“New” Mark Twain Books

by Erik Olsen on

One of the first travel books I ever read remains one of the best I’ve ever read. Mark Twain’s Innocent’s Abroad helped define what I like in a travel tale: fascinating, novel information about a place, detailed interaction with others, and humor. Twain delivers all of these and more. And Innocent’s Abroad had me both giggling and mesmerized throughout its pages. If only every travel writer could inject humor into their work, the genre would be much better for it. Twain and Bill Bryson are probably two of the funniest travel writers alive, except that Twain’s dead. But that’s beside the point.

What I want to tell you about here is a piece over at Worldhum by Kristen van Tassel, who takes a look at several new books about Twain that focus almost exclusively on his itinerant habits.

Twain might be best known as a fiction writer, but the reality is he was a compulsive traveler. He went to the ends of the earth in the days when, well, they didn’t think the world was flat exactly, but much of the world remained unknown to most of the people. And these books seem a nice way to introduce oneself to twain’s travel writings. The books are called Mark Twain: On Travel, edited by Terry Mort, and Mark Twain’s Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race, edited by Lin Salamo, Victor Fischer, and Michael B. Frank of the Mark Twain Project. They appear to be more compilations of Twain material, which is fine by me. It would be nice if a new novel or travel book was discovered ,but as far as I’m concerned the world can’t get enough of Mark Twain.

The Sacrilege of Mount Rushmore

by Neil Woodburn on

I’ve never been to Mount Rushmore but, like so many other Americans, it remains one of the most iconic visions of my youth. Every child gazes upon photographs of these mammoth heads with absolute fascination. The interest hasn’t waned in my adulthood, and yet strangely I’ve never journeyed to this hallowed mountain.

A great article in the Smithsonian Magazine a couple of months ago delves into the history of this famous landmark. What I never learned in school, however, was the controversy which surrounds it.

The four heads were carved into a mountain which was revered as holy by the local American Indians. The U.S. government had originally promised to protect the mountain but reneged on its deal with the Indians (big surprise). The white usurpers then carved visages of their idols onto the face of the holy mountain, causing Indians throughout the region to cry sacrilege. The Indians are still angry about it today and refuse to accept nearly $500 million of settlement money offered by the government.

Thailand Audio Tours

by Erik Olsen on

I lived in Bangkok briefly back in the mid-90s and remember the city as a buzzing, cacophonous, traffic-clogged metropolis where anything went. That is, as I once put it to a fiend: Bangkok is not a city for the undisciplined. I spent many an hour walking Bangkok’s dirty-foul smelling streets and wandering down blind alleys in search of interesting things to see and, well, to eat. Needless to say, I found many of each on every little expedition.

Now, it seems, given the benefits of technology, my meanderings would be somewhat enhanced…depending on how you look at it. A company has put together Bangkok walking tours called Siam Soundtrek that take you along historical, cultural and musical ambles through the city’s streets. The music helps carry along the narrative, which goes impressively deep. Now, you’re not going to meet a lot of interesting people if you walk around the city with headphones on, but these tours might be a nice way to start out in the city or for tourists who just want to get acquainted with the city in a short period of time.

Diving the Subway

by Erik Olsen on

I didn’t know this, but apparently the sea floor off New Jersey is often compared to a desert. Nature was not as generous to New Jersey when it comes to reefs and wildlife as it was to, say, Mexico, and so the folks there have hit upon a novel solution: build your own reefs. And more, they’ve decided to construct these reefs out of a rather unusual piece of man made stuff: sold subway cars.

I know, this is not a new idea. Artificial reef programs are all over the place. In fact, Lake Erie contains faux reefs made of rubble from Cleveland Stadium, and Texas formed a rigs-to-reefs program that recycles its petroleum platforms. And as was blogged about over at Divester, in May, the 888-foot USS Oriskany, a retired aircraft carrier, was sunk about 24 miles off Florida’s Pensacola Beach in the Gulf of Mexico, creating the world’s largest artificial reef. It’s also been done before in New Jersey. But being that this one is so close to home, I had to post about it. In fact, it is my goal to try to get out there to dive this baby.

Tour Prince Charles’ London Home

by Adrienne Wilson on

After the chaos caused by the gang of knuckle-headed terrorists (I’m being kind) cools off over in London, it may tickle your fancy to take a walk up to the Clarence House. For those that follow royalty as if were a part of their very own family heritage, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are allowing visitors to tour their London digs. The 19th century stucco mansion will have tours up until October 8 and by appointment only. Admission for adults is somewhere around $13 and children must give up $7 of their monthly allowance to be able to step inside.

In addition to forking over their hard-earned change children must be clean; clothing pressed – without a wrinkle; hair-slicked back – extra gel; well-mannered and delightful little souls to say the least. Oops, so the last few requirements were some of my own, but if I were Princess of Duchess allowing the general public to view my residence I’d have rules more strict than the most uppity of nightclubs and two doors men named Brutus and Fidel. Just so no one gets any ideas.

It should be a pretty cool tour for those who make it there in time to see the Clarence House.

via USA Today