travel / special interest / adventure

"There are bucket lists featuring comfort and indulgence, like staying at the George V in Paris or eating at Eleven Madison Park in New York. There are "if I ever..." bucket lists, like being an extra in a movie or learning to sing. And then there are bucket lists for the brave, the daring and the dreamers who want to check off as many challenging adventures as they can. They want every minute of life to count. Ed Stafford's Ultimate Adventure Guide is for them. It presents Ed's hand-picked selection of exciting challenges for those who don't mind a bit of discomfort. Life's great adventures are theirs for the taking."--Amazon.com.

John Marshall's life had fallen apart. His seventeen-year-old son was about to leave home, his fourteen-year-old daughter was lost in cyberspace, his marriage was falling apart. He dreamed of a trip around the world and a chance to leave all of his routines and responsibilities behind if only for a little while. But a trip like this was unaffordable unless they volunteered their time as they traveled. The Marshall family took their trip around the world and it changed their lives. From Central American to East Asia the trip offered little rest, even less relaxation, but it gave the Marshalls a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to conquer their personal fears, strengthen their family bonds and find their true selves by helping those in need.

"Two best friends document their post-college lives in an honest epistolary memoir. Through their messages from around the world, they swap tales of teaching classes of military men, running a magazine, and flirting in foreign languages, along with the hard stuff: from harrowing accidents to breakups and breakdowns."--Provided by publisher.

"The bestselling author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals recounts his latest hilarious misadventures in the South Pacific, following in the footsteps of his unlikely idol, Robert Louis Stevenson. Readers and critics alike adore J. Maarten Troost for his signature wry and witty take on the adventure memoir. Hailed by Entertainment Weekly as a "funny, candid, and down-to-earth travel companion," Troost's bestselling debut, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, is an enduring favorite about life in the South Seas. Headhunters on My Doorstep chronicles Troost's return to the South Pacific after his struggle with alcoholism and time in rehab left him numb to life. Deciding to retrace the path once traveled by the author of Treasure Island, Troost follows Robert Louis Stevenson to the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, Tahiti, the Gilberts, and Samoa, tumbling from one comic misadventure to another as he confronts his newfound sobriety. Somewhere en route from the shark-infested waters of Fakarava to the remote islands of Kiribati, Troost gradually awakens to the beauty of life and reconnects with his family and the world. Headhunters on My Doorstep is a funny yet poignant account of one man's journey to find himself that will captivate travel writing aficionados, Robert Louis Stevenson fans, and anyone who has ever lost his way. "--.

"What does it feel like to find the city's edges, to explore its hidden tunnels and scale its skyscrapers? In Explore Everything, Bradley L Garrett tells the story of his adventures with the London Consolidation Crew, an infamous urban exploration collective, as they cross boundaries, uncover ruins and experience the city in new ways that shatter conventions of everyday life. In a series of narratives, including stories of how the LCC found the lost underground stations of London, discovered abandoned bunkers and ruins in Eastern Europe and scaled the tallest buildings in London, Paris, Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit and Las Vegas, Garrett explores the various motivations for illicit trespass and what it might mean. The book is a passionate manifesto for rights to the city as well as new ways of belonging in and understanding the metropolis"--.