A Dip in the Ocean : Rowing Solo Across the Indian

Four-thousand miles of unpredictable ocean, 500 chocolate bars, 124 days of physical exertion, three Guinness World Records, and one incredible journey. On April 1, 2009, brave 23-year-old Sarah Outen embarked on an ambitious solo voyage across the Indian Ocean in her rowing boat, Dippers. Powered by the grief of the sudden loss of her father and the determination to live life to the fullest, Sarah and her tiny boat successfully negotiated wild ocean storms, unexpected encounters with whales, and the continuous threat of being capsized by passing container ships. Along the way she broke two oars, ate 500 chocolate bars, and lost 20 kg of bodyweight before arriving in Mauritius. She became the first woman and the youngest person to row solo across the Indian Ocean. Life-affirming, funny, and poignant, Sarah's salty tale of courage and endurance will inspire the taste of adventure in everyone.

The Raven's Gift : a Scientist, a Shaman, and Their Remarkable Journey Through the Siberian Wilderness

A noted scientist and kayak adventurer undertakes a journey of spiritual healing. Jon Turk has kayaked around Cape Horn and paddled across the Pacific Ocean to retrace the voyages of ancient people. But, the strangest trip he ever took was the journey he made as a man of science into the realm of the spiritual. In a remote Siberian village, Turk met an elderly Koryak shaman named Moolynaut who invoked the help of a Spirit Raven to mend his fractured pelvis. When the healing was complete, he was able to walk without pain. Turk, finding no rational explanation, sought understanding by traversing the frozen tundra where Moolynaut was born, camping with bands of reindeer herders, and recording stories of their lives and spirituality. Framed by high adventure across the vast and forbidding Siberian landscape, The Raven's Gift creates a vision of natural and spiritual realms interwoven by one man's awakening.

Have Mother, Will Travel : a Mother and Daughter Discover Themselves, Each Other, and the World

A mother, a daughter, and a life-changing adventure around the world . . . Their bestselling memoir, Come Back , moved and inspired readers with the story of Mia Fontaine's harrowing drug addiction and her mother, Claire's, desperate and ultimately successful attempts to save her. Now it's a decade later and Claire and Mia each face a defining moment in her life, and a mother-daughter relationship that has frayed around the edges. At fifty-one, Claire's shed her identity as Mia's savior but realizes that, oops, she forgot to plan for life after motherhood; Mia, twenty-five and eager to step outside her role as recovery's poster child, finds adult life isn't all it's cracked up to be. Determined to transform themselves and their relationship once again, the pair sets off on a five-month around-the-world adventure. What awaits them is an extraordinary, often hilarious journey through twenty cities and twelve countries'one that includes mishaps, mayhem, and unexpected joys, from a passport-eating elephant to a calamitous camel ride around the Pyramids'and finally making peace with their tumultuous past in the lavender fields of France, where they live for the last four months of the trip. Seeing how self-possessed and community-minded twenty somethings are in other countries broadens Mia's perspective, helping her grow, and grow up. Claire uses the trip to examine her broken relationship with her own mother, a Holocaust survivor, and to create a vision for her second act. Watching her mom assess half a century of life, Mia comes to know her as Claire has always known Mia, as all mothers know their daughters, better than anyone else, and often better than themselves. Wiser for what they've learned from women in other cultures, and from each other, they return with a deepened sense of who they are and where they want to go'and with each embracing the mature friendship they've discovered and the profound love they share. Alternating between Claire and Mia's compelling and distinct voices, Have Mother, Will Travel is a testament to the power and beauty of the mother-daughter relationship, one that illuminates possibilities for our own lives.

Call of the White : Taking the World to the South Pole : Eight Women, One Unique Expedition

An inspirational account of eight women on one very unique expedition. Felicity Aston challenged women in many countries, asking if they could ski to the South Pole, as she set out to create the most international all-female expedition ever to ski to the Pole. The team would not be experienced explorers but "ordinary" women who want to inspire others to follow their dreams. She received more than 800 applications and led a team from places as diverse as Jamaica, India, Singapore, and Cyprus, some of whom had never even seen snow or spent the night in a tent before joining the expedition on one of the toughest journeys on the planet. Eighty-mile-an-hour winds ripped through base camp, frostbite and injuries were an everyday occurrence, and deadly crevasses cracked beneath their feet. This is their story of newfound strength, persistence, and friendships.

