Mountain Road

Destination: The Whole World

Books for the Travel Library:

The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World…Via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes by Carl Hoffman (March 2010)

The Routes of Man:How Roads Are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today by Ted Conover (February, 2010)

I can’t seem to move these days without tripping over a book that has to do with roads and road trips.  And here come two brand new books that tackle some of the roughest and most interesting roads (in the broadest sense) in the world.

Carl Hoffman‘s travel plan involves the most dangerous land, sea and air routes he can find. An Africa train lends its name to the title of the book, Lunatic Express, but the rest of the conveyances are pretty crazy, too.  I once had a travel writing teacher who said that travel writers should expose themselves to danger and then write about it in order to get the most compelling stories.  Hoffman must have heard that lecture through an amplifier.

Throughout this travel book he seems absolutely driven to destroy himself, proudly quoting newspaper articles about disastrous crashes of trains and sinking of ships, deadly robberies of buses, and airplanes that fall out of the sky.  He does have a way with description, although his road trips major in places that are dirty, humid, hot, smelly and uncomfortable–not exactly tourist attractions.  I really enjoyed reading his conversations with the fascinating people that he meets, in particular a Swiss businessman in Mombasa whose greatest accomplishment was that he never paid taxes.

“I spent three years in Uganda before coming to Kenya, and those were the best three years of my life,” he said. “In Kampala I met a woman.  It is the only time I have been in love.  She was thirty-five, from the Rwenzori mountains.  She couldn’t read or write, but she was a born trader.  She knew it deep in her blood.  And she was beautiful.  She said, ‘Give me two thousand dollars.’ I did. She traded in charcoal, and every night she arrived with a pile of Ugandan money on my table.”

In a rather-too-frequent moment of self assessment, he says “…I, too, craved adventure, even if risk and loneliness was its by-product.” I say rather too frequent, because I was somehow not convinced of these intrusions of rationality into his self-centered rush to risk. He even takes his daughter with him on a rough bus ride in South America, hoping, he says that she will understand what he does. Perhaps, I was thinking, he should stay home once in a while and find out what she does? And although he talks frequently about how he has ruined his marriage, he thanks his wife at the end of the book, for 27 years of unfailing support.
A chapter at a time, the book amuses and entertains,but as a whole book, it felt contrived. He found out how “the other half travels” but rarely actually felt danger. Excellent writing, but a flimsy frame with personal ponderings that to me seemed gratuitous.

Routes of Man (meant by author Ted Conover to be pronounced “roots” so you get the double meaning), on the other hand, sets forth a strong premise that kept me fascinated throughout. Six long chapterd of reportage are each followed by a brief discussion on the  idea of travel and related thoughts–paths, roads, speed, progress.

Conover is considering  big issues here — issues like the destruction of traditional cultures and the relationship of the military and roads (dating back to the Romans and up to the Israelis). His style includes vivid enough pictures of places* and portraits of people, but the ideas take center stage, and in a calmer voice (even when he lands in some scary places) than Hoffman’s. (Conover is no stranger to the put-yourself-in-danger school of writing, having worked as a guard at Sing-Sing among other things, to get his story.)

*Conover traveling on an iced-over river in the Himalayan:

Depending on the light and the sky, the water will be pitch-black or pellucid blue, the surface rippled by crystals of ice, a giant moving Slurpee, swirling around frozen banks and then disappearing under sheets of ice.

The subtitles reflect the fact that most such appendages are written by a marketer rather than the author, and don’t necessarily reflect the book as a whole. Lunatic Express doesn’t set out to “discover the world” but rather to “experience” the world travel as it is seen by the masses, as opposed to the privileged tourist. And as to the subtitle for Routes of Man? I give up. That’s a little of the book’s meaning–but not much.

These both make a good addition to a traveler’s library, but if you only get one, you can choose which fits you best.

Photo from Flickr through Creative Commons. Click on picture for more information about photographer.  Publishers of each book gave me a review copy–which will turn up in a Giveaway one of these days.

Do you think travel writing is more interesting when the writer has but him/herself in danger? And which of these books appeals to you more?

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Mystery writers quite frequently can beat travel books in providing the best atmospheric descriptions of a destination. “…one of the best ways to get a glimpse of another culture is through the lens of crime fiction, the literature of the streets and dark alleys and underclass,” says the blog International Noir.

