Streetwise Tokyo Map Laminated City Center Street Map of Tokyo Japan Folding Pocket Size Travel Map With Metro or Frommers 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up

Streetwise Tokyo Map - Laminated City Center Street Map of Tokyo, Japan - Folding Pocket Size Travel Map With Metro

Author: Micheal E Brown

2009 UPDATED Streetwise Tokyo Map - Laminated City Center Street Map of Tokyo, Japan - Folding pocket size travel map with integrated subway map including lines & stations - JR lines

This map covers the following areas:
Tokyo Area Map 1:50,000
Marunouchi / Ginza Map 1:15,000
Shibuya / Harajuku / Akasaka / Aoyama / Roppongi / Azabu Map 1:15,000
Shinjuku Map 1:12,000
Ueno Map 1:8,000
Asakusa Map 1:7,400

Tokyo is no place to be stuck with an inferior map. If you only have a few days to enjoy the city, getting lost can be frustrating and a waste of time. There’s so much to see and do that what you need most is a way to get around quickly and efficiently. The STREETWISE® Tokyo Map will enable you to do just that.

Our STREETWISE® Tokyo Map is based on the subway system, the key to understanding how to navigate this unfamiliar terrain. Not only are the subway stations the most visible way to orient yourself, but they’re also the connecting link between the diverse and unique neighborhood districts. Armed with the knowledge of how the Tokyo subway system is laid out, you can get anywhere in the city and more importantly, back again.

The multicolored subway lines and Japan Rail Lines are laid out in a comprehensible and manageable manner on this map of the entire Tokyo metropolitan region. STREETWISE® has simplified the process of figuring out fares, routes and transfer points by including detailed instructions. The entire Tokyo subway map is clearly depicted so it’s easy to make your way from one point in the city to another.

The STREETWISE® Tokyo Map also includes inset maps of Tokyo’s most important districts:Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza, Harajuku, Akasaka, Aoyama, Roppongi, Azabu, Marunouchi, Ueno and Asakusa. These Tokyo map insets are intensely detailed with railroad and subway entrances and exits, hotels, museums, sites, major building landmarks and an address system overlaid on the Tokyo street grid to further enable you to travel with ease through neighborhoods. So whether you’re traveling on foot or by rail, the STREETWISE® Tokyo map will get you exactly where you need to go.

The funny thing is, you’ll only know how valuable this map truly is once you’re there. You’ll welcome the sense of freedom that comes with having a great map. Then you too can feel as though you’ve conquered Everest.

Our pocket size map of Tokyo is laminated for durability and accordion folding for effortless use. The STREETWISE® Tokyo map is one of many detailed and easy-to-read city street maps designed and published by STREETWISE®. Buy your STREETWISE® Tokyo map today and you too can navigate Tokyo, Japan like a native. For a larger selection of our detailed travel maps simply type STREETWISE MAPS into the Barnes & Noble search bar.

About STREETWISE® Maps

STREETWISE® is the first map to be designed with modern graphics and is the originator of the laminated, accordion-fold map format. We've set the standard that every map company has imitated but never duplicated. Our mission is to make you feel comfortable, to make you feel safe in a place where you've never been before and to enable you to experience a familiar place more fully.

The company was founded in 1984 by Michael Brown, who had been in international publishing for many years, setting up subsidiaries for textbook publishers. In the 1970's, Brown traveled extensively throughout Africa, India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Brown would take a large paper map, cut out the city center, folded it up and slip it into his pocket, thus preventing him from looking like a tourist in areas where discretion is the better part of travel. This was his tool for surviving.

After many years on the road, Brown settled back in New York and decided to start his own business, based on the adaptations he had made to maps in his travels. His goal was to give someone the ability to navigate easily in unfamiliar terrain.

He started with a new map format: the accordion fold. Such a simple idea, but at the time it was revolutionary. No more struggling to fold an awkward, oversized paper map. This new format would enable the user to blend in like a native, instead of stick out like a tourist. Brown then added lamination to ensure that the map would be a lasting tool.

More important than the format was the design of the map itself. It had to be a map that not only succeeded above and beyond any map he had used, but was esthetically appealing as well. The look of it had to be as striking as the functionality. Color was introduced in a way that was never seen before in a map - vivid purple for water, soothing gray for the background of street grids, gold to highlight elements of the map. Clarity, conciseness and convenience in a very stylish package.

