Larry Habegger - Böcker

The Best Travel Writing 2011 is the eighth volume in the annual Travelers' Tales series launched in 2004 to celebrate the world's best travel writing -- from Nobel Prize winners to emerging new writers. The points of view and perspectives are global, and themes encompass high adventure, spiritual growth, romance, hilarity and misadventure, service to humanity, and encounters with exotic cuisine. Sweat, suffer, and fall in love in Guyana, meet a traveler who conducts his own detente in Russian baths, and encounter the light of a stranger in Burma. Further tales include methods on comprehending the nuances of bargaining in Senegal and an archaeologist who digs up her own past in Greece.

This is our annual collection of the best travel writing of the year, much of it never published before, from big names in travel literature and emerging new writers. The "Best Travel Writing" Volume 9 is the latest in the annual "Travelers' Tales" series launched in 2004 to celebrate the world's best travel writing - from Nobel Prize winners to emerging new writers. The points of view and perspectives are global, and themes encompass high adventure, spiritual growth, romance, hilarity and misadventure, service to humanity, and encounters with exotic cuisines and cultures. It includes winners from the annual Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing. Since 1993, "Travelers' Tales" has been publishing award-winning books about the world, adventure, spirituality, and the life-changing experiences that take place on the road. The "Best Travel Writing" series follows this tradition by presenting in an annual volume the best travel stories from writers around the world.

This is our annual collection of the best travel writing of the year, much of it never published before, from big names in travel literature and emerging new writers. The Best Travel Writing, Volume 10 is the latest in the annual Travelers' Tales series launched in 2004 to celebrate the world's best travel writing - from Nobel Prize winners to emerging new writers. The points of view and perspectives are global, and themes encompass high adventure, spiritual growth, romance, hilarity and misadventure, service to humanity, and encounters with exotic cuisines and cultures. It includes winners from the annual Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing.

The Best Travel Writing, Volume 11 is the latest in the annual Travelers' Tales series launched in 2004 to celebrate the world's best travel writing — from Nobel Prize winners to emerging new writers. The points of view and perspectives are global, and themes encompass high adventure, spiritual growth, romance, hilarity and misadventure, service to humanity, and encounters with exotic cuisines and cultures. Includes winners from the annual Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing.Introduction by Rolf PottsIn The Best Travel Writing, Volume 11, readers will:Piece together the puzzle of life in rural CambodiaReawaken the joy of travel on a bus ride through MexicoReexamine war memories with former soldiers in VietnamLearn the ropes and the art of sailing with a "good captain" on the PacificFind a true soul sister in the highlands of EcuadorFollow Vincent van Gogh's footsteps in FranceSurvive (or not) a home invasion in Brazil...and much more

For ten years the editors of Travelers' Tales have run a writing competition to find the best travel story of the year: The Solas Awards. Over those years, thousands of stories have come across their desks, from writers famous and unknown, covering all corners of the globe with stories of adventure and discovery, love and loss, humor and absurdity, grief and joy. In this collection appear all of the top prize winners of the last ten years, stories that bring readers along for journeys that are inspiring, uplifting, and, very often, transformative. These tales are powerful, moving testaments to the richness of our world, its cultures, people, and places.In this book, readers will:Deposit a loved one's ashes in a Bolivian RiverFind the Celtic soul you never knew you had in rural IrelandGrope through the maze of sorcery and madness in CameroonRediscover your sense of self on a return to Russia after many years awayFollow the spirit of John Wesley Powell down the Grand Canyon in ArizonaEngage loss and the specter of death in MexicoFace your deepest fears alone in an Alaskan winterEncounter the realities of prostitution in ThailandAbsorb the rhythms and soul of Flamenco in SpainFall in love with a home in rural France and make it your own...and much more

The Best Travel Writing, Volume 11 is the latest in the annual Travelers' Tales series launched in 2004 to celebrate the world's best travel writing — from Nobel Prize winners to emerging new writers. The points of view and perspectives are global, and themes encompass high adventure, spiritual growth, romance, hilarity and misadventure, service to humanity, and encounters with exotic cuisines and cultures. Includes winners from the annual Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing.Introduction by Rolf PottsIn The Best Travel Writing, Volume 11, readers will:Piece together the puzzle of life in rural CambodiaReawaken the joy of travel on a bus ride through MexicoReexamine war memories with former soldiers in VietnamLearn the ropes and the art of sailing with a "good captain" on the PacificFind a true soul sister in the highlands of EcuadorFollow Vincent van Gogh's footsteps in FranceSurvive (or not) a home invasion in Brazil...and much more