Camping: Our Favourite Sites in Britain

Time Out applies its expertise to the world of camping with comprehensive reviews of 100 fantastic campsites in England, Scotland and Wales. Each site is illustrated with beautiful photography and detailed information on facilities provided; attractions and activities in the area; the best eating and drinking options; amusing the kids and the general pros and cons of each site. Whether you're after forest hideaways or beachside retreats; beautiful or jolly; remote or urban; with family or just friends, Time Out Camping covers it all, whatever you're looking for.

Walking Palestine: 25 Journeys into the West Bank (Interline Walking Guides) by Stefan Szepesi

With the images of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so dominant in our minds, walking for leisure is the one activity probably least associated with the West Bank region. But Stefan Szepesi's book wanders well off the beaten track of Palestine as only a synonym for occupation and strife, exploring its inspiring natural and cultural landscape, its intriguing past and present, and the hospitality of its people. The book takes first-time walkers and experienced hikers, as well as armchair explorers, through Palestine's steep desert gorges, along its tiny herders' trails, and over its quiet dirt roads running past silver green olive groves. With side stories and anecdotes on heritage, history, culture, and daily life in the West Bank, the book ventures into the traits and character of Palestine today. Walking Palestine also offers a wealth of practical walking tips, including references to local guides, the West Bank's best leisure spots and countryside restaurants, and charming places to spend the night.

Only Pack What You Can Carry: My Path to Inner Strength, Confidence, and True Self-Knowledge by Janice Holly Booth

Magnetically written by former CEO of a North Carolina Girl Scout Council and award winning CEO for the Western New York chapter of a national arts-in-education organization, this uniquely engaging travel journal describes four keys to unlocking personal and spiritual fulfillment: solitude, introspection, courage, and commitment. Through a series of compelling travel essays and deeply thoughtful memoirs, Janice Booth draws readers into each adventure-ranging from a solo hike through Northern California to galloping across the fields of Ireland to a short stint with the Circus Arts learning the flying trapeze-and shares her secrets to a fuller life through traveling alone. Step by step, she demonstrates why leaving everything - and everyone - behind for a few days (or more!) is the best path to inner strength, confidence, and true self-knowledge.

Also, available in an electronic version.

A Sense of Direction: Pilgimage for the Restless and the Hopeful by Gideon Lewis-Kraus

Irreverent, moving, and thought-provoking, Lewis-Kraus riffs on the perpetual war between discipline and desire, and its attendant casualties. Across three pilgrimages and many hundreds of miles, he completes an idiosyncratic odyssey to the heart of a family mystery.

That sinking feeling! The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic fell on April 15th. Calgary Public Library has just received some wonderful new books to add to our collection of titles about this storied and fateful voyage.

"Late in the night of April 14, 1912, the mighty Titanic , a passenger liner traveling from Southampton, England, to New York City, struck an iceberg four hundred miles south of Newfoundland. Its sinking over the next two and a half hours brought the ship'mythological in name and size'one hundred years of infamy. Of the 2,240 people aboard the ship, 1,517 perished either by drowning or by freezing to death in the frigid North Atlantic waters. What followed the disaster was tantamount to a worldwide outpouring of grief: In New York, Paris, London, and other major cities, people lined the streets and crowded around the offices of the White Star Line, the Titanic 's shipping company, to inquire for news of their loved ones and for details about the lives of some of the famous people of their time. While many accounts of the Titanic 's voyage focus on the technical or mechanical aspects of why the ship sank, Voyagers of the Titanic follows the stories of the men, women, and children whose lives intersected on the vessel's fateful last day, covering the full range of first, second, and third class­?from plutocrats and captains of industry to cobblers and tailors looking for a better life in America. Richard Davenport-Hines delves into the fascinating lives of those who ate, drank, reveled, dreamed, and died aboard the mythic ship: from John Jacob Astor IV, the wealthiest person on board, whose comportment that night was subject to speculation and gossip for years after the event, to Archibald Butt, the much-beloved military aide to Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, who died helping others into the Titanic 's few lifeboats. With magnificent prose, Voyagers of the Titanic also brings to life the untold stories of the ship's middle and third classes'clergymen, teachers, hoteliers, engineers, shopkeepers, counterjumpers, and clerks'each of whom had a story that not only illuminates the fascinating ship but also the times in which it sailed. In addition, Davenport-Hines explores the fascinating politics behind the Titanic 's creation, which involved larger-than-life figures such as J. P. Morgan, the ship's owner, and Lord Pirrie, the ship's builder. The memory of this tragedy still remains a part of the American psyche and Voyagers of the Titanic brings that clear night back to us with all of its drama and pathos." (Catalogue summary)