Building the business was a 24 hour job. Brown sold the maps during the day, zipping around Manhattan making deliveries on his Harley Davidson. At night he packed the orders and did the design work. More titles were added, each title requiring months of research and design.

Today, STREETWISE® produces over 130 titles for major destinations, regions and countries throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom and Asia. We have grown from the back of a motorcycle to selling millions of maps around the world.

Yet each title is still painstakingly researched and updated. STREETWISE® is one of the only, if not THE only map company that conducts research by walking or driving an area to ensure accuracy. After all, what good is the map if what you hold in your hands doesn't match what you see on the street sign? This lengthy fact checking results in superior accuracy; in effect, we've done the work, now you have the adventure.

In the end, it's not about the map, it's about getting out and finding your own authentic experience wherever you go. It's about being in a city or a region and discovering things that you never thought you would find. You can do this if you have confidence and you have confidence if you have a great map. STREETWISE® is the great map that you need.

The New York Times

"Don't leave home without STREETWISE."

Travel + Leisure Magazine

"STREETWISE is an absolute travel essential."

Books about: The Thief at the End of the World or Winning Every Day

Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up

Author: Holly Hughes

500 Places to Take Your Kids allows parents, grandparents, and kids to create a lifetime of shared memories while visiting destinations the whole family can enjoy. Here are cities, zoos, sports shrines, museums, castles, beaches, outdoor activities, and more—500 thoughtfully-chosen places that will enchant and beguile both the young and the young at heart.

Each entry contains all the information families need to help plan a trip: age ratings, service details, and nearby kid-friendly hotels. A Specialty Index organized by type of trip helps families discover places and activities for all ages and interests, while a Geographical Index allows families to locate attractions across the world or simply across town. Photos throughout the book help bring destinations to life.

Free companion podcast is available for download!

California Directory of Fine Wineries or Lets Go Europe 2009

California Directory of Fine Wineries

Author: Marty Olmstead

A comprehensive full-color guide to Northern California's wine country.

This guide provides a breathtaking photographic tour through the wine country's vineyards and winding roads: from Napa Valley's world-famous cellars through Sonoma's rolling pastures and Mendocino's rustic tasting rooms. Each entry represents a special destination winery that is open to the public and offers visitors something extraordinary beyond terrific wine, such as spectacular gardens, architecture, or art exhibitions. This edition offers updated information that no wine country navigator can do without.

Read also Is My Child OK or Allergy Cuisine

Let's Go Europe 2009

Author: Lets Go Inc

Packed with travel information, including more listings, deals, and insider tips:

• CANDID LISTINGS of hundreds of places to eat, sleep, drink, and feel like a local
• RELIABLE MAPS and directions to navigate Europe’s busy cities and idyllic towns
• STRAIGHT TALK on everything from German beer to Iceland’s “Black Death”
• INSIDER TIPS on the best hostels, gay and straight nightlife, and travel deals
• VOLUNTEER AND WORK OPPORTUNITIES from Svalbard to Istanbul
• HIKING, BIKING, and CAMPING from Norwegian fjordsto Palenica National Park in Croatia
• A USEFUL PHRASEBOOK with essential vocab in 18 different languages

Route 66 Adventure Handbook or Kauai Trailblazer

Route 66 Adventure Handbook

Author: Drew Knowles

A guide to all the exuberance, splendor, and absurdity of Route 66, this reference includes details on the magnificent architecture, natural wonders, vintage motels and cafes, unique museums, offbeat attractions, fascinating artifacts and icons, and kitschy tourist traps that dot this famous stretch of road. Painstakingly researched, this resource provides information on how to locate unmarked portions of the old highway; contact information for Route 66 associations and local visitor bureaus; maps and other navigational aids; an index of all Route 66 towns; and anecdotes, trivia, attractions, and suggested side trips. From well-known hotspots to obscure, off-the-beaten-path destinations, this inspiring guide presents a wealth of information for both first-time adventurers and seasoned travelers. Also included is a foreword by David Knudson, Executive Director of the National Historic Route 66 Federation.

Newsday

Drew Knowles' phenomenal guidebook makes a great read, whether or not you have ever put your pedal to the metal.

Detroit News

May even inspire you to become a road warrior and get your kicks on Route 66.

Salt Lake Tribune

Knowles' third edition offers insights to offbeat roadside attractions, vintage motels and cafйs, natural wonders and quirky sidetrips.

