biographical account excellently."
"My heart goes out to Mr. Knight."
Best Washington, D.C. Travel Guides
"Our Washington, D.C." is a pictorial celebration showcasing the areas stunning monuments and scenes, offering a glimpse into what makes this city so unique--from the historic homes, trendy neighborhoods, and diverse special events and festivals to the people who live and work in the capital city. Paul Franklin is a travel photographer and writer whose work has appeared in numerous national publications, including Yankee, WoodenBoat, Travel America, Coast to Coast, Harrowsmith, and others.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A great book to review BEFORE your visit to Washington D.C. Best if read in hard copy or color capable e-reader device."
"My son went to Washington DC last summer, but he did not purchase anything because of room."
"I bought this for my dd 13 to take on a trip to DC she totally enjoyed the beautiful photos and it helped her recognize each place as they approached it."
"Terrific photographs."
"My daughter loves this book - Great Memorabilia from our trip to Washington D.C."