I have read two of these completely and read parts of the others. I have presented my choices here (remembering that there are two more) Oh dear! And which will win the Edgars?? Another mystery.

The Odds, book cover

#4The Odds by Kathleen George (Pittsburgh)

The Odds carries you into the minds of a group of pre-teens and teens thrown into a precarious situation. Kathleen George has a natural sense of drama, since she is a theater professor. This is an easy read, and in fact would be a good book for the young adult reader

John Hart, thriller writer

#2 (tie)The Last Child by John Hart (North Carolina)

Hart’s previous book Down River won an Edgar Award for Best Novel. He lives in North Carolina, and sets his books there. I  will be reviewing this on the Great American Road Trip (Announcing that is a spoiler of sorts).

#2 (tie)A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (South Africa)

A film maker turned mystery writer, she was born in Swaziland and lives in Australia. See Malla Nunn on YouTube talking about her book. Or see her home page at Simon & Schuster. She beautifully recreates both a time (post WWII and a place–apartheid South Africa.) An engrossing book with fascinating, complex characters.

My First Choice: Nemesis by Jø Nesbo

Nemesis Book Cover

This police procedural novel teeters on the edge of literary fiction. It delves deeply into the human pysche and motivations. First published in Norway (2002) it took a while to be translated into English (2008) and finally made it’s way to America in 2009.

Now I must try to express my enthusiasm without resorting to spoilers. Regardless of the British translation with some slang unfamiliar to Americans, the skill of this writer just pulls you through the pages. The third in a series about Detective Harry Hole, ensures he will join other icons of mystery writing as an interesting character. (books one and two are not in English yet, but #5 was published first according to International Noir ) Harry occasionally slips back into alcoholism, but it does not stop him from juggling three unrelated cases with some common themes.

You learn a lot about the weather and the daily life of various Norwegians as Harry runs about the city. You can follow his movements on the handy map in the front, and then travel to Oslo and follow in his footsteps.

A Nesbø description:

The rain showers petered out later in the day. The sun peeped out in between all the leaden grey, and then the clouds parted like curtains opening on the final act.  It would turn out to be the last hours of a blue sky before the city of Oslo pulled the grey winter duvet over its head.

Harry’s partner has the handy (for a police officer) “malady” known as fusiform gyrus. Although Harry at first thinks that means a Mac program, he learns it is the ability to remember faces. Nesbø scatters such humorous references to modern life and also to popular music through the book.

This book teaches you early on to pay attention–don’t miss anything because you may be either led down a blind alley if you are not attentive, or be given a helpful clue if you are reading carefully.

Harper published the English edition of the fourth Harry Hole book in January 2010 .  You can darn betcha that I’m getting my hands on The Devil’s Star as soon as possible. And that’s not a spoiler.

Because I am talking about so many books here, I did not link them all to Amazon, but if you are going to buy, and want the convenience, I appreciate your clicking any Amazon link on the site and buying there. Thanks!

We talked about another Scandinavian detective and two books by Finnish Tove Janssen but this is my first Norwegian book.

Do you have a favorite mystery writer who does a super job with describing a place? (Tomorrow the Great American Road Trip goes to D.C. and I talk about my favorite thriller guide to the capitol city.) Tell me your finds in mystery writers who love locale.

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Bronte Country

Destination: The World

Books:

• Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
• A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
• Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

A GUEST POST by Shannon McKenna Schmidt, co-author of Novel Destinations.

I blame it on Jules Verne. My wanderlust began with a children’s version of his novel Around the World in 80 Days. Reading the thrilling story, with its depictions of distant ports of call, was like a siren’s song. I went along as Phileas Fogg circled the globe to win his wager, from London to India and China, and across the American frontier.

Over the years I’ve visited many places on the page, some of which I’ve since had the chance to the see in person. One of the most atmospheric is the Yorkshire moors in northern England, vividly depicted by Emily Brontë in Wuthering Heights. And Paris, brought to life in Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast and Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. When it was published in 1831, Hunchback drew so many readers (including the Duchess of Orléans) to see “Victor Hugo’s cathedral” that it compelled the city to restore the rundown Notre-Dame.

Chateau de Monte Cristo

Sometimes visiting a place motivates me to seek out a book, like Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. Near Paris is one of his most imaginative creations: the Château de Monte-Cristo. On the grounds are a castle that resembles a confection made of stone, man-made grottos, a waterfall, and a stone tower he used as his office. Dumas’ “paradise on earth” is so intriguing that it made me want to read its namesake novel.

