The Story of the Year

Ted Simon is the author of the classic travel book JUPITER'S TRAVELS. It documents his four-year journey round the world by motorbike, travelling through Europe, Africa, South and North America, and Asia. A number one bestseller in the late 1970s, it is still regarded as one of the greatest motorcycle books - indeed, one of the greatest travel books - ever written. In 2001, at the age of 69, Ted Simon decided to retrace his journey, and DREAMING OF JUPITER is the result. It took him two and a half years - during which time he revisited all the countries he had travelled through in the 1970s. He found much had changed, and he reflects upon the increased poverty, political upheavals, environmental issues and indeed the changes in himself. But ultimately, DREAMING OF JUPITER is a hugely inspiring read with a positive message at its heart - that even at the age of 70 you can still set off on an adventure, and be surprised and excited by what life throws at you along the way. *'Gloriously …

Vampira, even if you don't know the name you certainly know the look. In 1953 a young aspiring actress, Maila Nurmi, needed a costume for an upcoming masquerade party. She drew upon a comic strip of cartoonist and illustrator Charles Addams. The yet unnamed character of Mrs. Addams struck Ms. Nurmi as the perfect look for the party and so she set about creating her own version of the character's dress. That was the day that Vampira was born and with her a new style in beauty, the gothic queen.In a time when most actresses were blond with sun kissed skin, Vampira was every bit the opposite. Ink black hair with pale skin and very little makeup except for blood red lips, high arching eyebrows, and exceeding long fingernails. Wearing a sheer, form fitting full-length dress with sleeves torn into strips up to the elbows and long 'tendrils' extending from the hemline, Vampira was certainly unique, and she caught the attention of everyone, including a local television producer.That chance enc…

An account of a trip through war-torn and poverty-stricken Afghanistan, this remarkable book could have been titled "An Unexpected Beauty." Elliot, who first traveled to the country as a 19-year-old enthusiast of the mujahedin, has no illusions about the inherent shortcomings of travel writing ("a semi-fictional collection of descriptions that affirm the prejudices of the day"). He also dismisses the journalistic method, which relies on a single bombed-out street in Kabul to monolithically represent an entire nation. So it is not without some self-deprecation that he offers his own strange and improbable adventures in the country's lawless stretches and perilous mountain passes. "I had in mind a quietly epic sort of journey," he explains. "I had given up on earlier and more ambitious schemes and was prepared to make an ally of uncertainty, with which luck so often finds a partnership." Humorous, honest and wry, a devotee of Afghanistan's culture, Elliot strives to debunk the myth of "…

This is the second edition of the authors' groundbreaking Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (1998) and covers all the bird species found in India, Pakistian, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The plates face the descriptions and maps for quick at-a-glance reference. Many of the plates have been repainted for this edition and a number of new species added. This guide also provides tables, summarising identification features of particularly difficult groups such as nightjars, warblers and rosefinches.   "[...] Overall, Birds of the Indian Subcontinent is an excellent piece of work and a very welcome field guide, and I am greatly looking forward to using it on my upcoming trip to Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Comprehensive and authoritative, this is an indispensable guide for anyone birding anywhere in the Indian Subcontinent." - Frank Lambert (22-02-2012), read the full review at The Birder's Library   "The Indian subcontinent, always exciting for visitors, is no less…

Driven to the brink of madness by the merciless lashings of its vile Orc overlords, there lumbered forth a Cave Troll, a behemoth of dim wits yet endowed with the strength of a legion. Its skin was nigh impervious to weapons forged of iron, a testament to the unforgiving nature of the dark places of the world where it dwelt. Clutched within its colossal three-fingered grasp was a mighty stone hammer, a fearsome instrument of destruction that it wielded with blind fury. With each thunderous swing, friend and foe alike were laid low, crushed beneath the indiscriminate wrath of the beast as it stormed through the chaotic melee, seeking out its quarry with a relentless fervour that echoed the darkness of its masters' hearts.The Cave Troll was the first creature to be designed for the iconic film trilogy, and Weta Workshop sculptor Jamie Beswarick played a key role in its overall design. In those early days, the look and feel of Middle-earth's inhabitants were still being defined, with arti…

