[Review] Thinking Like Your Editor

I would also like to write a book. Several, in fact. There are topics that refuse to be neatly encompassed in a single blog post, or even a series of many posts. A well-delivered argument that adds substantially to our understanding of how the world works can take at least 300 pages to articulate. As an avid consumer of ideas, I find myself spending more time reading books than blog posts.

Taxis in Lima

Taxis in Lima

One of the most refreshing books I’ve read this year has been Khaled al-Khamissi’s Taxi. (A kind gift from Noha.) It’s nothing but a slim collection or three-page vignettes that recall conversations with taxi drivers around Cairo. In aggregate these...
They Have Returned With Their Secrets Unviolated

They Have Returned With Their Secrets Unviolated

All tourists cherish an illusion, of which no amount of experience can ever completely cure them: they imagine that they will find time, in the course of their travels, to do a lot of reading. They see themselves, at the end of a day’s sightseeing or motoring,...
However you might spell miscelanea

However you might spell miscelanea

Reading through my thousands of Latin American RSS feeds for Global Voices, I can’t begin to tell you how many January 1st posts started with the New Year’s resolution to once again start blogging more frequently. I assume the same is true with...
Pitching Outside the Strike Zone, Part Vd

Pitching Outside the Strike Zone, Part Vd

September 18, 2003 Habana Vieja, Cuba Last night I picked up two books – History Will Absolve Me – Fidel’s famous speech – and also a collection of essays by Jose Martí. I got fairly far into History Will Absolve Me, but I put it down for...
Definitely Bonanza Jellybean.

Definitely Bonanza Jellybean.

Never one to let a good meme die. Myke asks 1. Estimate the total number of books you’ve owned in your life. This is gonna have to be one hell of a rough guess. Probably at least half the books I’ve read have been traded with other travelers while on the...