Road & Track

Don't leave your driveway without it. Just place a copy of this expanded third edition in your glovebox and hit the road.

Contra Costa Times

Fun and informative.

RoadTripAmerica.com

This book is a terrific resource for anyone interested in Route 66, whether traveling by car, RV, motorcycle, or armchair.

AAA Car & Travel Magazine

The guide to take along U.S. 66.

Go to: Mastering the Trade or Managing the Nonprofit Organization

Kauai Trailblazer: Where to Hike, Snorkel, Bike, Paddle, Surf

Author: Jerry Sprout

The new 2008 third edition the Sprout's top-selling guide is packed with new and updated activities, dozens of fresh photos, and a special Trailblazer Kids section for families headed to Hawaii's "adventure island." Popular among independent and active travelers, Trailblazer guides are known for their user-friendly format, readability, and sharp graphics. You'll find all the mountain ridges, tropical gardens, beaches, coves and lagoons, jungles, rivers, historic landmarks and cultural sites, coral reefs, ancient ruins, and coastal bluffs-all the places to get wet, muddy, and have fun on Kaua'i. Less energetic visitors will appreciate the book's driving tours, which hit the headliners along with the island's out-of-the-way charms. The authors have spent years exploring Kaua'i, and it shows. A Resource Links section gives visitor information and cultural contacts, recommended recreational outfitters, museums and attractions, Hawaiiana shops and hula shows, as well as a hand-picked list of restaurants and places to stay. Safety precautions and traveling tips are not to be overlooked, and a Best Of section lets you select among activities to suit your mood.


119 hikes and strolls to mountain ridges, tropical gardens, beaches, jungles, coves, reefs, historic landmarks and ancient ruins, swamps, craters, forests, coastal bluffs and tide pools, towns, canyons, waterfalls and river valleys

- 68 beaches, including 22 reachable only by trail
- 42 snorkeling pools, both the island favorites and hidden coves
- 61 mountain bike rides along forest, coastal, and countryside trails
- 27 kayaking waters: 13 rivers and streams, 14 bays and lagoons
- 36 surfing spots
- a special Trailblazer Kids section
- 10 maps and 175 photographs
- 4 driving tours, featuring heiaus, wildlife sanctuaries, cultural and
historical sites,tourist attractions and natural wonders
- Resource Links to recreational outfitters, stables, golf courses,
camping, transportation, accommodations, local-style eats and shops
- Appendices of Hawaiian words, place names, movie locations, hula
performances, farmer's markets, weather, flora, history

May 2006 - TripAdvisor

"The best, and most highly ranked guide of its kind. If you like off the beaten path, you want Trailblazer for your trip."

Scuba Guide/About.com

Kauai Trailblazer is a trustworthy and current handbook created for families, outdoor adventure travelers and vacationers on a budget. In the book you will read about hundreds of Hawaiian recreational adventures, which cover the entire island. Kauai Trailblazer is a must have travel guide that will help you discover Kauai and plan your activities for your next Hawaii vacation.

Sunset Magazine

Stash a copy of Kauai Trailblazer in your daypack. It lists dozens of places - some lesser known - to hike, paddle, bike, snorkel and surf. The "Best Of" listings are a quick reference to winner locations and activities.

Islands Magazine

Recommended guidebook in April 2002 issue. "Best of Kauai: Read it and leap!

Midwest Book Review

An outstanding guide for families and outdoor enthusiasts with an interest in hiking and exploring Kauai. If you're Kauai bound, begin with a thorough perusal of Kauai Trailblazer.

Virtual Bookcase

The essential guidebook for visiting Kauai. Contains all the information you will need to enjoy the island: what to bring, where to go, what to do. I explored the whole island and found myself discovering out of the way places that otther guidebooks didn't include. It is very current, clearly written, well indexed with easy to use maps. If you're going to Kauai, you MUST have this book to get the most out of your too short vacation.

Internet Book Watch - Internet Book Watch

Kauai Trailblazer is an outstanding guide for families and outdoor enthusiasts with an interest in hiking and exploring Kauai, one of the Hawaiian islands. Featured are "user friendly" descriptions of 199 hikes and strolls to mountain ridges, tropical gardens, beaches, jungles, coves, reefs, historic landmarks, ancient ruins, swamps, craters, forests, coastal bluffs, tide pools, towns, canyons, waterfalls, and river valleys. Details are provided for 68 beach (22 of which are only accessible by trail), 42 snorkeling polls (island favorites and hidden coves), 61 mountain bike rides, 27 kayaking waters (13 rivers and steams, 14 bays and lagoons), and 36 surfing spots. The informative text is enhanced with 10 maps and 130 photographs, resource links, and appendices of Hawaiian words, place names, movie locations, hula performances, farmer's markets, wether, flora, history and philosophy. If you are Kauai bound, begin with a thorough perusal of Kauai Trailblazer!

