Travel-General

"Excellent . . . calls to mind Bill Bryson, John McPhee, Rebecca Solnit."--The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker

The bicycle is a vestige of the Victorian era, seemingly at odds with our age of smartphones and ride-sharing apps and driverless cars. Yet we live on a bicycle planet. Across the world, more people travel by bicycle than any other form of transportation. Almost anyone can learn to ride a bike--and nearly everyone does.

In Two Wheels Good, journalist and critic Jody Rosen reshapes our understanding of this ubiquitous machine, an ever-present force in humanity's life and dream life--and a flash point in culture wars--for more than two hundred years. Combining history, reportage, travelogue, and memoir, Rosen's book sweeps across centuries and around the globe, unfolding the bicycle's saga from its invention in 1817 to its present-day renaissance as a "green machine," an emblem of sustainability in a world afflicted by pandemic and climate change. Readers meet unforgettable characters: feminist rebels who steered bikes to the barricades in the 1890s, a prospector who pedaled across the frozen Yukon to join the Klondike gold rush, a Bhutanese king who races mountain bikes in the Himalayas, a cycle-rickshaw driver who navigates the seething streets of the world's fastest-growing megacity, astronauts who ride a floating bicycle in zero gravity aboard the International Space Station.

Two Wheels Good examines the bicycle's past and peers into its future, challenging myths and clichés while uncovering cycling's connection to colonial conquest and the gentrification of cities. But the book is also a love letter: a reflection on the sensual and spiritual pleasures of bike riding and an ode to an engineering marvel--a wondrous vehicle whose passenger is also its engine.

A travel book like no other, this unique guide will inspire both seasoned trekkers and arm-chair globetrotters alike to build experiences you will treasure forever. You'll find memorable, once-in-a-lifetime activities organized by longitude and latitude (country-by-country index also included) so you can max out your itinerary with the best things to do and the best places to visit around the world.

Discover recommendations that fit every traveler's must-do list, whether you go for museums and cultural experiences, sports & adventure travel, natural wonders and monuments, or culinary delights.

Packed with over 300 remarkable photos and info on the best beaches, museums, monuments, islands, inns, restaurants, and mountains at every longitude, each chapter includes not only geographically unique ideas, but also activities you can fit in to any itinerary, for travelers of all ages:

Globetrotting: Hitchhike across a border, or stand on the International Date Line
Wildlife Encounters: Watch sea turtles lay eggs on a beach, or fish with a cormorant on the Yangtze
Extreme Sports: Rafting on the Yukon, or zipline down the Alps
Music & Dance: Learn the guitar in 7 days and perform in a public square, or find a tango partner in the street in Buenos Aires
Legacy: Volunteer at an Orangutan sanctuary in Borneo, or research your family history and visit an ancestral site
Food & Drink: Eat a beignet at Café Du Monde in New Orleans, or forage your own dinner in Central Park

A valuable reference and a wonderful gift for digital nomads, recent grads, sabbatical planners, and adventuresome retirees, fair warning: you might just find your travel bucket list getting much, much longer.

Chosen for the 2024 Illinois Reads Program by the Illinois Reading Council

One of Chicago's landmark attractions, Graceland Cemetery chronicles the city's sprawling history through the stories of its people. Local historian and Graceland tour guide Adam Selzer presents ten walking tours covering almost the entirety of the cemetery grounds. While nodding to famous Graceland figures from Marshall Field to Ernie Banks to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Selzer also leads readers past the vaults, obelisks, and other markers that call attention to less recognized Chicagoans like:

Filled with photographs and including detailed maps of each tour route, Graceland Cemetery is an insider's guide to one of Chicago's great outdoor destinations for city lore and history.

Whether it's your first or fiftieth visit to Walt Disney World, you'll be surprised at how much you can miss during your trip. But with this guide to Disney's hidden treasures you'll learn:
-You can search for more than the usual hidden Mickey. There are other beloved characters like Donald Duck and Minnie Mouse hidden around the parks.
-The book Belle reads in Beauty and the Beast is a real book...and you can find out what it is by heading to Maurice's cottage.
-Imagineers hide symbols of themselves around the park to "sign" their work.

Including all-new information on Toy Story Land, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World, 3rd Edition will inspire you to relive the magic year after year!