The United States is the fourth largest global consumer of tea, with Canada following right behind. Black tea is the most popular but green tea sales are growing rapidly — more than 60 percent in ten years — driven by its proven health benefits. Specialty tea outlets are expected to double to nearly 8,000 by 2018 and an additional 40,000 coffee retailers are expected to generate more than 30 percent of their beverage sales from tea.
The World Atlas of Tea covers tea from the ground up, including why the soil in China makes different tea than the soil in India. Tea mixologist Krisi Smith explains what a tea drinker needs to know to appreciate teas of all descriptions. She follows tea from the plantation to harvesting and processing to how to make the perfect cup. The book is illustrated throughout with beautiful color photographs taken in the field.
“Beaches features more than twenty cities across six continents: Australia: Sydney; North America: Santa Monica, Miami, San Francisco, Kauai, Chicago, The Hamptons, and Cancun; South America: Rio de Janeiro; Europe: Capri, Rimini, Forte dei Marmi, Viareggio, Amalfi Coast, Barcelona, Lisbon and Saint-Tropez; Africa: Cape Town; Asia: Dubai”–
Gray Malin is the artist of the moment for the Hollywood and fashion elite. His awe-inspiring aerial photographs of beaches around the world are shot from doorless helicopters, creating playful and stunning celebrations of light, shape, and perspective, as well as summer bliss. Combining the spirit of travel, adventure, luxury, and artistry, Malin built his eponymous lifestyle brand from a deep passion for photography and interior design. His work forges the synergy between wanderlust and adventure, creating the ultimate visual escape.
A completely updated and expanded edition of the cult bestseller, featuring subway, light rail, and streetcar maps from New York to Nizhny Novgorod
Transit Maps of the World is the first and only comprehensive collection of historical and current maps of every rapid-transit system on earth. In glorious, colorful graphics, Mark Ovenden traces the cartographic history of mass transit—including rare and historic maps, diagrams, and photographs, some available for the first time since their original publication.
Now expanded with thirty-six more pages, 250 city maps revised from previous editions, and listings given from almost a thousand systems in total, this is the graphic designer’s new bible, the transport enthusiast’s dream collection, and a coffee-table essential for everyone who’s ever traveled in a city.
“Ovenden does what no other design history book has ever done. Transit Maps of the World is a must-have.”
—The New York Times Book Review
Oliver Le Carrer brings us a fascinating history and armchair journey to the world’s most dangerous and frightful places, complete with vintage maps and period illustrations in a handsome volume.This alluring read includes 40 locations that are rife with disaster, chaos, paranormal activity, and death. The locations gathered here include the dangerous Strait of Messina, home of the mythical sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis; the coal town of Jharia, where the ground burns constantly with fire; Kasanka National Park in Zambia, where 8 million migrating bats darken the skies; the Nevada Triangle in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where hundreds of aircraft have disappeared; and Aokigahara Forest near Mount Fuji in Japan, the world’s second most popular suicide location following the Golden Gate Bridge.”
Library Journal
11/01/2015
This is the English translation of a 2013 French publication (Le rêve d’une île) by Le Carrer, a dedicated maritime adventurer and storyteller (the French version also credits his wife, Sybille Le Carrer). The book outlines 40 sites across the planet that are “cursed” in one of three ways—places “bound up with admonitions of a mystical order” (e.g., the Bermuda Triangle); those that “for a variety of natural reasons…enduringly blight the lives of the local populations or present a real danger to local people and visitors alike” (e.g. Cumbre Vieja volcano in the Canary Islands whose possible collapse could cause a tsunami that would inundate the Americas); and places “rendered uninhabitable by human activity” (e.g., Nauru, where the exhaustion of the phosphate deposits has completely collapsed the island’s economy and viability). Each entry includes one or more vintage maps with descriptive narrative. VERDICT This tour of the world’s more unusual, frightening, and mysterious locations offers serious social commentary on human failings but is also whimsical in its approach. Highly recommended for reading by the fireside on a stormy night.—Edward K. Werner, formerly with St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Pierce, FL
The golden age of adventure stories returns with this splendidly designed, action-packed, globe-trotting tale that combines the bravura storytelling of Kipling with the irresistible style of “The Adventures of Tintin.”
Behind the staid public rooms of an old world gentlemen s club operates a more mysterious organization: The Explorers Guild, a clandestine group of adventurers who bravely journey to those places in which light gives way to shadow and reason is usurped by myth. The secrets they seek are hidden in mountain ranges and lost in deserts, buried in the ocean floor and lodged deep in polar ice. The aim of The Explorers Guild: to discover the mysteries that lie beyond the boundaries of the known world.
Set against the backdrop of World War I, with Western Civilization on the edge of calamity, the first installment in “The Explorers Guild” series, “A Passage to Shambhala,” concerns the Guild’s quest to find the golden city of Buddhist myth. The search will take them from the Polar North to the Mongolian deserts, through the underground canals of Asia to deep inside the Himalayas, before the fabled city finally divulges its secrets and the globe-spanning journey plays out to its startling conclusion.