Stateside, a visit to Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, is like stepping into the pages of Little Women. Louisa May Alcott used the house as the book’s primary setting, and fans of the novel are sure to recognize things like the trunk of costumes the March sisters used to stage their plays and the parlor where Meg got married.

A well-worn book on my shelves is Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck’s memoir about his road trip exploring the U.S. with his French poodle in a pick-up truck camper (which he named Rocinante after Don Quixote’s horse). This spring I’m setting out on a Travels with Charley-style road trip, traveling the U.S. and Canada in an RV for several years with my husband and two cats.

For me, the allure of travel is too great to resist, inspired early on with a globetrotting adventure tale.

Shannon Schmidt

Shannon McKenna Schmidt is the co-author of Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West (National Geographic Books) and also blogs about literary travel. Her writing has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Continental, The Miami Herald, and other publications. She lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Thanks, Shannon. I appreciated this peek at your bookshelf.

Any readers who are interested in ordering any of the books mentioned,  can click on any Amazon link on my site and everything you order will help keep A Traveler’s Library in business. I suggest you start by clicking on Around the World in 80 Days (in the 1st paragraph). Also, we have talked about several of these books before, and if you click on any of those titles, you will be taken to a previous post. Don’t miss Shannon’s great web site Novel Destinations.

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Strange Maps Cover

Destination: The World

Book: Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities by Frank Jacobs (Pub. date 10/29/09)

My name is Vera Marie and I am addicted to maps. What is more, I do not want to be cured.

What traveler does not love to thumb through an Atlas, or twirl a globe? Come on, admit it. Somewhere in your house you have a drawer full of road maps. In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I even love an old book of historic maps that show me what the boundaries of Europe and Asia looked like from the Roman era to World War II.

Frank Jacobs has cleverly played to the weakness of the mapoholic in a blog, and now a book,Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities. Resistance is futile. You WILL either ask for this book for a Christmas present, or buy it for someone near to you so that you can surreptitiously thumb through the pages. Just do not try to use these maps to get from here to there. A travel book, it is not.

Some of the maps at the beginning of the book are of the “Where dragons be” variety. They were created back in the day when fanciful cartographers drew maps that led gullible mapoholics like Columbus and Magellan to venture beyond the known world. But most of the fanciful maps in this book go beyond geography as we know it.

The beautiful creatures of the Aleph maps that created anthropomorphic maps of European nations. Or maps of the world as someone wished it were divided, like  a 15-state USA, or divided the way it might have if the Great War turned out differently.

And what a shock to learn that when I dug in my back yard as a child and found a rubber band, my father’s explanation was wrong. He said I had dug all the way to China and found the rubber band from a Chinese pigtail. The Antipodean map shows that I would have struck salt water–not a Chinese pigtail, because none of the United States lies in a straight line through the globe to China.

But stop me before I thumb through the 229 pages of this book and 100+ images and tell you about every single one! (Disclaimer. The publishers sent me a copy of this book, making them an enabler in therapy talk.)

• Mapping out the future of A Traveler’s Library is easy–
• One and sometimes TWO Newly Published or Sneak Preview Books each week for the next few weeks.
• Thursday the first of two Truly Frightening Halloween posts.
• And  Friday–a new feature–French Fridays, starting with the NEW edition of Hemingway’s Moveable Feast. (Continuing until we run out of books about France)
• Some excellent Guest Posts will show up over the next weeks and Tuesday, November 3–a GREAT treat–No, I am not telling–you will just have to come see. (Clues: Author, debunking)
• Make it easy on yourself and subscribe so you do not miss any of the excitement.

Your turn–do you care to confess to your mapoholicism? And tell us your particular symptoms?

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Bhutan, the officially happy country, photograph by Steve Evans

Destination: Anywhere

Book: The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner

A Guest Post byEllen Barone

I’ve been insufferable since I started this book. Just ask my husband. I can’t shut up about it. I highlight passages like a type-A student prepping for a big exam. I quote from it at the coffeehouse. I twitter my favorite factoids. I’m as smitten as Jared Bibler, the loveable 20-something expat from Boston the author meets in Iceland.

