Tag Archives: travel

Book Review: Full Upright And Locked Position

Posted on April 26, 2024 by nathanalbright

Full Upright And Locked Position: Not-So-Comfortable Truths About Air Travel Today, by Mark Gerchick As a not terribly frequent but also deeply interested air traveler, I have long had an interest in the experience of flying, since the days when … Continue reading →

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Book Review: All Strangers Are Kin

Posted on April 16, 2024 by nathanalbright

All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures In Arabic And The Arab World, by Zora O’Neill My generally positive review of this book that I give is dependent on my reading of the author’s self-presentation as being deliberately critical. To the extent … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Scatter, Adapt, And Remember

Posted on April 13, 2024 by nathanalbright

Scatter, Adapt, And Remember: how Humans Will Survive A Mass Extinction, by Annalee Newitz Most of my way through this book, I was (wrongly) convinced that this book would be better than the usual fare of pessimistic, apocalyptic rants about … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Great Lodges Of The National Parks, Volume Two

Posted on March 25, 2024 by nathanalbright

Great Lodges Of The National Parks, Volume two, by Christine Barnes This book, in a roundabout and somewhat indirect way, indicates one of the main problems that this nation has with its public broadcasting. It is fortunate that this book … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Xenophon’s Retreat

Posted on March 11, 2024 by nathanalbright

Xenophon’s Retreat: Greece, Persia, And The End Of The Golden Age, by Robin Waterfield What is the value of a book like this, which seeks to summarize Anabasis by Xenophon, a classic work that had world-historical importance in showing to … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Taste Of Persia

Posted on March 7, 2024 by nathanalbright

Taste Of Persia: A Cook’s Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan, by Naomi Duguid It is tricky to ponder the structure of a book like this one. Cookbooks in general–as this one is–are often structured based on the … Continue reading →

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Book Review: British Language And Culture

Posted on February 26, 2024 by nathanalbright

British Language And Culture, by the Lonely Planet This guide is an immensely humorous and often irreverent guide to British language and culture, and so it certainly lives up to its name. Perhaps the biggest issue with the book is … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Ungrateful Refugee

Posted on February 25, 2024 by nathanalbright

The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You, by Dina Nayeri It is perhaps a bit ungenerous to say that a book called The Ungrateful Refugee would have been far better had it not been written by an ungrateful refugee. … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Searching For Hassan

Posted on February 23, 2024 by nathanalbright

Searching For Hassan, by Terence Ward At the heart of this generally excellent book there is a giant hole of motivation. What is it that drives the Ward family to, after decades of separation, visit Iran in 1998 to search … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Temporary Bride

Posted on February 21, 2024 by nathanalbright

The Temporary Bride: A Memoir Of Love And Food In Iran, by Jennifer Klinec To the credit of the author, this book does not whitewash her or her husband (spoiler alert) and make them more appealing as people or make … Continue reading →

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