A fascinating journey
589784
What I liked about the book is that it sounded genuine - not glossed over or sugar coated, as some autobiographies and biographies can be. Elvis had a quality to his voice that was captivating, but I do believe that initially, to break out, it was Scotty Moore's playing style, and Bill Black's bass foundation, that made those early songs jump out of speakers, generate excitement and create Elvis's early success. Scotty's dedication to Elvis, and lifetime friendship is commendable.

What I didn't like about the book is how it was digitized for e-readers. Many pages started out not where the previous page left off. It never seemed like an entire page was missing, but certainly several words, the last part of a paragraph and, perhaps, even an entire paragraph at times. That was frustrating. I felt I had purchased a defective product. It would behoove Amazon to correct these glitches.
2124235
What a fascinating book!  This would be travels out of the ordinary, travels that seem to be as necessary to the author of this small book as oxygen is to the rest of us. After finishing this, I can't even imagine her not venturing forth to  many, many more fascinating place, meeting even more engaging people, and learning  so many more intriguing facts. My only hope is that she will share them with us in another slim volume as interesting as this one. It would be difficult to choose the chapter in the book to claim as my favorite, but I would have to say the last one captured my imagination and stayed with me the longest. Since each chapter is a slice of life from some place other than your own, this is a grand book to pick up and carry around with you for those times when you absolutely need something to read, something that will perhaps carry you away from the queue in which you are stuck  or those minutes spent waiting, time you'd rather escape, but cannot....except for diving into this book and leaving your reality behind for a few minutes.  I am so very grateful I found this book...it IS a trip. My adivse?  Get it. Let it take you away to the magic that Judith Fein has found.
1730638
I purchased this from Amazon as part of a three-volume Sebald set.

It would not do full justice to this volume to simply characterize it as a diary of Sebalds walking tour of East Anglia. Although the walk is eloquently catalogued in and of itself, what he encounters on that walk also provides the motivation for his asides into a wide variety of subjects. Were it not for the fact that the walking tour links the chapters together, each could also be considered its own story.

As Seabald does good service to what he encounters, these sights and experiences also cause him to meander into other trains of thought into past history. Each of these stories is fascinating in its own right. As the book progresses, Sebald seems to drift further and further from the present into these past histories, only to head back toward the surface for air toward the end of the book.

I personally found that the narratives on Conrad and Casement, the Chinese empress, the Balkans, and the silk industry particularly interesting. Also worthwhile is the narrative of the walk itself that gradually explains what led to the present state of near-abandonment along the east Anglian coast.

Seabald is literary, and there are a number of allusions and quotes that may be difficult for the uninitiated to navigate, and his writing style demands some deliberation on the part of the reader. However, at the end, I felt the effort was well worthwhile.
108105
Do not allow the length of Largent's book keep you from opening it. Whether it takes you a short or long time to read, it promises to take you on an engaging journey into the rich tapestry of characters, history, assassination plots, monasteries, the kingdoms and queendoms of kings and Seers. You'll even get to peer into the 'Edge of the World!' Largent masterfully weaves all of these realms into a story that you will feel yourself a part of by the time you know that Cuin, the beloved protagonist in the story, is in danger. Largent's ability to fashion the dialog to match the era really helps the reader feel as if they are taking a journey back in time. He does a great job of including the varying cultures that were interacting at the time: the politics of kings and their armies, the undercurrent of hidden negotiation and diplomacy, the monasteries and spiritualist healers and their practices...with a bit of love and a lot of intrigue thrown in. An impressive work of story-telling. Thank you!
541454
This book was purchased because I met the author and found her interesting. I had no idea what the book would be about, but, I soon became hooked and read her story in two days. It's a journey in more sense than one. She travels to Peru from the USA and discovers her strengths in overcoming her fear of heights and travelling alone. She faces many challenges and realizations. Her journey is heightened by the people she meets and the exposure to an incredible landscape and several experiences with 'plant' medicine (ayahuasca). Her internal thoughts are recorded in a journal she wrote  to her beloved partner while her remained home. The journey helps her with his recent diagnosis of stage iv cancer and impending loss of life. We see her exposed through ups and downs and view insecurities and recognitions. It was a nice escape from my daily routine and it took me into a small snipet of the world Carla Mora.  I liked it!
2813647
An amazing journey that takes me to many different places. Each listen seems new. A wonderful achievement.
1000127
What an amazing journey. If, like me, you sit around in your humdrum suburban living room, wondering about what it would be like to just walk down the road and keep walking across America, or hitch a ride on the next freight train that passes through town, or live off the parched land in the southwestern deserts, Richard Grant is the man for you. Even better, at least from my own perspective that is sadly ungrounded in American history, are his loving and intricate narratives of conquistadors and Indians, tying today's wanderers into an American journey that began long before European arrival.

