Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

Destination Earth: A New Philosophy of Travel by a World-Traveler is a nonfiction travel reference guide written by Nicos Hadjicostis. Bored with his everyday life, the author set off to discover the world, a continuous voyage that took him 6.5 years to complete and allowed him to discover the peoples and experience the cultures of 70 countries on six continents. This journey was to be a learning experience for Hadjicostis, who had no way of knowing quite how intensive and illuminating becoming a world-traveler could be. While carefully planning his routes, both in-country and in preparation for the next destination, Hadjicostis worked a flexibility into his travel scheme, allowing for both the serendipitous and the mundane. Extra time would be allotted, as necessary, to further study places of significance or take opportunities to interact with the native people he was visiting in a fuller capacity. Other situations demanded times of rest, a day or more depending upon the intensity of the journey at that point. His experiences as a world-traveler showed him a world that could be seen as simply one large country comprising the entire earth and its occupants, as well as an infinitely varied cosmos where all of the marvels of the universe would be revealed to the patient and intrepid explorer.

Hadjicostis includes a sample Around-The-World Journey plan based upon his experiences and philosophy in his first Addendum. He sets out the factors that he based his decisions on in selecting the countries to be highlighted, including geographical features, size, history and culture. He uses those factors to describe a sample exploration of Europe based on the core countries selected, as well as selected portions of other countries to be included as well. Natural wonders, events and festivals are also included in the planning stages. His second addendum, A Glimpse into the Actual Days of a World-Traveler, illustrates how a long-term traveler’s time is spent on “actual travel, the day-to-day and long-term planning, study, errands and rest stops.”

I’ve long been a dedicated armchair traveler and was intrigued by Nicos Hadjicostis’ challenge to take that interest in world travel and turn it into something infinitely more personal, alive and vital. Destination Earth does just that. I particularly enjoyed the interspersed nature of his book which alternates his main narrative with a selection of essays on particular places or his experiences on the road. His premise, that “we are all extraterrestrials on earth” is an attractive and compelling one, and his accounts of how he interacted with the land, its peoples and their cultures are fascinating. The author also offers plenty of practical advice and knowledge for those who would shrug off the armchairs and vicarious experiences of other places via documentaries and travel books and experience the thrill of the unknown for themselves. His narrative is beautifully written, and his subject, the world, lovingly explored and shared with the reader. Destination Earth: A New Philosophy of Travel by a World-Traveler is most highly recommended.

Reviewed by Tracy Slowiak for Readers' Favorite

In a simply delightful memoir penned by author Lisa Fleetwood, Destination Dachshund: A Travel Memoir - Three Months, Three Generations and Sixty Dachshunds, readers will be treated to a fun, funny, heartwarming and even an educational retelling of the travels of the Fleetwood family through 15 countries. The family, with teenagers and in-laws participating in the journey, leave for their epic trip just days after their beloved dachshund, Coco, passes away. While in Russia, they spot two engaging dachshunds, both wearing winter coats, and that spurs a new family game. With the search on for dachshunds across their travels, the family experiences are recounted with humor and love, and a great deal of history thrown in as well.

I very much enjoyed Destination Dachshund: A Travel Memoir. Author Lisa Fleetwood has done a wonderful job in telling the story of her family's amazing adventure in an engaging style that will keep readers turning the pages from the start all the way through until the very end. This book is full of history, and information is provided about each of the family's stops on their trip that many will find informative and interesting. I highly recommend this book to any reader who enjoys memoirs, travelogues, history, who has a love for pets, or who is just looking for a great read in general. I certainly hope that author Lisa Fleetwood would consider writing another book in the future. With her obvious talent, it's sure to be an excellent read!

Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite

Walking to Woot by Jackie Chase is a highly entertaining and informative non-fiction narrative, an unusual tale of how travelling dangerous paths together can create a powerful bond between mother and daughter. When the author and her daughter decide to travel to the unfamiliar landscapes of the jungles of New Guinea, it seems like just another adventure. Little did they know that they’d be travelling into a completely new world and age, and that they’d meet weird people and face untold challenges. Their contact with nature, the encounter with a different culture, and the dangers they overcome open their eyes to new realities and awaken a new form of life they haven’t known until then. It will be interesting to see how the experience of a four-week trip into the uncharted parts of New Guinea helps mother and daughter to deepen their love for each other and to discover their hidden strengths and gifts.

Jackie Chase combines great writing with photography to take readers away from their familiar terrain and into a world that is both primitive and virgin. The images speak powerfully of the mode of life of people inhabiting places they visited, painting the kind of world readers who have watched The Gods Must Be Crazy will be infinitely attracted to. It is most interesting to see how the protagonists of this beautiful and hilarious tale fit into the entire scenario. Readers will watch them handle physical challenges, cultivate courage, build self-confidence, reach out to make friends, and learn to accept that people can be different and that there is some beauty in that difference. You’ll laugh and learn as you read Walking to Woot, a most hilariously engaging book. I have never read anything like it before.

Reviewed by Charles Remington for Readers' Favorite

Jonathan Tindale spent a while living in New Zealand, housed in a dilapidated caravan located in the remote South Island countryside that New Zealanders call the wop-wops. Some considerable time later, long after his return to his native UK, he received a scrappy manuscript which, strangely, had been sent by that very same caravan. It consisted of diary entries, which he had written during his stay, linked together with observations, interpretations and information added by the caravan - additions which it had based on the many years spent travelling the New Zealand road system and its observation of the various occupants it had carried. Jonathan has decided to publish the manuscript under the title Squashed Possums, Off the Beaten Track in New Zealand, a book which provides much information about this unique southern hemisphere nation and the nature of its indigenous caravans. There is historical detail, much valuable information on the people, the flora and unusual fauna of the islands, together with some vivid descriptions of the stunning countryside, and harrowing accounts of caravan living during the deep midwinter southerly storms.

Part travelogue, part memoir - I enjoyed this book immensely. The unusual juxtaposition of viewpoints, with the author’s diary entries coupled to observations from the caravan in which he lived, gives the narrative an easy pace. A great deal of information is imparted and absorbed in a light, digestible way. One could easily see the technique used in Squashed Possums applied to other situations with boats, cottages, homes or even castles speaking about their histories and commenting on the lives and antics of their occupants. Jonathan Tindale has produced an excellent work which I would highly recommend.

Reviewed by Roy T. James for Readers' Favorite

Kilimanjaro Diaries by Eva Melusine Thieme is about climbing the highest mountain on an entire continent and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. The preparations for this trip, starting with an internet survey, began well in advance, including practicing with climbing boots for the last three months before the trip. The trip passed through dark forest and inhospitable trails and followed a route with good success rate: The Machame Route – also called Whiskey Route. The book mentions an eerie silence there for company, though that is a bit disquieting; concentration is fully on the climb. On the sixth day of their climb, they spot ‘Congratulations! You are now at Uhuru Peak 5895 M A.M.S.L.Tanzania’ and take a return route only used for the descent.

Kilimanjaro Diaries by Eva Melusine Thieme gives a vivid description of the planning behind the trip, specially the ‘pee’ problem and its solutions. The diary closes with an interesting situation; I certainly won’t be envious of it. This book also contains information regarding a packing list and tips on routes and climbing seasons, as well as many web links, making it a good reference material for this trip. An interesting, educative and fun filled narrative replete with adventure.

Reviewed by Ryan Jordan for Readers' Favorite

Fourteen: A Daughter's Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival by Leslie Johansen Nack is a deeply emotional and moving story about the coming of age of our narrator and author who had to deal with the divorce of her parents, the abuse by her father, and being forced to grow up entirely too soon to protect herself and see the grittier side of the world. It is well told and has an approachable and easy-going narrative style that is very compelling, and I found the story easy to sink into and enjoy. It was almost like reading pure fiction, and occasionally I had to stop and remind myself that this is a non-fiction account of the author's life and the obstacles she had to overcome.

