Solo: On Her Own Adventure (Seal Women's Travel) [Paperback]

Susan Fox Rogers (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2005 | Series: Seal Women's Travel

Back by popular demand, this second edition of Solo adds new stories to the ones readers already love—women pedaling across New Zealand, hiking in the Adirondacks, bodyboarding with dolphins off the California Coast, and driving through the northwestern United States. With plenty of alone-time to contemplate the world, the authors share their adventures, which are collectively humorous and exhilarating, suspenseful and defiant, tranquil and enchanting. Including contributors such as Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Candace Dempsey, Marybeth Holleman, Bridget Quinn, and Laura Waterman, Solo offers an inspiring collection of travel narratives that reveal the complexities of women journeying alone.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Editor Rogers (Another Wilderness: New Outdoor Writing by Women, Seal Pr., 1994) offers 23 tales by world travelers describing a woman's experience traveling alone in the outdoors. As solo journeys, most of the interaction is internal, and each tale describes the emotional as well as the physical journeys undertaken. Decisions are made, fears dealt with, and negative reactions by others overcome. The experiences are quite varied, including traveling in New Zealand, rock climbing, winter camping, hunting antelope, and body-boarding with dolphins. How refreshing to find a book about the outdoors that addresses issues peculiar to women, such as the guilt of leaving the family and the fear of meeting a male or males while alone in the wilderness. The book will appeal to armchair travelers and women seeking inspiration and adventure. Recommended for public libraries where travel essays and outdoor literature are popular and for academic libraries with extensive women's studies' collections.?Alison Hopkins, Queens Borough P.L., N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

A very impressive collection of travel pieces by women who took to the byways--road, river, and trail--with only themselves as company. Rogers (editor, Another Wilderness: New Outdoor Writing by Women, not reviewed, etc.) has gathered here almost two dozen adventures that sparkle with insight into what it means to solo in the great outdoors. Sometimes the journeys are made in hopes of finding an answer, or at least a moment of clarity, regarding one of life's travails. Sometimes they're an act of fleeing--from lovers or family or personal demons. E.A. Miller draws a bead on the pretenses that had shaped her camping background: Was she really so adept in the wild, and if she was, then why did she keep asking herself what the men in her family would have done under a specific circumstance? ``Without an audience . . . I was at a loss, unable to frame my own experiences,'' she writes, until she decides to just enjoy herself. Then there is Bridget Quinn's wonderful attitudinizing, be it on ski slope or city street, and Susan Ewing chasing antelope in Montana while at the same time being pursued by ``the sordid siblings, Go-For-It and Fear,'' a couple of Furies who attend most solo exploits. Ann Baker goes on a pilgrim's progress through the former Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh, hoping to touch ``the chain of wisdom'' and spirituality crafted over the last couple of thousand years by the Buddhists of the region. There's not a whole lot of humor here to leaven these often trying episodes, but each piece is a revelation, affording a palpable, honest foray into the writer's personality, into how she contends with inner and outer bogeys, how her thought processes and survival instincts unfold. Crackingly good writing throughout, a heady stew rich with savory chunks of information for those, women or men, wishing to go it alone. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 325 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press; 2nd edition (May 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580051375
• ISBN-13: 978-1580051378
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,075,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Candace Dempsey is an award-winning Italian-American journalist, true crime blogger and travel writer based in Seattle. Her seattlepi.com Amanda Knox blog has been featured on CNN Anderson Cooper 360, Newsweek.com and is read around the world. She's discussed the Amanda Knox case on CNN Headline News, Q13 FOX NEWS, KOMO-TV, KING TV, KIRO FM Radio, Italian TV and other media outlets. She has a master's degree in journalism and decades of writing experience in newspapers, magazines, and on the Web. Her staff positions include: magazine editor, newspaper editor, staff writer, and a producer, editor and writer for MSN. Her travel tales have been published in numerous Travelers' Tales and Seal Press anthologies.

Candace's MURDER IN ITALY, is the true story of Amanda Knox, the American honor student convicted of killing her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in a seemingly idyllic Italian college town on November 1, 2007. Best True Crime Book Editor's and Reader's Choice awards, a Library Journal Bestseller, Top Ten Amazon True Crime.

Drawing upon candid interviews with the key players, case files, police reports, court documents, eyewitness accounts, crime scene videos, prison diaries, and DNA evidence, award-winning journalist Candace Dempsey reveals the real story behind the media frenzy surrounding suspects: American honor student Amanda Knox; Raffaele Sollecito, her Italian ex-boyfriend; and drifter Rudy Guede, an Italian immigrant form the Ivory Coast.

Giving readers a front-row seat at the trial, Dempsey unravels the evidence and the allegations to look at what really happened to Meredith Kercher, Knox's British roommate, when she was stabbed to death that dark Italian night.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved these stories and didnt want to put the book down., March 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Solo: On Her Own Adventure (Paperback)

I really enjoyed reading "Solo" and have been recommending it (and lending it) to friends. I loved these stories and didn't want to put the book down. Not only does each author describe their surroundings and actions (bicycling in New Zealand, kayaking in Alaska, trekking in Nepal) but they describe their emotions and where they are in their lives. Many of these women are making serious decisions about their lives, trying to break away from restrictive societal norms, develop a deeper relationship with themselves, choose between various life paths, and make decisions that are right for them (no matter how unconventional). I have been wanting to go on my own solo adventure, and this book has further encouraged me to go for it. I disagree with the previous reviewer's comment that "few tales show an appreciation of the outdoors for its own sake." Besides, is there only one way to appreciate nature and enjoy the outdoors?

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully inspiring!, September 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Solo: On Her Own Adventure (Paperback)

Anyone who has ever fought to be understood about the extreme peace that is discovered in solo adventures will enjoy these short stories. Anyone who has ever pressed to have their own equipment and not rely upon the men in their life for their outdoor leadership needs will enjoy this collection of inspiring stories. After reading a few of these stories I was so moved to partake in a solo journey of my own. The night before I participated in a 32mile speed hike, I was seen thumbing through my favorite stories under a rainy sky in my tent. It was wonderful to see women experiencing these adventures of great self-importance. I encourage any woman looking for inspriration and female guidance to seek solace here!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All who wander are not lost, March 9, 2010

By 

Linda Ballou "Linda Ballou" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Solo: On Her Own Adventure (Seal Women's Travel) (Paperback)

Never hike alone. How many times have I been admonished not to hike solo? This advice has come from people I respect and I would like to comply, but I can't. The joy and ultimate purpose of the walks I take is to let my mind wander and to take time to allow the tape to run clean and make room for new impressions. This meditative state is hard to achieve when there is another consciousness crowding in on your thoughts. So, even though my father warned me against walking alone on the misty shores of Southeast Alaska when I was a teen, I still wandered away from civilization to absorb the cool breath of the forest. This is why I love these stories by other women who for some reason can't deny their need to experience life on their own terms and to test their own limits. That is what going solo means. You have no one to blame for mishaps and only your own inner river to listen to for advice. It is the path to self-growth and understanding taken by one woman who must ski in Yellowstone in the dead of winter alone, and another who becomes the first woman to sail from San Francisco to Hawaii in the Pacific Cup(a blue water crossing I've dreamed of making myself) solo. There are many more adventures in this anthology that call for a much higher degree of personal fortitude and courage than I have ever mustered on any of my experiences in the wild. This is one of several collections edited by Susan Fox Rogers that stands out on travel narratives shelves as quality examples of women who are not only stretching their limits, but teaching us all how to be brave and true to ourselves.

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