Equal parts travel, humor and self-help,The Geography of Bliss is as funny as it is enlightening. Weaving together analytic statistics with keen observation, Eric Weiner, a longtime foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, presents an intelligent and entertaining look at the cultural habits that contribute to, or detract from, the happiness of its citizens.

As you may imagine, defining happiness is tricky business, but Weiner lets the people he meets across four continents tell what it means to be happy in their particular corner of the globe. Even in Moldova, a decidedly unhappy place, Weiner’s dry wit has us laughing with the Moldovans, not at them.

It’s not an uncommon dream, to spend a year traveling the globe or to write a best-selling book. Weiner not only accomplished both with an admittedly harebrained experiment, but he also manages to turn our initial envy into rock solid admiration. Damn him!

I loved rambling with Weiner to places like India, where happiness and suffering live side-by-side; Bhutan, where the king has made Gross National Happiness a national priority; Switzerland, where residents believe envy is the great enemy of happiness; and Iceland, which despite its cold climate, geographic isolation and propensity for failure, is among the world’s happiest places.

The Geography of Bliss, however, is much more than a travelogue. Lurking behind a global romp, Weiner provides the reader with wise and witty commentary of that alluring, sneaky concept known as happiness.

Better yet, Weiner sprinkles the book with the type of geeky travel trivia I feel compelled to share unsolicited with total strangers.

• Did you know, for instance, that the Swiss didn’t give women the right to vote until 1971 – in one canton, or state, until 1991?
• Or, that the word “utopia” has two meanings? It means both “good place” and “nowhere.”

As I read this book a sense of delight sneaked up on me, a feeling so much like that which I experience when I’m on the road that, at home, I almost don’t recognize the sensation. But then, I got it. Traveling inspires in me a heightened awareness, acceptance and newfound appreciation for differences. And that’s the magic of this book. Without logging thousands of miles, enduring the noon darkness of Iceland and the blazing heat of Qatar, the fastidiousness of Switzerland or the chaos of India, I’m left feeling like I’ve been on a wonderful, epic journey.

Ellen Barone

Travel expert Ellen Barone did what many of us only dream of doing: at the age of 35, she traded a successful academic career for the wild blue yonder and set out to explore the world and herself. In the decade since that intrepid decision, she has turned passion into profession, journeying to more than 60 countries in search of evocative images and life-enriching adventures. For more travel ideas, tips, and deals, sign up for FREE updates at her website www.ellenbarone.com

Wow! Thanks, Ellen for an inspiring post. I love your definition of what travel does for us. And, damn it, now I’m going to have to add another book to my TBR pile!

So, reader, what is the happiest country you have been to?? Let’s make a list! I would have to say, for me, it is the island of St. Lucia, where the national motto seems to be “Every ting’s gonna be awwww-right!”

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Indie Travel Podcast Magazine cover

Destination: The World

Magazine: Indie Travel Podcast Magazine (Available September 1, 2009)

Don’t be put off by the title of this new travel magazine. Craig and Linda Martin, world travelers who started the award-winning Indie Travel Podcasts, a website and popular blog, are sticking to their brand name as they take the plunge into travel magazine publishing.

As they say in their premiere issue, “It’s never been a worse time to launch a travel magazine.” But then, they say to the naysayers, “Stuff it.”  The New Zealand couple traveled the world for three years. They presented podcasts and videos covering those travels. Now they want a platform to “showcase content in more depth.” And you do not need an I-pod to read the magazine.

The tone of the magazine (which I saw in a special on-line preview edition made available to bloggers) is cheerful, positive, adventurous, but practical. Enticing photography accompanies the brief articles. It comes in a free subscription for digital delivery, or a paid subscription paper edition.

Although photos in an on-line magazine look stunning on a computer screen, personally, I find it hard to get the balance between seeing the whole page on the screen and being able to read the print.  Generally, I give up on trying to see the whole thing, and do a lot of scrolling. On-line publishers have yet to lick this problem, so the Martins are wise to offer a print edition as an alternative.

Burma article

The subject matter of the first issue ranges over many areas. I’m strictly an armchair traveler when it comes to a place like Burma–particularly the northern region bordering China. Ryan Libre and Tim Patterson spent a month in territory controlled by the Kachin Independent Army, a Christian group fighting against the Burmese military government. I hoped to learn more about this struggle, but the report delivers a meditation on the author’s experience rather than showing  the experience. The great photos that accompanied the article, unfortunately are not captioned, so they did not advance my knowledge, either.

