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Spanish Lessons: How one family found their place in the sun
by Derek LambertTired of his life as a globe-trotting journalist, and desperate to finish his latest novel, writer Derek Lambert decides to settle with his new wife and young son in a mouldering casita nestled among citrus groves inland of the Costa Blanca.As he sets about restoring his house and learning to live the ordinary life of a Spanish villager, Lambert introduces us to a Spain far removed from the tourist traps and thumping discos of the Costas, and soon discovers that adapting to this new life is not as easy as he imagined. He employs a roofer who's afraid of heights, a plumber confounded by a blocked pipe and bumbles through Spanish lessons with a mocking classmate who challenges him to a public arm-wresting contest. Then just when it seems that nothing more could go wrong, the Lamberts face Spain's first snowstorm in many years.Written in the jaunty, anecdotal style of Peter Mayle and Bill Bryson, this is a warm, affectionate and often hilarious portrait of life as a foreigner in rural Spain.
Spanish Steps: One Man And His Ass On The Pilgrim Way To Santiago
by Tim MooreLudicrous, heart-warming and improbably inspirational, Spanish Steps is the story of what happens when a rather silly man tries to walk all the way across a very large country, with a very large animal who doesn't really want to.Being larger than a cat, the donkey is the kind of animal Tim Moore is slightly scared of. Yet intrigued by epic accounts of a pilgrimage undertaken by one in three medieval Europeans, and committed to historical authenticity, he finds himself leading a Pyrenean ass named Shinto into Spain, headed for Santiago de Compostela.Over 500 miles of extreme weather and agonising bestial sloth, it becomes memorably apparent that for the multinational band of eccentrics who keep the Santiagan flame alive, the pilgrimage has evolved from a purely devotional undertaking into a mobile therapist's couch.'Hailed as the new Bill Bryson, he is in fact a writer of considerably more substance and the jokes come thick and fast' Irish Times
The Spanish Temper
by V. S. PritchettEliciting comparisons to Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, Pritchett's meditative work on Spain is comprised of a string of sketches, woven around the author's musings on the Spanish character.Having lived in Spain for four years during the 1920s, Pritchett is well placed to deliver such a report, and his resulting narrative is both well informed and delightfully written.
Spanish Tourism Geographies: Territorial Diversity and Different Approaches (Geographies of Tourism and Global Change)
by Asunción Blanco-Romero Macià Blázquez-SalomThis book provides an overview of the progress in Spanish tourism geography, particularly after the overlay of financial, pandemic and climate crisis, by the scrutiny of the different geographical areas and variables of analysis. It shows the diversity of geographical environments and their varied relationship with tourism, from the emptied inland regions to urban heritage in historic centres to coastal resorts. The book also introduces the analysis of the most important variables when studying the implications of Spanish tourist specialization. How are the beaches with intensive tourist use managed? What socio-spatial processes do leisure-rooted migrations involve? What are the labour conditions in the Spanish tourism industry? How does saving water boost tourism growth? The book offers answers through a methodological specificity of Spanish geography, which is highly oriented towards the analysis of public policies and even the proposal of new planning and methodology formulas that go beyond diagnostic studies.The domestic perspective, or that of insiders, of these scientists residing in Spain bestows them with special codes for conducting interpretations and analyses based on their everyday proximity to a territory characterised by its intense touristification. The tourism and real estate specialisation that Spanish society, together with its territory and institutions, have forged since the beginning of “developmentalism” permeates this scientific analysis. By providing a strong conceptual and empirical portrait, this book is a great resource for students and scholars in geography of tourism, as well as for social scientists and policy makers.
