The new James Bond novel "Carte Blanche", written by Jeffery Deaver, is set largely in Cape Town. The book, which was launched in London a couple of days ago, is also set in Serbia, Dubai and London.
Asked about why he chose Cape Town for the backdrop of his book, author Jeffery Deaver commented according to Cape Town Tourism "I've been coming to Cape Town for ten years. I love the country. And true to James Bond novels, Cape Town is exotic and beautiful."
Some bestselling books (and follow-up films), especially Dan Brown's books "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels And Demons", had a certain impact on tourism as people started visiting Rome and Paris respectively just because of the books. Maybe Cape Town will, in case "Carte Blanche" is good, succesfull and will be turned into a movie, also see some "James Bond" tourism in future. We'll keep you posted ;-)
Showing posts with label book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book. Show all posts
06 May 2011
Book recommendation: "Overland" by Peter Mandra
That's 'overlanding', a form of land-based, group travel utilizing a converted truck. Overland travel is very popular in continents like Africa where the terrain is rugged and the sights hard to get to.
Through the new travel narrative Overland, you will experience Africa through the eyes of Paul DuPree, who, with his future wife at his side, quit his job to participate in a humor-filled 'overland' journey across Africa with some of the strangest fellow travelers you'll ever meet.
The wild animals? Dangerous. Most nights, a canvas tent is the only thing separating you from some of Africa's most notorious beasts.
Life on the road? Rugged. You'd sell your soul for the taste of a cheeseburger.
And the break-neck speed of the South Africa to Kenya itinerary? Brutal. And be sure to bring more than one spare tire.
Yet no hardship tests your sanity nearly as much as your irritating travel companions do...
Overland is your hilarious ticket to a pain, hunger and mosquito free visit to Africa. And best of all, unlike Paul, you have the luxury of being able to get away from your traveling companions before that burning desire creeps in to strangle them... (via amazon.com)
12 October 2010
Mandela's new book "Conversations With Myself" released today around the world
Nelson Mandela is one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has opened his personal archive, which offers an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life.
Conversations With Myself, which is going to be released worldwide today, gives readers access to the private man behind the public figure: from letters written in the darkest hours of Mandela's twenty-seven years of imprisonment to the draft of an unfinished sequel to Long Walk to Freedom. Here he is making notes and even doodling during meetings, or recording troubled dreams on the desk calendar of his cell on Robben Island; writing journals while on the run during the anti-apartheid struggles in the early 1960s, or conversing with friends in almost seventy hours of recorded conversations. In these pages he is neither an icon nor a saint; here he is like you and me.
An intimate journey from the first stirrings of his political conscience to his galvanizing role on the world stage, Conversations With Myself is a rare chance to spend time with Nelson Mandela the man, in his own voice: direct, clear, private.
get Conversations With Myself from the
Conversations With Myself, which is going to be released worldwide today, gives readers access to the private man behind the public figure: from letters written in the darkest hours of Mandela's twenty-seven years of imprisonment to the draft of an unfinished sequel to Long Walk to Freedom. Here he is making notes and even doodling during meetings, or recording troubled dreams on the desk calendar of his cell on Robben Island; writing journals while on the run during the anti-apartheid struggles in the early 1960s, or conversing with friends in almost seventy hours of recorded conversations. In these pages he is neither an icon nor a saint; here he is like you and me.
An intimate journey from the first stirrings of his political conscience to his galvanizing role on the world stage, Conversations With Myself is a rare chance to spend time with Nelson Mandela the man, in his own voice: direct, clear, private.
get Conversations With Myself from the
20 May 2010
"Africa United - How football explains Africa" by Steve Bloomfield
About the book:
Africa United is the story of modern day Africa told through its football. Travelling across 13 countries, from Cairo to the Cape, Steve Bloomfield meets players and fans, politicians and rebel leaders, discovering the role that football has played in shaping the continent. He recounts how football has helped to prop up an authoritarian regime in Egypt, end a conflict in Ivory Coast, and provide a tiny ray of light in war-torn Somalia.
The influence of African football continues to spread rapidly through Europe. Today, no Premiership team is complete without a major African star – Drogba, Essien, Touré, Adebayor, and Kanu. Countless African players are now enriching English football and becoming household names.
Steve Bloomfield’s wide-ranging and incisive book investigates Africa’s love of football, its increasing global influence, the build-up to the 2010 World Cup itself and the social and political backdrop to the greatest show on earth. [src.]
The influence of African football continues to spread rapidly through Europe. Today, no Premiership team is complete without a major African star – Drogba, Essien, Touré, Adebayor, and Kanu. Countless African players are now enriching English football and becoming household names.
