Will the” Eat, Pray, Love” madness never stop? Time magazine has selected Elizabeth Gilbert as one of its 100 World’s Most Influential People, along with the likes of Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama. Frankly, I was more interested in another Time pick: Yoani Sánchez, who works in Cuba’s tourism industry, once wrote a dissertation entitled “Dictatorships in Latin American Literature” and blogs about daily life in the country, apparently uncensored. If only I read Spanish.

Related on World Hum:
* One Man’s Odyssey Into ‘Eat, Pray, Love’
* Review: ‘Eat, Pray, Love’

Nilanjana S Roy reminds us that the story of Thomas Kohnstamm and the controversy he’s stirred up are nothing new. She writes, “The issues that Kohnstamm raises—poor pay, insufficient time, too much territory to cover—have plagued the travel writing industry ever since the Egyptians, Arabs and Chinese sent off emissaries to see what the rest of the world was like.”

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That little nugget is buried near the end of yet another story—this one by Michael Shapiro in the Washington Post—about Thomas Kohnstamm and the controversy surrounding his book “Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?” What “selling well” means in concrete terms, though, isn’t clear. Shapiro writes, “Kohnstamm’s publicist wouldn’t disclose sales figures but says the book has already been reprinted.” Whether the controversy stimulated or possibly depressed sales, then, remains an open question. 

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Perhaps. Brad Newsham, author of the travel memoir Take Me With You, announced via email that he’s collecting signatures to become a write-in candidate to represent California’s 9th District, now represented by Democrat (and National Passport Month supporter) Barbara Lee. Newsham explained that he disagrees with her on only one issue, “but it’s a fundamental issue for me, and perhaps for you: the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. For me, this issue is so important that it eclipses all others.” Newsham, pictured here running naked on a Hawaiian beach, has been rallying for the pair’s impeachment.

Thomas Kohnstamm’s now infamous book hit booksellers this week, spurring another batch of reviews, considerations and rants around the web. Among them: 

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I just stumbled across this recent interview the travel writer and novelist gave in Bangkok on YouTube:

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The seemingly omnipresent Pico Iyer popped up on NPR yesterday with a You Must Read This essay on “The Quiet American.” Why does he always pack the Graham Greene novel in his carry-on? “The novel asks every one of us what we want from a foreign place, and what we are planning to do with it,” he says. “It points out that innocence and idealism can claim as many lives as the opposite, fearful cynicism. And it reminds me that the world is much larger than our ideas of it, and how the Vietnamese woman at the book’s center, Phuong, will always remain outside a foreigner’s grasp. It even brings all the pieces of my own background—Asian, English, American—into the same puzzle.” Iyer recently spoke with World Hum about Tibet and the Dalai Lama.

One of my favorite Paul Theroux books is Sir Vidia’s Shadow, his memoir of his ill-fated friendship with V.S. Naipaul. In it, Theroux paints an ugly picture of the famed writer, detailing countless character flaws. Now, a new authorized biography of Naipaul is coming out, The World Is What It Is, by Patrick French. That book, writes Theroux in the London Times, “amply demonstrates everything I said and more. It is not a pretty story; it will probably destroy Naipaul’s reputation for ever.” Wow. Talk about twisting the knife. Theroux’s new travel book, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, is due out in September.

Sadly, I think so. During my recent travels to New Orleans, Austin and Los Angeles, I took eight cab rides. During two of them I barely said a word to the driver. Not because I didn’t want to, but because the cabbie was on his cell phone, yapping with someone else. I was annoyed by the chatter, but also deflated. 

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Not so long ago I wrote about the last days of the postcard—now it seems my requiem for a beloved travel souvenir may have been premature. This story in the Globe and Mail suggests that postcards are actually making a comeback, noting that sales, in the UK and Canada at least, have only increased since 2003.

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Some writers have declared that former Lonely Planet author Thomas Kohnstamm just might be going to hell. Others charge that he’s a fraud. My take: The author of the new book Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?, about his not-so-ideal experience in the travel-writing business, has said some stupid things (which he regrets). His publisher is playing up his book’s salacious details. And he may not win a Nobel Peace Prize or lifetime achievement award. But he’ll escape eternal damnation—at least on travel-writing grounds. We just posted an interview with him covering the high points of the controversy (with links to a number of stories about it). And we got to the sex stuff, too.

The prominent travel writer—not an annoying fake one—appears on C-Span’s “Washington Journal” program this morning to discuss China issues. 

Related on World Hum:
* Peter Hessler Nominated For National Magazine Award