LITMIR.BIZ

Published posthumously in 1864 and based on Henry David Thoreau’s lengthy experiences in the forests of Maine on three separate occasions in 1846, 1853, and 1857, “The Maine Woods” is a captivating portrait of the largely unexplored region in the mid-1800s. Rich with the naturalistic detail that is common with Thoreau’s writing, readers will delight in the exquisiteness with which Thoreau relates his experiences in nature. He took constant note of all that was around him: the native people and their languages, the loggers and their harsh work, the rivers, streams, woods, and abundant wildlife. Thoreau was insistent on experiencing all that the woods had to offer and spent his time climbing peaks, paddling canoes, trying local foods, and observing the details all around him. While Thoreau captures the beauty and uniqueness of his physical environment, these journeys into the woods were also deeply personal. He becomes more thoughtful and gains a better understanding of his own weaknesses and frailties and also reaffirms his deep passion and love for the natural world in its unspoiled state. “The Maine Woods” is a classic work of adventure and discovery that will enchant nature enthusiasts. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1900, “Sailing Alone Around the World” is the detailed account of how Joshua Slocum would become the first person to circumnavigate the globe by himself. Aboard a sloop named the ‘Spray’, which Slocum himself rebuilt and refitted, he would depart from Boston on April, 24th, 1895 on this remarkable journey. Over the course of the next three years the boat would take him to Gloucester, Nova Scotia, Azores, Gibraltar, Morocco, the Canary Islands, the Cape Verde Islands, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Maldonado, Montevideo, through the Strait of Magellan, through the Cockburn Channel, Port Angosto, Juan Fernandez, Marquesas, Samoa, Fiji, Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, Cooktown, Christmas Island, Keeling Cocos, Rodrigues, Mauritius, Durban, Cape Town, Transvaal, St Helena, Ascension Island, Devil’s Island, Trinidad, Grenada, Newport, and finally back to Fairhaven in Massachusetts. Filled with numerous illustrations, “Sailing Alone Around the World” is a real-life nautical tale of adventure filled with perilous encounters and challenges. A classic story of self-determination, “Sailing Alone Around the World” has inspired generations of sailors and adventurers alike ever since its original publication.

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Jay Griffiths is a tour guide for anyone who has ever wished to commune with the side of our human psyche that remains in touch with the wild. Equally at home among the “sea gypsy” Bajo people who live off the coast of Thailand and forage their food from the ocean floor, drinking the psychedelic ayahuasca plant with Amazonian shamans, or joining an Inuit whale hunt at the northern tip of Canada, Griffiths takes readers on an adventure both charted and un-chartable. She divides her meditations on these travels into sections named after the ancient elemental properties of the universe—Earth, Air, Fire, Ice, and Water—because her subject matter is not merely the places traveled to but the depths of mind and the cultural narratives revealed by place. It is a universal story told of far-flung groups of humans, with vastly different ways of life, connected through the varied wilderness that sustains them. By describing the ways in which human societies and the human mind have developed in response to the wilder elements of our homelands, Savage Grace reveals itself as a benediction for the emotional, intellectual, and physical nourishment that people continue to draw from the natural world. Under the sway of Griffiths’ charisma, her poetic prose, and her deeply learned and persuasive case for the wild roots of our shared human being, we learn that we are all, each and every one of us, a force of nature.

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“Life began with migration.” In a magnificent tapestry of life on the move, Ruth Padel weaves poems and prose, science and religion, wild nature and human history, to conjure a world created and sustained by migration.'We're all from somewhere else,' she begins. “Migration builds civilization but also causes displacement.” From the Holy Family’s Flight into Egypt, the Lost Colony on Roanoke and the famous photograph ‘Migrant Mother’, she turns to John James Audubon’s journey from Haiti and France, heirlooms carried through Ellis Island, Kennedy’s “society of immigrants” and Casa del Migrante on the Mexican border.But she reaches the human story through the millennia-old journeys of cells in our bodies, trees in the Ice Age, Monarch butterflies travelling from Alaska to Mexico. As warblers battle hurricanes over the Caribbean and wildebeest brave a river filled with the largest crocodiles in Africa, she shows that the purpose of migration for both humans and animals is survival.

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10,000 Steps a Day in L.A.: 52 Walking Adventures is for urban adventurers with a passion for healthy living who are also hungry to explore L.A.’s hidden, unsung, and sometimes quirky side. This unique guidebook provides everything readers need to venture out and tackle the city’s 500 square miles.The book is based on a concept that first took hold in Japan—that if people walked 10,000 steps each day, they would burn 20 percent of their caloric intake through that activity alone. Now an ingrained part of the American lifestyle, the 10,000 steps phenomenon is taking the country by storm; it is now a recognized daily goal by a number of major insurance companies like Kaiser Permanente and health institutes such as the World Health Organization, the U.S. Center for Disease Control, the U.S. Surgeon General, and the American Heart Foundation.In this first-ever book to explore the 10,000 steps concept in the City of Angels, these walks take readers through the terrain that makes Los Angeles the envy of many a metropolis—beaches, mountains, rivers, and reservoirs, not to mention the nation’s largest urban park, Griffith Park—all while immersing them in the city’s history and lore, offbeat locales, and popular landmarks.10,000 Steps a Day in L.A. promises three things: 10,000 steps in each walk, a blueprint for doing it each weekend of the year (52 walks equals a year’s worth of weekends), and a sense of fun and discovery about L.A. that will only make the 10,000 steps goal that much easier to attain. Readers need bring only their feet—pedometers optional.

