Secondhand Books Travel Writings

This is an account, introduced by Paul Theroux, of the author's journey as a 63-year-old gringo through Brazil. During the course of this journey he reflects on his escape in...

Have you ever wondered... Why the Queen asks permission to enter the City? Where in London you are required to drive on the right? What is the history behind Pearly...

How often does the hairiest man in the world shave? What's it like having the largest breasts on Earth? Can a woman of 7 feet 9 inches find love? Looks...

Did you know? In 1884 the Circle Line opened and was described in The Times as 'a form of mild torture which no person would undergo if he could conveniently...

The former kingdom of Siam was, for 700 years, the only country in South-East Asia not to be invaded by a foreign power. Yet Thailand today is on odd hybrid...

In 1988 Simon Winchester, author of The Surgeon of Crowthorne and The Map that Changed the World, set out on foot to discover the Republic of Korea. He wanted to...

'Sophie Grigson has written twenty odd excellent cookbooks, but I think this is the best of them. It is her first book for a decade and was obviously driven by...

Joanna Kavenna went north in search of the Atlantis of the Arctic, the mythical land of Thule.Seen once by an Ancient Greek explorer and never found again, mysterious Thule came...

In a unique journey from the oil fields of the Caspian Sea to the refineries and financial centres of Northern Europe, James Marriott and Mika Minio-Paluello track the concealed routes...

Since 1990 Julian Barnes has written a regular `Letter from London' for the New Yorker magazine. These already celebrated pieces cover subjects as diverse as the Lloyd's insurance disaster, the...

In his early twenties Miles Hordern first crossed the oceans from the northern to the southern hemisphere, but the stretch between New Zealand and the Indian Ocean, guarded by the...

This is a highly personal guide to the beauties of Italy. Henry James writes about his travels through Tuscany at the turn of the century, to cities such as Venice,...

'WE COULD BORE OURSELVES TO DEATH, DRINK OURSELVES TO DEATH, OR HAVE A BIT OF AN ADVENTURE...'When they retired Terry and Monica Darlington decided to sail their canal narrowboat across...

The television chat-show host Clive Anderson visits four areas of the world which have become symbols of "hell on earth". His brief is to explore this definition and to establish...

Spanish Steps recounts Tim Moore's pilgrimage along the ancient five-hundred-mile route from St Jean Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in...

Getting outdoors brings the whole family together. You'll learn skills, have a run-around, share laughs, and make enduring memories. This book is the perfect companion to any outdoor family adventure....

The bestselling, much-loved classic account of an English couple escaping to enjoy the fruits of French rural summer living - an irresistible feast of humour and heart.Peter Mayle and his...

There is probably not a London suburb with more intense historical connections, more diversity and more astonishing buildings and artefacts than Greenwich. There are sections on MARITIME GREENWICH - home...

Early polar adventurers endured hardship and death as they battled fearsome odds and horrendous conditions. Cold, hunger and thirst, frostbite and scurvy were constant companions. It should not be surprising...

The Author's last non-fiction book, "The Perfect Stranger" charted his early experiences, the premature death of his wife being the central event, causing him to reflect, and try to make...

As a child, Robin Bayley was enchanted by his grandmother's stories of Mexican adventures: of bandits, wild jungle journeys, hidden bags of silver and a narrow escape from the bloody...

What makes Nicolas Bouvier such a well?loved travel writer is his exquisite sensitivity to the beauties of life, and his ability to capture those elusive moments in a style that...

I can move only with the aid of barrels of anti-inflammatory gel, sticking plasters and real ale anaesthetic. Martin and I descend from hours of walking to the small town...

In this candid and funny account of her escape from English boys and her love affair with a Frenchman, Lucy Wadham describes the mutual bafflement and fascination that characterised both...

In the 1980s Amitav Ghosh moved into a converted chicken coop. It was on the roof of a house in Lataifa, a tiny village in Egypt. During the day he...

The river Tigris is in danger. It has been the lifeblood of ancient Mesopotamia and modern Iraq, but geopolitics and climate change have left the birthplace of civilisation at risk...

London at night has always been seen as a lawless orgy of depravity and pestilence. But is it now as bland and unthreatening as any new town? Sukhdev Sandhu journeys...

This wonderfully written book tells of the first Herculean expeditions to Antarctica, from astronomer Edmond Halley's 1699 voyage in the Paramore to the sealer John Balleny's 1839 excursion in the...

After backpacking her way around India, 21-year-old Sarah Macdonald decided that she hated this land of chaos and contradiction with a passion, and when an airport beggar read her palm...

'Thubron on top form. Richly detailed, immaculately written and full of insights and encounters that bring a complex corner of the world to life' Michael PalinA dramatic and ambitious new...