Steve Bloomfield’s wide-ranging and incisive book investigates Africa’s love of football, its increasing global influence, the build-up to the 2010 World Cup itself and the social and political backdrop to the greatest show on earth. [src.]
13 April 2010
A MUST for travellers in Namibia: "The Sheltering Desert" by Henno Martin
If there is a book from and about Namibia everyone travelling through the country should read, it is "The Sheltering Desert" by Henno Martin. It is definitely one of the books that I always name when getting asked about my favourite books of all time.
View Kuiseb Canyon - The Sheltering Desert in a larger map
Threatened with the internment for the duration of World War II, two young German geologist, Henno Martin and Herman Korn, sought refuge in the Namib Desert and lived a Robinson Crusoe existence for two and a half years. How they mastered their situation, what they did, thought and observed are the subject of The Sheltering Desert. In it lies the vastness of the landscape, the clear skies, nature's silence in the joy or suffering of her creatures, and the stillness in which the reader, too, may take refuge from the wrongs of civilisation.
The Sheltering Desert is also know by it's German title "Wenn es Krieg gibt, gehen wir in die Wüste".
View Kuiseb Canyon - The Sheltering Desert in a larger map
Threatened with the internment for the duration of World War II, two young German geologist, Henno Martin and Herman Korn, sought refuge in the Namib Desert and lived a Robinson Crusoe existence for two and a half years. How they mastered their situation, what they did, thought and observed are the subject of The Sheltering Desert. In it lies the vastness of the landscape, the clear skies, nature's silence in the joy or suffering of her creatures, and the stillness in which the reader, too, may take refuge from the wrongs of civilisation.
The Sheltering Desert is also know by it's German title "Wenn es Krieg gibt, gehen wir in die Wüste".
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Namibia country guide >>
accommodation in & around the Namib Naukluft Park >>
Namibia country guide >>
accommodation in & around the Namib Naukluft Park >>
28 January 2010
great book: "A City Imagined: Cape Town and the Meanings of a Place"
If you love Cape Town "A City Imagined: Cape Town and the Meanings of a Place" is one of the books you should read!
Editor Stephen Watson has asked a number of South Africa's writers to produce a piece of writing in which they express their relationship to Cape Town and, above all, their sense of the unique genius or spirit of this city. The range of voices is wide, the angles of vision many, the results always surprising. What emerges from A city imagined is a composite portrait of Cape Town which is infinitely more various, heterogeneous, complex even in its beauty, than that to be found in the standard treatments of the place. [src.]
Editor Stephen Watson has asked a number of South Africa's writers to produce a piece of writing in which they express their relationship to Cape Town and, above all, their sense of the unique genius or spirit of this city. The range of voices is wide, the angles of vision many, the results always surprising. What emerges from A city imagined is a composite portrait of Cape Town which is infinitely more various, heterogeneous, complex even in its beauty, than that to be found in the standard treatments of the place. [src.]
16 December 2009
Great books to read - "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation" by John Carlin
Clint Eastwood's new film "Invictus" (in cinemas in South Africa & the US already) about Nelson Mandela's life during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa is actually based on a book written by John Carlin. Carlin is a scotish/spanish journo and author dealing with both sports and politics. He was The Independent's South Africa bureau chief from 1989-1995 and published the book "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation" in 2008.
Book description:
In June 1995, Nelson Mandela conquered the hearts of white South Africa and united his country, black and white, behind their rugby team. This book tells the extraordinary story of the journey to that moment. As the day of the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup dawned, and the Springboks faced New Zealand's all-conquering All Blacks, more was at stake than a sporting trophy. When Nelson Mandela appeared wearing a Springboks jersey and led the all-white Afrikaner-dominated team in singing South Africa's new national anthem, he conquered the hearts of white South Africa. "Playing the Enemy" tells the extraordinary human story of how that moment became possible. It shows how a sport, once the preserve of South Africa's Afrikaans-speaking minority, came to unify the new rainbow nation, and tells of how - just occasionally - something as simple as a game really can help people to rise above themselves and see beyond their differences. [src.: amazon.co.uk
]
Book description:
In June 1995, Nelson Mandela conquered the hearts of white South Africa and united his country, black and white, behind their rugby team. This book tells the extraordinary story of the journey to that moment. As the day of the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup dawned, and the Springboks faced New Zealand's all-conquering All Blacks, more was at stake than a sporting trophy. When Nelson Mandela appeared wearing a Springboks jersey and led the all-white Afrikaner-dominated team in singing South Africa's new national anthem, he conquered the hearts of white South Africa. "Playing the Enemy" tells the extraordinary human story of how that moment became possible. It shows how a sport, once the preserve of South Africa's Afrikaans-speaking minority, came to unify the new rainbow nation, and tells of how - just occasionally - something as simple as a game really can help people to rise above themselves and see beyond their differences. [src.: amazon.co.uk
]08 December 2009
"The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe" by Douglas Rogers
The Last Resort is a dark, comic, true-life thriller about Lyn and Ros Rogers, white Africans of many generations, struggling to hold on to their game farm and backpacker lodge in Robert Mugabe's war-torn Zimbabwe. Travel writer Douglas Rogers returns to the family farm from his home in Brooklyn, New York to discover that marijuana is growing instead of maize; prostitutes, diamond dealers, and refugee farmers prop up the lodge bar, and war veterans and youth militia loyal to Mugabe hover outside the gates.