Spanish Visual Dictionary For Dummies
by Consumer DummiesSpanish Visual Dictionary Learn Spanish vocabulary faster!It’s a fact—seeing something helps you remember it. This handy guide helps you build your Spanish vocabulary with full-color pictures illustrating every term. You’ll be able to communicate with native speakers faster as you learn and remember more words and their meanings. The book is organized by themes such as transportation, accommodations, restaurants and eating, sports, emergencies, and shopping, making it especially useful for travelers. Boost your learning speed and get talking in Spanish today!InsideTransportation terminologyGetting around a cityRestaurants and food ordersHandling an emergency
Spanish Visual Dictionary For Dummies
by Consumer DummiesSpanish Visual Dictionary Learn Spanish vocabulary faster!It’s a fact—seeing something helps you remember it. This handy guide helps you build your Spanish vocabulary with full-color pictures illustrating every term. You’ll be able to communicate with native speakers faster as you learn and remember more words and their meanings. The book is organized by themes such as transportation, accommodations, restaurants and eating, sports, emergencies, and shopping, making it especially useful for travelers. Boost your learning speed and get talking in Spanish today!InsideTransportation terminologyGetting around a cityRestaurants and food ordersHandling an emergency
Special Event Production: The Resources
by Doug MatthewsThis must-have guide to special event production resources looks deep behind the scenes of an event and dissects what it is that creates success. It analyses the resources and is an extensive reference guide to the technical details of a big event. It provides a thorough grounding on the specifications and performance of lighting and audio systems, visual presentation technology, special effects and temporary outdoor venues. This new edition includes: New content on: new audio –visual technology, industry safety standards, special effect platforms, décor and new custom forms of staging for both indoor and outdoor events. Updated and new case studies from USA, Canada, India, Russia and Malaysia New Industry Voice feature, including interviews with industry experts from around the world. Comprehensive coverage of venues, staging, seating, rigging, lighting, video, audio, scenic design and décor, CADD, entertainment, special effects, tenting, electrical power, fencing and sanitary facilities in a variety of indoor and outdoor event settings. Enhanced online resources including: PowerPoint lecture slides, checklists, glossaries, additional questions and challenges, web links and video links. Incorporating pedagogical features, this easy-to-read book is packed with photographs, diagrams, flow charts, checklists, sample forms and real-life examples. The vast varieties of audio-visual technologies, outdoor venues, décor and staging are presented. A must have resource for event planners, managers, caterers and students. This text is part two of a two book set - also available is Special Events Production: The Process (978-1-138-78565-6). This book analyses the process - the planning and business aspects - to provide a unique guide to producing a variety of events from weddings to festivals.
Special Event Production: The Process
by Doug MatthewsThis must-have guide to special event production looks deep behind the scenes of an event and dissects what it is that creates success. It analyses the process - the planning and business aspects - to provide a unique guide to producing a variety of events from weddings to festivals. It explains thoroughly budgeting and resource concerns, planning and cost projections and the role of the well-crafted proposal. This new edition has been significantly updated to include: Three new chapters: Event Design, Information Technology and Sustainability and Event Production. Updated and new case studies from USA, Canada , India, Russia and Malaysia. New Industry Voice feature, including an interview with industry experts from around the world commenting on their experiences of event planning and production. New content on: technology, volunteers, venues and PR and marketing. Enhanced online resources including: PowerPoint lecture slides, checklists, glossaries, additional questions and challenges, web links, sample contract templates, production schedule templates, and evaluation forms. Incorporating pedagogical features, this easy-to-read book is packed with photographs, diagrams, flow charts, checklists, sample forms, and real-life examples. It steps through the whole process from the creativity and proposal at the outset, to budgeting, the contract and risk management with event follow up to conclude. A must have resource for event planners, managers, caterers and students. This text is part two of a two book set - also available is Special Events Production: The Resources (978-1-138-78567-0). This book offers an in - depth guide to the technical aspects of a big event such as lighting and audio systems, visual presentation technology, special effects and temporary outdoor venues.
