Emeco 1006

This is not just a chair. It is the the Emeco 1006 Navy Chair, and it has a storied history.

Originally built for US Navy warships during World War II, the Emeco 1006 (pronounced ten-oh-six) found a second life as a designer chair used in high-end restaurants and by interior designers.

The story of Emeco and its famous chair is told in episode 310 of 99% Invisible. I found it fascinating.

Listen to the podcast.

Or read the transcript.

Campiglia Marittim (near Livorno)

If you are fortunate enough to return to Livorno, Italy on a cruise port call, and have already visited Florence, the surrounding countryside, and Livorno itself, you may find a daytrip to a nearby historical town is a relaxing alternative. Here is a little town I discovered when a client asked me this exact question.

Piazza della Repubblica

Campiglia Marittima is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Livorno in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 90 kilometres (56 mi) southwest of Florence and about 60 kilometres (37 mi) southeast of Livorno.

Situated in a hill overlooking the sea and the surrounding countryside, the town has medieval origins but traces of Etruscan and Roman civilizations can be found as well.

Apritiborgo Festival scene
Creative Commons image, tanran2 on Flickr

If you visit in August, you may be in for a treat. This is when the town hosts Apritiborgo Festival, a street art festival that has been held annually since 2005. It usually takes place in mid-August, from around the 11th to 15th (be sure to check the actual dates for the year you visit).

Campiglia Marittima's past is linked to metal-working activities, This is evidenced by the Val Fucinaia furnaces and the remains of mining and metallurgical works in the Archaeological-Mineral Park of San Silvestro.

Rocca de San Silvestro

Archaeological-Mineral Park of San Silvestro

All other images: Wiki Commons

Review: Over the Edge

Over the Edge: The True Story of Four American Climbers' Kidnap and Escape in the Mountains of Central Asia by Greg Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Unexpected Drama

Four mountain climbers plan a trip to far-off lands, to climb rock faces new to them. It's a place where others have been, but not many. It's away from everything, a quiet escape, to challenge themselves, to do what they love. Aside of a missing bag of gear, all is going well until, when sleeping in tents up a cliff face, someone starts shooting at them.

If you wonder how people get kidnapped abroad, it can happen like this.

The story of their kidnapping, their dramatic escape, and the fallout that left them estranged from each other are story enough. But there's more, when one of their captors, presumed dead, unbelievably turns up alive. It's a stunning turn of events that's hard for anyone to understand. A true story with an ending that changed while the book was being written. Definitely lots of unexpected drama.

I enjoyed the book, and Greg Child's approach. The only problem I had was keeping the three male climbers separate in my mind.... I find that happens with non-fiction books where everyone is referred to by their last name.

Overall, Arnold Schultz's narration was good, but sadly he just couldn't pull off the Australian woman's voice... perhaps he overplayed it, and it may have been ok if he just toned it down a bit.

I'm not a mountain climber, but suggest that anyone who is would find this book very compelling.


View all my reviews

A Berghain tragedy

Creative Commons image sakena on Flickr

Today, when surfing for city travel information, I stumbed across a reference to Berghain, Berlin's famed but unpublicized techno nightclub.

Where have I been living, under a rock? I spent 5 weeks in Berlin, and thought I had researched all the city had to offer, including off-the-beaten-track places and activities. But this place never hit my radar. Upon reflection, it's not really surprising. Not into the drug scene or clubbing, I am more plain vanilla than I like to admit to myself.

I was fascinated, half wishing I'd known about it, so I could have gone, but quickly tossing that aside with knowledge that I'd probably not make it in. I may be able to act bored and non-chalant, but at my core I am naive and wear deception on my face. I can't tell a lie, pull off a prank, or hide a secret - my face gives me away. Not that it bothers me ~ integrity runs deep in my veins, and I have no desire to lie or deceive anyways. So it's not a problem, per se. But I wouldn't have made it across the threshold.

But still, I was curious, and started to write a blog post (not this one). As I was collecting stories and links to augment my post, I came across one story from last month that stopped me dead in my tracks.

It was a story about an overdose death at the club. Sadly, not a rare thing these days, but the subheading caught my eye:

Deafening Silence After Overdose at Berghain - During an around-the-world trip last summer, a couple from California visited Berlin's legendary Berghain techno club. A few hours later, one of them was dead. Even today, no one seems willing to accept responsibility for the tragedy.

