The Big Book of Adventure Travel

Even if you're not the type to spend your life savings on an Everest ascent, you'll still appreciate the wild and exhilarating exploits described here. This comprehensive sourcebook lists more than 400 organized adventure trips around the world. Neatly divided into two sections, "Land Adventures" and "Water Adventures," the book is jam-packed with enough bike tours, backpacking trips, dogsledding excursions, and kayaking trips that even the most jaded thrill seekers will learn a thing a two. Just a few of the trips mentioned in the "Land" chapter include a trek to the isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and cycling through New Zealand. The "Water" chapter features rafting the Zambezi River and canoeing in Alaska. Each entry lists the basics: when the trip is offered, duration, price, type of lodging, and contact info (including Web sites). Interwoven are profiles of tour company owners, whose tales of wanderlust will surely inspire you to pack your Gore-Tex and go. If that's not enough enticement, each operator has included a coupon in the back of the book offering five-to-ten percent discounts on future trips. --Jill Fergus