Books
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Alexandra David-Neel
Portrait of an Adventurer
This unique biography explores the inner journey of a woman whose outer life was a thrilling story of passion and adventure. Alexandra David-Neel (1868–1969), born in Paris to a socially prominent family, once boasted, "I learned to run before I could walk!" In the course of a lifetime of more than one hundred years, she was an acclaimed operatic soprano, a political anarchist, a religious reformer, an intrepid explorer who… Read More
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Hard Travel to Sacred Places
Hard Travel to Sacred Places is the record of a personal odyssey through Southeast Asia, an external and internal journey through grief and the painful realities of a decadent age. Wurlitzer—novelist, screenwriter, and Buddhist practitioner—travels with his wife, photographer Lynn Davis, on a photo assignment to the sacred sites of Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia. Heavy Westernization, sex clubs, aging hippies and expatriates, and political dissidents provide a vivid contrast… Read More
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Islands Apart
A Year on the Edge of Civilization
Author Ken McAlpine stands in his front yard one night in Ventura, California, trying to see the stars. His view is diminished by light pollution, making it hard to see much of anything in the sky. Our fast-paced, technologically advanced society, he concludes, is not conducive to stargazing or soul-searching. Taking a page from Thoreau's Walden, he decides to get away from the clamor of everyday life, journeying alone… Read More
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Mango Elephants in the Sun
How Life in an African Village Let Me Be in My Skin
When the Peace Corps sends Susana Herrera to teach English in Northern Cameroon, she yearns to embrace her adopted village and its people, to drink deep from the spirit of Mother Africa—and to forget a bitter childhood and painful past. To the villagers, however, she's a rich American tourist, a nasara (white person) who has never known pain or want. They stare at her in silence. The children giggle… Read More
Paperback$22.95+ Add to Bag -
Sailing Alone around the World
Full of astounding adventures, Sailing Alone around the World is the true story of the first man ever to circle the globe alone entirely by sea. In a little over three years, Captain Joshua Slocum completed the feat many experts believed couldn't be done—and he has the stories to prove it. During his historic voyage, Slocum was chased by pirates in Gibraltar, soaked by a "rain of blood"… Read More
Hardcover$18.95+ Add to Bag -
Still Clueless in Tokyo
Another Sketchbook of Weird and Wonderful Things in Japan
Following up on Clueless in Tokyo, this colorful sequel continues the author's adventures in the seemingly strange and wonderful culture of Japan. Amusing cartoons and succinct descriptions clarify and explain even the most bizarre of cultural oddities. From the restaurant to the bathroom, from the street to the temple, this artist brings Japan home for any bewildered Westerner. This sketchbook, like its precursor, is a user-friendly primer for… Read More
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Thank You and OK!
An American Zen Failure in Japan
David Chadwick, a Texas-raised wanderer, college dropout, bumbling social activist, and hobbyhorse musician, began his study under Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in 1966. In 1988 Chadwick flew to Japan to begin a four-year period of voluntary exile and remedial Zen education. In Thank You and OK! he recounts his experiences both inside and beyond the monastery walls and offers insightful portraits of the characters he knew in that world—the bickering monks,… Read More
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The Wheel of Life
The Autobiography of a Western Buddhist
The Wheel of Life is the spiritual autobiography of John Blofeld (1913-1987), a world-renowned British scholar and writer who devoted his life to the study of Eastern traditions, especially Buddhism and Taoism. With wit, honesty, and humility, Blofeld portrays his search for wisdom and his discovery of a genuine spiritual path. He describes in vivid detail his life in Peking and his travels in Tibet, Mongolia, China, India, and… Read More
Paperback$25.95+ Add to Bag