For ten years the editors of Travelers' Tales have run a writing competition to find the best travel story of the year: The Solas Awards. Over those years, thousands of stories have come across their desks, from writers famous and unknown, covering all corners of the globe with stories of adventure and discovery, love and loss, humor and absurdity, grief and joy. In this collection appear all of the top prize winners of the last ten years, stories that bring readers along for journeys that are inspiring, uplifting, and, very often, transformative. These tales are powerful, moving testaments to the richness of our world, its cultures, people, and places.In this book, readers will:Deposit a loved one's ashes in a Bolivian RiverFind the Celtic soul you never knew you had in rural IrelandGrope through the maze of sorcery and madness in CameroonRediscover your sense of self on a return to Russia after many years awayFollow the spirit of John Wesley Powell down the Grand Canyon in ArizonaEngage loss and the specter of death in MexicoFace your deepest fears alone in an Alaskan winterEncounter the realities of prostitution in ThailandAbsorb the rhythms and soul of Flamenco in SpainFall in love with a home in rural France and make it your own...and much more

Since 1993, readers have looked to Travelers' Tales for award-winning stories about the world, adventure, spirituality, and the transformative experiences that accompany life on the road. The Best Travel Writing 2008 is the fifth volume in the series launched in 2004 to celebrate the world's best travel writing — much of it never before published — from Nobel Prize winners to up-and-coming new writers. The stories provide a perspective and depth of understanding that can only come from people who have actually been there, and encompass everything from high adventure to misadventure, spiritual growth to romance, service to humanity to encounters with exotic cuisines. Reading the book is like sitting in a café filled with fellow travelers, swapping tales about destinations near and far — readers emerge changed, eager for more, and ready to plan their next trips.

It's winter. The holidays are over. For those living in areas where it's still snowing, and even where it's just cold or rainy, it's the time of year when magazines, newspapers, radio, and television are tantalizing us with ads of warm beaches, sunshine, relaxation, water sports, and foo-foo drinks with little umbrellas sticking out of them.Many of us would love to be able to travel to someplace warm, or to a far away place for a new adventure. However, we may not have the time or the resources to do so. Fortunately, Travelers' Tales has just the armchair adventure travel anyone can experience -- the beaches of Thailand, dining on the banks of the Seine, running with the bulls of Pamplona, purchasing a suit in Hong Kong, climbing the Himalayas -- all for only $17.95 (no shots or visa required).O'Reilly and Travelers' Tales have created a national campaign to help you promote Travelers' Tales titles as the "great getaway -- for cheap". We'll provide you with marketing materials (signage, T-shirts, buttons, postcards, special discount for inventory order, ad slick, and book displays) to create a window or in-store display during the month of May 1997. The store with the best display wins an overstuffed armchair fully equipped with an airline style seat belt.We'll also provide you with shelftalker coupon books with space on the front for you to stamp your store name and address. The coupon is redeemable for 10% off the purchase of a Travelers' Tales book. Your customer simply tears off the coupon from the shelftalker, completes the information (name and address) on the back, and gives it to the cashier when they're ready to purchase a book. At the end of each month you send us thecoupons used by your customers, and we'll credit your account. We understand that you might be hesitant to send in coupons with the names and addresses of your customers. The reason for retrieving this information is so you can build your customer list, and so we can send a Travelers' Tales newsletter to your customers informing them of new titles available from their local bookstore -- including a reference to your store.

Here are 28 awe-inspiring stories of danger and survival, guaranteed to get your heart pumping. Whether trapped in an underwater cave, escaping an avalanche, fending off a thug, or surviving a storm at sea, each author faces moments of raw terror and finds deep reserves of courage. From mountain ice to jungle rot, from bombed-out villages and urban ghettos to wild animals and depraved humans, our authors struggle with life, death, and their very sanity on their travels. Notable authors include Sebastian Junger, Eric Hansen, Peter Maass, Bill Buford, Janine Jones, and William T. Vollmann.

