No comments about Bellevue Farm: Exploring Virginia's Coastal Countryside.

2 comments about Patagonia: Images of a Wild Land.

1. Patagonia is justifiably admirable for its vast beautiful emptinesses. These photographs capture the sense of wonderful wilderness that still pervades so much of this unique, spectacular part of the world. Not to be tamed or truly settled by humanity, Patagonia is awe-inspiring. Seeing it through the eyes of this book is the next best thing to being there. After the experience, a reader will want to be there. Being there is not just the stuff of romance and legend; it is the stuff of confrontation with onesself and one's place on this planet. In some ways it is like visiting a place somewhat like our own American West if it were mirrored on another, parallel, accessible planet. This might have been the American West if fate had taken a different course. The book suggests the intensity of seeing these possibilities first-hand. It's a trip.



2. These are the best pictures I have seen of the subject, and I perused all the other books on the topic. The hardbound Mountaineering in Patagonia is the nicest GUIDEbook for climbers, but Neilon's pictures are timeless, artistic, and inspiring. His admixture of gritty black-and-white pieces with soaring, beautiful color plates (shot with a large-format camera in many cases, hence incredibly sharp and grainless reproductions) are enough to have me saving for a trip to Patagonia already.

1 comments about Old Man River and Me: One Man's Journey Down the Mighty Mississippi.

1. If you can't go down the Mississippi yourself, tag along with Knudsen! Meet the "river rats," see the sights, and even smell life on the river as Knudsen found it in 1993. I found this book to be entertaining AND educational. I hope Knudsen has other trips planned so I can journey along with him again.

No comments about Rand McNally Florida: State Map (State Maps-USA).

No comments about El Gringo: New Mexico and Her People.

1 comments about Senor Nice: Strange Life from Wales to South America.

1. Let me begin by saying that Mr. Nice is my favorite book of all time and I respect Mr. Marks as a person and author very much. That being said, I think that Senor Nice does not measure up to the standards that Mr. Marks has created with his first autobiography. It is still a colorful tale of world travels and full of great history, especially if your Welsh. However, it does seem to drag out and I did find myself skimming over more than a few pages in this book. Overall I would say it is a great book as long as you hadn't read Mr. Nice prior.

2 comments about A Guide to Washington's South Cascades' Volcanic Landscapes.

1. A great way to understand the wierd geology you see when hiking and driving through southern Washington. Covers volcanic geology from the Mt. St. Helens area south to the Oregon border.



2. This book provides an inventory of the major and minor features of a world class volcanic province. Few people have seen as much of the area as have these authors of the book (Marge Mueller and Ted Mueller, with photographs by Ira and Bob Spring).....it is a superb introduction to the geologic history of the region.
   
   In 1980, peaceful Mt. St. Helens erupted violently, showering the Washington, Idaho, and Montana landcapes with ash. Now explorers can experience firsthand the drama of volcanic cinder cones, lava flows, caves, craters, and more.
   In addition to Mt. St. Helens, you will also find informaiton on hikes, treks, and car trips to volcanic sites such as Mt. Adams, the Columbia River Gorge, and Mt. Rainier, along with fascinating historical background on the regions's geology and indigenous flora dn fauna.

No comments about Tango Buenos Aires Map Guide.

2 comments about St Helena - Ascension - Tristan da Cunha: The Bradt Travel Guide.

1. Hats off to Bradt for producing this guide in the first place. The three destinations covered in the book are about as "off the beaten track" as it's possible to get without falling off the edge of the Earth. They are 3 tiny islands floating in the middle of the South Atlantic. None can be reached by commercial air service. St. Helena is accessible by a regular, but quite infrequent passenger ship traveling between England and Cape Town. (The schedule of which requires visitors to spend either only a couple of hours/days on the island, or several weeks.)
   Ascension is a stop on a few of the St. Helena runs. Tristan, the most remote of all, is served only by the occassional freighter or private vessel.
   Not surprisingly, none of the destinations is exactly overflowing with tourist attractions [though St. Helena, of course, has some Napoleon sites], but this (along with their inaccessibility) means that they aren't exactly overflowing with tourists either. Which, for some people, is what gives them their appeal.

   No, I won't be visiting these destinations any time soon. But the guidebook was a lot of fun to read, providing plenty of fodder for travel-dreams.




2. Recently, I read Simon Winchester's travel narrative, OUTPOSTS, about his mid-1980s visits to the last vestiges of the British Empire. This left me oddly fascinated with Britain's three mid-South Atlantic island colonies identified in the title of this guide to ST. HELENA, ASCENSION, TRISTAN DA CUNHA. I mean, they're so "out there".
   
   Each of the three having one part of the volume dedicated to it, the book describes each island in terms of geography, climate, natural history (flora and fauna), history, people and politics, practical information for the visitor, and what to do after arriving. There are several very useful maps and four short sections of color photographs.
   
   Being the largest and most populated, St. Helena (47 square miles and population 5,100+) gets most of the attention with the visitors' practical information and what-to-do-when-you-get-there sections comprising 45 pages. Ascension (34 square miles and population 1000+) gets honorable mention with the same sections comprising 14 pages. Tristan da Cunha (38 square miles and population around 300) is almost an afterthought with the touristy section stretched to a whopping 6 pages. My backyard has more sights of interest and things to do.
   
   St. Helena is, of course, most famous for being Napoleon's prison from 1815 to his death in 1821. Therefore, the chief attractions are arguably Longwood House (his residence in exile), his campaign cot, and his original burial site. Beyond those tourist traps, and compared to Ascension and Tristan de Cunha, there's a lot of other stuff to see. Trust me.
   
   Ascension is essentially controlled by the RAF and the USAF, the latter operating an air base. Private land ownership is virtually non-existent. Big tourist draws include egg-laying green sea turtles (January-May), a notable blowhole at Hannay's Beach, the Volcano Club - a "real American" bar on the airbase serving American-style food, and Dampier's Drip, a natural spring that sounds more like a sailor's venereal disease. For botanists, two destinations of pilgrimage might be the patches of ground hosting:
   
   "Sporobolus caespitosus is an endangered endemic grass. The last time this species was spotted, there were approximately 70 tufts remaining high on Green Mountain. Since then, no further sightings have been made, and it is quite possibly extinct."
   
   And my favorite ...
   
   "Dryopteris adscensionis is an endemic which can be found in moist ravines. As far as anyone knows, there is only one single plant remaining." Honey, we're leaving for Ascension, and pack a garden trowel!
   
   Tristan da Cunha is remarkable for its lack of sight-seeing opportunies, unless one counts the sheep and the Potato Patches, the latter where the islanders grow their food staple.
   
   Basically, one's route to any of these places is expensive and convoluted, and usually involves a ship of some sort, though the Royal Air Force does reportedly operate passenger flights from RAF Brize Norton to Ascension twice weekly. Perhaps as a cautionary addendum to such, the guide features a special section on how to prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT) on long-haul flights.
   
   ST. HELENA, ASCENSION, TRISTAN DA CUNHA is a little gem of a travel guide providing more information than you ever dreamed possible about three places on the distant edge of nowhere in particular. If you skim it from cover to cover, you'll likely come away with more knowledge than if you actually visit. Of course, you'd miss the opportunity to dig up and smuggle home Dryopteris adscensionis.

No comments about IgoUgo Travel Report: Buenos Aires: The Inside Scoop from Experienced Travelers.