Snake Dance: Journeys Beneath a Nuclear Sky by Patrick Marnham – review
Patrick Marnham's meandering exploration of the dawn of the atomic age fascinates and frustrates Lara Feigel
The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor – review
The late, great travel writer's trilogy is finally complete, with a helping hand from admirers, says Anthony Sattin
The best quirky guidebooks from around the world
After rounding up his favourite unusual UK guidebooks, Henry Eliot casts the net wider, finding Hidden New York, the Best Places to Kiss in Paris, and much more
Summer voyages: Coasting by Jonathan Raban
An eccentric offshore progress around Britain is a sharp portrait of a nation at war and a brilliant depiction of the shape-shifting sea
Summer voyages: South from Granada by Gerald Brenan
This account of a demobbed English soldier immersing himself in an Andalusian village is a beguiling vision of true community
Summer voyages: In Pursuit of Spring by Edward Thomas
Flora MacQueen: A vivid and poignant portrait of a vanished age
Beyond Lonely Planet: top 10 quirky UK guidebooks
Who says the printed guidebook is dead? Small, independent UK publishers are gathering fans with their niche travel guides. Henry Eliot, founder of Curiocity magazine, rounds up some of the best
Reading Chekhov: A Critical Journey by Janet Malcolm – review
Janet Malcolm's literary journey in the footsteps of Chekhov is affectionate and insightful, writes Simon Hammond
Bebo and the other mega-deals that proved to be spectacular flops
The man who sold Bebo for $850m has just bought it back for $1m, meaning an $849m loss for its original buyer AOL. But it's not the only example of such a disaster in the business world
Italian Ways by Tim Parks – review
An entertainingly angry study of Italy's railways and the people who run them has Andrew Martin hoping for more
Red Nile: A Biography of the World’s Greatest River by Robert Twigger – review
Robert Twigger offers an entertaining, if Egypt-centric, history of the Nile, writes Anthony Sattin
Holloway by Robert Macfarlane, Stanley Donwood and Dan Richards – review
A slim, but poetic and beautifully illustrated book about travels on sunken paths makes a powerful impression on Ben East
The Last Train to Zona Verde by Paul Theroux – review
A disastrous African trip by the veteran travel writer is unsettling but always riveting, writes Robin McKie
Consolations of the Forest by Sylvain Tesson – review
The memoir of a Parisian soul searcher's five months in Siberia enjoyably slows the pulse, and asks big questions, writes Jessica Holland
Why hand-drawn maps are back in the picture
A new book of 75 personal maps of Manhattan is just the latest in a new wave of cartographic creations by artists – both famous and amateur – seeking to put the romance back into this centuries-old art form