Not many travel books manage to be both emotionally and intellectually compelling, or to portray the author's journeys as effectively as those of others. The only other that comes to mind is William Dalrymple's From the Holy Mountain. This book succeeds on all counts.

<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/From-the-Holy-Mountain-A-Journey-among-the-Christians-of-the-Middle-East/dp/0805061770/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">From the Holy Mountain: A Journey among the Christians of the Middle East</a>
4368483
Steps out of Time by Katharine Soper shows how the author, an American fascinated by European history and culture, took to the increasingly popular Camino de Santiago in 2002. Her pilgrims experience was not traditionally religious, and she writes with an awareness of that fact. Her careful observations and attention to detail make this a fascinating armchair travelers book.  Her maturity allowed her to consider the trek from many perspectivesher own, other peoples, as a religious/spiritual/physical experience, and in regard to history. People need challenges that are both physically and spiritually meaningful. Soper understands this and did not conclude the book before she explained the relevance of the pilgrimage in her own life. In truth, she integrated the Camino into her existence, and it shows. I believe this book will have broad audience appeal.
4791210
I really enjoyed this. The author takes us on a kaleidoscopic ride through places, time and the people he meets along the way. Told through the eyes of a historian, this is interesting as well as engaging. I found it evocative and especially enjoyed that it was an honest and introspective work. A good read that I could not wait to get back to whenever I had to put it down.
2803872
Wow. This is a fascinating, carefully researched biography of a mid-nineteenth century German explorer who is quite likely the greatest explorer you've never heard of. I've long been an admirer of Richard Francis Burton, and am acquainted with the most famous of the  explorers of Africa, but I hadn't heard of Barth.

The book is almost entirely focused on his epic 5+ year journey and seemingly has it all: desert caravans, slave raids, treacherous/opportunistic guides, hostile tribes, robbers and thieves, exotic disease, forced marches through brutal climates and punishing terrain, trade centers, rebellions, bungled communications, political intrigue, suspicious chieftains, eunuchs, harems, etc. You get the idea- it more than holds its own as an adventure story. Considering the many dangers and frequent setbacks, it's incredible he survived.

But what sets Barth apart from other explorers, especially considering the time he lived in, is that he was insatiably curious about, and respectful of, the many cultures he came into contact with as he navigated through several African Kingdoms and many different spheres of political influence. He was a Christian, but was well versed in Islam. He became intimate with sheiks, emirs and other rulers, as well as many ordinary Africans; and as a result he found scholarship, an esteem for learning, complex politics, and probably most surprisingly to Europeans of the time- a history. And he meticulously recorded it all. He was fluent in Arabic, and literally collected African languages as he went along. His treatment of Africans as fellow human beings went a long way in adding to the immense amount of knowledge he came away with.

When he returned to Britain, he wrote a five-volume, 3500 hundred page work about his journey, which apparently has been indispensable to African scholars ever since, from the many explorers who followed in his footsteps, to modern scholars who have only Barth's descriptions of places now gone and events not recorded elsewhere. I was surprised to learn that there hasn't been a biography in English about him before now. I would have thought some Brit would take on the task at some point. It's also amazing he isn't more well known today, considering his accomplishments, but the reasons for that are covered by the author.

