Check it out

Bit by the travel bug but don’t have the time or wherewithal for an

epic adventure? Let your library card be your passport for a great escape

and settle into your favorite armchair for an imaginative expedition to

the edge of the Earth.

If Outer Mongolia calls, join Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard

Feynman on his last, best adventure, chronicled in “Tuva or Bust.”

Inspired by a fascination with an exotic stamp, the math professor and

his fellow geography enthusiast Ralph Leighton battled Soviet red tape to

make way for the trek.

They befriended numerous Tuvans and discovered the wonders of

throat-singing in their Byzantine attempts to reach tiny Tana Tuva

(interrupted by Feynman’s appointment in 1986 to the committee

investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger accident).

For grittier adventure, check out “Yukon Alone,” Times correspondent

John Balzar’s account of his harrowing experience as press liaison for

the 1998 Yukon Quest international dog sled competition, possibly the

toughest race on Earth. The gripping read provides a fascinating look at

the 1,023-mile challenge, exposed to danger and ice, created as a

celebration of mushing in its rawest form.

Just as dicey was Beck Weathers’ trip to Mount Everest, on the 1996

expedition that took the lives of nine climbers. The garrulous physician

and others who contributed to his survival on the mountain provide

insight into obsessive mountaineering and what can come of it in “Left

for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest.”

In addition to scaling all seven summits -- including Everest --

world-class adventurer David Hempleman-Adams became in 1998 the first

person on the planet to conquer all four geographic and magnetic poles.

Read about the final leg of his 15-year odyssey in “Walking on Thin Ice,”

a day-by-day account of a 600-mile journey to the most inhospitable

environment known to man.

For armchair travelers interested in something less perilous, “Great

Railway Journeys of the World” describes 95 rides on the world’s most

remarkable trains, including the Orient Express, the Blue Train from Cape

Town to Pretoria and the Trans-Andine Railway in Chile, with its 26

tunnels in 44 miles. More than 700 photographs of locomotives, stunning

scenery and historic landmarks make this dazzling new volume a fine pick

for rail enthusiasts.

And dozens of videos provide another means of vicarious travel to

inaccessible regions. Check out any of six videocassettes in “The Silk

Road II” series for a tour of the ancient trade route explored by

Alexander the Great and Marco Polo.

If you’re finally ready for a real escape, consider a journey to one

of the last wilderness frontiers, made infinitely feasible with help from

“The Arctic,” a new Lonely Planet guide. Along with comprehensive

coverage of the Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, Finland, Greenland,

Iceland, Norway and Sweden, there are special sections on peoples and

cultures, history, exploration and literature.

This recent addition to the travel collection includes a chapter

covering options from sea-kayaking to dog sledding.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams, in collaboration with

Claudia Peterman.