A lot of things go well with travel. Music goes well with travel. Eating goes well with travel. And, perhaps best of all, books go well with travel. And so it goes that you can have both of these things on a trip to upstate New York and Massachusetts. In this piece over at the AP ,we learn of ways that you can get away for the weekend and experince the lovely places that such literary luminaries as Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain got their inspiration.
Great Book: The Smaller Majority
I posted about this wonderful book way back when, but just dusted it off from my bookshelf and wanted to mention in again. The fact is, most of us who live in cities easily forget how much of the world is occupied by millions of little creatures who fill the forests, oceans, deserts, and so on across the globe. One scientist/photographer knows ths well, and he has published a lovely book of his photos about this little world of critters.
Called The Smaller Majority the book really lays out in the most vivid color how amazing the world beneath our noses really is. The book is the work of Piotr Naskrecki, the Director of the Invertebrate Diversity Initiative of Conservation International and Research Associate with the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. His 268 page coffee table-style book is filled with some of the most amazing images you will ever see. Really nice.
Rough Guide to Blogging
The thing I like about Rough Guides is they’ve got a guides related to various travel destinations, but a slew of other guides to help you sort out some issues you may be having in figuring out what the best Punk music is to listen to or something like blogging. The cover art is what grabs me most from this new Rough Guide to Blogging title. Getting your own travel blog up and running for all your friends to come scope out while you’re on the road can sometimes prove challenging. Doesn’t the Eskimo with his laptop seem so lost? This 200-page guide will help you understand how RSS and newsreaders work, how to develop your online voice and explore video blogging and podcasting among other blogging related issues.
Looks as though the book would be a good buy for the experienced blogger and the newbie bloggers. ($12.99 at Rough Guides)
TT Writing Award
Here’s one I picked up from the good folks over at Written Road. Travelers’ Tales (whose books I adore) are launching a travel writing contest for the literary-inclined vagabond. They have started what they call the Solas Awards for Best Travel Story of the Year. This will be an annual competition to discover the very best writing being done about the world today. If you win, you can walk away with $1000 smackers. Or, you can win a copy of The Best Travel Writing 2006 and The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2006.
As WW points, out, Solas is an Irish word for “light,” which means, um, make sure you write with your lamp on.
Red Corner: Spy Tour
Berlin and Moscow are two exotic cities which struck fear into the hearts of western spies throughout the Cold War.
There is nowhere on this planet more legendary for espionage and things-that-go-bump-in-the-night than these two capitals. Sadly, with the fall of communism their glory days have long passed. The spooks and their haunts, however, still remain.
Lovers of the Spy Genre will be happy to hear that The Smithsonian is conducting a nine-day tour this October that whisks cloak-and-dagger fans through the former headquarters of East Germany’s Stasi, the KGB Museum in Moscow, the Glienicke Bridge (where spy exchanges were conducted), Gorky Park, the remains of the Berlin Wall and a host of other John LeCarre locations. The tour will even be joined by retired KGB officers in Moscow who will undoubtedly have a handful of great stories to tell.
The cost is $6695 and must be paid with small, non-sequential bills or uncut diamonds.