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The Disneyland Book of Lists offers a new way to explore six decades of Disneyland® history. Hundreds of fascinating lists cover the past and present and feature everything from the park’s famous attractions, shops, restaurants, parades, and live shows to the creative artists, designers, characters, and performers who have made Disneyland® the world’s most beloved theme park.Inside the pages of this fun- and fact-filled book you will find:• 13 of Walt Disney’s Disneyland® Favorites• 32 Signs and Structures Reminding of Disneyland’s® Past• A Dozen Scary Moments on Disneyland® Attractions• 47 Disneyland® Parades• 18 Secrets in the Haunted Mansion• 30 Jokes from the Jungle Cruise• 25 Special Events You May Not Have Heard Of• 15 Urban Legends• 123 Celebrity Guests• 26 Attractions and Exhibits with the Longest Names• 11 Movies Based on Disneyland® Attractions• A Dozen World Records Set at Disneyland®In addition to lists created by author Chris Strodder (The Disneyland® Encyclopedia), the book will include lists from celebrities, Disneyland® experts and historians, Disneyland® Imagineers and designers, and other current and former Disneyland® employees.People have been making lists since Biblical times (think Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, compiled 2,100 years ago), and to this day various top tens, hit parades, and bucket lists chronicle every aspect of our lives. But until now, no book has used lists to categorize all the diverse elements in Disneyland®. Fun, fascinating, factual, and sixty years in the making, The Disneyland® Book of Lists is the only Disneyland® book of its kind.

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Containing walks and detailed maps from throughout the city, Secret Stairs highlights the charms and quirks of a unique feature of the Los Angeles landscape, and chronicles the geographical, architectural, and historical aspects of the city’s staircases, as well as of the neighborhoods in which the steps are located.From strolling through the classic La Loma neighborhood in Pasadena to walking the Sunset Junction Loop in Silver Lake, to taking the Beachwood Canyon hike through “Hollywoodland” to enjoying the magnificent ocean views from the Castellammare district in Pacific Palisades, Secret Stairs takes you on a tour of the staircases all across the City of Angels.The circular walks, rated for duration and difficulty, deliver tales of historic homes and their fascinating inhabitants, bits of unusual local trivia, and stories of the neighborhoods surrounding the stairs. That’s where William Faulkner was living when he wrote the screenplay for To Have and Have Not; that house was designed by Neutra; over there is a Schindler; that’s where Woody Guthrie lived, where Anais Nin died, and where Thelma Todd was murdered . . .Despite the fact that one of these staircases starred in an Oscar-winning short film—Laurel and Hardy’s The Music Box, from 1932—these civic treasures have been virtually unknown to most of the city’s residents and visitors. Now, Secret Stairs puts these hidden stairways back on the map, while introducing urban hikers to exciting new “trails” all around the city of Los Angeles.

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The Third Tower Up from the Road is a humorous and entertaining collection of travel essays made up of old favorites as well as new commentaries from Kevin Dolgin’s popular McSweeney’s Internet Tendency column, Kevin Dolgin Tells You About Places You Should Go. The work celebrates the distinctive qualities of locales the world over, and each globetrotting essay focuses on a specific place, capturing the flavors and cultures through individual observations and exceptional experiences.Funny, irreverent, and insightful, these writings eschew the bland, touristy veneer experienced by most travelers as they seek to discover what is special and unique about each destination.Covering a wide range of places and interests, from unusual experiences and humorous traveler’s foibles to voyages that are intensely personal and moving, the selected columns include «The Best Falafel in the World: Beirut, Lebanon,» «The Door to Hell: Paris, France,» «Kafka’s Erotic Dream: Prague, Czech Republic,» «The Nesting Habits of Roman Cars: Rome, Italy,» «Of Romans and Pussycats: Provence, France,» and «The Third Tower Up from the Road: Huanghuacheng, China.»Also featured is «The Corsican Swallowtail: Corsica, France,» which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

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Spanning the entire history of the park, from its founding more than 50 years ago to the present, this fascinating book explores 500 attractions, restaurants, stores, events, and significant people from Disneyland. Each of the main encyclopedia entries illuminates the history of a Disneyland landmark, revealing the initial planning strategies for the park’s iconic attractions and detailing how they evolved over the decades. Enriching this unique A-to-Z chronicle are profiles of the personalities who imagined and engineered the kingdom known as “The Happiest Place on Earth.” Discover unbuilt concepts, including Liberty Street, Rock Candy Mountain, and Chinatown, and delight in fascinating trivia about long-lost Disneyland features, from the real rifles in the shooting gallery that used to be located on Main Street to the jet-packed Rocket Man who flew above Tomorrowland. Overflowing with meticulously researched details and written in a spirited, accessible style, The Disneyland Encyclopedia is a comprehensive and entertaining exploration of the most-influential, most-renovated, and most-loved theme park in the world!

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