“The Explorers Guild” is a rare publishing opportunity, powered by the creative passion of one of the world s true storytelling masters, Kevin Costner.”
Beach paradises. Luxury hideaways. Cultural thrills. The perfect getaway. Great Escapes showcases the world’s most enjoyable escapes celebrates the sheer pleasure of travel. Take time out to indulge in romantic getaways, culinary adventures, musical journeys and family holidays. Or simply revel in pure relaxation. You deserve it! Now available in paperback.
From petticoat duels and lucky cats to the Stiffs Express, Lord Nelson’s spare nose, the Piccadilly earthquake and the Great Beer Flood of 1814, ‘A Curious Guide to London’ takes you on a captivating, wildly entertaining tour of the city you think you know, unearthing the capital’s secrets and commemorating its rich, colourful and unusual history.
Brimming with tales of London’s forgotten past, its strangest traditions and its most eccentric inhabitants, this book celebrates the unique, the unusual and the unknown. Perfect for tourists, day-trippers, commuters and the millions of people who call London home, this alternative guidebook will make you look at the city in a whole new light.
The 21st century has been heralded as the “Century of the City” by the Rockefeller Foundation as, for the first time ever, the majority of people live in urban areas. In a glossy, lavish tribute to cosmopolitan life, National Geographic Travel will offer urban adventurers a stunning book: WORLD’S BEST CITIES: Celebrating 220 Great Destinations
Delving into the heart and soul of cities around the globe, WORLD’S BEST CITIES is an expansive travel guide that highlights 220 urban destinations, both well-known and emerging, with beautiful photo galleries, insightful text and insider tips and secrets.
Photo by Rudy Balasko/Shutterstock – New York, New York Central Park, an oasis in the middle of Manhattan Source: World’s Best Cities: Celebrating 220 Great Destinations
The book showcases iconic cities like Paris, Rome, New York, London and Tokyo as well as up-and-coming cities such as Asheville, North Carolina; Denver; Nairobi; and Abu Dhabi. Each featured city is accompanied by gorgeous photos and vital stats, best local foods, oddities and more.
Photo by MasterLu/iStockphoto Barcelona, Spain – The Gaudí-designed Parc Güell. Source: World’s Best Cities: Celebrating 220 Great Destinations
Annie Fitzsimmons, National Geographic Travel’s “Urban Insider,” wrote the foreword to WORLD’S BEST CITIES and serves as spokesperson for the book. She is one of several experts who share their personal recollections of favorite urban destinations in the book. Other contributors include Los Angeles chef Roi Choi, who recommends the Greek Theater for music in Los Angeles; Cuban actress Iliam Suárez, who shares her passion for taking in the ocean air on a stroll along Havana’s Malecón (seawall); Montreal business owner Joel Giberovitch, who suggests browsing charming boutiques on classy Laurier Avenue; and award-winning fashion designer Maria Pinto, who recommends a walk through Lurie Garden in Millennium Park in Chicago.
The inspirational personal narratives, fun facts and local secrets shared in WORLD’S BEST CITIES reveal each city’s soul and daily rhythm for travelers seeking an urban adventure. For those looking to explore the world’s top urban destinations, the book offers boundless inspiration:
Dine at one of Tokyo’s 3,653 restaurants that specialize in sushi.
Visit Mexico City’s magnificent Metropolitan Cathedral, the largest church in Latin America.
Shop for fine Argentinian leather goods in Buenos Aires’ Murillo Leather District.
Stay at an Abu Dhabi hotel that leans 14 degrees more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Explore Oslo’s 150 square miles of forest, covering an area larger than Washington, D.C.
Ride the world’s most comprehensive subway system on New York City’s 230 miles of subway tracks.
Enjoy spectacular views of Cape Town while drinking sundowners on top of Table Mountain.
Photo by Ocean/Corbis Mexico City, Mexico Today’s Mexico City is a cultural hub and kaleidoscope of humanity. Its rich, 1,000-year history intermingles distinctly modern atmospherics created by contemporary art with irresistible crafts and street vendors hocking classic Mexican eats. Source: World’s Best Cities: Celebrating 220 Great Destinations
WORLD’S BEST CITIES also includes 16 “The Best Cities” top-10 lists, profiling the best urban destinations for everything from happiest cities (including Kuala Lumpur; Gold Coast, Australia; and Madison, Wisconsin) to eco-friendly cities (such as Songdo, South Korea; Berkeley, California; and Vancouver, Canada) to foodie cities (including Cincinnati; Chennai; and Bologna, Italy).
The World Atlas of Tea: From the Leaf to the Cup, the World’s Teas Explored and Enjoyed by Kisi Smith
Beaches by Gray Malin
A Curious Guide to London
Distant Lands Travel Store Blog 