Special Event Production: The Process
by Doug MatthewsThis must-have guide to special event production resources looks deep behind the scenes of an event and dissects what it is that creates success. It analyses the resources and is an extensive reference guide to the technical details of a big event. It provides a thorough grounding on the specifications and performance of lighting and audio systems, visual presentation technology, special effects and temporary outdoor venues. This new edition includes: New content on: new audio –visual technology, industry safety standards, special effect platforms, décor and new custom forms of staging for both indoor and outdoor events. Updated and new case studies from USA, Canada, India, Russia and Malaysia New Industry Voice feature, including interviews with industry experts from around the world. Comprehensive coverage of venues, staging, seating, rigging, lighting, video, audio, scenic design and décor, CADD, entertainment, special effects, tenting, electrical power, fencing and sanitary facilities in a variety of indoor and outdoor event settings. Enhanced online resources including: PowerPoint lecture slides, checklists, glossaries, additional questions and challenges, web links and video links. Incorporating pedagogical features, this easy-to-read book is packed with photographs, diagrams, flow charts, checklists, sample forms and real-life examples. The vast varieties of audio-visual technologies, outdoor venues, décor and staging are presented. A must have resource for event planners, managers, caterers and students. This text is part two of a two book set - also available is Special Events Production: The Process (978-1-138-78565-6). This book analyses the process - the planning and business aspects - to provide a unique guide to producing a variety of events from weddings to festivals.
Special Event Production: The Process
by Doug MatthewsThis must-have guide to special event production looks deep behind the scenes of an event and dissects what it is that creates success. It analyses the process - the planning and business aspects - to provide a unique guide to producing a variety of events from weddings to festivals. It explains thoroughly budgeting and resource concerns, planning and cost projections and the role of the well-crafted proposal. This new edition has been significantly updated to include: Three new chapters: Event Design, Information Technology and Sustainability and Event Production. Updated and new case studies from USA, Canada , India, Russia and Malaysia. New Industry Voice feature, including an interview with industry experts from around the world commenting on their experiences of event planning and production. New content on: technology, volunteers, venues and PR and marketing. Enhanced online resources including: PowerPoint lecture slides, checklists, glossaries, additional questions and challenges, web links, sample contract templates, production schedule templates, and evaluation forms. Incorporating pedagogical features, this easy-to-read book is packed with photographs, diagrams, flow charts, checklists, sample forms, and real-life examples. It steps through the whole process from the creativity and proposal at the outset, to budgeting, the contract and risk management with event follow up to conclude. A must have resource for event planners, managers, caterers and students. This text is part two of a two book set - also available is Special Events Production: The Resources (978-1-138-78567-0). This book offers an in - depth guide to the technical aspects of a big event such as lighting and audio systems, visual presentation technology, special effects and temporary outdoor venues.
Special Events: Creating and Sustaining a New World for Celebration (The Wiley Event Management Series)
by Joe GoldblattProviding a comprehensive guide to understanding, planning, promoting, and producing special events, this seventh edition of Special Events, 7th Edition describes the theory and practice of all aspects of event management. Written for current and future event leaders, the text continues to expand its emphasis on the growing globalization of the profession, taking into account the skills leaders need to deal with other cultures, societies, and business practices to plan and deliver successful events. New coverage includes sustainability, technology, security/risk management, and the impact of social media on events and event marketing. 15 all-new case studies have been included, as well as a brief glossary of terms at the end of each chapter to further define the terms used in the chapter.
The Special Events Advisor: A Business and Legal Guide for Event Professionals
by David SorinThere's no dearth of books on the logistics of event planning, but not much has been published to address the legal and business issues that concern the thousands of companies that make up this industry. This book covers all the legal and business issues that special events professionals need to understand -- from contractual considerations to little-known governmental regulations with heavy ramifications. Ignorance of the law can prove very costly in an industry in which expectations must be met the first time, and in our ever-more litigious society, the need for this niche title is clear.
