Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything. - Charles Kuralt. 
The great thing about traveling vicariously is that you can go wherever you like without worrying about passports, airport security checks, pre-trip vaccinations, or struggling to find the words in another language when you really, really need to find a bathroom fast. When security is not an issue, why not travel to Kazakhstan instead of Kansas or to Medieval England instead of today's Britain? The world can be your oyster when you read about it on your Kindle. Here are some places to start:
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven, by Susan Jane Gilman. Grand Central Publishing, 2009. Print Length: 320 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (128 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"In 1986, fresh out of college, Gilman and her friend Claire yearned to do something daring and original that did not involve getting a job. Inspired by a place mat at the International House of Pancakes, they decided to embark on an ambitious trip around the globe, starting in the People's Republic of China. At that point, China had been open to independent travelers for roughly ten minutes. Armed only with the collected works of Nietzsche, an astrological love guide, and an arsenal of bravado, the two friends plunged into the dusty streets of Shanghai. Unsurprisingly, they quickly found themselves in over their heads. What began as a journey full of humor, eroticism, and enlightenment grew increasingly sinister - becoming a real-life international thriller that transformed them forever." - Amazon.
Apples Are From Kazakhstan: The Land That Disappeared, by Christopher Robbins. Atlas, 2010. Print Length: 304 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (21 reviews). Kindle edition $8.25. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Robbins’ engaging travelogue is an educational antidote to misperceptions about the country spread by the movie Borat (2006). Robbins...intermingles tales of his own adventures in Kazakhstan with stories of the country’s Soviet history and various rulers. Over the course of his travels, Robbins speaks with a local philosopher, fends off a prostitute, and, of course, visits the country’s apple orchards. He learns that tales of King Arthur may well come from Kazakh legends, and he journeys through the country with Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev. From describing his visits to Kazakhstan’s wealth of oil fields to hearing a perfect John Lennon impersonation during his explorations, Robbins brings to light a complex and fascinating Kazakhstan unknown to most Westerners." - Katherine Boyle for Booklist.
Whatever You Do, Don't Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide, by Peter Allison. Lyons Press, 2007. Print Length: 264 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (93 reviews). Kindle edition $5.78. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"At age 19, Australian-born Allison headed to Africa for challenge and adventure, planning to stay no more than a year; having found work as a safari guide, he's still there some 13 years later. In this fun, fearless memoir, Allison shares his experiences taking 'guests' through the African wilderness, trips that often don't go quite as planned - due especially to the unpredictability of the animals around them. Allison is a skilled, funny and vibrant storyteller, dishing arcane bits of wisdom like an expatriate Alligator Hunter...Along the way, Allison examines his fellow guides, the struggle with exhaustion, getting lost and the temptation to make frequently visiting animals into pets, as well as some poignant asides on love and death." - Publishers Weekly.
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: On the Tracks of the Great Railway Bazaar, by Paul Theroux. Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Print Length: 512 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (82 reviews). Kindle edition $5.41. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Realizing that many travel writers never retrace their steps, Theroux decides to travel as he did in his landmark book The Great Railway Bazaar (1975): east, across Europe and Asia, by train. Taking detours due to political unrest - Iran refuses a visa, and Afghanistan seems risky - he still manages a reasonable approximation: Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, and, finally, back across Russia, on the Trans-Siberian Express. Some places are hardly recognizable, while others seem not to have changed at all. (In the former USSR, he sees scenes that look authentic to czarist times.) As thoughtful and observant as ever - his unerring skill as an interviewer despite the somewhat difficult personality he presents to readers remains a fascinating paradox..." - Keir Graff for Booklist.