Whether it roots us in our own backyard or takes us across continents, watching birds calls us to stillness and demands our keen attention to the details that flicker around us. This collection of stories will appeal to bird lovers everywhere.'

Men, you''ve encountered them before - the most foolhardy, annoying, courageous and dangerous creatures on the planet. Journey around the planet in this text and watch the male species.'

“Melting pot,” a phrase inevitably associated with the United States, may be even more applicable to Mexico, where ancient civilizations merge with modern cultures in a cross-current of peoples, languages and dialects, art and music, religions, hidden cosmologies, and fabled ruins. Travelers’ Tales Mexico explores this deep diversity in essays by important writers who have experienced it firsthand. On his journey south of the border, Carlos Fuentes reveals layer upon layer of history in Mexico City’s town square; Alice Adams discovers her love for Frida Kahlo’s work; Pete Hamill unearths the ghosts of Hollywood in Puerto Vallarta; and Mary Morris moves to San Miguel to find a writer’s life. Travelers’ Tales Mexico is a lyrical reminder of why it’s both a pleasure and a necessity to visit this magnificent country.

This newly designed edition of Travelers’ Tales France celebrates the culture, history, and joie de vivre of one of the most beloved — and most visited — countries on Earth. Acclaimed writers, including Peter Mayle, M.F.K. Fisher, Jon Krakauer, Mort Rosenblum, Alice Kaplan, and Jan Morris, who have fallen in love with France — with the food, the land, the irrepressible French people — provide a mesmerizing literary tour of this special place. Opening many windows onto France, this collection reveals the most important reason to visit: to experience life as it should be. “Pays homage to the good life, as defined by the French.” — Los Angeles Times

These stories of travel in Central America -- Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama -- are adventurous and quirky, sobering and enlightening. Readers visit a Panamanian island known for its wildlife; glimpse the wealthy Generation X repatriates of Nicaragua; and meet a charming Guatemalan revolutionary. Authors include Paul Theroux, Jennifer Harbury, Ronald Wright, Joan Didion, Randy Wayne White, and Rigoberta Menchu. Travelers' Tales Central America provides a new window into this astonishingly beautiful and complex part of the world. "For the thoughtful traveler, these books are an invaluable resource." -- Pico Iyer

Winner of the Lowell Thomas Best Travel Book Award, this updated, newly designed collection of Thailand travel stories makes you fall in love with this fabulous country. Thailand can satisfy just about any traveller's hunger for the exotic, the beautiful, the thrillingly different. It's a country with a deep respect for family and monarchy and a pervasive Buddhism practised by the vast majority. The traveller - new or veteran - never leaves Thailand unchanged.

Travelers’ Tales Tibet is a collection of riveting tales from one of the most controversial and fascinating regions of the earth. Travel with world-renowned writers to this mythic land and enjoy a feast cooked by blowtorch on a high mountain pass, witness an ancient sky burial, rebuild an ancient monastery, make the pilgrimage to Mt. Kailash, work as an extra on a Chinese movie set, and visit the eternal home of the Dalai Lama, the Potala Palace. Travelers’ Tales Tibet draws an unforgettable portrait of a magical country, its stunning culture, and unforgettable people.

Paris is one city that you should endeavor to know over the course of a lifetime, and not just in one or two visits. It is the center of the civilized universe, and it belongs to everyone--even to those who see it only in their dreams. The City of Light has bestowed on millions the gift of the incandescent present, an image or experience into which all life is condensed and reflected upon for years to come. Travelers' Tales Paris captures the romance of the world's favorite city through stories that entertain, inform, and touch the heart. John Gregory Dunne reveals the manic pleasures of driving in the city's chaotic traffic. Joseph Diedrich and Katya Macklovich explore romantic encounters that could only happen here. Herbert Gold and David Applefield take aim at the nostalgia surrounding The Left Bank, one reveling in its literary past, the other urging the visitor to reach out to a new, modern Paris in the outlying area of Montreuil. Tim O'Reilly and Coleman Lollar evoke the appeal of unexpected tourist sites, and Marcel Laventurier recounts his harrowing escape from the Nazis on a train bound for occupied Paris in a tale you will never forget.