In going back Rogers discovers the "big story" he had traveled the world in search of is taking place in his parents' back yard.
Evoking elements of The Tender Bar and Absurdistan, The Last Resort is an inspiring coming-of-age tale about home, love, hope, responsibility and redemption. An edgy roller-coaster adventure, it is also a deeply moving story about how to survive a corrupt Third World dictatorship with a little innovation, humor, bribery, and brothel management. [src.: facebook group]
UPDATE: check the interview with Douglas Rogers in "The New Yorker"! (17 Dec 2009)
05 December 2009
great travel books: Ryszard Kapuscinski - The Soccer War
In 1964, renowned reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski was appointed by the Polish Press Agency as its only foreign correspondent, and for the next ten years he was 'responsible' for fifty countries. He befriended Che Guevara in Bolivia, Salvador Allende in Chile and Patrice Lumumba in the Congo. He reported on the fighting that broke out between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969 after their matches to determine which one of them would qualify for the 1970 World Cup. By the time, he returned to Poland he had witnessed twenty-seven revolutions and coups and been sentenced to death four times. "The Soccer War" is Kapuscinski's story, his eyewitness account of the emergence of the Third World.[src.: amazon.co.uk
]
]10 November 2009
Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought
I just stumbled over a very interesting book titled Heart of Dryness, which discusses how the bushmen of the Kalahari Desert can teach us what we need to know about how to live in dry climates, something we're all increasingly finding ourselves in as we drill ourselves further into a global water crisis.
The dramatic story of the Bushmen of the Kalahari is a cautionary tale about water in the twenty-first century—and offers unexpected solutions for our time.
“We don’t govern water. Water governs us,” writes James G. Workman. In Heart of Dryness, he chronicles the memorable saga of the famed Bushmen of the Kalahari — remnants of one of the world’s most successful civilizations, today at the exact epicenter of Africa’s drought—in their widely publicized recent battle with the government of Botswana, in the process of exploring the larger story of what many feel has become the primary resource battleground of the twenty-first century: the supply of water.
The Bushmen’s story could well prefigure our own. In the United States, even the most upbeat optimists concede we now face an unprecedented water crisis. Reservoirs behind large dams on the Colorado River, which serve thirty million in many states, will be dry in thirteen years. Southeastern drought recently cut Tennessee Valley Authority hydropower in half, exposed Lake Okeechobee’s floor, dried up thousands of acres of Georgia’s crops, and left Atlanta with sixty days of water. Cities east and west are drying up. As reservoirs and aquifers fail, officials ration water, neighbors snitch on one another, corporations move in, and states fight states to control shared rivers.
Each year, around the world, inadequate water kills more humans than AIDS, malaria, and all wars combined. Global leaders pray for rain. Bushmen tap more pragmatic solutions. James G . Workman illuminates the present and coming tensions we will all face over water and shows how, from the remoteness of the Kalahari, an ancient and resilient people is showing the world a viable path through the encroaching Dry Age. (src.: amazon.com)
The dramatic story of the Bushmen of the Kalahari is a cautionary tale about water in the twenty-first century—and offers unexpected solutions for our time.
“We don’t govern water. Water governs us,” writes James G. Workman. In Heart of Dryness, he chronicles the memorable saga of the famed Bushmen of the Kalahari — remnants of one of the world’s most successful civilizations, today at the exact epicenter of Africa’s drought—in their widely publicized recent battle with the government of Botswana, in the process of exploring the larger story of what many feel has become the primary resource battleground of the twenty-first century: the supply of water.
The Bushmen’s story could well prefigure our own. In the United States, even the most upbeat optimists concede we now face an unprecedented water crisis. Reservoirs behind large dams on the Colorado River, which serve thirty million in many states, will be dry in thirteen years. Southeastern drought recently cut Tennessee Valley Authority hydropower in half, exposed Lake Okeechobee’s floor, dried up thousands of acres of Georgia’s crops, and left Atlanta with sixty days of water. Cities east and west are drying up. As reservoirs and aquifers fail, officials ration water, neighbors snitch on one another, corporations move in, and states fight states to control shared rivers.
