LONELY PLANET UNPACKED
By Tony Wheeler and other Lonely Planet authors
Lonely Planet, 251 pages, $12.95
These "travel disaster stories" move beyond alley muggings and bouts of dysentery. Lonely Planet, the world's largest independent travel publisher, is known for its series of guidebooks geared toward touring on the cheap. Here the series' authors take a break from detailing exchange rates and dates for windy seasons to describe their own most perilous journeys.