Travel Reading List

An immensely enjoyable and enlightening account of Italian journalist Tiziano Terzani's earthbound travels in Asia. Heeding the advice of a fortune teller in Hong Kong who warns him not to fly for the duration of 1993, Terzani picks up his rucksack and sets forth through Asia by all earthbound means possible--train, ship, car, and at times on foot.

Having spent more than half his life in Asia, Terzani understands Asia in a way that many foreigners do not. Using his travel constraints to the see the world in new ways--both huge and interconnected--Terzani simultaneously relishes the peculiarities of Asia and laments it's rapid climb to modernity, which he feels will ultimately homogenize a gloriously odd place. Along the journey, Terzani visits local fortune tellers, seers, healers, dukuns, astrologists, palm readers, etc., and discovers that Asia, if not for long, is still a land of magic and superstition, where everyday events than cannot be explained by Western rational can and do happen. This is a story of renewing one's belief in the mystery of life and, of course, reacquiring a taste for discovery and adventure.

★★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Kai Conragan

It's really too bad that Neal Stephenson has been labeled as a "Science Fiction" writer--a lot of people who would immensely enjoy his books never bother to read them because of it. You would have to nearly rewrite the book to explain all the intricacies of the story, but here it is in short:

In just over 900 pages, Stepenson puts together an elaborate plot that weaves together two parallel story lines set fifty years apart. In one, we have morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe and mathematical genius and cryptanalyst Lawrence Waterhouse both working against the nazis during WWII. We also meet a couple well-known characters from history including Dr. Alan Turing, inventor of the computer, and General McArthur, American military hero. In the second story, which takes place in the present day, we find the grandchildren of the WWII heroes--Randy Waterhouse, Amy Shaftoe and a host of other characters--working to establish a data-haven on an island in Southeast Asia. Mixed into all this are elaborate mathematical concepts made simple, Nazi U-boats, cutthroat business dealings and, as a finishing touch, a mountainous pile of gold.

The beauty of this book lies both in it's attention to detail and in it's scope. On one page you'll be reading mathematical proofs somehow made not only tangible but entertaining, and on the next you'll find yourself amongst whores in Manilla.

★★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Kai Conragan

After finishing Cryptonomicon, I was eager for more Neal Stephenson. Thus, I turned to his more recent Baroque Cycle, a six-part series set in the sixteenth and seventeenth century europe with occasional passage to America. The story revolves around two characters: Daniel Waterhouse, member of the Royal Society, and Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds. Through these two characters we are introduced to two seemingly separate, but heavily intertwined worlds. Stephenson brings together a whole slew of well-known characters from the time, including the Duke of York, Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, King Henry IV, and more.

The book--like Cryptonomicon--is heavy on details. I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters in the book, mostly due to my ignorance of the times, continually confusing duchesses with countesses and such. I took a brief hiatus from Quicksilver to read _A Short History of Nearly Everything_, which brought me up to date with the political and scientific thought of the time. Overall, a slower read than Cryptonomicon, but a read that becomes more addictive with each turn of the page.

★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Kai Conragan

Just as the title says, this book is an inch deep mile wide look at, well...everything. Ranging in topics from the beginning of the Universe to how cells work, Bill Bryson manages to make such complex topics both interesting and funny. I was pretty well versed in the topics about Astronomy and Cosmology, but found the topics such as super volcanoes (Yellowstone) and evolution fascinating. We listened to this as an audiobook--narrated by Bill Bryson himself--and found the narration really helped carry the momentum through the story.

★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Kai Conragan

This book was recommended to us by Julie's Mom, and we're both glad we read it. _A Walk in the Woods_ is a light hearted look at the history of the Appalachian Trail and the places and culture through which it passes. After living in Europe for twenty years, Bryson returns to America and decides the best way to re-familiarize himself with his homeland is by walking the Appalachian Trail. The book can at times be embarrassing to read, as you find yourself laughing out-loud while reading it, such as during Bryson's visit to the camping store to get outfitted or the many trials and tribulations of his hiking partner and old college buddy Stephen Katz. This book carries the timeless message that the journey _is_ the destination.