What People Are Saying

Hildys Best of Hawaii List
"The best Adventure guide ever."
—August 2001

Donald L. Bodine
Donald L. Bodine, President, Suite Paradise Resorts
I admire the incredible job you both have done in researching and presenting Kauai information so clearly. This fine book is truly the definitive resource for the island.

Obatas Yosemite or Frommers London 2009

Obata's Yosemite: The Art and Letters of Chiura Obata from His Trip to the High Sierra in 1927

Author: Chiura Obata

When Chiura Obata, a gifted California artist born in Japan, made his first visit to Yosemite in 1927, the experience deeply affected his life. Not only did Obata produce a remarkable collection of sketches and paintings (later to become woodblock prints), but he recorded the details of the trip in a fascinating series of letters and post cards.

Read also Astrological Gastronomy or Opaa Greek Cooking Detroit Style

Frommers London 2009 (With Foldout Map)

Author: Darwin Porter

America’s #1 bestselling travel series

Written by more than 175 outspoken travelers around the globe, Frommer’s Complete Guides help travelers experience places the way locals do.

• More annually updated guides than any other series
  
  
• 16-page color section and foldout map in all annual guides
  
  
• Outspoken opinions, exact prices, and suggested itineraries
  
  
• Dozens of detailed maps in an easy-to-read, two-color design
  
  

Completely updated every year (unlike most of the competition), Frommer's London features gorgeous color photos and maps, a detachable foldout map of London, and details on all of the city's top museums, attractions, historic sites, and more.

Frommer's London 2009 details the best overall travel experiences, from pub crawls to antique shopping to theater-going; the best of literary England (a side trip to Stratford-upon-Avon); the best museums and galleries, from Tate Modern to the British Museum; and the best hotels and restaurants in all price categories.

It's all done with the trademark Frommer's attention to style, accuracy, and detail, including updated addresses and exact prices. Read an in-depth guide to London's art and architecture, and get the latest trip-planning advice on everything from bargain airfares to museum passes.

Table of Contents:

List of Maps.

What’s New in London.

1. The Best of London.

2. London in Depth.

3. Planning Your Trip to London.

4. Suggested London Itineraries.

5. Where to Stay.

6. Where to Dine.

7. Exploring London.

8. Shopping.

9. London After Dark.

10. Side Trips from London.

Appendix: Fast Facts, Toll-Free Numbers & Websites. 

Index.

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star or Streetwise Ireland Map Laminated Country Road Map of Ireland Folding Pocket Size Travel Map

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar

Author: Paul Theroux

Half a lifetime ago, Paul Theroux virtually invented the modern travel narrative by recounting his grand tour by train through Asia. In the three decades since, the world he recorded in that book has undergone phenomenal change.The Soviet Union has collapsed and China has risen; India booms while Burma smothers under dictatorship; Vietnam flourishes in the aftermath of the havoc America was unleashing on it the last time he passed through.  In Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Theroux re-creates that earlier journey. His odyssey takes him from eastern Europe, still hung-over from communism, through tense but thriving Turkey into the Caucasus, where Georgia limps back toward feudalism while its neighbor Azerbaijan revels in oil-fueled capitalism.Theroux is firsthand witness to it all, encountering adventures only he could have: from the literary (sparring with the incisive Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk) to the dissolute (surviving a week-long bender on the Trans-Siberian Railroad).Wherever he goes, his omnivorous curiosity and unerring eye for detail never fail to inspire, enlighten, inform, and entertain.

