Following World War II, when France desperately needed successes to heal its wounds, Lionel Terray emerged as a source of national inspiration and heroism by making first ascents on some of the world’s highest mountains - from the Andes to the Himalaya. Conquistadors of the Useless is an autobiographical account of a man who, despite being venerated by an entire nation for his climbing prowess, defied egotism and self entitlement over nature — seeing the mountains he climbed as nothing more than a “magical kingdom where by some spell I felt happiness.”

From his roguish childhood years to emergence as a national hero, Terray details the events of his extraordinary life with amusing self-deprecation. His accounts of ascents are detailed (with footnotes for those who don’t understand mountaineering lingo) to a degree that it seems one could travel to France today and locate the very tree that the twelve-year-old Terray used as a wench to drag an exhausted girl up the “sandwich crack” of the Dent Gerard. When not keeping readers on the edge of their seats with accounts of his mountain adventures, Terray sidetracks unintentionally into memoir; his relationship with his father, though understated, is complicated - as is his intense bond with climbing partner Louis Lachenal.

Finally back in print for the first time since the 1960’s, Conquistadors of the Useless is a forgotten gem of adventure literature that has been hailed by National Geographic Adventure magazine as one of the “100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time.” Humorous and death-defying vignettes of climbs around the world told with unbridled honesty and lack of pretense make this autobiography a mountaineering classic that anyone with the familiarity of experiencing a borderline religious zeal from being outdoors will relate to.

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Dirty Pictures is a collection of poetic photography from the muddy courses that make Portland America’s center for cyclocross. Starting with 50,000 images and laboring to narrow them down to a mere 160, PDXCross has put together a collection that needs few words. But there are some — the foreword is written by Wend Ambassador Heidi Swift which captures the essence of cross. Quotes like “How does it look? I can’t tell. There’s too much blood,” add to the intensity of the narrative in addition to the epic photos that give this book its distinct, gritty character.

Separated into eight sections, there are photos from every aspect of the 2008 cyclocross season: white teeth in the middle of a mud covered face, arms in makeshift slings, a line of competitors with bikes slung over their shoulders as they scramble up a hill and even a twister game played while drinking cans of PBR. And don’t think the book is all about the athletes: cowbell cheering spectators and devoted dogs make their appearance as well. All in all, if you’re a committed cyclocross lover or just need a picture book to shock your less adventurous friends, Dirty Pictures should definitely make its way onto your coffee table.

You can get your hands on a copy of Dirty Pictures by ordering it through Blurb.

Holly Hughes should get a lot of credit for writing a guidebook that raises these questions without depressing the potential traveler. A guidebook series normally devoted to the best restaurants and events in famous metropolises, in Frommer’s 500 Places to See Before They Disappear, Hughes covers natural and cultural wonders around the globe that may not survive for future generations to experience. She gives us insight as to why they may soon disappear but also in what ways we can best travel to them. On the one hand, more travelers in the Galapagos, for example, means more hotels, more pollution and more destruction of natural habitats. But in the face of the negative toll that tourism has taken on a place like this, future tourists could actually help to protect it; as long as they make conscious decisions about the ways they travel, which Hughes encourages us to do.

Hughes’ guidebook is meant to educate us on some of the world’s most extraordinary places and why they are at risk. From seas and streams to famous ruins, she takes us through well-known landmarks as well as lesser known beauties. Like many of us who were born with a strong sense of wanderlust, she acknowledges that we won’t just sit at home reading about these destinations, and that we should therefore be informed about how we can best visit them, with lower impact and more respect for the environment and local cultures.

I think that the underlying message is that travel isn’t going to stop, but that in a changing world, we must stay educated, and if we can respect our surroundings and travel consciously, exploring unknown places may in fact be the way to inspire us to work for positive global change.

What do you think? How can we best be conscious travelers and informed global citizens in the current state of the world?

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In this rather humorous yet informative journey through climactic conditions, you’ll learn how to use “trade winds” and “easterlies” in a sentence, how to identify clouds and even the history of weather and how it has impacted the evolution of Earth and Man. Think of the book as an entertaining intro class to meteorology, but minus the class part (you can read it in the comfort of your own bed if you please).  By the time you’re done, you’ll probably even be able to give your own weather reports; just think of the time you’ll save in the morning when you won’t have to wait for that section on the morning news.