I immediately thought of all the travel bloggers trekking the world these days, especially those younger and more carefree than me, chasing excitement and experiences that I can't even imagine. Sometimes I worry about them, so this story just brought that all into focus for me.

The story is on Spiegel, which I appreciate for its thorough coverage of stories, its willingness to go down rabbit holes, to question the unexplained, and to expose loose ends that can't be neatly tied up.

Read it, I suggest.

For me, I think this is going to be on my mind for awhile...

RIP Jennifer.

Rome 1960

The Opening Ceremonies of the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome...
who knew what controversy had been stirring, and what was still to come?

I first bought Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World, by David Maraniss, when it first came out. I was so interested in the topic that I paid full price for the hardcover (rare for me). It did not disappoint. If you are interested in Rome, or the Olympic movement, or both, I can highly recommend this book.

Here are a few reviews of Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World

• New York Times
• GoodReads
• Sports Prof
• Tyler's Booklist

You can read a Q & A with David Maraniss, the book's author, on his website.

For a sampler, you can look inside the book or listed

Wrestling at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome

metroburb

The "before" -  the former Bell Labs corporate campus 

Today I learned a new word: metroburb.

metroburb 

It's probably not in any dictionary yet, but perhaps its time will come, if more corporate campuses are reborn like Bell Lab's.

If you're not familiar with corporate campuses, they are huge purpose-built structures designed to hold all of an organization's staff under one roof. I've been to a few, including a number of visits to the a certain big box supplier's campus in Minneapolis (think a great big yellow tag). So specific are the designs that its hard to imagine a new use once the the corporate giants have downsized, decentralized or disappeared.

Architect Eero Saarinen designed more than one of these properties, including Bell Lab's monstrosity in Holmdel, New Jersey, USA.

Developer Ralph Zucker had a rather brilliant vision for what the building could become, creating one of his "metroburbs", the word he uses to create each "metropolis in suburbia" transformation of such spaces. The result, in this case named Bell Works, features offices, co-working spaces, retail, restaurants, meeting spaces and a library. A hotel and residential developments are to come.

In A New Urbanist Developer Gives Saarinen a Reboot, CityLab describes the vision and the outcome well. It's a good read. Check it out.

Atlantic City's Streets of Monopoly

Goofing with Monopoly signs in Atlantic City
Creative Commons image shoshanah on Flickr 

I stumbled across this 2014 story - "The Avenues of Monopoly, Captured in Pictures" - and found the premise compelling: a photographer's photo essay on the Atlantic City streets made famous by the original Monopoly board game. It's worth looking to see the photos:

"Headlines from Atlantic City today read like they might be pulled from Monopoly, the most famous board game ever made about Atlantic City, or any other city. "Atlantic City Allowed to Collect Up to $30 Million Unpaid Revel Property Taxes," reads one from The Wall Street Journal. It's a bank judgment in the city's favor, practically a card drawn at random from the Chance deck. "Economist: Atlantic County Job Losses Among Worst in Nation," reads another story, about how the city is suffering the worst single-year contractions in employment in recent national history. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200..." [The Avenues of Monopoly, Captured in Pictures].

Here are a few other interesting Monopoly stories I found along the way:

A Monopoly "spinner" used in
WWII when dice were unavailable

"During World War II, Allied soldiers in German prison camps used Monopoly games for more than just amusement. Thanks to an ingenious scheme by a branch of the British Ministry of Defense known as MI9, these soldiers were actually able to use Monopoly games to escape to freedom. Allied prisoners received these games as part of aid packages that usually came from charities like the Red Cross.

The Germans believed that the games kept their POWs from planning to escape by providing them with amusement. Ironically, many of the packages’ Monopoly games were designed by their U.K. manufacturer to have the opposite effect entirely, and, in fact, secretly doubled as escape kits. The plan involved having fake charities deliver aid packages containing these games, which, in truth, contained various escape tools, including “playing pieces” that were actually compasses or metal files that could be used to cut through barbed wire.

Even the games’ “play money” was actually real French, German, and Italian money that could be used for food, bribes, or train tickets. Hidden within their boards, the games also had silk maps that prisoners could use to travel to safety after leaving their prison camps. The manufacturer made the maps with silk so that they would neither deteriorate in water nor rustle when POWs unfolded them, thus not alerting German guards..." [read more].