Publishers Weekly

Acclaimed travel writer and novelist Theroux hasn't lost his affection for trains, but his view of the scenery outside has darkened in his latest odyssey. Reprising the itinerary of his 1973 The Great Railway Bazaar(with a detour around Iran and Afghanistan into the Central Asian republics), Theroux takes a contrarian stance toward the transformation of Asia over the intervening decades. The persistence of familiar, authentic, rural decrepitude usually heartens him, while the teeming modernity of great cities-the computer-and-oxcart madhouses of Mumbai and Bangalore, the neurotic orderliness of Singapore, the soullessness of Tokyo-appalls. The book is often an elegy for fixity in a globalizing age when everyone is a traveler anxious to get to America and "the world is deteriorating and shrinking to a ball of bungled desolation." Fortunately, Theroux is too rapt an observer of his surroundings and himself to wallow long in reaction or nostalgia; readers will find his usual wonderfully evocative landscapes and piquant character sketches (and, everywhere, prostitutes soliciting him-most stylishly in Hanoi, where they ride up on motorcycles crying, "You come! Boom-boom!"). No matter where his journey takes him, Theroux always sends back dazzling post cards. (Aug.)

Lee Arnold - Library Journal

Thirty-three years after taking the trek he recounted in The Great Railway Bazaar, Theroux hits the rails again, duplicating as best he can that earlier trip through Eastern Europe, central Asia, India, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Siberia. His new memoir abounds with comparisons to that first trip, geographically, politically, and personally. Theroux recalls how one critique of The Great Railway Bazaar described it as "caustic"; his descriptions here may not be precisely that, but his tone can be off-putting, e.g., there's a touch of misogyny in his treatment of some of the women he encounters. He also adopts a traveler-not-tourist tone, which some readers may find refreshing but others may simply see as smug. In conjunction with this outlook, he tends to seek out the seedier sides of his locales in order to find what he believes is the "real" place. These "real" places include everything from porn shops to sex traffickers. In short, this is not light reading. Nevertheless, Theroux is an important American writer. Recommended for libraries where The Great Railway Bazaar has been popular. [See Prepub Alert, LJ4/15/08.]

Kirkus Reviews

Travel writer and novelist Theroux (The Elephanta Suite, 2007, etc.) offers an elegiac retracing of roads and railroads taken across the vastness of Eurasia. Rejoining his 1975 travelogue The Great Railway Bazaar, Theroux takes to the chemin de fer from London to Kyoto four decades older and, it seems, more inclined to the better things in life ("a woman in a blue uniform brought me a bottle of Les Jamelles Chardonnay Vin de Pays d'Oc 2004 . . . and then the lunch tray: terrine de poulet et de broccolis, chutney de tomates, the entree a fillet of lightly peppered salmon, with coup de chocolat for dessert"). He is a touch rueful and more than a touch reflective, viewing his metaphorically mirrored self in the sleeping-compartment window and thinking of marriages, friendships and youth lost. The meditative aspect soon yields to Theroux's testy, Kiplingesque impatience with the cultures east of Folkestone, to his allergy to the "Asiatic ambiguity" that lies before him. He is willing to debate such things with the people he meets, unafraid to argue the relative merits of Western civilization vis-a-vis Islam, to name just one topic of conversation. As with his previous books, Theroux is unafraid of roughing it in the interest of getting a story, and some of his new memoir's best moments find him stealing across snowy, remote borders, "like a specter, in a strange country at nightfall," only to have his strength and compass restored by a delicious bottle of wine or morsel. Theroux wanders to places that scarcely cross most other travel writers' minds, among them Vientiane ("a sleepy town on the banks of the muddy river, famous for its cheap beer") and Phnom Penh ("scruffy, rather beaten-up . .. like a scarred human face in which its violent past was evident"). He also keeps up a running argument with the books he reads along the way, to say nothing of his contemporaries (Chatwin never traveled alone, he harrumphs, and neither does bete noire Naipaul). Fans of Theroux will say that he hasn't lost his touch; the more critical will say that he breaks no new ground. Either way, worth looking into.

Streetwise Ireland Map - Laminated Country Road Map of Ireland - Folding Pocket Size Travel Map

Author: Streetwise Maps

2008 UPDATED Streetwise Ireland Map - Laminated Country Road Map of Ireland - Folding pocket size travel map

This map covers the following areas:
Main Ireland Map 1:1,200,000
Dublin Area Map 1:100,000

A popular destination for first time travelers abroad is Ireland, for many reasons. First, Ireland is spectacularly beautiful with emerald green rolling countryside and serene lakes and rivers. Second, the pace of life is relaxed with most of the country sparsely populated. Third, there are plenty of daytime activities that appeal to a wide range of interests. Finally, and most important, the people are warm, friendly and familiar. The next step is to plan your visit, aided by the STREETWISE® Ireland Map.

