Sea to Shining Sea

In this collection of pieces from the New Yorker, Roueche (The Medical Detectives, etc.) takes us on memorable journeys here and abroad. There is a cross-country trip aboard Amtrak, a hazardous canoe voyage with Eskimos in the Bering Sea, another down the Mississippi on a giant tow. Roueche runs a whitewater stream in the Ozarks, follows the lone physician of Jal, N.M., on a day's rounds and reports on urban development in Portland, Ore. The descriptions of his European travels, by train and canal barge, are evocative enough to rouse a restless feeling in travel-minded readers. Back home, he describes the aftermath of a storm and tells what it is like to live without electricity. Three pieces written more than 30 years agoabout a Shaker community, Sag Harbor and Amagansettshow their age; but the remaining ones, about people, travel and places, are delightful. January 23