One for the Road: The Head Trip

by Kelly Amabile on

Here’s a second creative travel-themed title from a Canadian writer featured here this week: Science journalist Jeff Warren takes readers on a tour of the mind in The Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness. This “field-guide” to the mind explores lucid dreaming, Eastern meditative practices, hypnosis, neurofeedback and other brain awareness activities.

From the publisher: Part user’s manual and part travel guide, The Head Trip is an instant classic, a brilliant summation of consciousness studies that is also a practical guide to enhancing creativity, mental health, and the experience of what it means to be human. Many books claim that they will change you. This one gives you the tools to change yourself.

Psychology and neuroscience are packaged with humor in this adventurous trip through our own heads. As mysterious as any journey embarked upon with no set route or agenda, this mind-mapping memoir travels through the twelve unique states of mind available to humans over a 24-hour day. Not your average travel book, of course, but quite a ride just the same. Warren provided his own witty illustrations for the book too. Oh, and not that it matters, but he has penned a more “traditional” guidebook as well.

Don’t tip the locals, build them a library instead

by Neil Woodburn on

Literacy is a gift that keeps on giving–unless, of course, there are no books to read.

This is a tragic situation for those with limited means to travel, because books are often the only window they have to the outside world.

Sadly, public libraries can be a very scarce resource where they are needed most–in developing countries. But they don’t have to be. Providing one for a local community is surprisingly affordable and a great way to give back to the wonderful people who made your travels through this part of the world so enjoyable.

Room to Read is a nonprofit organization which has established 3,600 libraries in the developing world since 2001. Naturally, they are looking for travelers like you to help out–travelers, for example, who have spent time chatting with the small children of a mountain village in Nepal and know the joy that even a few books will bring to their lives.

But let’s not settle on just a few books. For just $3,000 a sponsor can fill an entire room full of books and convert it into a library in Nepal, or a handful of other countries the organization works with.

Naturally, smaller donations will help as well…. So pull on that Santa hat and start giving.

One for the Road: Hotel – An American History

by Kelly Amabile on

A copy of this book, paired with some room reservations at a classic American hotel, might be a nice holiday gift for the history buff in your life: Hotel – An American History is a volume of stories and illustrations that explores how the hotel came to be in this country. The book tracks the invention of hotels in America, as inns and taverns gave way to the creation of majestic architectural masterpieces suited with grand ballrooms and private bed chambers. This review tells more:

Once upon a time, hotels were simply way-stations where weary travelers could stop to rest along a journey that could take many days. But over the centuries, hotels evolved into the symbols of American capitalism and of urban life. The biggest and best of them provided glamour, sophistication, elegance, and excitement, and A. K. Sandoval-Strausz has now given them the recognition they deserve. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, Hotel will reward both the specialist and the general reader.-Kenneth T. Jackson, Columbia University

Topics explored include: What it was like to sleep, eat, and socialize at a hotel in the mid-1800s; How hotelkeepers dealt with the illicit activities of adulterers, thieves, and violent guests; The stories behind America’s greatest hotels, including the Waldorf-Astoria, the Plaza, the Willard, the Blackstone, and the Fairmont; and how the development of steamboats and locomotives helped create a nationwide network of hotels.

One for the Road: The Geography of Hope – A Tour of the World We Need

by Kelly Amabile on

From Canada, the Globe and Mail’s Top 100 books of 2007, introduces us to Chris Turner’s story, The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need, in which the author travels the world in search of finding hope for a sustainable future for his daughter. What he discovers, with regards to sustainable design, housing, power and community, is both positive and promising. Turner’s travels take him from northern Thailand to southern India, with stops in Europe and North America as well.

From the Globe’s review: Chris Turner does his daughter proud. The Geography of Hope makes an overwhelming case for an abundant, even limitless amount of hope for humanity. The book is a captivating travelogue, the writing marked by piquant observations and raw, emotional engagement with farmers, radicals, business people, activists and indigenous people the world over.

Turner’s previous book had global appeal of a different kind: Planet Simpson has been called the “…the definitive Simpsons study.” In this new book he’s turned his attention to a different topic, but with similar pop culture appeal that should attract a broad audience of readers. As the Globe points out, “…his stories are full of references to his love of driving, cold beer, the Big Lebowski and The Simpsons.” And sustainability too! Sounds like a great one to kick off the new year with, huh? As Turner says on his own website, “…a book about hope makes a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus gift, so act now!”

Reminder: Win a free copy of The Geography of Bliss

by Justin Glow on

Just a quick reminder: head over to Leif’s review of the new book, The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner, to win a free copy. Here’s a sneak peak of his review:

A confessed “mope”, Weiner (coincidentally pronounced ‘whiner’ – ki ki ki!) admits straight off that he’s a hard sell on happiness. You’d be too after two decades working as a foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, reporting on wars, disasters and the ancillary misery. Untold years of introspection, therapy and a metric ton of self-help books have yielded little progress and having recently entered the Heart Attack Years, he confesses that his happiness attainment optimism is flagging.

For the rest of the review, along with all the details you need to have a free copy of the book under your tree this year, click here. But be quick about it; the contest ends this Friday, December 7 at 5PM EST.