A driving tour is the best way to get to know the country. Ireland has four international airports: Dublin, Cork, Belfast and Shannon, so getting there is easy. Once you’re there pick a starting point, and then go!

If you only have a short time to visit Ireland, you might consider limiting yourself to the Ards Peninsula. Hardly a limitation as this area encompasses some of the best scenery in Ireland. The roiling Irish Sea on one side and the calm of the Strangford Lough frame green pastures, authentic fishing villages and historic sites. You can fill your days sailing, birding, or just watching the light change over the water, a lifelong occupation in itself.

A STREETWISE® Ireland Map can take you to all of the great destinations. Motorways, divided highways, primary, secondary, minor roads and scenic routes are clearly depicted. The map is fully indexed with cities, towns, castles, viewpoints, historical sites and points of interest. A mileage chartand a separate inset of the Dublin area are included to ensure that you can get in and out of Ireland's capital easily.

Our pocket size map of Ireland is laminated for durability and accordion folding for effortless use. The STREETWISE® Ireland map is one of several detailed and easy-to-read country road maps designed and published by STREETWISE®. Buy your STREETWISE® Ireland map today and you too can navigate Ireland like a native. For a larger selection of our detailed travel maps simply type STREETWISE MAPS into the Barnes & Noble search bar.

About STREETWISE® Maps

STREETWISE® is the first map to be designed with modern graphics and is the originator of the laminated, accordion-fold map format. We've set the standard that every map company has imitated but never duplicated. Our mission is to make you feel comfortable, to make you feel safe in a place where you've never been before and to enable you to experience a familiar place more fully.

The company was founded in 1984 by Michael Brown, who had been in international publishing for many years, setting up subsidiaries for textbook publishers. In the 1970's, Brown traveled extensively throughout Africa, India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Brown would take a large paper map, cut out the city center, folded it up and slip it into his pocket, thus preventing him from looking like a tourist in areas where discretion is the better part of travel. This was his tool for surviving.

After many years on the road, Brown settled back in New York and decided to start his own business, based on the adaptations he had made to maps in his travels. His goal was to give someone the ability to navigate easily in unfamiliar terrain.

He started with a new map format: the accordion fold. Such a simple idea, but at the time it was revolutionary. No more struggling to fold an awkward, oversized paper map. This new format would enable the user to blend in like a native, instead of stick out like a tourist. Brown then added lamination to ensure that the map would be a lasting tool.

More important than the format was the design of the map itself. It had to be a map that not only succeeded above and beyond any map he had used, but was esthetically appealing as well. The look of it had to be as striking as the functionality. Color was introduced in a way that was never seen before in a map - vivid purple for water, soothing gray for the background of street grids, gold to highlight elements of the map. Clarity, conciseness and convenience in a very stylish package.

Building the business was a 24 hour job. Brown sold the maps during the day, zipping around Manhattan making deliveries on his Harley Davidson. At night he packed the orders and did the design work. More titles were added, each title requiring months of research and design.

Today, STREETWISE® produces over 130 titles for major destinations, regions and countries throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom and Asia. We have grown from the back of a motorcycle to selling millions of maps around the world.

Yet each title is still painstakingly researched and updated. STREETWISE® is one of the only, if not THE only map company that conducts research by walking or driving an area to ensure accuracy. After all, what good is the map if what you hold in your hands doesn't match what you see on the street sign? This lengthy fact checking results in superior accuracy; in effect, we've done the work, now you have the adventure.

In the end, it's not about the map, it's about getting out and finding your own authentic experience wherever you go. It's about being in a city or a region and discovering things that you never thought you would find. You can do this if you have confidence and you have confidence if you have a great map. STREETWISE® is the great map that you need.

The New York Times

"Don't leave home without STREETWISE."

Travel + Leisure Magazine

"STREETWISE is an absolute travel essential."

Lonely Planet or The Indifferent Stars Above

Lonely Planet: China

Author: Damian Harper

Nobody knows China like Lonely Planet. Whether you want to sip cocktails in Shanghai, trek Tibet's holy Mt Kailash or contemplate history at Xu'an's Army of Terracotta Warriors, our 11th edition will guide you through the best of this jaw-dropping destination - and reveal more of it than any other guide.

