SEP
12

armchair_diplomat_europe.jpgThe Armchair Diplomat on Europe: The Ultimate Slackers' Guide to Our Continental Cousins

So much pre-travel reading is devoted to 'where to go', and 'what to see'. Melissa Rossi's Armchair Diplomat series of books offers the traveler something completely different; an education on the nuances of history, culture and geopolitics for 25 EU nations. This book was just released in August of this year, and another book titled 'What Every American Should Know about Who's Really Running the World' is expected to hit store shelves by December. In 1996 Rossi wrote a book on Courtney Love and since then has been devoted to travel writing exclusively. This Armchair Diplomat series figures to be a big hit.

It happens all the time: you're watching the Champion's League, pondering Robert Kilroy Silk's unnatural glow, reading the latest newspaper debate about EU bendy banana laws, and thinking: what's really going on in Europe? Does anyone actually know what they're talking about? And where are Riga and Vilnius anyway?

You needn't worry any more. With this armchair guide you'll discover the strange and fascinating world that calls itself Europe - without ever having to leave your own home. There are insights into culture (how to join the Finns beating themselves with birch twigs in the sauna); the lowdown on the people that matter (porn stars turned politicians in Italy); fascinating facts and explanations of historical rifts (and you thought the relationship between Britain and France was bad). You'll find out how to talk like Berlusconi, unravel the workings of the EU and guide yourself from the Baltics to Belgium, Portugal to Poland.

The Armchair Diplomat: Europe offers the basics of euro-education for very little pain. Perfect for slackers with a passion for travel.

The Armchair Diplomat Website [Source Credit]
The Armchair Diplomat: Europe [Penguin UK]

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JUL
27

asia_grace_bali.jpgAsia Grace: An Incredible Photographic Journey Through Asia Told By Wired Co-Founder Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly is best known for helping kickstart Wired Magazine in 1993. However, before becoming a driving force in magazine publishing, Kelly was a wandering photojournalist. Kelly spent most of the 1970's photographing Asia for national publications. He later would act as publisher of Whole Earth Review and Whole Earth Catalogs (over a million were sold). Steve Jobs recently called the original version of Whole Earth Catalogs one of the bible's of his generation "It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions." After serving as Executive Editor of Wired for almost 7 years, he's now Editor-At-Large, a title that probably helped give KK the breathing room he needed to create this stunning book of photos from numerous jaunts to Asia in the 70's, 80's and 90's. A noteworthy collection, definitely worth a perusal.

(photo from 'Asia Grace')
Temple festival
Bali, Indonesia
This gathering is a fairly typical honoring at a local temple. There are piles of fruit and food offerings. Tiny umbrellas. Colorful skirts. Incense. Music. And kids running around. This particular one occured in Ubud. Despite the high volume of tourists that Baii sees (and has seen over the past century) these festivals are not displays for tourists, but for thed Balinese, and there are enough happening each week that they don't draw many tourists.

On the book's production...
While the order is roughly west to east, country by country, the book's sequence occasionally departs from that constraint. Since I would often dash back and forth across borders to follow the weather or to game the visa requirements, sometimes the images in the book will jump from one country set to another, not to follow my travels but to fit into a visual rhythm. In general, though, they continue to drift eastwards - which has been the general drift of my heart.

My method of shooting was simple: smile, shoot first, ask questions later. It seemed to work. I spent enormous amounts of time hanging around places waiting for something to happen. Sometimes it did, often it didn't. Further years were spent in the back of local buses waiting to leave. I learned a lot, but the truth is, a lot of what I photographed I have only a vague notion of what was really going on. Asia is complex, infinitely deep, and I was just a kid with a camera. I slept in local inns; I ate whatever was being served, and yes, I drank the water anywhere the natives did. I got sick only once, in Katmandu - hepatitis A.

Asia Grace [Amazon]
Photo of the Day: (7/25/05) [Gadling]
'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says [Stanford]
Temple Festival: Kevin, Kelly - Asia Grace [Photo Credit]

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