★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Kai Conragan

I picked up _Salt_ on a whim before heading off to China. In many ways, China was the original master of salt, and reading this book while traveling through China added a whole new context for me. It's absolutely astounding how influential salt has been in our history. After all, it's the only rock that we eat, and it has built empires including Britain and Portugal. At it's most basic level, salt is a requirement of the human diet, at it's most exotic, salt is used for everything from gunpowder to dies. Did you know that the Chinese invented deep-drilling techniques in order to obtain brine from wells? The book is filled with factoids like that. It's a great book if you like food and/or history, and it would be great source of information for crossword puzzle fans.

★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Julie Brookman

While tracing the murders committed by a pair of Mormon fundamentalists on a young mormon woman and her infant child, John Krackauer discuses the danger of religious extremism and looks deep into the private face of one of the world's fastest growing religions. I read this book while traveling through Malaysia, and I couldn't help but to draw parallels between fundamentalist Mormons at home and Islamic fundamentalists abroad, both of which seek to quickly increase their numbers while subordinating women and using God as justification.

★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Julie Brookman

This is a beautiful book, and, as the author, Yann Martel, notes, "a story that will make you believe in God". In a harlequin plot Pi, a sixteen year old boy and son of an Indian Zoo Keeper, finds himself stranded at sea in a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a Bengal tiger as companions. The story brings an uplifting message in the face of true tragedy, and as Pi finds comfort in his unique amalgam of Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and the companionship of a Tiger.

★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Julie Brookman

A funny and whimsical take on life, Geoff Dyer is a master at finding humor in the everyday and mundane. An easy read filled with loosely related--often times anecdotal--stories that most often find him in different places doing pretty much the same thing: Nothing. Islands in Thailand, hotels in Amsterdam, cafes in Italy. If you ever need a book to ease your anxiety and convince you that sometimes it's OK to sit back and do, well...nothing, this book is well worth a read.

★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Kai Conragan

Everyone should read this book. If you're an American, you _need_ to read this book. No matter your political leaning, _Confessions of an Economic Hitman_ is a candid account of one man's life as an Economic Hitman. In John Perkins own words, "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars". Put another way, EHMs help extremely wealthy corporations exploit developing nations, intervening in ways that aren't legal for a government, but that ultimately serve it's interest. It took Perkins nearly twenty years to complete this book, claiming that multiple times he was bribed or threatened to not have it published. After 9/11, he decided his story needed to be told. Critics have said the book is conspiratorial in tone, but too many pieces of the story add up to completely be dismissed.

★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Kai Conragan

A travelogue of the finest sort. Emma Larkin (a pseudonym) travels to Burma in order to retrace the life that writer George Orwell led there as an imperial British police officer in the 1920s. Larkin asserts that Orwell's experiences in Burma were paramount in his becoming a writer of "conscience", and draws striking parallels between the themes of Orwell's books--_1984_, _Animal Farm_, and _Burmese Days_-- with present-day Burma, where it's citizens have lived under a 40-year military dictatorship that has asserted control in the most frightening sense. Even if you've never read Orwell, the book portrays Burma and it's people in a way that has never before been captured with such beauty, insight, and honesty.

★★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Kai Conragan

Enough has been written about the now famous Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I'll leave others to comment on the books themselves, though I will say I have found them all to be immensely enjoyable. That said, I would not have found them half as enjoyable were it not for the wonderful audiobooks narrated by Jim Dale. Dale created 137 distinct voices and characters in narrating the book, and very deservedly won several awards for his performances in to date (the final book in the series hasn't been released yet). Jim Dale gives to life the story in ways the movies simply never have for me, creating a world far richer in your mind than the one viewable on-screen. Listen to these audiobooks in your car on the way to work or, even better, listen to them at night as you drift to sleep--as if you are being read to again as a child!

★★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Kai Conragan

Written by Miguel Covarrubias over sixty years ago, The Island of Bali remains the definitive book about the island of Bali; a wonderful and mysterious place, where magic still exists because the people there believe in it so. Deep animistic roots and extreme superstitions have melded with Hinduism to create a belief system unique only to Bali. This book explains a good many of the traditions and superstitions, and helps you to understand why everyday in Bali is a celebration. If you ever decide to visit, this book is well worth reading beforehand.

★★★★

Reviewed Nov 23, 2006 by Kai Conragan