Undeterred, and drawn by the nifty layout and graphics and outstanding photography, I read on.  Of course, being A Traveler’s Library, I paused at the page that presents book reviews to see if there was some interesting new travel literature. Two were guidebooks that are valuable to know about a Rough Guide and a Lonely Planet Guide. The third, J. Maarten Troost’s Lost on Planet China, sounds like a book I might want to read. (Note to Linda and Craig–if the books reviews are going to be first person, they should be signed.)

In a related column, they review travel blogs, a useful piece for web surfer, travel buffs. And I loved the little extras inserted here and there, like how to say “I love you” in nine languages and a measurement conversion table.

Although the articles, mostly only one page long, and most of that page taken up by photographs, do not  fulfill the stated objective of “depth” in articles, this magazine shows great potential. If you want to read about some unusual places, and some new angles on usual places, then get on over to the Indie Podcast Magazine  subscription page and get your FREE issues delivered by e-mail or RSS to be read on the web, or pay for a real, honest-to-goodness, paper edition. And either way, thank Craig and Linda for being daring enough and/or crazy enough to launch a BRAND NEW TRAVEL MAGAZINE.

Tonga Article

Readers, I’m curious about your reading habits.  Obviously you read blogs on the web–but are their web zines that you read? Do you prefer paper or pixels? Let’s talk.

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Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

Destination:

The World

Book: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts

Every generation of wanderers has an author of travel literature that sounds the siren call.  Walt Whitman comes to mind and Lord Byron before him.  Then the famously wild days of Jack Kerouac and On the Road.

Authors today have a harder time breaking out of the morass of travel bloggers (OUCH!) and becoming the ONE voice to follow.  Rolf Potts has come close with Vagabonding.  Ask any hardy young adventurer, or even a person just dreaming of adventures, and chances are, they have read Rolf Potts.

I picked up a copy at a used book store. (Sorry, Rolf) One of the things I love about a used book is finding pages marked up, notes in the margin, corners turned down. In other words–a book that is truly used.  This one turned out to be a treasure. In the first chapter, paragraphs defining vagabonding are bracketed and underlined.  A passage about the excuses that people make NOT to travel is bracketed AND starred.

A heavy line emphasizes “Rather, it has always been a private choice within a society that is constantly urging us to do otherwise.  This is a book about living that choice.”

She (the rounded handwriting must be a female, I think) underlines “They are spending plenty of time and money on the road, but they never spent enough of themselves to begin with,” and she writes in the margin “is this us?”

Used copy of Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

Potts uses many quotations throughout (enough, I was thinking, to keep twitterers busy for Travel Tuesdays in the foreseeable future). And under a quote from Whitman’s Song of the Open Road, my predecessor in these pages, writes, “Song of open road on our wedding program.“  Ah-ha! The plot thickens.

Potts says that travelers should keep it simple, and one should not wait to accumulate wealth, or win the lottery.  Quadruple underline of “we were all born with winning tickets…”  On the next page, she writes “do the garage sale and put $ in ‘travel fund.’”

But suddenly the underlining and bracketing and margin notes stop. Just like that. Not even half way through. I’ll never know if the engagement fell apart, or if she just got too busy ordering bridesmaid’s dresses to finish the book. Did her fiancee take a look and pooh-pooh the whole idea? Did the book go into the yard sale for travel funds?

Feeling a little lonely,without the bride-to-be for company, I read on through philosophy of travel, short bios of famous travelers, a tip sheet for each idea introduced, Potts’ personal anecdotes from his own vagabonding, quotes from famous and not famous travelers.

Despite the fact that he states that there is no age limit on vagabonding, I am beyond the age that can follow his suggestions. Particularly his repeated mentions of fleeting romances along the road. For everyone that age limit will vary, and is self imposed, or imposed by responsibilities or arthritis. But for anyone who is open to the call of the open road, read carefully. Pay attention. Rolf Potts knows whereof he speaks.

His newest book, released in 2008, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, not only covers travel adventures, but in it, he steps outside the narrative and talks about how he wrote the essays within the book. From how-to-travel to how-to-be-a-travel-writer.

Is Rolf Potts one of the authors who inspire YOU to travel? Share your story here.

