Notes From A Big Country : Journey Into The American Dream

Bill Bryson has the rare knack of being out of his depth wherever he goes - even (perhaps especially) in the land of his birth. This became all too apparent when, after nearly two decades in England, the world's best-loved travel writer upped sticks with Mrs Bryson, little Jimmy et al. and returned to live in the country he had left as a youth. Of course there were things Bryson missed about Blighty but any sense of loss was countered by the joy of rediscovering some of the forgotten treasures of his childhood: the glories of a New England autumn; the pleasingly comical sight of oneself in shorts; and motel rooms where you can generally count on being awakened in the night by a piercing shriek and the sound of a female voice pleading, 'Put the gun down, Vinnie, I'll do anything you say.' Whether discussing the strange appeal of breakfast pizza or the jaw-slackening direness of American TV, Bill Bryson brings his inimitable brand of bemused wit to bear on that strangest of phenomena - the American way of life.

The Road to Little Dribbling

The number one Sunday Times bestseller: Bill Bryson???s first travel book for fifteen years ??? a brand new journey around Britain. Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the green and kindly island that had become his adopted country. The hilarious book that resulted, Notes from a Small Island, was taken to the nation???s heart and became the bestselling travel book ever, and was also voted in a BBC poll the book that best represents Britain.Now, to mark the twentieth anniversary of that modern classic, Bryson makes a brand-new journey round Britain to see what has changed.Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, by way of places that many people never get to at all, Bryson sets out to rediscover the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly unique country that he thought he knew but doesn???t altogether recognize any more. Yet, despite Britain???s occasional failings and more or less eternal bewilderments, Bill Bryson is still pleased to call our rainy island home. And not just because of the cream teas, a noble history, and an extra day off at Christmas.Once again, with his matchless homing instinct for the funniest and quirkiest, his unerring eye for the idiotic, the endearing, the ridiculous and the scandalous, Bryson gives us an acute and perceptive insight into all that is best and worst about Britain today.

The Road To Oxiana

'A writer of breathtaking prose - prose whose sensuous, chiselled beauty has cast its spell on English travel writing ever since' William Dalrymple In 1933, the delightfully eccentric Robert Byron set out on a journey through the Middle East via Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad and Teheran to Oxiana - the country of the Oxus, the ancient name for the river Amu Darya which formed part of the border between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. While his arrival at his destination, the legendary tower of Qabus, is a wonder, the journey itself is a captivating, quirky record of his adventures and a rare account of the architectural treasures of a region now inaccessible to most Western travellers.

At Home

Bill Bryson was struck one day by the thought that we devote a lot more time to studying the battles and wars of history than to considering what history really consists of: centuries of people quietly going about their daily business - eating, sleeping and merely endeavouring to get more comfortable. And that most of the key discoveries for humankind can be found in the very fabric of the houses in which we live.This inspired him to start a journey around his own house, an old rectory in Norfolk, wandering from room to room considering how the ordinary things in life came to be. Along the way he did a prodigious amount of research on the history of anything and everything, from architecture to electricity, from food preservation to epidemics, from the spice trade to the Eiffel Tower, from crinolines to toilets; and on the brilliant, creative and often eccentric minds behind them. And he discovered that, although there may seem to be nothing as unremarkable as our domestic lives, there is a huge amount of history, interest and excitement - and even a little danger - lurking in the corners of every home.

Countdown

On 11 May 1998 the Indian government tested five nuclear devices some forty kilometers from Pokaran. Seventeen days later Pakistan tested nuclear devices of its own. About three months after the tests, Amitav Ghosh went to the Pokaran area, after which he visited Kashmir as part of the defense minister???s entourage. He also went to the Siachen glacier in the Karakoram Mountains where Indian and Pakistani soldiers have been exchanging fire since 1983. Ghosh then travelled through Pakistan and Nepal. Countdown is partly a result of these journeys and conversations with many hundreds of people of the subcontinent.

In An Antique Land

Packed with anecdote and exuberant detail, In an Antique Land provides magical and intimate insights into Egypt from the Crusades to Operation Desert Storm. It exposes the indistinguishable and intertwining ties that bind together India and Egypt, Hindus and Muslims and Jews. By combining fiction, history, travel writing and anthropology, to create a single seamless work of imagination, Ghosh characteristically makes us rethink the political boundaries that divide the world and the generic boundaries that divide narratives.

Born Again On The Mountain : A Story Of Losing Everything And Finding It Back

National-level volleyball player Arunima Sinha had a promising future ahead of her. Then one day she was shoved from a moving train by thieves as she attempted to fight them off. The horrific accident cost the twenty-four-year-old her left leg, but it never deterred her. A year later, she had retrained as a mountaineer and become the first female amputee to reach Mount Everest. This is her unforgettable story of hope, courage and resilience.