Special Interest Tourism: Concepts, Contexts and Cases
by Carol Southall Lynn Minnaert Nazia Ali Ade Oriade Allan Watson Glen Croy Ralf Buckley Dallen J Timothy Steven Rhoden Alison Caffyn Richard W Benfield Cheng-Fei LeeSpecial interest tourism is growing rapidly due to a discerning and heterogeneous travel market and the demand for more focused activity or interest-based tourism experiences. This book approaches the topic from the perspective of both supply and demand, and addresses the complexities now inherent in this area of tourism. It presents a contextualised overview of contemporary academic research, concepts, principles and industry-based practice insights, and also considers the future of special interest tourism in light of the emergence of ethical consumerism. With a clear, user-friendly structure, the book: -Links theoretical frameworks to clear practical applications. -Reviews key emerging issues for tourism relating to families and faith, the performing arts, active and passive pursuits, therapeutic leisure and travelling. -Includes contributions and case studies from international academics and practitioners to give a truly global overview. Sometimes referred to as niche or contemporary tourism, this book provides a complete introduction to the study of special interest tourism for students.
Specialised Tourism Products: Development, Management and Practice
by Neven Šerić Ivana Kursan Milaković Ivan PeronjaThe author’s first experience in creating a unique tourism venture was lighthouse tourism, encapsulated in the Stone Lights project (1999-2001). Through subsequent research and reflections on its commercialization, Specialised Tourism Products: Development, Management and Practice delves into the intricacies and legalities of marketing specialised tourism products. Referencing scientific studies and notable works, they underscore the evolving importance of such offerings for sustainable tourism development. Specialised Tourism Products is a culmination of practical experiences, modelling a systematic approach to tourism development, accentuating the growing significance of specialised tourism content in the wake of climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on their tested projects, the authors present a comprehensive model, sharing their insights with a wider scientific and professional audience, contributing to the ongoing discourse on fostering attractive and competitive destination offerings in the face of contemporary challenges.
Specialised Tourism Products: Development, Management and Practice
by Neven Šerić Ivana Kursan Milaković Ivan PeronjaThe author’s first experience in creating a unique tourism venture was lighthouse tourism, encapsulated in the Stone Lights project (1999-2001). Through subsequent research and reflections on its commercialization, Specialised Tourism Products: Development, Management and Practice delves into the intricacies and legalities of marketing specialised tourism products. Referencing scientific studies and notable works, they underscore the evolving importance of such offerings for sustainable tourism development. Specialised Tourism Products is a culmination of practical experiences, modelling a systematic approach to tourism development, accentuating the growing significance of specialised tourism content in the wake of climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on their tested projects, the authors present a comprehensive model, sharing their insights with a wider scientific and professional audience, contributing to the ongoing discourse on fostering attractive and competitive destination offerings in the face of contemporary challenges.
Spectacular Britain: A spotter's guide to the UK’s most amazing natural phenomena
by Kevin SeneFrom the Northern Lights to whirling coastal birds, and sunken villages to the annual deer rut, the UK is home to some of the world's finest natural spectacles. With this guide and a little luck, you too can experience the magic of seeing something truly extraordinary.Start planning your spectacular year with the help of this practical guide to the UK's most magical natural phenomena. This guide shows you when and where to go, and how to maximise your chances of a sighting, as well as explaining why these amazing spectacles occur in the first place. Sections cover: - Space: meteor showers, eclipses and supermoons, Northern Lights - Weather: hidden currents, mountain waves, named winds - Tides: tidal bores, tidal races, low tide walks - Land: autumn colours, wildflower displays, rutting deer - Rivers and lakes: salmon runs, sunken villages, waterfall wonders - Coast: wheeling waterbirds, seabird cities, seal pupsEach spectacle is graded according to how easy it is to spot, and the author gives expert tips on achieving the best sighting. Scientific insights describe the astronomical, meteorological and ecological causes of events, which are brought to life through the stories of the people who know them best, from the glider pilots who ride mountain waves to the King's Guides who help people navigate the dangerous sands of Morecombe Bay. This is your starting point for some truly phenomenal adventures.