There are some moments that were difficult to read past, but I found myself rooting for the author to have everything work out in her favor. There were scenes, like when her mother came to visit the boat and her dad became aggressive about her complaints about accommodation, that are very well-written and truly bring the characters to life. This is an enticing memoir, and Leslie is writing another story about her family, a sort of de facto sequel that is sure to be just as enjoyable, so I look forward to reading more by her. Fourteen: A Daughter's Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival by Leslie Johansen Nack is an excellent memoir about the life and trials of a young woman struggling to overcome many obstacles that children aren't usually expected to face. Great memoir! I really enjoyed it.

Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

A Camino of the Soul: Learning to Listen When the Universe Whispers is a non-fiction inspirational memoir written by Katharine Elliott. The author and her husband were successful hotel executives who seemed to have the perfect life. Their home overlooked the Puget Sound, they could travel and enjoy the finer things in life, and three loving dogs graced their lives. Things started to change when they learned that his mother's cancer had progressed to the point that she could no longer live on her own. Rather than see her move to an assisting living facility in Germany, they traveled there for a visit with her, but also with the hope that she would agree to move in with them. She did, and the two women, who had once been ill at ease with each other, became the best of friends. Sis, as she was known to her family and friends, would become one of Elliott's angels after she passed on, a warm and guiding presence who would look out for Elliott, supporting her throughout the moves and crises, and eventually the breakup of her twenty-year marriage. Several years before that break, Elliott had begun seeking a more spiritual connection to life, and she accepted that she was meant to walk the Camino. She didn’t know the reason why or how that ambition came to grab hold of her, nor did she question it, and that historic spiritual walk would change her life.

Katharine Elliott's non-fiction spiritual memoir, A Camino of the Soul: Learning to Listen When the Universe Whispers, is a beautifully written and joyful account that held me in rapt attention as I was reading. Elliott's writing is smooth and compellingly honest, and one can't help but feel that she is speaking directly to her readers. I loved reading about how she and Sis went from being wary and unwilling in-laws to becoming dear friends who reveled in their time together, and I found her descriptions of the process of her and her husband's move to Europe to be fascinating. But I'm an avid hiker; so I would have to admit that my primary interest in reading this memoir was to hear about the author's experiences on her Camino, and she came through with flying colors. I had wondered about her taking the trek on her own and loved the serendipity that surrounded her with hale and hearty companions. And yes, I'm glad she listened to her sister's advice to write. She does a grand job of it, and I'm looking forward to more memoirs of her other walking experiences. A Camino of the Soul: Learning to Listen When the Universe Whispers is most highly recommended.

Reviewed by Tracy A. Fischer for Readers' Favorite

In a fun, well-written and informative new book penned by author Marianne C. Bohr, Gap Year Girl: A Baby Boomer Adventure Across 21 Countries recounts the story of the author and her husband as they said goodbye to their jobs and all of their worldly possessions in order to return to places they had visited on their travels in their youth. Following a dream held closely by many of the baby boomer generation, the couple traverses 21 continents during their journey, lives on a budget, and sees and does more than many do in several lifetimes. Readers will smile, laugh, and be touched at the author's recounting of their experiences, and if they didn't have wanderlust before, they certainly will now!

I so enjoyed Gap Year Girl: A Baby Boomer Adventure Across 21 Countries. Author Marianne C. Bohr has done a great job at finding the perfect balance between telling the story of their travels, providing information about each place they visited, and just being plain entertaining. Any reader with an interest in travel, especially those of the baby boomer generation, would thoroughly enjoy this book. I highly recommend Gap Year Girl: A Baby Boomer Adventure Across 21 Countries to any such reader. I certainly hope that author Marianne C. Bohr will continue with her traveling adventures and will continue writing about them. For those of us who find ourselves a bit landlocked at this time, reading books such as hers just might provide us with a little bit of wind in our sails!

Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite

Kindness One sounds like a course heading for a local college. It's not, but perhaps it should be. Kindness One, a take-off name from Airforce One, the U.S. President's private jet, is a private mode of transportation with the power to spread an important message about, you guessed it, kindness. It's something many take for granted, or don't even consider at all. It's the simple act of doing something positive to help someone else, just for the sheer joy of being kind. Author Leon Logothetis had this brilliant idea after he noticed a homeless man on the streets of Los Angeles, right on Hollywood Boulevard, holding a sign that read: "Kindness is the best medicine." The homeless man was Leon's first inspiration, but he certainly wasn't his only one. He handed the man two twenty-dollar bills and then returned home to his girlfriend with the idea of riding a motorcycle around the world to spread a little bit of kindness. It sounds crazy, but when Leon gets an idea, he goes for it, and his idea went beyond crazy, when he announced that he was going to travel without any money in his pocket. In fact, he was going to depend on the kindness of strangers to buy fuel for his bike, feed him and provide him with shelter.

Leon's story - The Kindness Diaries: One Man's Quest to Ignite Goodwill and Transform Lives Around the World - takes us from his home, to a cattle ranch where he learned how to rope a cow, to the central core of Pittsburgh where he slept on the mean streets with some homeless people, then across the Atlantic on a cargo ship (working all the way), through Europe and Asia, where he met kindness and not-so-kind people, but always finding his way and learning from others. It sounds almost as unbelievable as it is crazy, but that's what was Leon's mission. He helped those he met along the way, those who shared kindness with him. And, he learned the true power of being kind.

Amazingly, Leon actually traveled through Bhutan, a country that has a philosophy well suited to his mission: Gross National Happiness, where "Happiness means simplicity." In the most simple life, one can find true happiness. When things became difficult, Leon would rely on the words of wisdom he had picked up along the way. A friend told him, "Don't quit before the miracle happens." Mother Teresa's words of wisdom to us all are, "It's not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving." Salman Rushdie writes, "To understand just one life, you must swallow the world." And, Shantaram says: "Freedom is a universe of possibility."

Leon's advice, something that he learned from others on his travels is: "Surround yourself with love." He also discovered that the journey would only be complete when he found his way home again. Leon has written a very inspirational true story, one that will warm the hearts of all who read it, and hopefully one that will help spread the positive power of kindness. He has a powerful message to share, one that we should all take seriously. Well done!

Reviewed by Rich Follett for Readers' Favorite

In this fast-paced modern world, one of the biggest challenges to finding inner peace is to find a place where the hustle and bustle stops and real solitude is possible – sadly, we live in a culture where, all too often, silence exists only to be filled and to be alone is interpreted as being inherently lonely. Small wonder then that acclaimed Los Angeles writer and time-lapse photographer Tom Lowe jumped at the chance to be an Artist in Residence at the Mojave National Preserve. During his fifteen-night sojourn, Lowe captured the 22 breathtaking moonlit photographs featured in Mojave Moonlight. These superb color images are accompanied by a fascinating personal narrative of tales from the journey, and notes from the field, about the conditions under which the extraordinary time-lapse effects were achieved. Their appeal is universal, and the vastness of the landscape, rendered authentically, is mind-expanding.

From the dazzling Milky Way to stark, oddly plaintive Joshua trees and inexplicably animate rock formations, Lowe’s vistas evoke the unique solitude and infinite expanses of the Mojave Desert by moonlight. Stars streak and fall in mesmerizing patterns that seem to be the visual equivalent of whale song – ancient, mysterious, and humbling. The horizon glimmers with a kind of fey silvered enchantment; boulders and dunes gather to worship beneath heavens that seem to fold out upon themselves like some sort of divine three-dimensional pop-up book. The overall effect is pure magic. Mojave Moonlight by Tom Lowe is a rare and beautiful book that readers will return to many times.