San Francisco is spoken of in the same breath as Paris, Venice, and Rome, and has earned the slogan "America’s Favorite City" for its openness, dramatic beauty, cultural amenities, the diversity of its neighborhoods and population, and its icons—the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, cable cars, Fisherman’s Wharf, and fog. It sits on the tip of a peninsula on the edge of a continent in one of the world’s most seismically active areas—no wonder there has always been a "sitting on the edge" mentality here. The city appeared instantly—just add gold and stir!—when that precious ore was discovered in the nearby hills in 1848. It was a boomtown that lasted, and all of that rich history is captured in Travelers’ Tales San Francisco along with clear portraits of today’s city. In these true stories you will explore the North Beach of the Beat era and beyond with Herbert Gold, discover true romance on a cable car with Michele Anna Jordan, uncover the real Mission district with John Krich, marvel at the city’s wild light with Andrei Codrescu, gumshoe through Sam Spade’s San Francisco with Don Freeman, and learn what it means to be a "quintessential San Franciscan" with the late Herb Caen.

Travelers' Tales Ireland reveals the heart and soul of one of the oldest and richest cultures in Europe. From its Celtic ancestry to its thoroughly modern economy, its predominantly Catholic faith to its thriving music and arts, Ireland is a top choice of Europeans seeking a friendly, cosmopolitan place to unwind, and Irish Americans seeking connections with their forbears. Experience the wonder of Ireland as you have always imagined it would be. - Kayak among hidden islands with Brian Wilson - Share a poignant moment with relatives you never knew you had with Brian Moore - Dance with delight with Niall Williams and Christine Breen - Encounter friendly con artists with Thom Elkjer - Explore ancient ruins with David W. McFadden - Climb St. Patrick's holy mountain with Colm Toibin - Pilot your own boat up the River Shannon with Kent E. St. John - Discover the root of "The Troubles" with Cecil Woodham-Smith - Explore Jonathan Swift's Dublin with Rebecca Solnit - Walk the Kerry Way with Tim O'Reilly - Share Heinrich Boll's thoughts on Irish rain

Everyone knows that stories improve with the telling, and nothing helps a travel story more than something going wrong. As soon as things stop going your way you know you’re in trouble, but the frustration, embarrassment, danger, and inconvenience provide great material for stories once the anguish has faded. What we remember are the absurd, surreal, and wacky moments when travel becomes slapstick and grand plans dissolve into comedy. The adventurers here encounter just about everything you’d never expect, from a monster dildo that won’t go away to becoming the prey of religious zealots at the world’s largest human gathering to the proverbial "hair in my soup" at a French restaurant and the proprietor’s remarkable solution to the "problem." In a case of life imitating art, nothing is too ridiculous on the road, as these travelers discover and so generously share without shame or undue embarrassment.

A literary tour of Greece shares true accounts of such topics as the Oracle at Delphi's modern secrets and the ancient charms of a contemporary Athens neighborhood, in a collection that includes contributions by such writers as Paul Theroux, Patricia Storace, and Henry Miller. Original.

India is among the most difficult—and most rewarding—of places to travel. Some have said India stands for "I’ll Never Do It Again." Many more are drawn back time after time because India is the best show on earth, the best bazaar of human experiences that can be visited in a lifetime. India dissolves ideas about what it means to be alive, and its people give new meaning to compassion, perseverance, ingenuity, and friendship. India—monsoon and marigold, dung and dust, colors and corpses, smoke and ash, snow and endless myth—is a cruel, unrelenting place of ineffable sweetness. Much like life itself. Journey to the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, the world’s biggest party, with David Yeadon and take "A Bath for Fifteen Million People"; greet the monsoon with Alexancer Frater where the Indian and Pacific Oceans meet; track the endangered Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros through the jungles of Assam with Larry Habegger; encounter the anguish of the caste system with Steve Coll; discover the eternal power of the "monument of love," the Taj Mahal, with Jonah Blank; and much more.

