Paddle Books

by Erik Olsen on

Well, we’re drawing to a close a rather wonderful summer. I don’t know about you, but out on the East Coast things were relatively mild and there were lots of opps to paddle, hike, bike or whatever. I got to do a piece about rock climbing that took me to the world-famous Gunks, and I had a killer time rappelling off a 200 foot cliff face. All cool. But what I’d really like to discuss briefly is paddling, and more than than, I want to discuss paddle books. You see, it’s about to get so cold that many will not be able to paddle, so the next best thing, I suppose, is to read about paddling. And so herewith, I offer you a solid feature from the folks at Sea Kayaker on hard to find paddling books.

Before I discuss some of the books listed here, let me briefly mention a few others I’ve enjoyed or plan to read. A while back, I bought Jon Bowermaster’s Alone Against the Sea and Other True Adventures, and while I STILL haven’t read it, I am confident it’s going to be great because I’ve liked all of Bowermaster’s other work. Also, sitting on my shelf at home is Eric Stiller’s Keep Australia on Your Left, which I enjoyed, even if it rambles a bit at times. It helps that Stiller is a friend and I am rather in awe of the expedition described in the book (attempting to circumnavigate the continent of Australia. Yes, you heard that right.

But to the list. Many of these books can’t be fond on Amazon, so I have no idea how you’d find them, but take the book Kayaks to the Arctic (1967)
by E. B. Nickerson. Tell me that the story of a women and her family paddling 1,000 miles down the Mackenzie River in Alaska and then hanging with the Inuvik doesn’t sound like compelling reading. Then, there is Enchanted Vagabonds (1938) by Dana Lamb. The Lambs, Ginger and Dana, left San Diego in 1933 and paddled and sailed their hybrid kayak/canoe/sailboat to the Panama Canal. Amazing. And I’m surprised in a way that this hasn’t been done yet as reality TV.

Anyhoodle, the list goes on.

New Bryson Book

by Erik Olsen on

Bill Bryson fans have a treat in store for them. Bryson’s newest book, a memoir called The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid goes on sale October 17. Some folks who relish his travel stories might be disappointed, but let me tell you, I was skeptical about his recent book on the history of science. But I got it read it savored it loved it. It is now one of the books I recommend to friends and family alike. So I can hardly imagine anything Bryson writes, especially about his own life, being bad.

The conceit here is that he tells us about his middle America upbringing with the help of a superhero persona. According to Tom Brocaw, his eminence of the anchor chair, the book is “a laugh-out-loud pilgrimage through his Fifties childhood.” You can take a look at an excerpt here. And if you want to catch Bryson in person, he is doing a book tour and will be in New York, Washington DC, Des Moines, Pittsburg, San Francisco, and Seattle throughout October.

Gadling Podcast: Joshua Berman

by Erik Olsen on

The whole guidebook writing thing has long intrigued me with its double-sided nature. On the one hand, being in a foreign locale, and having your job consist of reporting on the food, lodging and fun in that place seems like a dream job. On the other hand, spending an entire day peeking under mattresses and checking the cleanliness of bathrooms, well, I don’t care WHERE you are, that can kind of get old.

Well in today’s podcast, we talk about the job of writing guidebooks and a whole lot more. Out guest for today’s podcast is guidebook writer Joshua Berman, the author of several guidebooks in Central America as well as a brand-new book called Living Abroad in Nicaragua, released by Avalon Publishing this month. I’ve blogged about the Living Abroad series before, and I have to say it is a very handy guide for those who are considering making a move to any of the various countries for which there are books. But Joshua is also the writer, or co-writer, as the case may be, in two other guidebooks from Moon Guides (also under Avalon Publishing) Moon Guides Nicaragua and Moon Guides Belize. he also runs the wonderful Web site stonegrooves.net which chronicles his recent travels with his wife as a volunteer worker in places like India and Pakistan.

So turn up the speakers or put this thing on your ipod and take a listen.

Listen to Gadling podcast

Harry Potter and the Overhead Bin

by Erik Olsen on

Children around the globe breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when airport officials allowed author J.K. Rowling to board her plane back to London from new York. You see, she was carrying with her the manuscript for the latest Harry Potter book (number seven, I believe, tentatively titled Harry Potter and the Overhead Bin. The beloved children’s book author had participated in a book reading for charity on with other children’s book luminaries Stephen King and John Irving and was was told at the airport that the big box “bound up in elastic bands” could not go on board with her.

She refused to check it. An argument ensued during which time no wizards were summoned, no spells cast, and the official let her go, although there is speculation that some form of Jedi mind trick was used, if you’ll let me confuse my geek culture for a moment.

Troost’s Getting Stoned

by Erik Olsen on

I’ve been waiting to get my hands on the newest gut-busting travel tale by writer J. Maarten Troost so that I can review it here. His last (and first?) book Sex lives of Cannibals was absolutely superb. I reviewed it just after it came out and thought it one of the funniest travel books I’d read in a while, pretty much on par in its own way with the stuff Bill Bryson puts out (which is saying A LOT). There is immense appeal to Troost’s stories because he writes about the other side of paradise. He spirits off with his wife to exotic tropical locales that conjure up images of Corona ads or adolescent fantasies of topless native women fanning you with palm fronds on the beach, and he dispels the romantic allure of these places by revealing, well, the human reality of them. These islands, it turns out, are not quite as idyllic as Bronislaw Malinowski would have you believe.

Anyway, I promise I’ll get the book eventually, but in the meantime, I’d like to direct you to the superb review done over at Worldhum by Kristin Van Tassel, a writing teacher at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. I happened to by cruising around Worldhum and found the piece here and it reminded me how much I want to read the new Troost opus.