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Taking three years “in the footsteps of mankind” the Poussins partook in a journey that took them along the Great Rift Valley of east Africa, symbolically tracing the passage of early man from Australopithecus to Modern Man. With no more than a change of shirt and underwear, cameras and water bottles, they crossed 10 east African countries, depending on the hospitality and generosity of the people they met along the way. Their story easily penned itself onto paper, resulting in a two volume series entitled Africa Trek, recently translated for the first time into English. The books take us along with them on the journey, be it through their bouts of malaria, summiting Mt. Kilimajaro or walking with Masai warriors. As they walk, they bring Africa into their hearts, discovering little by little the Africa rarely portrayed in modern media.

To say that reading Africa Trek is inspirational story is an understatement. It is an experience, reminding us the importance of slow travel to truly discover the essence of culture, environment and ourselves.

You can even listen to Wend’s own interview with Alex, available on podcast here.

You can also catch Africa Trek the Series, now running on select PBS stations around the US. Click here to find your local listing.

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Here at Wend we’re big fans of a lot of the artists on Nacional Records and Aterciopelados is one of them. But now there’s another reason to get excited about the Colombian duo’s latest album: it carries an environmental message. The song that names their latest album Rio (River) pays homage to the Bogota River, a river that is now extremely contaminated and polluted.

In an interview with Treehugger, one of the Aterciopelados Hector Buitrago said that ever since the release of their 1998 album Caribe Atomico they’ve had a sense of restlessness that stemmed “from a simple observation on the situation of our ecosystem.” Buitrago adds,”As time went by, things got worse instead of getting better and greater threats such as global warming and its consequences are truly looming over our planet. We think that it’s time for each of us, habitants or sons of the earth, to try to put some effort into stopping or changing these major problems.”

Learn more about the album, as well as listen to some of the new clips, on Aterciopelados’ website.

The organic cotton t-shirts feature music lyrics and artwork from both Dennen and Pierce, and a percentage of all the proceeds will be divvied up among causes close to Horny Toad’s and the artists’ hearts; Search for Adventure, Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness Inc. and The Mosaic Project will all be benefiting this upcoming season.

Dennen has a soulful voice, and has been compared to artists such as Jack Johnson, Tracy Chapman and Neil Young. His relaxed melodies are perfect for the chill-out, surfer, beach-inspired lifestyle that Horny Toad seems to attract with its lifestyle apparel. Even for those who tend to shy away from folk/pop, he’s worth listening to. Check out his video for “Ain’t No Reason” below:

Conveniently organized into five geographical sections — North, South, East, West and In Between — Dorsey’s essays can be sampled individually or as a whole, bringing the reader along for the thrill of each adventure. Whether it’s exploring a Peruvian burial site or looking into the mouth of a 10-ton male Orca whale from the seat of a kayak,  Dorsey’s distinct narrative pulls us from our comfortable armchairs and puts us directly into each of the rich journeys, along the way encouraging us to establish our own global observations. -AB

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Between the sweet shots of surfing icons like Gerry Lopez, Kelly Slater, Rabbit Kekai, Mark Occhilupo and Tom Curren paired with the music of artists like The Doors, Jackson Browne and Sublime, director David Parsa brings us closer to the symbiotic relationship between the rhythm of the waves and the rhythm of music.

“I chose to make LIVE simply because it is the surf film that I’ve always wanted to see,” says Parsa, who wanted to bring out the connection that so many surfers find integral to their sport. “For each sequence in LIVE, my goal was to blend the two in a manner that would result in one inseparable and compelling journey for the viewer.” And by the end of the film, that’s exactly what surf and sound become: beautifully inseparable.

Check out the trailer:

Purchase LIVE for $29.99 here.

Although based in Los Angeles, Dengue Fever draws its inspiration from Cambodia. The band was started in 2001 when brothers Ethan and Zac Holtzman discovered they both loved the exotic sounds and rhythms of Cambodian pop music of the 60s. After bringing along few more members – David Ralicke, Paul Smith and Senon Williams – they decided they needed a Cambodian singer to add to the mix. That was when they found Chhom Nimol, and incredible and well known Cambodian songstress who used to perform regularly for the King and Queen of Cambodia.

When you hear Nimol on stage, you can understand why her vocals were chosen for the royal treatment. Her voice is powerful, hypnotic at times, evoking centuries of history and culture while at the same time keeping the beat fun and frisky. Add to that the occasional traditional dance move, and Nimol has a stage presence that is hard to find elsewhere. Decked out in a glittery gold dress complete with gold stilettos when the band played in Portland, OR earlier this week, she certainly fulfilled the role of imperial songstress.

The band’s most recent album Venus on Earth is their third, and Dengue Fever’s continuous effort to create a sound that is both Cambodian and American is ever apparent. It’s a blend of rock, jazz, guitar pop, and Cambodian psychadelic. Sound hard to categorize? It is. But the results are hard to stop listening to.

Check out the Seeing Hands video below: