Ryan Starr is a backpacking legend... with a heart for our world and its many wonders. This camping novice became a survival expert as he wandered the globe taking every risk that fell his way. With humor, persistence, and a good bit of luck, Ryan lived to tell the tale. He’s not sure just how many times he stared death in the face, but Ryan would do it all again in a heartbeat. He’s left bits and pieces of his self and his psyche on uninhabited islands from the Florida Keys to New Zealand, and in the lush peaks and valleys of Hawaii and Central America. The pages of this book convey the pulse-quickening beauty of New Zealand, and the sometimes poignant, sometimes laughable escapades Ryan has chosen to reveal.

Ryan Starr is a backpacking legend... with a heart for our world and its many wonders. This camping novice became a survival expert as he wandered the globe taking every risk that fell his way. With humor, persistence, and a good bit of luck, Ryan lived to tell the tale. He's not sure just how many times he stared death in the face, but Ryan would do it all again in a heartbeat. He's left bits and pieces of his self and his psyche on uninhabited islands from the Florida Keys to New Zealand, and in the lush peaks and valleys of Hawaii and Central America. Could you live for a year with just a bit of resourcefulness and the stuff you can fit in your backpack? Ryan did. And he's recreated every one of his adventures in this wild, wacky, wonderful book describing how he met the challenge of surviving paradise. This paperback is a collection of all four books in the Surviving Paradise series. It includes: ★ A Year on a Deserted Island in the Florida Keys ★ Backpacking the Hawaiian Islands ★ Discovering New Zealand ★ Backpacking Central America

Touching on indigenous Maori relationships with the now-extinct, flightless moa; the attitudes of Pakeha, or European, settlers toward sheep; the iconography of whales and dolphins; the problems of pest-control; and the pleasures of pet-keeping, this modern-day bestiary is a fascinating study of human&–animal relations. In the book's four parts, the authors unravel the contradictory ways New Zealanders nurture and eradicate, glorify and demonize, cherish and devour, and describe and imagine animals. The study brings together insights from New Zealand's arts and literature, popular culture, historiography, media, and everyday life to describe and analyze their interactions with nga kararehe and nga manu, the beasts and birds of the land. In doing so, it illuminates fundamental aspects of New Zealand society: how New Zealanders understand their own identities and those of others; how they regard, inhabit, and make use of the natural world; and how they think about what they buy, eat, wear, watch, and read. Rich, multifaceted, and engaging, A New Zealand Book of Beasts satisfyingly explores how culture both shapes and is shaped by the &“beasts&” of Aotearoa.

The danger and excitement of Antarctic exploration from the earliest sea voyages through the 20th-century overland expeditions racing to the South Pole.

A futurist’s vision for a strong, economically successful and positive New Zealand The future is coming. The question is: are we ready? New Zealand Unleashed is a look at what sort of society New Zealand will need to be to best tackle an unpredictable future. It is about how New Zealand can thrive on the uncertainty of the future, rather than fear and resist it. In this book Steven Carden doesn't outline what New Zealand should do, rather he argues how New Zealand should be.To accomplish that, he examines aspects of biology, physics, psychology, New Zealand's history, business and education. New Zealand Unleashed is divided into four parts: Part One - The End of Certainty - Why does the pace of change seem so rampant today, the future so uncertain, and why does that unnerve us so much? Part Two - How to Build a Successful Society - Given that uncertainty and complexity is an increasing fact of life, what are the three key traits that successful societies use to deal with it? Part Three - New Zealand's DNA - Has New Zealand exhibited these three key traits in the past, and what does it tell us about our ability to cope with change and uncertainty in the future? Part Four - A Few Ideas for a More Adaptive New Zealand - How can New Zealand nurture these three key traits to help build a stronger country in the future?

Paradise Reforged picks up where Making Peoples left off, taking the story of the New Zealanders from the 1880s to the end of the twentieth century. It begins with the search for "Better Britain" and ends by analyzing the modern Maori resurgence, the new Pakeha consciousness, and the implications of a reinterpreted past for New Zealand's future. Along the way the book deals with subjects ranging from sport and sex to childhood and popular culture. Critics hailed Making Peoples as "brilliant" and "the most ambitious book yet written on [New Zealand's] past." Paradise Reforged, its successor, adopts a similarly incisive, original sweep across the New Zealand historical landscape in confronting the myths of the past. That some of its themes are uncomfortably close to the present makes the result all the more fascinating.

Armchair travelers get comfortable. This is not a tourist guide book Join the crew of a luxury schooner for a two week cruise to Tahiti. See how life really was on both the High Islands and the exotic Atolls. Is it really the closest thing to Paradise on Earth? Maybe Come along to unknown Samoa visiting villagers who live in thatch huts, and welcome us with an invitation to "chow." You can toss away your urban lives and "go native." Next we Island-hop in Fiji visiting the wondrous reefs and lagoons while there is till time to enjoy them. Be there with the villagers for a "Silent Kava Ceremony." Hang on for your life, as we sail through an unexpected hurricane to visit New Zealand with its majestic scenery and the interesting Maori culture. It's England without a thousand years of Kings and Queens. Reviews of "More Curious than Cautious -A Survivor's Adventure Through Paradise" "Best damn book on Polynesia I've ever read. Period. You can feel the sand between your toes and feel the warmth of the native people's smiles." - Tim Franey, BSEE, BSIE, MBA, CIRM (CPCC March 2007), ACC. World Traveler and Silicon Valley Executive. "Smiling, beguiling author and watercolorist Peter Fraser takes us with him on a barefoot trip to teach in post-WW II Polynesia. Native hospitality and his ready wit made him welcome in all nations alike. Keeps you hoping it will never end." - Richard (Rick) Tullis, MD, Scripps Hospital La Jolla. Peter Fraser was born in 1925, on Long Island, New York. He earned a B.A. in Anthropology and Sociology at Cornell University, and an M.S. in Education at Hofstra College, New York. He studied French, Spanish, Portuguese German, and Italian. He added courses including History of Fine Arts and Architecture. He taught middle school level in both public and private schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Arizona, New York, and Western Samoa. Peter's favorite subject to teach was Ancient History where the class enjoyed learning about what they could still see in "tourist Europe." He has visited over 125 countries, and hitch hiked in many of them. He has sailed across much of the Pacific Ocean, both as a crew member, and as a passenger. He has written articles for international travel magazines. He moved to San Diego in 2004.