Travel dispatches from a shrinking planet

Travel dispatches from a shrinking planet

RECENT DISPATCHES
5.6.08

On the Occasional Importance of a Ceiling Fan

Emily Stone knew well the kind of moment she was experiencing in Puerto Rico: the guy, the Cuba libres, the accelerated intimacy. It was perfectly safe, she told herself, as long as she knew when to get out.

4.23.08

A Writer’s Port of Call

Adam Karlin went to Indonesia to work as a reporter. But after a visit to Jakarta’s old wharf to see the aging Makassar schooners, he left with a calling of a different order.

Q&A
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Tony Horwitz: Rediscovering the New World

Ben Keene talks to the author of the new book “A Voyage Long and Strange” about travel, American myths and the importance of visiting places where “history happened”

SPEAKER'S CORNER
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In Patagonia, In Patagonia

Tim Patterson packs his fleece and long underwear, and enters the Twilight Zone where corporate branding meets the multilayered reality of place. 

ASK ROLF
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Should I Quit Law School so I can Travel the World?

Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel

BOOKS
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‘The Worst Guidebook Writer Ever’?

Lonely Planet author Robert Reid reviews Thomas Kohnstamm’s “Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?” and weighs in on the controversy surrounding it

HOW TO
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Have a Hockey Night in Canada

From Montreal to Sault Ste. Marie, the sport is the country’s greatest passion. Eva Holland explains where to go to indulge—and who you need to know.

AUDIO SLIDE SHOW
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Promised Land Closed

And other odd and unlikely signs from around the world. Aficionado Doug Lansky, editor of the book “Signspotting,” recounts his 10 favorites.


THE LIST
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10 Sizzling Hot Travel Tips From Sir Francis Bacon

Rolf Potts repackages the 17th century philosopher’s ‘Of Travel’ essay in the manner of a 21st century magazine feature

TRAVEL BLOG: Three Travel Books

Three Travel Books (and More): Mark Jenkins’s Picks

imageMark Jenkins is the author of the new book “A Man’s Life: Dispatches from Dangerous Places.” Frank Bures interviewed Jenkins, and he asked him for three travel book suggestions. He offered 10:

Notes From a Small Island or In a Sunburned Country or Notes From a Big Country by Bill Bryson.
Jenkins says: “Bryson’s easygoing style and tremendous, laugh-out-loud sense of humor belie a stunning craftmanship.”

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By Frank Bures • 1.11.08
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Three Antarctica Books: Susan Fox Rogers’s Picks

imageThis week we interviewed Susan Fox Rogers, editor of “Antarctica: Life on the Ice.” She talked about the recent cruise ship wreck, as well the power of Antarctica to change visitors. We asked her for three Antarctica book suggestions. Here’s what she told us.

Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica by Sara Wheeler
Fox Rogers says: “She kind of hitchhikes her way around the continent, for lack of a better way of putting it. She’s a beautiful writer with a great sense of adventure.”

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By Jim Benning • 11.28.07
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Three Travel Books: Josh Swiller’s Picks

imageJosh Swiller is the author of “The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa.” Frank Bures reviewed the book this week, and he asked Swiller for three travel book recommendations. Here’s what he said:

The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo by Peter Orner.
Swiller says: “Beautiful and audacious. The truest depiction of daily life in Africa I’ve yet read—the heat, the waiting, the sexuality muted by heat and waiting, the drunkards, the lost, the found. A criminally underread book.”

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By World Hum • 9.13.07
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Four Travel and Food Books: Paul Richardson’s Picks

imageToday we published our review of Paul Richardson’s new book, “A Late Dinner: Discovering the Food of Spain.” We asked Richardson to recommend a few books that inspired him. Here are his picks:

Food in History by Reay Tannahill
Richardson says: “This book is permanently interesting and superbly written with enormous wit and erudition—a classic that is never far from my writing desk.”

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By Emily Stone • 8.28.07
WeblogFood: The Moveable FeastSpainThree Travel Books
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Four Tiki Books: James Teitelbaum’s Picks

imageThis week, we interviewed James Teitelbaum, author of “Tiki Road Trip: A Guide to Tiki Culture in North America.” We asked Teitelbaum to recommend a few tiki-related books (guides, narratives, anything). Here’s what he suggested:

Aku-Aku by Thor Heyerdahl
Teitelbaum says: “That’s really the book that made me want to visit Easter Island. It’s very readable, with suspense, humor. It’s a good all-around read.”