In This Guide:

All-new color chapters feature treks, iconic sights and culinary delights
Comprehensive activities coverage, including new cycling trips and unforgettable river tours
Expert trustworthy knowledge from resident and specialist authors

The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride

Author: Daniel James Brown

In April of 1846, Sarah Graves was twenty-one and in love with a young man who played the violin. But she was torn. Her mother, father, and eight siblings were about to disappear over the western horizon forever, bound for California. Sarah could not bear to see them go out of her life, and so days before the planned departure she married the young man with the violin, and the two of them threw their lot in with the rest of Sarah's family. On April 12, they rolled out of the yard of their homestead in three ox-drawn wagons.

Seven months later, after joining a party of emigrants led by George Donner, Sarah and her family arrived at Truckee Lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains just as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. After a series of desperate attempts to cross the mountains, the party improvised cabins and slaughtered what remained of their emaciated livestock. By early December they were beginning to starve.

Sarah's father, a Vermonter, was the only member of the party familiar with snowshoes. Under his instruction, fifteen sets of snowshoes were hastily constructed from oxbows and rawhide, and on December 15, Sarah and fourteen other relatively young, healthy people set out for California on foot, hoping to get relief for the others. Over the next thirty-two days they endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors.

In this gripping narrative, Daniel James Brown takes the reader along on every painful footstep of Sarah's journey. Along the way, he weaves into the story revealing insights garnered from a variety of modern scientific perspectives–psychology, physiology, forensics, and archaeology–producing a tale that is not only spell-binding but richly informative.

The New York Times - Mary Roach

The Indifferent Stars Above is an ideal pairing of talent and material. In Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894, Brown showed himself to be a deft and ambitious storyteller, sifting through the copious and often conflicting details of dozens of survivor and eyewitness accounts to forge a trim, surging minute-by-minute narrative. He takes more side trips here with snow than he did with fire. In almost every chapter, he steps away from the events at hand to provide historical or medical context. With a few exceptions, it's engrossing stuff…Brown isn't a showy writer, and that's probably for the best. With tragedy of this scale, an unadorned telling of the events speaks loudest.

Ingrid Levin - Library Journal

In April 1846, as young newlywed Sarah Graves departed her Illinois home on a journey to California, she could not foresee the misery and horror that awaited her. After numerous delays on their difficult westward path, she and her family found themselves dangerously behind schedule as winter loomed, and they decided to join an ill-fated wagon train under the leadership of George Donner. Ending up snowbound and starving in the Sierra Nevada range, the Donner party descended into cannibalism, a well-known and grisly episode of pioneer history. Given a fresh and intriguing telling here thanks to the supple, readable, and well-researched narrative by Brown (former managing editor, Microsoft Corp.; Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894), Graves's dark tale is engrossing and appalling in equal measure. Never melodramatic or maudlin, Brown's work gracefully balances graphic depictions of extreme privation with humanizing glimpses of the emigrants' everyday hopes and fears. Brown also skillfully weaves relevant historical, cultural, and scientific information into his chronicle, creating a rich and contextualized background. Likely to appeal to true adventure and history fans, who may also like Frank Mullen's The Donner Party Chronicles, this work is strongly recommended for larger public libraries.

Kirkus Reviews

Brown (Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894, 2006) delivers a skillful, suspenseful study of the Donner Party, narrated from the point of view of a newly married woman. In April 1846, 21-year-old Sarah Graves embarked with her family and new husband, 23-year-old Jay Fosdick, on a wagon-train migration to California from Steuben Township, Ill. Armed with Lansford Warren Hastings's newly published The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California, they set out with other families, unaware of how disastrously perilous Hastings's "shortcut" to California-via Wyoming to the south end of the Great Salt Lake and then through the impassable Wasatch Mountains-would prove. Burdened by their heavy loads, the parties moved slowly and faced increasingly dire conditions such as parched land, limited water, deteriorating sanitary conditions, Indian raids on their cattle and indecision regarding which way to go. Snow began falling in late October when they reached the cliffs of the Sierra Nevada. Halted at Truckee Lake, those able to walk-including Graves-were determined to make a pass over the mountains and find help, while the mothers and small children stayed at the lake camp. Starvation, hypothermia and dementia plagued both groups, and at some point the wanderers decided to eat the bodies of the dead, including Graves's father and husband. Some even conspired to kill those still alive, such as the two native Miwok boys who accompanied them. Of the 87 "official members of George Donner's company," 47 died, mostly men. Wading through the many previous accounts of the ill-fated journey, Brown creates a thorough and unique narrative. A moving man-against-nature tragedy that stillresonates today.