New York by Bookstore

by Erik Olsen on

I’d already written some of this post about bookstores in New York when saw Neil’s post on homogeneity. My point was going to be that you can stand in almost any Barnes and Noble in the world and probably NOT know what city you’re in. Same with Starbucks.

I lament the homogeneity of our culture, even though I know that there’s not much we can do about it, and that it makes no sense for me to try and deprive people of their cheap Wal-Mart goods if they want them. But still, I do sometimes get sick when I go to a place like Santa Barbara and the main esplanade is littered with chain stores. Which all brings me to this fine little piece in the Globe and Mail (Canada’s answer for the New York Times) about little bookshops in Manhattan.

Having lived in New York City for the last seven years, I always try and buy my books in little bookshops. I also really enjoy wandering among the stacks in these stores, plucking up the newest non-fiction hardbacks and feeling their lovely, brain-enriching heft. It is sad, though, that while several great stores still exist, many have gone the way of the Dodo. Several old-school, wonderful bookstores like Coliseum Books and Brentano’s are now gone…which breaks my heart. Again, what do you do? Maybe just try and appreciate the old stores while they’re still around…and buy a book or two while you’re at it.

The Places In Between

by Iva Skoch on

We’re not shy about plugging audible.com. First, listening to books gives our computer-weary eyes a needed rest. Two, schlepping around an iPod is easier than a big, new hardcover. Third, often the authors themselves read the books, adding an extra dimension that reading can’t touch. (audible.com version of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, anyone?)

We’ve been hearing about another book for a while and we mentioned it a few months ago, but hadn’t picked it up until just now, because now we can hear it from audible.com: Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between.

What makes this book special? Mr. Stewart walked across Asia solo. The book is about just a relatively small portion of that trip: walking–as in on foot–across Afghanistan during the war in 2002. He’s a young, Farsi and Persian-speaking, former British diplomat and current resident of Kabul, and his tale is fascinating. He re-traced the steps of a 16th Century Muslim Emperor (Babur), straight across the country, across high mountain passes–in the middle of winter–from Herat to Kabul.

You’ll definitely gain new insights into the culture and people of Afghanistan and hearing it directly from the author himself is well worth a listen. It’s surprising and interesting, and you’ll definitely learn a lot. We sure did.

Online Advice Instead of Guidebooks?

by Neil Woodburn on

Guidebooks have been a popular topic here on Gadling. Choosing the right one, as we keep pointing out, can be the difference between a great trip and a horrible one.

A recent article on MSNBC.com, however, discusses the advantages of forgoing guidebooks entirely and instead, relying upon user-created wiki sites where travelers post their own tips and recommendations.

This growing trend has been a boom for travelers seeking not just more detailed accounts, but more timely ones as well. Guidebooks are out-of-date the moment they hit the bookstores whereas a travel site such as Wikitravel or TripAdvisor could have been updated 30 seconds before you sign on.

While this is all great information, one must exercise a bit of caution. Facts on such sites won’t be carefully checked as they are with a traditional book publisher. In addition, one must always be wary of business owners planting recommendations touting their flea-ridden hotel or nasty restaurant as “the best on the island.”

My suggestion? Bring the traditional guidebook and supplement it with as much online, wiki research as you can print out. Then come home and correct both sources by posting your own wiki entry online.

Ilya and Evgeny’s Great Adventure

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s one from the pre-Borat era. It’s a book, a travelogue if you will, from two satirical writers from the Soviet Union who were writing for the Russian newspaper Pravda. Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov came to the U.S as “special correspondents” and drove across the country and back on a ten-week trip, keeping a detailed record of their journey. The book is said to be a work of humor, if such a thing is possible from two writers from the Soviet Union, and is said to be a “wonderful lost work”.

To be honest, I would LOVE to get my hands on this, to see how people viewed America not only from the viewpoint of 60 years ago, but from a Communist country. The book is titled Odnoetazhnaia Amerika or Single-Storied America. In a rather sad twist, both writers died soon after the publication of Odnoetazhnaia Amerika, Ilf from tuberculosis contracted during his travels in the States and Petrov in a plane crash while working as a war correspondent.

Lonely Planet’s Blue List

by Erik Olsen on

Here at gadling, we’re all about finding new travel ideas. And equally, we’re about pointing you to places where those ideas are most abundant. Well, where abundance is concerned, I have just closed the covers on a cornucopia of ideas that, frankly, has me feeling a little exhausted right now.

Lonely Planet’s new edition of its Blue List series is a compelling page turner that, if you’re like me, will cause an immediate shortage of yellow post-its. Those post-its now cling to the inside pages of my Blue List guide, making it look a bit like a paper peacock flattened by a semi.

The Blue List guide, subtitled “The Best in Travel 2007” provides page after page of sumptuous photos and informative text about interesting places and things to do in them all over the globe. The ideas start off with a calendar section that groups together events by month. For example, December has the Festival of the Oases in Tunisia and the Hornbill Festival in India. Chances are, you’ll have to Google these for more info, but they’re a fine start.

Other recommendations in the book are broken out by activity, so if you are, for example, a fan of scuba diving, you can get a good idea of the top trips for bubble blowers. The books lists the Cocos Islands in Costa Rica and Chuuk lagoon in Micronesia among their top spots. Or let’s say you have long believed in UFOs and want to design a trip for you and your ET-loving friends? Well, you can do that, too, with their paranormal trips section.

Then savor my favorite section, called the Go List, which breaks out LP’s top picks for places to visit in the coming year. We’re NOT talking Florida and Vegas here. We’re talking about exotic, less-explored locales like Maluku, Indonesia and Gabon. Then there’s a section on gadgets and the best places to wed and dark travel and, well, more and more.

If I have any complaints, it that while the book really whets your appetite, you don’t leave feeling completly satisfied. In fact, you leave a bit hungrier than before. But as I say, maybe that’s what Google, or LP’s country-specific guides are there for. Either way, keeping to their fine tradition of helping you REALLY get out there, the good folks at Lonely Planet have done a fine job with this new book.