Each year, around the world, inadequate water kills more humans than AIDS, malaria, and all wars combined. Global leaders pray for rain. Bushmen tap more pragmatic solutions. James G . Workman illuminates the present and coming tensions we will all face over water and shows how, from the remoteness of the Kalahari, an ancient and resilient people is showing the world a viable path through the encroaching Dry Age. (src.: amazon.com)
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02 November 2009
Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2010 - 850 Trends, Destinations, Journeys and Experiences for the Upcoming Year
The new compact format Lonely Planet's Best In Travel 2010 presents the top 10 countries, regions and cities to visit in 2010. Drawing on the knowledge, passion and miles travelled by Lonely Planet's staff and authors, you've got a year's worth of travel inspiration to take you out of the ordinary and into some unforgettable experiences.
- The best places to go and things to do all around the world right now!
- 2010’s Best Value destinations: Iceland | Thailand | London | South Africa | Malaysia | Mexico | India | Bulgaria | Kenya | Las Vegas
- 2010 travel planner - Over 30 adventures mapped out month-by-month.
- Contains the best travel experiences for the year ahead, from wildlifewatching in South Africa to catching a space flight launched from the Mojave Desert.
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order the book from the Lonely Planet Shop & get the book "Best in Travel 2009" for free >>
order the book from the Lonely Planet Shop & get the book "Best in Travel 2009" for free >>
28 October 2009
new book: Lonely Planet - Extreme Cuisine
Hungry for a bit to eat? What if alligator cheesecake, maggot cheese and deep-fried tarantulas were on the menu?
You may not salivate over these offerings, but travel long enough and you’re bound to meet someone who does. These foods, along with many others, feature in Lonely Planet’s new title, Extreme Cuisine, a guide to some of the more unusual foods from around the world.
Meals can be the perfect entrée to a culture and in this pocket-sized, full color book, you can look at the wonders of over 50 delicacies, from the origin of each exotic dish to how they are made, what they taste like and where you can try them.
Extreme Cuisine author Eddie Lin is a food writer who has traveled the globe to satisfy his appetite for unusual food who has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian and on The Travel Channel. “The only difference between ‘tasty’ food and ‘nasty’ food is one letter”, he says. “And similarly, it is a small twist that causes a food to be perceived as good or bad, and that twist is often in who is doing the eating. Food is very cultural, very personal experience. Indeed it’s as much about the mind as it is about the mouth”.
Each of the 65 foods in the book is featured in a double page spread. They come from every corner of the globe and range from Canada’s duck web to Mexico’s prickly pear cactus; from the Ukraine’s pure pork fat to China’s 1000-year-old-egg. The United States is prominently featured as well, highlighting “Bacon Explosion”, Turducken, Lime Green Jell-O Salad among other national and regional dishes.
Extreme Cuisine: Exotic tastes from around the world
Author: Eddie Lin
ISBN: 978 1 74179 886 9
October 2009
get the book on:
TravelComments.com eShop >>
You may not salivate over these offerings, but travel long enough and you’re bound to meet someone who does. These foods, along with many others, feature in Lonely Planet’s new title, Extreme Cuisine, a guide to some of the more unusual foods from around the world.
Meals can be the perfect entrée to a culture and in this pocket-sized, full color book, you can look at the wonders of over 50 delicacies, from the origin of each exotic dish to how they are made, what they taste like and where you can try them.
Extreme Cuisine author Eddie Lin is a food writer who has traveled the globe to satisfy his appetite for unusual food who has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian and on The Travel Channel. “The only difference between ‘tasty’ food and ‘nasty’ food is one letter”, he says. “And similarly, it is a small twist that causes a food to be perceived as good or bad, and that twist is often in who is doing the eating. Food is very cultural, very personal experience. Indeed it’s as much about the mind as it is about the mouth”.
Each of the 65 foods in the book is featured in a double page spread. They come from every corner of the globe and range from Canada’s duck web to Mexico’s prickly pear cactus; from the Ukraine’s pure pork fat to China’s 1000-year-old-egg. The United States is prominently featured as well, highlighting “Bacon Explosion”, Turducken, Lime Green Jell-O Salad among other national and regional dishes.
Extreme Cuisine: Exotic tastes from around the world
Author: Eddie Lin
ISBN: 978 1 74179 886 9
October 2009
get the book on:
TravelComments.com eShop >>
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