I love reading outside. I often grab a coffee and sit outside a coffee shop for a while to read...
Tip of the Iceberg: My 3000-Mile Journey Around Alaska, The Last Great American Frontier by Mark Adams - An unwieldly title but an entertaining work of non-fiction. Adams...well, the title is pretty self-explanatory <g>. Our intrepid author sets out to recreate as much of the 1899 expedition of Edward Harriman and his company of scholars and scientists as they explore the land that would eventually become America's 49th state. At times Adams provides a bit more historical context than I wanted; the book is at its best when the author regales us with tales of the intrepid, and often a bit eccentric, residents who aided him along the journey or just crossed paths with him. The book is vaguely reminiscent of Leave Only Footprints by Conor Knighton, the man who visited all of the National Parks in the course of a year, and it was good enough that I've added Adam's book Turn Right at Machu Picchu to my list of books I'd like to read. A- (the minus only because it was a wee bit too heavy on the history and not heavy enough on the present).
Yeah, it's a delicate balance for travel writers to find explaining the context and history of a place while writing about their own adventures there. I have to wonder if you've ever read Bill Bryson? I may have to add the Machu Picchu book myself...