Dont Ask Any Old Bloke For Directions : A Biker's Whimsical Journey Across India

Exploring a karmic network in 25,320 kilometres After twenty years in the Indian Administrative Service, P.G. Tenzing throws off the staid life of a bureaucrat to roar across India on an Enfield Thunderbird, travelling light with his possessions strapped on the back of his bike. On the nine-month motorcycle journey without a pre-planned route or direction, he encounters acquaintances who appear to be from his karmic past: from the roadside barber to numerous waiters and mechanics??? fleeting human interactions and connections that seem pre-ordained. Life on the road is full of pot holes in more ways than one, but Tenzing acquires a wheelie???s sixth sense. He is unfazed by suspicious hotel receptionists or other unkarmic sceptics who take one look at his dishevelled, unkempt appearance and ask for an advance, or a deposit or both. Tenzing???s views on life and death, friendship and love are informed by a certain dark humour. But his conviction that everything revolves around the sacred bond that humans share with each other and with the universe is deeply felt and inspiring. Sometime singer with a Gangtok band, a dabbler in vipassana meditation and a supporter of a monk's school at Mangan, Sikkim, P.G. Tenzing is self-confessedly at a mid-life crisis point and ready for all the adventures this world has to offer.

From The Holy Mountain

In his third book william dalrymple has dug deep to present the case of the middle easts downtrodden christians more hard-hitting than either of his previous books, from the holy mountain is driven by indignation while leavened with his characteristic jauntiness and humour, it is also profoundly shocking time and time again in the details of dalrymples discoveries i found myself asking: why do we not know this? the sense of unsung tragedy accumulates throughout the chapters of this book from the holy mountain is the most rewarding sort of travel book, combining flashes of lightly-worn scholarship with a powerful sense of place and the immediacy of the best journalism but more than that it is a passionate cri de coeur for a forgotten people which few readers will be able to resist-philip marsden, spectator

Everybody Loves A Good Drought

The human face of poverty The poor in India are, too often, reduced to statistics. In the dry language of development reports and economic projections, the true misery of the 312 million who live below the poverty line, or the 26 million displaced by various projects, or the 13 million who suffer from tuberculosis gets overlooked. In this thoroughly researched study of the poorest of the poor, we get to see how they manage, what sustains them, and the efforts, often ludicrous, to do something for them. The people who figure in this book typify the lives and aspirations of a large section of Indian society, and their stories present us with the true face of development.

Jangalnama : Travels in a Maoist Guerilla Zone

The profound insights offered in Jangalnama are the result of Satnam s close observation of the guerillas and adivasis of Bastar. Varavara Rao Maoist guerillas always on the move, always on guard living deep in the jungles of Bastar. Outlawed, demonized and hunted by the state, they are perceived with fear, incomprehension and terror by the outside world. Satnam spent two months in remarkable intimacy with the guerrillas: travelling with them, sharing their food and shelter, experiencing their lives first hand. Through his up-close and personal account of their daily lives, we register them as human, made of flesh and bone. We are persuaded to appreciate their commitment to root out oppression. Jangalnama is not merely a travelogue recording Satnam s days in the jungle. It is a compelling argument to recognize the humanity of those in conflict with the mainstream of Indian society and to acknowledge their dream of a world free of exploitation.

The Rise And Fall of Nations

The crisis of 2008 ended the illusion of a golden era in which many people imagined that prosperity and political calm would continue to spread indefinitely. In a world now racked by slowing growth and mounting unrest, how can we discern which nations will thrive and which will fail? Shaped by prize-winning author Ruchir Sharma's twenty-five years travelling the world, The Rise and Fall of Nations rethinks economics as a practical art. By narrowing down the thousands of factors that can shape a country's future, it spells out ten clear rules for identifying the next big winners and losers in the global economy. Each rule looks at a nation's political, economic, and social conditions in real time to filter out the hype and noise. He shows, for example, how slow population growth is eroding economic growth, and ranks nations by how well they respond. He describes the way cycles of political complacency and revolt fuel economic booms and busts. Amid growing tensions over inequality, he demonstrates how billionaire lists yield clues to which economies are most or least threatened by extreme wealth. In a period when the world is struggling with trillions of dollars in new debt, he explains which nations are most likely to avert this threat or buckle under it. Sharma's rules are based on the data he has collected over many years at Morgan Stanley Investment Management in New York, where he is now Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist. This is a book of original research, not mere opinion. The final chapter takes the reader on a surprising world tour of the likely winners and losers in the near future. The Rise and Fall of Nations is enlivened by Sharma's stories from the road and his encounters with presidents, tycoons, and villagers from Rio to Beijing. It is a pioneering field guide to understanding our impermanent world.

Lady And The Monk

A beautifully written book about someone looking for ancient dreams in a strange modern place'??? Los Angeles Times Book Review When Pico Iyer decided to go to Kyoto and live in a monastery, he did so to learn about Zen Buddhism from the inside, to get to know Kyoto, one of the loveliest old cities in the world, and to find out something about Japanese culture??? not the world of businessmen and production lines, but the traditional world of changing seasons and the silence of temples, of the images woven through literature, of the lunar Japan that still lives on behind the rising sun of geopolitical power. All this he did. And then he met Sachiko. Vivacious, attractive, thoroughly educated, speaking English enthusiastically if eccentrically, the wife of a Japanese `salaryman', who seldom left the office before 10 p.m., Sachiko was as conversant with tea ceremony and classical Japanese literature as with rock music, Goethe and Vivaldi. With the lightness of touch that made Video Night in Kathmandu so captivating, Pico Iyer fashions from their relationship a marvelously ironic yet heartfelt book that is at once a portrait of cross-cultural infatuation??? and misunderstanding??? and a delightfully fresh way of seeing both the old Japan and the very new.

Non-Stop India

Non-Stop India is a book that provides the readers with insights into the occurrences in the country, including the rural section of society, and corruption, which are two key aspects in these present times.

And the Teesta Flows

And the Teesta Flows is the biography of a mountain river - the Teesta. The book traces the river's course right form its origin in North Sikkim to its confluence with the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh. However, what lies as an undertone in this narrative is the story of a girl - Teesta, the river her namesake - who lived to see only thirteen summers. Authors Utpal and Samita Chauduri have constantly travelled to the Himalayas seeking a reflection of their daughter in the perennial flow of the river Teesta. Thus begins a story. Written in the style of a diary without chronology, the book sketches the diversity of the people living by the Teesta, delineating the tales of their philosophies, their lifestyles, their livelihoods and their emotions. The anecdotes that find place in the narrative are the authors' first-hand experiences of interactions with them. A memoir, a piece of dedication, an offering in remembrance of a loved one, call it what you may, this book is bound to touch your heart.

Indian Tibet Tibetan India : The Cultural Legacy Of The Western Himalayas

Inspired by the first cultural expedition into the Western Himalayas by August Hermann Francke in 1909 which resulted in the region's denomination as Indian Tibet, the author has travelled for years in the long inaccessible Indo-Tibetan border regions after they were opened to the public in the beginning of the 1990s. In secluded and remote high-altitude-valleys of breath-taking grandeur he documented some of the last refuges of Tibetan and early Indian culture and photographed people and the unique testimonies of their art, religion and architecture. With the aid of rare archival and contemporary textual and visual materials, many seen here for the first time ever, the author draws a comprehensive picture of the fascinating history of the exploration of the present Indian border region towards Tibet. Knowledgably he describes the customs of its various inhabitants many of whom still follow their age-old traditions which at present are being stimulated and revived by the many exiled Tibetans that have found a new home in the region, thus designating it as 'Tibetan India.' Contents: Foreword: Variety Endangered-Michel Peissel; Introduction and Acknowledgements Indian Tibet; Tibetan India-Cultural Exchange, Cross-relations and Interactions in the Western Himalayas; The Exploration of the Western Himalayas; Shimla and Kinnaur The Britons and the Fairy Land; Spiti Buddha's Mountain Desert; Lahaul Meeting Place of the Sun and Moon; Western Himalayan Buddhist Art.Influences, Styles, Developments; Zanskar Valley of the White Copper; Rupshu Lakes and Nomads; Ladakh Little Tibet of Passes; Nubra Dunes to Central Asia; Dahhanu Refuge of the Lost Aryans

A Search In Secret India : The Classic Work On Seeking A Guru

The late Paul Brunton was one of the twentieth century's greatest explorers of and writers on the spiritual traditions of the East. A Search in Secret India is the story of Paul Brunton's journey around India, living among yogis, mystics and gurus, some of whom he found convincing, others not. He finally finds the peace and tranquility which come with self-knowledge when he meets and studies with the great sage Sri Ramana Maharishi.

Once Upon A Time In The Soviet Union

The fantastic motorcar rally undertaken by two young French couples on the forbidden roads of the Soviet Union Dominique Lapierre, aged 25 and Jean - Pierre Pedrazzini, 27, two star reporters of the prestigious French news magazine Paris Match, obtained from Nikita Khrushchev in 1956 the extraordinary authorization to cross the iron curtain aboard their own automobile and to travel 13,000 kilometers on the forbidden Soviet roads. Never before had any foreigner been able to live such an adventure. In the whole of Soviet Russia there was only one petrol pump selling high octane gasoline and no Soviet citizen had ever seen an automobile painted in two colours. From Poland to the mountains of Ural, from the villages of White Russia to the beaches of the Black Sea, from the Kremlin to Stalin's birth place in Georgia, Lapierre, Pedrazzini and their Parisian wives discover the secret faces of a people hidden behind the walls of the Cold War. As they get deeper into their adventure, they are struck by an alarming question: how has the Soviet regime managed to convince a nation deprived of freedom that it is the happiest one on earth? Beyond its unbelievable adventures, this trip is a dive into a world that explored the history of mankind.

More Malicious Gossip

This irresistible selection is much like Khushwant Singh himself: perceptive, provocative, often outrageous and always entertaining. It includes candid portraits of a host of public personalities and vivid accounts of several captivating places.

City Of Djinns : A Year In Delhi

Delhi is a city like no other, one which, in spite of being as old as time, is culturally dominated by relatively new dwellers. Interspersed with accounts of meeting assorted Delhiwallahs including Sufis, eunuchs, Persian scholars and an Englishwoman who stays behind after the Raj's hasty exit, City of Djinns seeks out the essence of this ancient town in a travelogue like no other. Moving, profoundly insightful and compulsively readable, City of Djinns is a loving exploration by one of the great historians of our time of the city he choses to call home.