And can you end my suspense?  Are you the person who owned the book before me? Did you get married? Did you use Walt Whitman in your ceremony? Did you travel?

At any rate, don’t forget to subscribe to A Traveler’s Library so you don’t miss upcoming posts on Hawaii, China, Africa and a brand new travel magazine. Just follow the instructions here: Subscribe to A Travelers’ Library by Email

You might like another article about Rolf Potts.

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Keith Jenkins

Guest author: Keith Jenkins

I am very happy to welcome Keith to A Traveler’s Library to write about a book that inspired him to travel. And travel he has. He has circled the globe and writes beautifully about his observations and experiences at Velvet Escape.

Keith has also inspired me to start a new series of writers talking about a book or movie that lit the fire in them that made them want to travel. If you write about travel and would like to join the party, please let me know.

All Keith’s friends wished him well when he flew home to be with his father who was recently gravely ill…

As I looked at my Dad lying in the hospital bed, I couldn’t help but reminisce about his career with the airline and how that ignited my boundless fascination with travel.  For comments and He was always on the go, traveling to the four corners of the globe. Each time he returned, he told me many stories about the places he’d visited and the people he’d met. As a kid, I was totally struck by awe. I would sit on his lap and listen intently while I made silent notes.

When I was eight, my parents bought me a 20-plus volume encyclopedia called The World & Its People. It was fantastic: the detailed stories about our world, history, cultures, geography, etc.. backed by gorgeous photos (unfortunately, the last edition of it dates back to 1980). I would look up the places my Dad had been to and read more about them. I would pull out the encyclopedia and point to the pictures of the places he’d visited and try to visualize him standing there. He would look over my shoulder and tell me about the sights that were not in the pictures. Each time he told me about his travel journeys, I would ask if he’d seen this place or that, or tried a certain food – I had so many questions, I bet he was sorry he bought me that encyclopedia!

That was the start of my love affair with travel really. When I was in my early-teens, my sister bought me a thick Dorling Kindersly book called Geography of the World* . I was stunned. The rich & colourful illustrations & photos, plus the data of each country in the world just caught my imagination. I was already a statistic & geography freak at the time so it wasn’t too difficult to get totally smitten with this book!

When I started traveling, I had every statistic firmly implanted in my head. I could rattle off data like the size of the country, its population and GDP, the most important economic activities, the major cities and the most popular tourist sites. I was literally a walking geographic encyclopedia! My Dad loved it. He began to take me along on his flights and we visited places like Hong Kong, Sydney and London together, and I dragged him to every place or attraction I’d read about!

My Dad is a lot better now and has been discharged from the hospital. The time I spent at his side in the hospital and the memories that conjured was priceless. I owe much to him but most of all, he instilled in me a great spirit of adventure and a profound desire to see the world and experience its many wonders.

I’m Keith Jenkins, a thirty-something based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Travel and writing are my biggest passions. I’ve traveled extensively across 60+ countries on six continents. The experiences I’ve gained from traveling are priceless. You can read more about my adventures on my blog, Velvet Escape.

*A DK Children’s book recommended for ages 9-12, latest edition 2006.

Thanks, Keith, for reminding us how important it is to introduce children to geography while they are still at the “age of wonder.” Readers, would you like to try to stump Keith with your geography questions? I’m sure you must have some questions for him about all the places he has traveled. Let’s talk.

I have one question. Since he grew up in the southern Hemisphere, was Keith confused by the maps which almost always are from a north-centric point of view?

And  if you like Keith’s post about his inspiration for travel, please pass on the love with one of the buttons below referring people through Stumble Upon, Facebook, Twitter, or one of the other avenues of social media. Thanks!

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©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Book: Going Dutch In Beijing by Mark McCrum

I am excited to welcome a regular columnist to A Traveler’s Library.  The last week of every month, Dr. Jessie Voigts will be sharing some favorite book and/or author information from her web site, Wandering Educators, an eclectic travel site for global educators and other wanderers. Jessie says, “If you love to learn and explore the world, come join us! “ Welcome aboard, Jessie.

Books from a Wanderer

Dr. Jessie Voigts

by Dr. Jessie Voigts

One of the most influential books in my personal traveler’s library is Going Dutch in Beijing: How to Behave Properly When Far Away from Home. Written by Mark McCrum, this book re-emphasizes what we all have learned the hard way – that behaving correctly in another culture is a learning experience!  Signs, nonverbal communication, behaviors, and the phrases we use all have cultural connotations, whether we are aware of it or not.

