“Amsterdam Made by Hand”
Little Bookroom, $18.95
Pia Jane Bijkerk begins her charming book with a dream she once had about a city made of islands “with clusters of creative people.” In this dream, she came across all types of artisans and artists and designers “hidden in backstreet studios, tucked away inside beautiful old buildings” and making things, interesting things, with their hands.
In 2007 she moved to Amsterdam and realized that her dream was, at least partly, based in fact. “Amsterdam Made by Hand” offers brief portraits of the city’s artisans and handmade specialty boutique shops. They include jewelers, dressmakers, furniture restorers, hatmakers and upholsterers, and they incorporate the techniques and styles of previous centuries with today. Gorgeous photography, too.
“Moon Outdoors: Minnesota Camping: The Complete Guide to Tent and RV Campers”
Avalon, $14.95
Being the land of 10,000 lakes populated by miles upon miles of north woods as well as being the home of the legendary Paul Bunyan, Minnesota is a camper’s paradise.
First things first, though. Author Jake Kulju rightly begins with some camping tips for selecting tents, sleeping bags and food and cooking gear. He recommends types of clothing to take (“Campers need to be prepared for changing weather,” he warns), and offers advice on what to do if you have the bad fortune of encountering a bear (“Never run from a bear”).
Then he gets into the nuts and bolts of the campgrounds. Each entry offers a brief description of the site and facilities as well as information on reservations, fees and directions to the site. He describes the best campgrounds for families, the best for fishing, the best lakeshore sites, the best for tent camping and the best for views.
“Paradise Road: Jack Kerouac’s Lost Highway and My Search for America”
Wiley, $25.95
It is one of the great ironies of modern American literature that the so-called king of the road, Jack Kerouac, usually did not have a driver’s license and did not like to travel.
Although Kerouac died in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1969 at the young age of 47, his legend lives on.
In fact, as author Jay Atkinson points out in his picaresque, vastly entertaining and insightful “Paradise Road,” in recent years a cottage industry “in all things Kerouac” has emerged, beginning in his hometown of Lowell, Mass., and extending far beyond New England. Atkinson admits that he never heard of Kerouac until a college classmate gave him a copy of “On the Road.” Atkinson couldn’t put it down. When he finished reading it, he listened to Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road” and marveled at how Kerouac’s “blue-collar voice was reinforced: hip, iconoclastic, with a brashness that contained notes of joy underscored by a lament.”
Many years later, Atkinson is on the road himself, this time following Kerouac’s long and circuitous trail.
He begins his literary search in Brooklyn and Queens, on to New Orleans, continues the journey out west to Denver, down to Mexico City, up to San Francisco, back down to Los Angeles, before backtracking to New York, Chicago and, finally, ending in Denver.
Atkinson acknowledges the irony of his literary adventure. When Kerouac started his big road trip, he was a young man with few responsibilities. Atkinson, on the other hand, is “as old as (Kerouac’s) book,” published in 1957, and is saddled with too many responsibilities, “but I’m going anyway.” And, when toward the end of his journey but still with many more miles to go, he stands outside Hemingway’s house in Oak Park and persuasively argues that Hemingway and Kerouac belong on the same varsity team, it all makes perfectly good literary sense. As he himself admits, Atkinson is pursuing the idea of Jack Kerouac while discovering his own past. “I was never looking for Kerouac, anyway,” he admits. “It was just time to go.”
“Hiking in Spain”
Lonely Planet, $24.99
To paraphrase author Stuart Butler, there’s more to Spain than Don Quixote, windmills and World Cup soccer. In “Hiking in Spain,” Butler traverses Spain’s varied landscape: its plains and mountains, its Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, its forests and national parks.
He describes each walk in detail as well as the area’s history and environment along with some basic information on where to sleep and eat. Spain’s most famous or notable hikes are here — the Pyrenees, the Basque country, Galicia, Mallorca, the pilgrimage route of Camino de Santiago — as well as lesser-known treks. He includes a walkers’ directory (advice on accommodations and other practicalities) as well as tips on transport, clothing and equipment.
“Botswana & Namibia”
Lonely Planet, $27.99
Botswana and Namibia are two of Africa’s lesser-known travel destinations but also among the most ecologically varied regions of the continent: red deserts, emerald-green waters, windswept dunes, rocky beaches as well as one of the largest collections of wildlife on the planet, from lions and leopards to rhinos and hippos (authors Matthew D. Firestone and Adam Karlin include a beginner’s guide to tracking wildlife).
They also describe various kinds of safaris, including overland safaris run by specialists and self-drive safaris, which, they admit, can be “a great adventure” but only for truly confident types. An entire chapter is devoted to Victoria Falls, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