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Three Travel Books: Cullen Thomas’s Picks

Cullen Thomas is the author of “Brother One Cell.” We just published an interview with him, and we also asked him for three travel book recommendations. Here’s what he told us:

imageSailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum.
Thomas says: “I read this recently. Slocum is dry, steady, salt of the earth and sea. He doesn’t write with flair or with much emotion even, but the humility of his great, personal voyage, the utterly simple beauty of it, is sacred. And the window onto the world of the 1890s that he provides is often fascinating.”

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By Frank Bures • 6.7.07
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Three Travel Books: Marie Javins’s Picks

Marie Javins is the author of Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik: One Woman’s Solo Misadventures Across Africa. World Hum reviews the book this week, and we asked Javins for three travel book recommendations. Here’s what she told us: 

imageFacing the Congo by Jeffrey Tayler.
Javins says: ”At first, I thought Tayler was a madman. Why else attempt to recreate Stanley’s canoe trip down the Congo against a backdrop of encroaching civil war? But his descent from optimism into humility won me over. In a genre where so much is about rough-and-ready bragging rights, Tayler accepted that he was in over his head. In the words of Shackleton: ‘Better a live donkey than a dead lion.’ Engaging, dramatic, and honest.”

Continue reading >>

By Frank Bures • 2.1.07
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Three Travel Books: Jason Roberts’s Picks

Jason Roberts is the author of A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History’s Greatest Traveler. World Hum reviews the book this week, and we asked Roberts for three travel book recommendations. Here’s what he told us: 

imageAn Italian Affair by Laura Fraser.
Roberts says: ”The definitive book on travel as an act of transformation. After a brief, imploded marriage, Fraser reclaims her freedom and sense of adventure at the same time. The affair (with a mysterious Frenchman) is really just one interlude in a layered, compelling story.”

The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo by Peter Orner.
Roberts says: “One of the most astonishing evocations of place in contemporary fiction. Set in Namibia after the wars of independence from South Africa, Shikongo sees a country at once new and ancient, through the eyes of a volunteer American teacher. Orner is a superb writer, who captures dead-on details in almost poetically-compressed prose, sometimes painting vivid scenes in just a single sentence.”

The Happy Isles of Oceania by Paul Theroux.
Roberts says: “Theroux at his grumpiest, which means at the height of his irascible form. On a book tour to Australia, he brings along a folding boat and paddles himself in and out of numerous milieus and meditations. He’s also floating himself through something of a midlife crisis, making the book perfectly balanced between interior and exterior worlds.”

By Frank Bures • 11.27.06
WeblogThree Travel Books
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Three Travel Books: Elizabeth Gilbert’s Picks

Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia. World Hum reviews the book this week, and we asked Gilbert for three travel book recommendations. Here’s what she told us: 

imageThe Meadowlands by Robert Sullivan.
Gilbert says: “Proving that you don’t have to go a million miles away to find extraordinary adventure, danger and wonder, Robert Sullivan spent months in a canoe exploring the strange and history-drenched water and weed of the New Jersey Meadowlands (that’s right—just alongside the Turnpike). A beautifully written, deeply intelligent journey.”

A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne.
Gilbert says: “Definitely one of the first travel books ever written in English (the Greeks and Romans had their own guides earlier, I suppose), this terrifically entertaining read by the author of ‘Tristram Shandy’ was published in the 1760s, about Sterne’s journeys through France. Hilarious and bawdy and wonderful.”

The Companion Guide to Rome by Georgina Masson.
Gilbert says: “Don’t go to Rome without it. Seriously—don’t even get off the plane in Rome without this book in hand. It contains over a dozen guided walks through the city, along with dry, witty, scholarly, brilliant prose by its English author, whom one can imagine walking right next to you, in her tweed skirt and practical shoes, knowing EVERYTHING about everything...this book really was my best friend during my time in Italy.”

By Frank Bures • 2.20.06
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