The only map in the book is fine, but I found myself googling for more detailed ones, which helped in visualizing some legs of the journey. I obviously loved the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in history and exploration. It's packed with interesting historical asides, ranging from charming and amusing to grim and disturbing. The author's blog is also worth checking out. It chronicles his research trip to some of the places Barth traveled, including Timbuktu. It's interesting to see how things have changed since the mid-nineteenth century.
76444
This unusual, probably unique, exploration of the nature of human existence is a fascinating read and hard to put down. Bob Casey's point of view of a writer receiving dictation from immortal souls is compelling to the point of wishing it were true. His perspectives on eternity, love, God, reincarnation, and life on Earth (via sometimes wrenching experiences in history) are comforting and encouraging. An unusual and fascinating book, and a tale well told. Recommended.
2115342
This is a wonderful unfolding of our fascination with the Civil War.  Tony Horowitz spends two years crawling around the South after some Civil War re-enactors show up on his lawn one day.  He spends time with those re-enactors, and also visits a number of famous, infamous, and obscure Civil War sites.  He talks to Civil War historians like Shelby Foote, and also visits small-town museums and memorials.  What emerges isn't a single story, but a web of interlaced tales each with its own viewpoint.  We're introduced to the revered and the crackpots, the expert and the ignorant.  Horowitz' journey is something we might all daydream of doing after stopping at a roadside attraction or an historical marker that piques our interest about something.  The story that emerges is complex yet fascinating.  He explores the emotional as well as the factual side to people, places, and events associated with the war.  Sometimes humorous, sometime tragic, the result is a fascinating book that may provoke more questions than it supplies answers but leaves the reader with a deeper understanding of the mark the Civil War left on us all.
787308
This personal journey in three parts is the work of a thoughtful, adventurous soul. We know the author as an actress who is able to expose the deep interior life of her characters (from Eleanor Roosevelt to Calamity Jane and others) through her professional work. In this book, we discover more of the interior life of Jane Alexander, the woman, the individual, captivated by the natural world, in love with birds, supportive of people who share her passion for the Earth and all its life-forms. We also learn that she is a world traveler, an adventurer, a friend of field scientists, and an environmentalist.

She begins with a thoughtful Author's Note that immediately tells the reader that this is a confident writer and advocate for animals who intends unapologetically to adopt the unusual practice of capitalizing the names of all animal species throughout the book. It is an important and telling choice. In the Prologue, she foreshadows Part I when she writes of meeting then-thirty-year-old Alan Rabinowitz, who was working on Jaguar preservation in Belize. She continues her portrait of Rabinowitz and his grueling endeavors in Part I as she travels through Mexico, Belize, Thailand, Idaho, Nepal, Myanmar, India, and Brazil. Each chapter provides a portrait of the area and an account of the challenges of preserving endangered wildlife therein. She reveals in Part 2 more of her own childhood and life, with chapters on Birds, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, Galapagos, Newfoundland, Amazonia, East Africa, and Madagascar. In Part 3, she organizes her observations around a smattering of other subjects: Desert, Killers, Bhutan, Bahamas, Ecuador, and Ocean.

Although few have both the adventurous spirit and the resources to travel and learn first-hand in the way that Alexander has, there is no overlay of privilege about the author or the book. The writing is refreshing and accessible. The adventures are remote and intriguing. But, despite the authors admonition that you cannot be a conservationist and a pessimist. It is an oxymoron. The endeavor of conserving anything is one of optimism and hope, there is a strong thread of sadness that runs through the volume. Indeed, how could there not be given the tremendous devastation humans wreak upon our planet and its creatures? The stories told contain many extinctions and habitat losses and too few successes. The book is eye-opening in its revelations of destruction in almost any direction you turn. Nevertheless, it is good to learn that Alexander holds on to her optimism. An Appendix of organizations involved with the protection and conservation of wild things and wild places follows the main text. I will send checks to a few of them and work on my own optimism. I do recommend the book.
2621463
Journey Without Maps is a non-fiction work filled with reflections, character sketches, and sometimes dreamlike images. It's not easy to compare it with any other book, for me; it's essentially a travel diary, an account of a rather irrational trek across Liberia that Green undertook in 1935, accompanied only by his cousin and the team of hired bearers who carried their hammocks, water filtration gear, etc. The book is fairly short and episodic, though it occasionally drifts into memories of England; even a couple of the author's dreams are included, nor do they seem out of place; the recounting is largely chronological, but it's always in limited detail--these are sketches--and much of what Greene recalls here is strange, perplexing, suggestive--these are, after all, a man's memories of far-away places, in a time before the Second World War. While the journey is occasionally dangerous, this is not a thriller: the danger comes mainly from local politics. For the most part, the journey is simply exhausting--especially near its end. The trek doesn't end up "proving" anything; it simply happened.

