The Sharks of Lake Nicaragua

Whether he's engaging in mock aerial combat or riding an Iditarod sled, Randy Wayne White is one of America's most adventurous travelers. In this collection he studies anti-terrorist driving techniques, dives for golf balls in an alligator-infested pond, hunts his fellow man with a paint gun, ice-fishes for walleye with X-ray-stunned night-crawlers, and goes pig-shooting with Dr. Pavlov. With self-effacing optimism, White captures joys and fears of wandering the earth's surface with an eclectic cast of fellow travelers: a frog that won't jump, a group of expatriate Brits who developed an interesting cure for "road jaundice," and even a mad Australian scientist.

Though he rarely finds what he's looking for--like the legendary landlocked bull sharks of Lake Nicaragua--he develops a Zen-like "passion for the means," and a rare ability to revel in the rib-aching humor of each exotic trip.