I remember when I lived in Japan, I was always conscious of being different – both physically and culturally.  Many times, my Japanese friends had talked of several important Japanese concepts – saving face, and the phrase “the nail that sticks out will get hammered down.”  The Japanese concept of saving face, in which you never show a person in a bad light, was brought to life for me one time quite clearly.

I had gone out for sushi with one of my host fathers and a group of his friends, and he was so proud of me that he ordered a very expensive live anemone for me to eat. I did not want to eat this wiggling, wriggling creature, but to save face for him, I choked it down.  The look on his face was two-fold – pride that I had done this, and relief that I had not shamed him in front of his cronies.

The fact that I didn’t want to eat it was secondary – I realized that I needed to eat it, in order for him to save face in front of his friends. So I did (to my great dismay!), and I realized that THIS, this saving face, was real, personal, and yes, an important aspect of Japanese culture. From then on, it was like a window had opened for me – a true glimpse into Japanese culture and mores. It was priceless, and a life-lesson that has stood me well since then.

So, if you aren’t in a Japanese neighborhood and downing live anemones, you might want to peruse Going Dutch in Beijing – it is much easier, and a great deal more fun.

McCrum’s book is an invaluable tool for world travelers – or for those who work with people from different cultures. A little intercultural sensitivity can go a long way toward smooth interactions. This intercultural sensitivity can come from learning the hard way, or learning from others (easily done, reading this book!).  We were lucky enough at Wandering Educators to interview Mark about his book. Here’s some of what he had to say…

WE: Tell us a little bit about Going Dutch in Beijing.

MM: It’s a guide to the huge variety of manners and customs around the world. Here you will find why you should never make the thumbs-up sign in the Middle East, or offer to ‘go Dutch’ when out for a meal in China. The book is organized by themes, from first greetings to last rites, so there are lots of fun comparisons in different kinds of behavior.

For example, while it’s never done to be even a minute late for dinner in Germany, in Argentina it’s expected. Indeed, to turn up on time, might imply that you’re greedy. I’ve taken a reasonably lighthearted tone throughout the book, but it does also cover more serious issues, such as attitudes to women in the Middle East and gay rights (or the lack of them) around the world.

WE: What led you to write this book?

MM: I’ve traveled widely around the world during twenty years as a professional travel writer, writing books and articles for UK newspapers and magazines. I realized that though there are plenty of hefty guides to intercultural differences for business people, there was no simple little guide like this, organized by behavior rather than country. I’m fascinated by etiquette in any case, which may seem trivial but is often hugely important, even (in fact particularly) to those who wouldn’t on the face of it seem to care about manners at all.

Think about road rage, for example. Or queues, the barging of which can lead to people screaming at each other, if not to blows. But though essential here in the UK and in many other places, queuing is not universal, by any means.

To read the rest of this fascinating interview, please see Wandering Educators for our Book Review: Going Dutch In Beijing . For a look at Mark as an artist, see our feature in  Artisans of the Month .  I truly enjoyed both reading the book (several times), and talking with Mark. He’s very knowledgeable about intercultural sensitivity, and this made me so happy to share his work.

Dr. Jessie Voigts is the Publisher of  WanderingEducators.com and will be contributing each month to A Traveler’s Library. She has a doctorate in International Education, and is passionate about intercultural learning. She and her husband are Worldschooling their daughter, and enjoying every minute of it. She is also a nature photographer and lives on a lake.

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The whole world in his hands

Whether or not, your assignment today is to plant a tree go to a movie–no wait–you can do both at once.

Disney Corporation will be planting a tree for every ticket sold to the movie Earth.  The movie opens today and the deal runs for the first week of the movie. So go see the movie.

According to the trailer, they tell the story from the point of view of three animal families journeying across the earth. What about the story of humans journeying across the earth? Guess we will just have to handle that right here.

Oh, and for your homework assignment, come back and tell us how you liked the movie Earth. And did it make YOU want to travel across the Earth?

Photograph by noticelj, obtained from Flickr under Creative Commons license

This content is a post from: A Traveler's Library To comment on this post or search for related information, click on the link to A Traveler's Library

©2010 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.