The treat here of course is Graham Greene's prose. It's a constant frustration to me (and surely others!) that his novels aren't offered yet on Kindle (except as audibles), so the chance to re-read, at very least, Journey Without Maps on my Kindle was a very welcome surprise--but, at the same time, it does remind us we can't yet enjoy The Comedians, Brighton Rock, etc., on Kindle. Still, this is English writing of the very finest sort, so straightforward and unembroidered, and yet of (somehow) such near-magical lucidity--if you've read Greene before, you will know what I mean; if you haven't, well, at least there is now this little bonbon available. I expect to read it many more times.
885899
A wonderful trip into a world most of us would pass by. Seed captures the psyche of his characters with mastery. Fascinating.
2129050
This book is a fascinating mixture of many things.  It relates the drama of young man who undertakes a relatively careless adventure in a beat up old car across America, not knowing really why, or where, he is actually going.  The intended destination is said to be Toronto, but he really seems to be just wandering in that general direction, as he is fascinated and distracted by all of the natural beauty, and rural culture, that he had never encountered before living in LA .  The journey across America, itself, is portrayed very well and very realistically; and I think this is due to the author being a long distance cyclist who has actually visited, on his touring bike, many of these same sites that he describes in the novel.  This explains one reason why the book contains so many particular details of the beautiful landmarks, monuments and scenery found throughout the American landscape.  And the personalities that the young man, "Gus", meets along the way, are also very realistic.  Again, I'm sure the author has met similar rural characters on his own 'roadtrip' across America. How can you NOT meet and talk to such characters, when you're traveling across the US on a long distance cycle?  So, the characters in the story are actually quite authentic.

Anyway, the story line is filled with both a lot of adventure, as well as the deep self musings of Gus, as he encounters the incredible natural beauty and incredible people living across America, who he finds that he really needs the help of in order to survive the trip.  His old beat up Volkswagon is making noises, running out of gas and breaking down throughout the story, so there is always the suspense that it will finally putter out in the middle of a desert or some lonely mountain pass, leaving him without anything and in the middle of nowhere. For anyone who has taken a long, multi state trip in an older car (the type that has 'roll up' windows), this constant drama will bring back real memories, because mechanical failure in lonely places is never forgotten. Nor is the rescuer in his old beat up p/u truck who has just what you need to get you going again.

So, Gus, the traveller, has the time for some very deep reflection on his past life, the great beauty of God's created universe, and where he might be going to make something of himself with his life.

At about a little more than half way through the book, there is quite a surprise.  The book is explained by the author as being an allegory of sorts wherein he reviews every step of  Gus's travel, event by event, showing how the charity of others and the many break downs on the way was the work of divine providence, leading Gus to a deeper understanding of both God, and faith, in his life. This part of the book actually details and summarizes some very deep theological principles as has  been taught over the past 2000 by countless saints and theologians of the Catholic faith.  And the surprise is how detailed the analysis is, showing the author to be quite a theologian himself.  This blending of deep historical and classical theology, and the adventures of a typical happy-go-lucky California youth, is what makes the book unique. It's just not expected... as the two seem to be so contrary to each other.  But, this is what makes the book so interesting.  It shows how, indeed, they DO go together. It shows that the average person experiences deep theology in almost everything he does; that is, if he just wants to slow down and take a good look at his life.

I'm sure many people will greatly enjoy this book both for the fascinating adventure, as well as for the deep theological perspective. In this respect it is quite a unique book.
1563975
Read cover to cover! What an amazing story of a fascinating journey. The details, the poetry, the tone of the book is remarkable. Uplifting, motivational, a good read- this book is everything and more.