Category Archives: Travel

Book Review:  In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri

I picked up this book from the library a few years ago but returned it without reading it after realizing that Lahiri had written it in Italian but someone else then translated it into English. I decided to give it … Continue reading

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Book Review:  Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams

This book is not simply a travelogue set in Peru. It is an attempt to follow in the footsteps of the legendary explorer Hiram Bingham III, who supposedly discovered Machu Picchu in 1911. In his literary quest, Adams alternates between … Continue reading

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MoPOP: The Museum of Pop Culture

I decided to take a bus to the Seattle Center, the former site of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, to visit the Museum of Pop Culture, commonly known as MoPOP. When Paul Allen, the Microsoft billionaire, founded it in 2000, … Continue reading

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Book Review:  On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor

This book was not what I expected. Going by the title alone, I supposed that it would be a travelogue in which the author describes his adventures on some of the world’s great hiking paths. There is some of that, … Continue reading

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Book Review:  The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light by Paul Bogard

This is a fascinating and deeply absorbing travel book, but one with a most unusual theme. The author roams the world searching for pockets of natural darkness. Along the way, he makes a compelling argument for the inestimable value of … Continue reading

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Book Review:  In Praise of Paths: Walking Through Time and Nature by Torbjorn Ekelund

This pleasant, well-written book begins with the author’s admission that after he was diagnosed with epilepsy he was no longer allowed to drive. This caused him to rely on walking to take him from place to place. As a result, … Continue reading

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When You Need Time to Think

We are all intent upon the pursuit of our goals, whether we are raising a family, advancing in a career, conducting research, pursuing a degree, or physically traveling from one place to another. However, sometimes so many details can crowd … Continue reading

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Book Review:  A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko

This book reminded me of Bill Bryson’s classic A Walk in the Woods in more ways than one. There is the title, of course, which is meant to be ironic, as Bryson’s was. The expression “a walk in the park” … Continue reading

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On Walking

During and immediately after my recent cancer surgery and radiation therapy, I had to put my normal exercise routine (dumbbell weights and power yoga) on hiatus. My oncologist and radiologist emphasized, however, that as much as possible I should continue … Continue reading

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Surviving the Doldrums

In days of old, sailors feared the doldrums, also known as the calms, and officially known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Due to a complex meteorological effect in this area, ships in the age of sail often were stranded for … Continue reading

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