This title launches a new Travelers’ Tales series, an annual collection of the best travel writing, to celebrate ten years of publishing the world’s best travel writing—from Nobel Prize winners to complete unknowns. Many of these stories will be published for the first time in this book, while some will have appeared in other Travelers’ Tales titles or elsewhere. But the common thread connecting them will be fresh, lively storytelling and compelling narrative to make the reader laugh, weep, wish he were there, or be glad he wasn’t.These 25 stories cover the globe, from battling snakes in Costa Rica to probing your own relation to the caste system in India to charting your way through the "oldest tourist trap in the world" in Egypt to learning to cook an octopus in Mexico. The writers come from many countries, not just the United States, so the points of view and perspectives are global in reach. Themes are as eclectic as all of our books, including stories that encompass spiritual growth, absolute hilarity and misadventure, high adventure, romance, women’s solo journeys, stories of service to humanity, family travel, and encounters with exotic cuisine.

Travelers’ Tales China is a must for any traveler to China, to anyone wanting to learn more about the Middle Kingdom, offering a breadth and depth of experience from both new and well-known authors, and helps make the China experience unforgettable and transforming. These pages take you through 6,000 years of history to modern-day socialist China, from the Silk Road to the high-tech center of Beijing. Explore the old as well as the new—from the tombs of dead emperors to the world’s largest dam. Roam around one of China’s 700 nature preserves in a country that boasts more wildlife than any other in the world. Wander the vastness of the Gobi Desert and skirt the darkness of history while exploring the assault on Nanking, and be shaken by observations of death during the upheavals of the Red Guard. Go riding with Ghengis Khan, explore the Forbidden City, and walk along sections of the Great Wall that are seldom visited. You can taste and smell the food as it is cooked in alleys and inns, reach down and touch relics older than most of Europe, and enjoy the sights and the sounds of the Dragon Boat Festival.

People travel for countless reasons, but no matter the route, duration, or destination, our journeys often share a common result: they transform us. The traveller is a pilgrim, wittingly or unwittingly, and never comes home the same. Travel can be the bearer of extraordinary gifts which break through the crust of old experience and reawaken us to the joys, mysteries, and miracles of everyday life. Whether it be a new understanding of a foreign culture or an epiphany that opens new inner worlds, travel is a catalyst for living a richer life. We've selected some favourite stories from the books in our award-winning series, stories of transformation and insight about simple but profound gifts travellers have received from people, places, and experiences around the world - from an unforgettable language teacher in Bangkok to the tambourine men of Recife, from a tomato festival in Spain to a mutton feast in Tibet, from a Barcelona train station to a Baja desert. The Gift of Travel will light a match in the firebox of your wanderlust, with stories of world travel.

For the many thousands of visitors who head to Australia each year, and the millions of armchair travelers who want to learn more about the land Down Under, this collection of stories will captivate and enchant. Australia is too big to comprehend. It's too barren, too rich, too foreign, too far away—which of course is also why it's so appealing. The island-country-continent baffles the imagination through its mere presence—it's age, aridity, the searing red of its deserts, the luminescent green of its rain forests, the deep blues of its tropical seas, the crisp clarity of its ethereal light. Australia entices, sedues, and seeps into the bloodstream until there's no choice to go see for yourself.In this book:• Walk a songline with Bruce Chatwin• Learn to "Speak Oz" wth Tim Cahill• Discover an ancient place, and ancient knowledge, with James G. Cowan• Probe "The Red Center" with Susan Storm• Travel aimlessly with a purpose with Tony Horwitz• Deliver the mail by air with Andrew Tarica...and much more.

This title is the second in our series of annual collections of the best travel writing. Many of these stories are original while some have appeared in other Travellers' Tales titles or elsewhere. But the common thread connecting them is fresh, lively storytelling and compelling narrative to make the reader laugh, weep, wish he were there, or be glad he wasn't. The 30 stories cover the globe, from encountering the spirit of Odysseus in the Mediterranean to restaging the "Rumble in the Jungle" in Malawi to probing the culture of the working men in the Tokyo fish market. The points of view and perspectives are global in reach and the themes are as eclectic as all of our books, including stories that encompass spiritual growth, absolute hilarity and misadventure, high adventure, romance, women's solo journeys, stories of service to humanity, family travel, and encounters with exotic cuisine.