Lone Cone Library

In 1848, the British East India Company, having lost its monopoly on the tea trade, engaged Robert Fortune, a Scottish gardener, botanist, and plant hunter, to make a clandestine trip into the interior of China-territory forbidden to foreigners-to steal the closely guarded secrets of tea horticulture and manufacturing. For All the Tea in China is the remarkable account of Fortune's journeys into China-a thrilling narrative that combines history, geography,...

The author of How to Date Men When You Hate Men examines Americans' obsession with freedom, travel, and the open road in this funny, entertaining travelogue that blends the humorous observations of Bill Bryson with the piercing cultural commentary of Jia Tolentino. For writer and comedian Blythe Roberson, there are only so many Mary Oliver poems you can read about being free, and only so many times you can listen to Joni Mitchell's travel album Hejira,...

Travel writer Theroux is in western Africa, where along the course of a 2,500-mile journey he travels from Cape Town through South Africa, Namibia, and beyond--capturing the flavor of his interaction with both land and people as only he can.

Kim Stanley Robinson first ventured into the Sierra Nevada mountains during the summer of 1973. He returned from that encounter a changed man, awed by a landscape that made him feel as if he were simultaneously strolling through an art museum and scrambling on a jungle gym like an energized child. He has returned to the mountains throughout his life—more than a hundred trips—and has gathered a vast store of knowledge about them. The High Sierra...

Highlighting the serene Wyoming landscape and its rich heritage, Annie Proulx, author of "The shipping news," chronicles living in the Cowboy State. 'Bird Cloud' is the name Proulx gave to the 640-acre land she fell in love with on her first visit. This work of nonfiction follows Proulx as she builds a house (essentially a library surrounded by bedrooms and a kitchen) from the ground up.

Travel through time to the golden ages of 12 of Europe's most beautiful medieval cities.

In this sequel to her "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Bella Tuscany," the author chronicles her two decades-long love affair with Tuscany's people, art, cuisine, and lifestyle.