Books about Travelers from Amazon.com

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls “Anne Lamott’s hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister”) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans..
Price: $4.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

What would possess a gifted young man recently graduated from college to literally walk away from his life? Noted outdoor writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer tackles that question in his reporting on Chris McCandless, whose emaciated body was found in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992.

Described by friends and relatives as smart, literate, compassionate, and funny, did McCandless simply read too much Thoreau and Jack London and lose sight of the dangers of heading into the wilderness alone? Krakauer, whose own adventures have taken him to the perilous heights of Everest, provides some answers by exploring the pull the outdoors, seductive yet often dangerous, has had on his own life..
Price: $7.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Amazon Best of the Month, January 2008: One of the earliest Jewish religious volumes to be illuminated with images, the Sarajevo Haggadah survived centuries of purges and wars thanks to people of all faiths who risked their lives to safeguard it. Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March, has turned the intriguing but sparely detailed history of this precious volume into an emotionally rich, thrilling fictionalization that retraces its turbulent journey. In the hands of Hanna Heath, an impassioned rare-book expert restoring the manuscript in 1996 Sarajevo, it yields clues to its guardians and whereabouts: an insect wing, a wine stain, salt crystals, and a white hair. While readers experience crucial moments in the book's history through a series of fascinating, fleshed-out short stories, Hanna pursues its secrets scientifically, and finds that some interests will still risk everything in the name of protecting this treasure. A complex love story, thrilling mystery, vivid history lesson, and celebration of the enduring power of ideas, People of the Book will surely be hailed as one of the best of 2008. --Mari Malcolm

.
Price: $14.59 [Notify me when price goes down.]

.
Price: $3.15 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Around the World, continent by continent, here is the best the world has to offer: 1,000 places guaranteed to give travelers the shivers Sacred ruins, grand hotels, wildlife preserves, hilltop villages, snack shacks, castles, festivals, reefs, restaurants, cathedrals, hidden islands, opera houses, museums, and more. Each entry tells exactly why it's essential to visit. Then come the nuts and bolts: addresses, websites, phone and fax numbers, best times to visit. Stop dreaming and get going..
Price: $4.53 [Notify me when price goes down.]

What would you do to inherit a million dollars? Would you be willing to change your life? Jason Stevens is about to find out in Jim Stovall's The Ultimate Gift. Red Stevens has died, and the older members of his family receive their millions with greedy anticipation. But a different fate awaits young Jason, whom Stevens, his great-uncle, believes may be the last vestige of hope in the family. "Although to date your life seems to be a sorry excuse for anything I would call promising, there does seem to be a spark of something in you that I hope we can fan into a flame. For that reason, I am not making you an instant millionaire." What Stevens does give Jason leads to The Ultimate Gift. Young and old will take this timeless tale to heart.

Features and Benefits

• This award-winning book inspired a major motion picture that released in March 2007, starring key Hollywood actors Brian Dennehy, James Garner and Lee Meriweather.
• Jim Stovall's books have sold more than 3 million copies and have been translated into more than 15 languages.
• Challenges readers to consider "what do we do with our gifts?"

.
Price: $8.14 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A unique blend of fiction, history, allegory, and inspiration, The Traveler's Gift has motivated tens of thousands since its release in late 2002. Now this wildly successful parable is available in an affordable trade paper edition.

David Ponder's lost his job, his confidence, and his will to live. And just when it seems that things can't get any worse, they do: his only child falls ill, and he's involved in a serious car accident. But a divine adventure that includes encounters with seven of history's most inspirational characters, among them Anne Frank, Abraham Lincoln, and Christopher Columbus, leaves him with a glimpse of life's big picture, and seven bits of wisdom with which to confront his future.

This thought-provoking book encourages readers of all ages to reach their full potential using these simple keys to success.

.
Price: $6.40 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The EZ66 Guide For Travelers is the ultimate guide for finding and exploring the Route 66 driving from the WEST or the EAST. Its maps and directions are comprehensive yet easy to follow. The spiral bound guide stays open to the pages you are reading while you are driving. Also includes attractions, tips, other sources, and games. Convenient 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", 200 page format. The guide is updated regularly..
Price: $17.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In the world of contemporary travel writing, Bill Bryson, the bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods, often emerges as a major contender for King of Crankiness Granted, he complains well and humorously, but between every line of his travel books you can almost hear the tinny echo: "I wanna go home, I miss my wife."

Happily, I'm a Stranger Here Myself unleashes a new Bryson, more contemplative and less likely to toss daggers. After two decades in England, he's relocated to Hanover, New Hampshire. In this collection (drawn from dispatches for London's Night & Day magazine), he's writing from home, in close proximity to wife and family. We find a happy marriage between humor and reflection as he assesses life both in New England and in the contemporary United States. With the telescopic perspective of one who's stepped out of the American mainstream and come back after 20 years, Bryson aptly holds the mirror up to U.S. culture, capturing its absurdities--such as hotlines for dental floss, the cult of the lawsuit, and strange American injuries such as those sustained from pillows and beds. "In the time it takes you to read this," he writes, "four of my fellow citizens will somehow manage to be wounded by their bedding."

The book also reflects the sweet side of small-town USA, with columns about post-office parties, dining at diners, and Thanksgiving--when the only goal is to "get your stomach into the approximate shape of a beach ball" and be grateful. And grateful we are that the previously peripatetic Bryson has returned to the U.S., turning his eye to this land--while living at home and near his wife. Under her benevolent influence, he entertains through thoughtful insights, not sarcastic stabs. --Melissa Rossi.
Price: $3.34 [Notify me when price goes down.]

.
Price: $15.61 [Notify me when price goes down.]