Birds of Central Asia is the first field guide to include the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, along with neighbouring Afghanistan. This vast area includes a diverse variety of habitats, and the avifauna is similarly broad, from sandgrouse, ground jays and larks on the vast steppe and semi-desert to a broad range of raptors, and from woodland species such as warblers and nuthatches to a suite of montane species, such as snowcocks, accentors and snowfinches. Birds of Central Asia includes 141 high-quality plates covering every species (and all distinctive races) that occur in the region, along with concise text focusing on identification and accurate colour maps. Important introductory sections introduce the land and its birds. Birds of Central Asia is a must-read for any birder or traveller visting this remote region.   "For a long time, there's been something of a gap in field-guide coverage across the Palearctic. Europe is w…

Our maps are double-sided, printed on an A2 sheet with a concertina fold. This allows for easy folding and folding, and an ease of access to the mapping. The material is rain and tear-resistant. Our early maps were designed at the scale of 2 miles to 1 inch/1:126,720. The later designs along with digitalisation are 1: 100,000. We were encouraged by the Cycle Touring Club to convert our cartography toward the cycle market (to replace the out-of-print Bartholomew series). As time and the series progressed we have added more data: The National Cycle Network routes, Regional Routes, and Traffic-Free Family Routes, as and when they are developed. These routes are in addition to the Circular Routes Goldeneye Commissioned at the outset of our publishing schedule. We are also adding to new editions; bike shops, cycle hire, and tea rooms, along with the tourist attractions already featured. Our plan is to make available digital versions for cell phones and tablets and to update, on an annual b…

Voor vele landen net zo goed, zo niet beter dan de Planet. Beduidend soberder uitgevoerd, maar ook met veel informatie voor backpackers en met veel kaartmateriaal. Een aanrader!   There is a reason no other publisher produces a guide to Somaliland: it is not an easy book to produce. The research is extremely challenging, the production is expensive and, because Somaliland is such a niche travel destination, the sales potential is very limited. Unfortunately, the first edition of this book did not recoup its costs. We were left with a difficult decision: increase the retail price to make a second edition possible or admit defeat and allow the guide to go out of print. We don’t like to admit defeat.   This second edition is significantly more expensive than the first edition, but we sincerely hope you’ll understand why that is the case, and feel that the revised price still represents excellent value for such vital and unique information. We are committed to providing high quality tr…

Mountaintops have long been seen as sacred places, home to gods and dreams. In one climbing year Peter Boardman visited three very different sacred mountains. He began in the New Year, on the South Face of the Carstensz Pyramid in New Guinea.   This shark's fin of steep limestone walls and sweeping glaciers is the highest point between the Andes and the Himalaya, and one of the most inaccessible, rising above thick jungle inhabited by warring Stone Age tribes. During the spring Boardman was on more familiar, if hardly more reassuring, ground, making a four-man, oxygen-free attempt on the world's third highest peak, Kangchenjunga. Hurricane-force winds beat back their first two bids on the unclimbed North Ridge, but they eventually stood within feet of the summit - leaving the final few yards untrodden in deference to the inhabiting deity.   In October, he was back in the Himalaya and climbing the mountain most sacred to the Sherpas: the twin-summited Gauri Sankar. Renowned for its tec…

Een bijzondere serie van Bradt guides, waarin een gedeelte van Engeland of Schotland uitgebreid beschreven wordt. Met veel aandacht voor kleine details die je niet al gauw elders zult vinden. Naast de beschrijvende informatie vind je ook een schat aan praktische informatie als accommodatie-adressen of leuke pubs. Een aanrader! Thoroughly updated and significantly expanded in this new fourth edition, Bradt’s Cornwall & The Isles of Scilly (Slow Travel) is the most well-established guide to a perennially popular British county. Offering in-depth exploration of both frequently visited and less-well-known destinations that will interest locals as much as newcomers, it is written in a friendly, engaging style and includes up-to-date listings of the best (and sometimes least obvious) places to eat, drink and sleep, appealing to all budgets.   Long popular with discerning travellers and foodies, the boom in staycations and coverage in TV dramas such as Poldark mean that Cornwall enjoys ev…