Best travel books
Looking for the perfect tome for the traveller in your life? Read on.
Looking for the perfect tome for the traveller in your life? Read on.
WILDLIFE IN THE BALANCE
Simon Mustoe
This uniquely engaging paperback delves into evolution and the “importance of animals” (humans included) and our roles in Earth’s ecosystems. In the past 50 years, we’ve managed to kill off 75 per cent of the creatures needed to keep the natural environment healthy. The message, says Melbourne-based Simon Mustoe, is the need to constantly adapt and rebuild a “dynamic community of animals, plants, fungi and micro-organisms where the maximum diversity and abundance can coexist”. If we get it right, our planet should ultimately be more liveable. It sounds a dry and academic topic but the author presents a lively debate and clearly establishes that conservation of wildlife is not just about survival, but long-term thriving. Fun facts: Lyrebirds are the closest living relatives of the ancestors of all the world’s songbirds, and mangroves are “a living city of animals”.
Wildiaries; $34.99
BIRD PLANET
Tim Laman
This gorgeously illustrated coffee-table giant shines with photography of both well-known and rare avian species. Consider a mesmerising shot of the Australian palm cockatoo, black crest up and mighty bill poised for some serious nut-cracking, or a male bird of paradise in Raja Ampat, his red feathers aflutter in full mating display. Tim Laman is an American ornithologist, field biologist, filmmaker and National Geographic photographer who’s spent more than 25 years exploring the winged universe. The book is a true tour-de-force, arranged in eight geographical chapters and covering a broad range, from flouncy pink flamingoes posing like a corps-de-ballet to fluffy just-hatched gentoo penguins; from plainly named common loons to marbled godwits and blue-footed boobies.
JAPAN
Steve Wide and Michelle Mackintosh
Billed as a “curated guide to the best sights, food, culture and art”, this digest packs a lot of information into one source. The factual text covers all you’d need to know about travelling in Japan, with apposite photography and specific information of such granular detail as what omiyage (souvenirs) to buy at each destination, from “samurai merchandise” to “Mount Fuji-shaped everything”. Insider’s Guide panels contain additional insights from Japan residents and frequent travellers. The Melbourne-based authors are “certified Japanophiles” who’ve visited to and fro over 20 years and have published a stack of guides. It’s a comprehensive achievement, right down to the last chapter on traditional art and craft, with a map showing what to buy where. Bring on the kokeshi dolls, washi paper, ceramics and shibori fabric.
PanMacmillan; $44.99
PASTA GRANNIES: COMFORT COOKING
Vicky Bennison
A follow-up to the Pasta Grannies original, this new compendium features recipes from indomitable Italian nonnas such as Pina, 91, who presents chestnut gnocchi with walnut pesto “lovingly made” with seasonal ingredients from her garden in Liguria. There are chapters on pizzas, rice dishes, pastries and desserts such as classic tiramisu, plus practical info on making pasta by hand (you’ll need a wooden rolling pin and dedicated board), and the best styles of cheese for fillings and toppings. Second helpings? These thoroughly modern nonnas come with their own QR codes, courtesy of the book’s scan features to access videos of each recipe. Or meet the busy nonnas via Pasta Grannies on social media or a YouTube channel created by Vicky Bennison.
Hardie Grant; $45
WHAT IF? 2
Randall Monroe
This creator of xkcd.com and former NASA roboticist is back with a follow-up to his best-selling What If? volume of questions most of us would never think to ask. It’s a fun holiday read, perfect for family gatherings, styled as a kind of trivia quiz built around scientific solutions to absurd hypothetical notions, which is wacky and delightfully nerdy. If Earth were a massive eye, how far would it see? The author of that question is Alasdair, and most of the queries are similarly attributed to Randall Munroe’s faithful followers. What would happen if you made a lava lamp from real lava? If every country’s airspace extended up forever, which would own the largest percentage of the galaxy at any given time? Spoiler alert: Australia. We would control more stars than any other country. So there.
Hachette/JohnMurray; $32.99
SAFAR
Sarah Malik
The theme is “Muslim women’s stories of travel and transformation”, with tales from interviewees who include Australian writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied and Tasneem Chopra, inaugural Ambassador for Women of Colour Australia. Walkley Award-winning journalist Sarah Malik has done a remarkable job introducing the women to readers and pulling together the threads of their experiences revolving around “journeys” (“safar” in Urdu and Arabic) and the complexities and challenges therein for females of Muslim faith. There’s bias, politics, identity issues and vulnerability outside their home zones but also bravery and humour. Kudos to Zenith Irfan, who at age 20 became the first woman to scale Pakistan’s high regions on a motorbike. And much credit to Amani Haydar, whose strong and vibrant illustrations are perfectly attuned.
Hardie Grant Explore; $29.99
BROADSHEET TRAVELS
Edited by Nick Connellan
With a subheading of Australia’s best stays, swims, walks, dining, culture and experiences, this substantial hardcover publication roves around all states and territories, presenting 60 “core” places and experiences. There’s inspiration aplenty and the “cottages and cabins” accommodation suggestions, in particular, transcend the expected. Who could resist a hideaway called House of the Weedy Dragon set on the sand dunes of Tasmania’s Pirate Bay? The section on regional art galleries is a good digest of the scope of such facilities, as is the roundup of “destination restaurants” that define their respective settings and draw crowds from far afield, such as the fabled Brae in Birregurra, Victoria.
Broadsheet Media/PanMacmillan; $54.99
NINE QUARTERS OF JERUSALEM
Matthew Teller
Styled as a “biography of a city”, and with an erudite style akin to the exploratory observations and dissections of the late Jan Morris, this is a clear-eyed, revelatory look at the city’s racial and religious mix and a debunking of the long-held notion that Jerusalem has only four quarters. Heralded by his choice of title, British journalist and documentary-maker Matthew Teller highlights the stories, customs and characteristics of nine communities and contends that the city’s “lingering divide between east and west emerges from the preoccupations of diplomats and lawyers, who have little or no skin in the game”. In his author’s note, Teller says the book has been “40 years coming” since a childhood holiday to Israel sparked an enduring passion.
Allen & Unwin/Profile Books; $34.99
DANCING WITH THE ENEMY
Diane Armstrong
A potent mix of themes underpin this World War II novel. There’s “betrayal, collusion, revenge and redemption” on German-occupied Jersey in the Channel Islands, abandoned by Britain and surrendered to the Nazis. The plot roves between 1940 and our contemporary era, connecting two doctors in time and space: Hugh Jackson in wartime Jersey and Xanthe Maxwell, who travels from Sydney to the island’s capital, St Helier, and inadvertently finds his long-ago diary. The Channel Islands were the only part of Britain to be occupied, and Sydney-based author Diane Armstrong draws on her memories of travel there plus extensive research into her Polish family’s history during the Holocaust. Key to the unfolding stories is whether morals can be discarded for the primal need to survive. What happened to the local girls of Jersey who “danced with the enemy”, and how do enemy collaborators, in this war and others, ultimately justify their actions?
HarperCollins, $32.99
BRAINDROPS BUMPER PUZZLE BOOK
Jeff Northam
The creator of the popular Braindrops series is back in time for the summer break with a comprehensive collection of 132 bright, clever and challenging cartoon puzzles. Jeff Northam, a T+L production team member, describes his latest publication as “fun for all the family” and the content as perfect for “a brainy day”. Braindrops Bumper is packed with colourful drawings and a load of absorbing activities. Available online or at Better Read Than Dead bookshop in Newtown, Sydney. Check earlier editions in the series ($10) for more entertainment options.
braindrop.com.au; $17.99