Spectacular Britain: A spotter's guide to the UK’s most amazing natural phenomena
by Kevin SeneFrom the Northern Lights to whirling coastal birds, and sunken villages to the annual deer rut, the UK is home to some of the world's finest natural spectacles. With this guide and a little luck, you too can experience the magic of seeing something truly extraordinary.Start planning your spectacular year with the help of this practical guide to the UK's most magical natural phenomena. This guide shows you when and where to go, and how to maximise your chances of a sighting, as well as explaining why these amazing spectacles occur in the first place. Sections cover: - Space: meteor showers, eclipses and supermoons, Northern Lights - Weather: hidden currents, mountain waves, named winds - Tides: tidal bores, tidal races, low tide walks - Land: autumn colours, wildflower displays, rutting deer - Rivers and lakes: salmon runs, sunken villages, waterfall wonders - Coast: wheeling waterbirds, seabird cities, seal pupsEach spectacle is graded according to how easy it is to spot, and the author gives expert tips on achieving the best sighting. Scientific insights describe the astronomical, meteorological and ecological causes of events, which are brought to life through the stories of the people who know them best, from the glider pilots who ride mountain waves to the King's Guides who help people navigate the dangerous sands of Morecombe Bay. This is your starting point for some truly phenomenal adventures.
Speedy Motor: Travels across Asia and the Middle East in a Morgan
by John CarswellIn the summer of 1974, against the backdrop of the Lebanese Civil War, ceramics expert and Morgan sports car enthusiast John Carswell set off with his young family from their home in Beirut on an expedition across Asia and the Middle East. Their mode of transport was their beloved motor car, a Morgan 4/4 four seater, named 'Speedy'. Following in the steps of Ibn Battuta, their destination was the Maldives, where Carswell hoped to find evidence of the Chinese blue and white pottery which he was researching. The family travelled via Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, from where they sailed to Bombay (Mumbai). What followed was an extraordinary journey across the length of India to Sri Lanka and from there to the Maldives. Speedy Motor tells, with wit and sparkle, the trials and tribulations of one family car over several decades in the Middle East and latterly Europe. When the family were forced to flee Beirut during the Civil War, Speedy temporarily fell into the hands of Hizbollah but years later 'he' was reunited with his family in England. John Carswell's vivid account of a unique expedition and a much-loved car provides a vibrant portrait of a region in the grip of change.
Speedy Motor: Travels across Asia and the Middle East in a Morgan
by John CarswellIn the summer of 1974, against the backdrop of the Lebanese Civil War, ceramics expert and Morgan sports car enthusiast John Carswell set off with his young family from their home in Beirut on an expedition across Asia and the Middle East. Their mode of transport was their beloved motor car, a Morgan 4/4 four seater, named 'Speedy'. Following in the steps of Ibn Battuta, their destination was the Maldives, where Carswell hoped to find evidence of the Chinese blue and white pottery which he was researching. The family travelled via Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, from where they sailed to Bombay (Mumbai). What followed was an extraordinary journey across the length of India to Sri Lanka and from there to the Maldives. Speedy Motor tells, with wit and sparkle, the trials and tribulations of one family car over several decades in the Middle East and latterly Europe. When the family were forced to flee Beirut during the Civil War, Speedy temporarily fell into the hands of Hizbollah but years later 'he' was reunited with his family in England. John Carswell's vivid account of a unique expedition and a much-loved car provides a vibrant portrait of a region in the grip of change.
The Spiders of Allah: Travels Of An Unbeliever On The Frontline Of Holy War
by James HiderThe bloodshed perpetrated in the name of religion in the world today is nowhere more obvious than in the Middle East. Whether we are talking about hardcore Zionist settlers still fighting ancient Biblical battles in the hills of the West Bank or Shiite death squads roaming the lawless streets of Iraq in the aftermath of Saddam; whether it's the misappropriation and martyrdom of Mickey Mouse by Gaza's Islamists, or a US president acting on God's orders, James Hider sees the hallucinatory effect of what he calls the 'crack cocaine of fanatical fundamentalism' all around him.As James Hider travels around the Middle East, from Israel to Gaza, to Iraq and then back to Jerusalem, he takes his doubts about religious beliefs to the very heart of the world's holy wars. He meets terrorists and their victims, soldiers and clerics, ordinary people and extraordinary people. The question in the back of his mind is: how can people not only believe in all this madness, but die and kill for it too? This timely book casts an unflinching yet compassionate eye on the very worst and most violent crimes committed in the name of religion and asks questions that the world needs to answer if we are to stand a chance of facing our own worst demons.
