When Intrepid Is Not Enough

DESERT PLACES: A Woman’s Nomadic Odyssey Across India by Robyn Davidson (Viking, $23.95, photos).

Robyn Davidson is intrepid, undeniably. Her trek, in the late ‘70s, across the Australian Outback with a string of camels, made her a cause celebre among the adventure set (and a star of National Geographic magazine). She saddles up again in “Desert Places” for a pilgrimage across India with the Rabari, low-caste sheepherders whose culture is endangered.

The hardships of Davidson’s trip are as much social as physical. In the end, she’s overwhelmed by poverty, disease, filth, misogyny, the language barrier and, perhaps most trying, her freak-show status as a single, white, foreign woman. Surrounded by jabbering, curious crowds, she becomes isolated beyond endurance. What starts out as an adventure with and study of nomads, becomes the journal of a personal breakdown.

At times, “Desert Places” is a compelling adventure. And until the lugubrious ending (even her dog and camel die!) when she wallows in self-pity, Davidson’s a generally muscular writer, balancing her inner trials with pointed descriptions of daily life on the trail.

However, the fundamental idea of “Desert Places” seems naive, if not condescending. Davidson lives with the Rabari for only a few months (taking several hotel breaks), and while they may have a kind of desperate dignity, there’s more than a tinge of “noble savage” about Davidson’s characterization.

Early on, local people ask Davidson: “You have (lots) of rupees, and you have a Jeep. Why do you want to live with poor people? Why do you want to walk?” Good questions. Only a successful Westerner with easy access to medicine, hot showers and a book contract would try to imbue the life of poverty and crushing fatalism with deep human truths. The Rabari themselves find it nasty, brutish and short.

COSTA RICA: The Forests of Eden by Kevin Schafer (Rizzoli, $45, photos).

In this coffee-table portfolio, nature photographer Schafer makes Central America come to life in a wonderfully icky sort of way. Along with photos of brilliantly plumed toucans and camouflaged jaguars are close-ups of such rain forest denizens as translucent fungi, stick insects, deadly spiders and bug-eyed tree frogs. It makes the reader feel humid just thumbing through. Schafer divides the country into five ecological zones. In a lively text, he discusses the nature of each zone and outlines some of the environmental problems facing them.

Quick trips:

LOS ANGELES BY NIGHT by Jeff Spurrier (Macmillan, $12.95, paperback, maps). New series by the Frommer crew that includes London, Paris, San Francisco, New York and Chicago. This one focuses on the bar scene, the arts, sports, late-night dining, what’s in and what’s out. Effects a hip attitude, enjoys trashing easy targets (like the sound system at the Great Western Forum), mistakes snide for clever. Ho-hum.

FODOR’S GAY GUIDE TO THE USA by Andrew Collins (Fodor’s Travel Publications, $19.95, paperback, maps). Focuses on 29 cities and resort areas. Discusses the gay scene in each spot and includes usual tourist info along with listings of gay-friendly restaurants, hotels and districts. Comprehensive bar and nightclub catalog includes Collins’ unstinting observations.

THE ART OF ADVENTURE by Galen Rowell (Sierra Club Books, $30, paperback, photos). Reissue in paperback of the 1989 best of Galen Rowell book. This collection of the adventure-outdoor photographer’s gorgeous work spans nearly 20 years. As befits a climber, many of these shots are of mountains or mountainous terrain, including now well-known images of the Himalayas and the Sierra Nevada. How-I-got-that-shot index in the back makes this a good book for amateurs wanting to improve their skills.

CUBA: The Elusive Island, photos by Tria Giovan (Abrams, $24.95). Photo essay of Cuba interspersed with poems and excerpts from various literary works by Cubans or about Cuba.

LET’S GO: The Budget Guide to Southeast Asia, edited by Jesse Grayman (St. Martin’s Press, $16.99, paperback, maps). Let’s Go is right up there with Moon, Lonely Planet and the Rough Guides for budget and backpacking travelers. In the past, Let’s Go has featured more mainstream destinations such as France, Italy, London. Now they’re branching out with this guide and a new one on Central America. Students do the Let’s Go fact-gathering and the guides are geared to whirlwind summer vacations; hotel and restaurant recommendations are downscale.

NEW ENGLAND: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine by Tom Brosnahan and Kim Grant (Lonely Planet, $19.95, maps). Latest in a new series of guides to the United States from the best known of the roughing-it publishers. The helpful hotel and restaurant listings include a range of recommendations, from budget to high end.

Books to Go appears the second and fourth week of every month.