Into Thick Air: Biking to the Bellybutton of Six Continents, by Jim Malusa. Sierra Club/Counterpoint, 2010. Print Length: 336 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (10 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"With plenty of sunscreen and a cold beer swaddled in his sleeping bag, writer and botanist Jim Malusa bicycled alone to the lowest point on each of six continents, a six-year series of 'anti-expeditions' to the 'anti-summits.' His journeys took him to Lake Eyre in the arid heart of Australia, along Moses’ route to the Dead Sea, and from Moscow to the Caspian Sea. He pedaled across the Andes to Patagonia, around tiny Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, and from Tucson to Death Valley. With a scientist’s eye, he vividly observes local landscapes and creatures. As a lone man, he is overfed by grandmothers, courted by ladies of the night in Volgograd, invited into a mosque by Africa’s most feared tribe, chased by sandstorms and hurricanes — yet Malusa keeps riding. A large-hearted narrative of what happens when a friendly, perceptive American puts himself at the mercy of strange landscapes and their denizens..." - Amazon.
Searching in South America: A Backpacker's Pursuit of Learning and Adventure, by Uri Pomerantz. Createspace, 2009. Print Length: 218 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $0.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"...the inspirational story of one man's journey to better understand the world - and ultimately himself – through challenging adventures and chance encounters across six countries in South America. From finding himself lost amidst the chaos of a midnight journey in the favelas of Rio, to reflecting on life while exploring the Amazon with a group of eighty year-olds, to tasting the bitterness of circumstance with Bolivian miners in the world’s highest city..." - Amazon.
Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World, by Rita Golden Gelman. Broadway, 2007. Print Length: 320 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (154 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"When Rita Golden Gelman traveled to Mexico during a two-month separation from her husband, she hoped to satisfy an old craving for adventure and, in the process, rejuvenate herself and her marriage. Little did she know it was the beginning of a new life, not just as a divorcée, but as a nomad of the world. Since 1986, Gelman has had no permanent address and no possessions except those she can carry. She travels without a plan, guided by instinct, serendipitous opportunities, and a remarkable ability to connect with people. We know Gelman is not your typical middle-aged housewife from LA when, on that first trip to Mexico, she randomly picks a Zapotec village and decides to live there for a month, knowing nothing about the culture or the language. When she arrives, the villagers run away from her, terrified. By the time she leaves, there are hugs and tears. From there she travels to Guatemala and Nicaragua, Israel and the Galapagos Islands. But the heart of the book - and her 15-year journey - is Indonesia, where she lives for eight years...Gelmen's secret is her passion for people. That being the case, the book is short on descriptions of place, but long on the rarer inside view of the peoples and customs of those places." - Lesley Reed for Amazon.com Review.
Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service - A Year Spent Riding across America, by James McCommons. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2009. Print Length: 304 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (46 reviews). Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"During the tumultuous year of 2008 - when gas prices reached $4 a gallon, Amtrak set ridership records, and a commuter train collided with a freight train in California - journalist James McCommons spent a year on America's trains, talking to the people who ride and work the rails throughout much of the Amtrak system. Organized around these rail journeys, Waiting on a Train is equal parts travel narrative, personal memoir, and investigative journalism. Readers meet the historians, railroad executives, transportation officials, politicians, government regulators, railroad lobbyists, and passenger-rail advocates who are rallying around a simple question: Why has the greatest railroad nation in the world turned its back on the very form of transportation that made modern life and mobility possible?." - Amazon.
The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England, by Ian Mortimer. Touchstone, 2009. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (39 reviews). Kindle edition $17.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"In this compelling volume, Medieval history expert Mortimer...transports readers to jolly, squalid old England for a thorough survey of everyday 14th century life. Going beyond the 'nasty, brutish and short' of it, Mortimer's immersive visitor's-guide approach to popular history gives readers a seamless sense of being there. The population is young - 'Half of the population is aged twenty-one or less' - but incredibly diverse. The idea that social classes were distinct and few - fighters, prayers, and farmers - gets exploded in Mortimer's examination society and the Medieval character, including everything from humor and juggling to mariners to doctors...Mortimer's tongue-in-cheek vistor's guide is an impressive accomplishment, turning 600 years of history transparent to give 21st century audiences a clear view on Medieval life." - Publishers Weekly.
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Note to readers: The book prices quoted here are the Amazon.com prices in effect at the time of the blog posting. Please follow the links to the individual book to check the current price.
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