Spies
by David LongA single spy can save thousands of lives.Spies and secret agents have been hard at work for centuries, risking their lives, and sometimes changing the course of history. Discover twenty-seven of the most courageous and daring, including Britain's first female spy, a teacher turned saboteur, the spy who sang for Hitler and the man who never was . . .An unputdownable collection of real life adventures, stunningly illustrated by Terri Po.
Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through the Land Art of the American West (Culture Trails: Adventures in Travel)
by Erin HoganErin Hogan hit the road in her Volkswagen Jetta and headed west from Chicago in search of the monuments of American land art: a salty coil of rocks, four hundred stainless steel poles, a gash in a mesa, four concrete tubes, and military sheds filled with cubes. Her journey took her through the states of Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. It also took her through the states of anxiety, drunkenness, disorientation, and heat exhaustion. Spiral Jetta is a chronicle of this journey. A lapsed art historian and devoted urbanite, Hogan initially sought firsthand experience of the monumental earthworks of the 1970s and the 1980s—Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels, Walter De Maria’s Lightning Field, James Turrell’s Roden Crater, Michael Heizer’s Double Negative, and the contemporary art mecca of Marfa, Texas. Armed with spotty directions, no compass, and less-than-desert-appropriate clothing, she found most of what she was looking for and then some. “I was never quite sure what Hogan was looking for when she set out . . . or indeed whether she found it. But I loved the ride. In Spiral Jetta, an unashamedly honest, slyly uproarious, ever-probing book, art doesn’t magically have the power to change lives, but it can, perhaps no less powerfully, change ways of seeing.”—Tom Vanderbilt, New York Times Book Review “The reader emerges enlightened and even delighted. . . . Casually scrutinizing the artistic works . . . while gamely playing up her fish-out-of-water status, Hogan delivers an ingeniously engaging travelogue-cum-art history.”—Atlantic “Smart and unexpectedly hilarious.”—Kevin Nance, Chicago Sun-Times “One of the funniest and most entertaining road trips to be published in quite some time.”—June Sawyers, Chicago Tribune “Hogan ruminates on how the work affects our sense of time, space, size, and scale. She is at her best when she reexamines the precepts of modernism in the changing light of New Mexico, and shows how the human body is meant to be a participant in these grand constructions.”—New Yorker
Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through the Land Art of the American West (Culture Trails: Adventures in Travel)
by Erin HoganErin Hogan hit the road in her Volkswagen Jetta and headed west from Chicago in search of the monuments of American land art: a salty coil of rocks, four hundred stainless steel poles, a gash in a mesa, four concrete tubes, and military sheds filled with cubes. Her journey took her through the states of Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. It also took her through the states of anxiety, drunkenness, disorientation, and heat exhaustion. Spiral Jetta is a chronicle of this journey. A lapsed art historian and devoted urbanite, Hogan initially sought firsthand experience of the monumental earthworks of the 1970s and the 1980s—Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels, Walter De Maria’s Lightning Field, James Turrell’s Roden Crater, Michael Heizer’s Double Negative, and the contemporary art mecca of Marfa, Texas. Armed with spotty directions, no compass, and less-than-desert-appropriate clothing, she found most of what she was looking for and then some. “I was never quite sure what Hogan was looking for when she set out . . . or indeed whether she found it. But I loved the ride. In Spiral Jetta, an unashamedly honest, slyly uproarious, ever-probing book, art doesn’t magically have the power to change lives, but it can, perhaps no less powerfully, change ways of seeing.”—Tom Vanderbilt, New York Times Book Review “The reader emerges enlightened and even delighted. . . . Casually scrutinizing the artistic works . . . while gamely playing up her fish-out-of-water status, Hogan delivers an ingeniously engaging travelogue-cum-art history.”—Atlantic “Smart and unexpectedly hilarious.”—Kevin Nance, Chicago Sun-Times “One of the funniest and most entertaining road trips to be published in quite some time.”—June Sawyers, Chicago Tribune “Hogan ruminates on how the work affects our sense of time, space, size, and scale. She is at her best when she reexamines the precepts of modernism in the changing light of New Mexico, and shows how the human body is meant to be a participant in these grand constructions.”—New Yorker
Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through the Land Art of the American West (Culture Trails: Adventures in Travel)
by Erin HoganErin Hogan hit the road in her Volkswagen Jetta and headed west from Chicago in search of the monuments of American land art: a salty coil of rocks, four hundred stainless steel poles, a gash in a mesa, four concrete tubes, and military sheds filled with cubes. Her journey took her through the states of Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. It also took her through the states of anxiety, drunkenness, disorientation, and heat exhaustion. Spiral Jetta is a chronicle of this journey. A lapsed art historian and devoted urbanite, Hogan initially sought firsthand experience of the monumental earthworks of the 1970s and the 1980s—Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels, Walter De Maria’s Lightning Field, James Turrell’s Roden Crater, Michael Heizer’s Double Negative, and the contemporary art mecca of Marfa, Texas. Armed with spotty directions, no compass, and less-than-desert-appropriate clothing, she found most of what she was looking for and then some. “I was never quite sure what Hogan was looking for when she set out . . . or indeed whether she found it. But I loved the ride. In Spiral Jetta, an unashamedly honest, slyly uproarious, ever-probing book, art doesn’t magically have the power to change lives, but it can, perhaps no less powerfully, change ways of seeing.”—Tom Vanderbilt, New York Times Book Review “The reader emerges enlightened and even delighted. . . . Casually scrutinizing the artistic works . . . while gamely playing up her fish-out-of-water status, Hogan delivers an ingeniously engaging travelogue-cum-art history.”—Atlantic “Smart and unexpectedly hilarious.”—Kevin Nance, Chicago Sun-Times “One of the funniest and most entertaining road trips to be published in quite some time.”—June Sawyers, Chicago Tribune “Hogan ruminates on how the work affects our sense of time, space, size, and scale. She is at her best when she reexamines the precepts of modernism in the changing light of New Mexico, and shows how the human body is meant to be a participant in these grand constructions.”—New Yorker
Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through the Land Art of the American West (Culture Trails: Adventures in Travel)
by Erin HoganErin Hogan hit the road in her Volkswagen Jetta and headed west from Chicago in search of the monuments of American land art: a salty coil of rocks, four hundred stainless steel poles, a gash in a mesa, four concrete tubes, and military sheds filled with cubes. Her journey took her through the states of Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. It also took her through the states of anxiety, drunkenness, disorientation, and heat exhaustion. Spiral Jetta is a chronicle of this journey. A lapsed art historian and devoted urbanite, Hogan initially sought firsthand experience of the monumental earthworks of the 1970s and the 1980s—Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels, Walter De Maria’s Lightning Field, James Turrell’s Roden Crater, Michael Heizer’s Double Negative, and the contemporary art mecca of Marfa, Texas. Armed with spotty directions, no compass, and less-than-desert-appropriate clothing, she found most of what she was looking for and then some. “I was never quite sure what Hogan was looking for when she set out . . . or indeed whether she found it. But I loved the ride. In Spiral Jetta, an unashamedly honest, slyly uproarious, ever-probing book, art doesn’t magically have the power to change lives, but it can, perhaps no less powerfully, change ways of seeing.”—Tom Vanderbilt, New York Times Book Review “The reader emerges enlightened and even delighted. . . . Casually scrutinizing the artistic works . . . while gamely playing up her fish-out-of-water status, Hogan delivers an ingeniously engaging travelogue-cum-art history.”—Atlantic “Smart and unexpectedly hilarious.”—Kevin Nance, Chicago Sun-Times “One of the funniest and most entertaining road trips to be published in quite some time.”—June Sawyers, Chicago Tribune “Hogan ruminates on how the work affects our sense of time, space, size, and scale. She is at her best when she reexamines the precepts of modernism in the changing light of New Mexico, and shows how the human body is meant to be a participant in these grand constructions.”—New Yorker