Oaxaca Journal (National Geographic Directions)
Publisher: National Geographic
Published: March 1, 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 159
ISBN-13: 9780792265214
Subjects: Travel writing; Sacks, Oliver W; North America; Travel; Travel - Foreign; Sacks, Oliver W; Mexico; Plants - General; Travel / General; Description And Travel; Ferns; Oaxaca (Mexico : State)
Description: "Ferns are what lured Oliver Sacks to Oaxaca, but those who know him will expect his journal to be filled with much more - and they won't he disappointed.".

"It's a diverse, casually erudite assemblage of professional and amateur botanists who gather in this extraordinary corner of Mexico, each bringing a different perspective and fresh insights to the endeavor. And what a richly varied part of the world! Whereas New England has a hundred fern varieties, the Oaxaca area boasts nearly seven hundred; village marketplaces sell at least two dozen kinds of chili pepper, from mild to mind-bogglingly hot.

Here too is a bird-watcher's paradise teeming with avian life, and an archaeologist's dream filled with ancient ruins that echo with pre-Columbian legend. And this is where the New World gave the Old World the delicious gift of chocolate, once reserved - on pain of death - for Aztec royalty.".

"Day by day, as Sacks and his colleagues explore, new sights and discoveries spark surprising, enlightening connections. By the time their all-too brief adventure - and this journal - is complete, we have toured not merely Oaxaca itself, but a whole world of history, science, and wonder."--BOOK JACKET.