"Fascinating firsthand accounts of the Titanic --in a deluxe package with gorgeous graphic cover art. Historic firsthand accounts and testimonies by survivors and eye- witnesses including Lawrence Beesley, Margaret Brown, Archibald Gracie, Carlos F. Hurd and many more." (Catalogue summary)

"This is a book unlike any other. Rather than offering simply a detailed retelling of the Titanic sinking on her maiden voyage, John Maxtone-Graham devotes his considerable knowledge and impeccable prose to a discussion of salient, provocative, and rarely investigated components of the story, including dramatic survivors' accounts of the events of the fateful night, the role of newly in-vented wireless telecommunication in the disaster, the construction and its ramifications at the famous Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, and the dawn rendezvous with the rescue ship Carpathia. Richly written and vividly detailed, this is the book Titanic buffs have been waiting for." (Catalogue summary)

"On the 100th anniversary of the Titanic′s sinking, a prominent Titanic researcher offers a final chance to see the ship before it disappears forever.

The Titanic was the biggest, most luxurious passenger ship the world had ever seen; the ads proclaimed it to be unsinkable. When it sank in April 1912 after hitting an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people, the world was forever changed and the public has been spellbound ever since. Now, a century later, the Titanic is about to disappear again: its infrastructure is set to collapse in the next few years. In this book, scientist Charles Pellegrino offers what may be the last opportunity to see the ship before it is lost to the seas for eternity. The last book to be written while survivors were still alive and able to contribute details, Farewell, Titanic includes many untold stories about the sinking and exploration of the unsinkable ship." (Catalogue summary)

"April 14, 2012, marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The 'unsinkable' subject, the story of the giant ship that sank on its maiden voyage, has become one of our most potent modern parables and enduring metaphors. The image of the ship's plunging stern is an icon, and expressions like 'rearranging the deck chairs' and 'hitting the iceberg' need no explanation. Yet on a cold, clear April night the disaster happened to real people - stokers, millionaires, society ladies, parsons, parlourmaids - people who displayed a full range of all-too-human reactions as the events of the night unfolded. With new research,R.M.S. Titanicweaves the dramatic story of that fateful crossing with compelling portraits of the people on board -those who survived, and those who tragically lost their lives - allowing us to place ourselves on that sloping deck and ask, 'What would we do?"(Catalogue summary)

To find more great reads on the Titanic, just enter "Titanic" in the search box of our catalogue.

If you are travelling to Halifax in Nova Scotia, be sure to visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic to see their permanent exhibit on the Titanic. While you are there you can also view the exhibit on the Halifax Explosion of 1917, a horrendous wartime collision between a Norwegian vessel and an ammunition ship that devastated the city. This is a very interesting museum and well worth the visit.

How to Walk a Puma: and Other Things I Learned While Stumbling Through South America by Peter Allison

"On his nineteenth birthday, Peter Allison flipped a coin. One side would take him to Africa and the other to South America, the two places he wanted to explore before he died. He recounted his time spent as a safari guide in Africa to much acclaim inWhatever You Do, Don’t Run and Don’t Look Behind You. Sixteen years later, he makes his way to Santiago, Chile, ready to seek out the continent’s best, weirdest, and wildest adventures, and to chase the elusive jaguar.

In just the first six months, Allison is bitten by a puma (several times), knocked on his ass by a bad empanada, and surrounded by piranhas while rafting down a Bolivian river—all because of his unusual fear of refrigerators and of staying in any one place for too long. Ever the gifted storyteller and cultural observer, Allison makes many observations about life in humid climes, the nature of nomadism, and exactly what it is like to be nearly blasted off a mountain by the famous Patagonia wind. Allison’s self-deprecating humor is as delightful as his crazy stunts, and his love for animals—even when they bite—is infectious." (By Syndetics)

Paris Revealed: The Secret Life of a City by Stephen Clarke, author of A Year in the Merde

"Where to see fantastic art away from all the crowds? Why Parisian men feel compelled to pee in the street? How to choose a hotel room where you might actually get a good nights sleep? Which is the most romantic spot to say je taime? And the sexiest? What scares Parisians most about their own city?

In this witty and authoritative book, Stephen Clarke goes behind the scenes to reveal everything Parisians know about their city -- but dont want to tell you. Structured by theme, including chapters on architecture, history, romance, food, art and a map of dont miss locations, this is essential reading for anyone who wants the inside scoop on the City of Light. Dont visit Paris without reading this book!" (By Syndetics)

The Well at the World's End: The Epic True Story of One Man's Search for the Secret to Eternal Youth by A. J. Mackinnon

"When A. J. Mackinnon quits his job in Australia, he knows only that he longs to travel to the well at the world’s end, a mysterious pool on a remote Scottish island whose waters, legend has it, hold the secret to eternal youth. Determined not to fly-he claims it would feel as though he were cheating-he sets out with a backpack, some fireworks, and a map of the world and trusts that chance will take care of the rest.

Traveling by land and sea, train, truck, horse, and yacht, Mackinnon travels across the world, getting caught up in a series of hilarious, sometimes surreal, adventures. He survives a near-fatal bus crash in Australia, accidentally marries a Laotian princess, is attacked by a Komodo dragon, and does time in a sketchy Chinese jail, among many other mishaps and misadventures along the way. Each new continent and each new mode of transport brings the possibility of a near-miss or happy accident, all on the quest for eternal youth. This is the astonishing true story of a remarkable voyage." (By Syndetics)

Nancy Pearl, the author of Book Lust and More Book Lust who inspired the librarian action figure, starts her newest book, Book Lust To Go, like this: "I am not an enthusiastic traveler. Let me lay my cards on the table, clear the air, call a spade a spade, and make something perfectly clear, I am barely a traveler at all." She goes on to say that she is a "virtual traveler, via books", and thus the perfect person to provide "recommended reading for travelers, vagabonds and dreamers". She goes on to work her way through the alphabet of places and topics, including travel narrative, biographies, memoirs and fiction.

Whether you are looking for an armchair adventure or some related reading before you go traveling, this book is a great resource.

For an out-of-the way read, try Radio Shangri-la: what I learned in Bhutan, the happiest kingdom on earth.

Napoli writes how, caught in the grip of a mid-life crisis, cynical about work, and depressed about her love life, a chance encounter with a handsome stranger leads to the adventure of a lifetime in Bhutan.

(Syndetics)

Another new book that has arrived recently is a starred selection in Bookmarks magazine.

In this dazzling Russian travelogue, Ian Frazier trains his eye for unforgettable detail on Siberia, that vast expanse of Asiatic Russia. He explores many aspects of this storied, often grim region, which takes up one-seventh of the land on earth. He writes about the geography, the resources, the native peoples, the history, the forty-below midwinter afternoons, the bugs. (Syndetics)

From the far-out geographically to the just plain far-out, Weird Hollywood: your travel guide to Hollywood's local legends and best kept secrets has just arrived.

With California resident and humorist Oesterle as the guide, meander through bizarre back alleys and darkened theaters, observe the kitschy Singing Chairs of Santa Monica, and all that makes Hollywood the fantastic spot it is. (Syndetics)