Elizabeth Magie's 1904 Patent US1509312A

"Monopoly is arguably one of the most popular board games in modern history. But, the original version, released in 1906, doesn’t look like the version sitting on your shelf at home right now. In fact, it didn’t even have the same name.

A young woman by the name of Elizabeth Magie created the game to show a “practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences.” She was inspired after reading Henry George’s book, Progress and Poverty. The first version of the game was called The Landlord’s Game..." [read more].

If that's news to you, it's probably because Charles Brace Darrow was best known as the claimed inventor of the Monopoly board game (he went on to become the first millionaire game-designer in history.

In fact, however, Elizabeth Magie was the original Monopoly inventor, and Darrow's version was derivative.


About the photographer
The Avenues of Monopoly, Captured in Pictures - CityLab
Mike Osborne: Monopoly - Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas
The Monopoly Project - on the photographer's website
Mike Osborne Photography - the photographer's website

Charles Darrow's 1935 Patent US2026082A
(read more)

To learn more
76-Second Travel Show: Monopoly Travel - Lonely Planet
The Search for Marvin Gardens (1972) - The New Yorker
How Allied Prisoners Used ‘Monopoly’ To Escape Nazi POW Camps - All That's Interesting
This Is What the First-Ever Monopoly Game Looked Like - Reader's Digest
Monopoly’s Inventor: The Progressive Who Didn’t Pass ‘Go’
Monopoly House Rules - WikiBooks
Hasbro Monopoly Game - official website
List of Monopoly Games - Wikia
20 Monopoly Games You Never Knew Existed - All That's Interesting

Thinking of visiting Atlantic City?
76-Second Travel Show: Monopoly Travel - Lonely Planet
What's New in Atlantic City for 2018 - Martz Railways
24 Hours in Atlantic City - Traveling Greenes
Atlantic City Stemming is Losses - Globe and Mail
Atlantic City was once a bustling tourist hub — here's how it has changed

Review: A Higher Loyalty (the Comey book)

A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book by the recently departed FBI Director.

Although I expected to be intrigued by the most recent goings on (his firing, and the fallout), I was actually more engaged when listening to his personal and professional life up to that point.

I found the insights into how the FBI works fascinating, while I founds insights as to how DC works (or doesn't) even more bizarre than I expected.

Most importantly, I found James Comey to be honest and credible. He is a man of strong convictions ~ and I liked them. Mostly, I believe him, and have no doubt as to the lack of integrity of the fool that fired him.

View all my reviews

Barcelona Precincts, by Ben Holbrook

Barcelona Precincts: A curated guide to Barcelona’s best shops, eateries, bars and other hangouts

By Ben Holbrook

Travel blogger and author Ben Holbrook has a new book. It's called Barcelona Precincts, and it's stunningly beautiful!

Barcelona Precincts is Holbrook's personal guide to the city’s 12 hottest barrios (neighbourhoods). Anchored with a map, Ben shares his favourite places to eat and drink and shop, topping off each area with an interview with a local.

"Each chapter features beautiful imagery (it nearly killed me photographing the city throughout the blistering summer heat), maps, an interview with a local. This book was a true labour of love and consumed me entirely for much of the year."

"The finished product is something I am immensely proud of. Not only is it a gorgeous object of desire, something that will make a beautiful gift or look seriously sexy on your bookshelf or coffee table, but it’s something I poured my heart and soul into (and plenty of blood, sweat and tears along the way). This is not just a book, but a little slice of my very being...[read more].

Buy the book

amazon.ca
amazon.com
amazon.uk
Hardie Grant - Publisher

Tip: If you buy the print version of the book you can also download a FREE digital version to browse on your smart device ("though I should add that it’s simplified and doesn’t quite have the same magic as the print version," advises Ben).

Follow the author
Barcelona Precincts - book's page on author's website
More Barcelona - on author's website
Biography
@ben_holbrook on Twitter

Related resources
Ben Holbrook's Perfect Day in Barcelona - Homage to BCN
Meet Driftwood Journals Blogger Ben Holbrook - The Culture Trip
Ben Holbrook's articles - The Telegraph

Athens reads

The city of Athens is often overlooked as a destination, but has a lot to offer. I really came to appreciate the city when I rented a flat here for a month.

If your travel takes you through Athens, plan to stay a few days to explore.

Here are a few books worth reading, to get you in the mood:

	Dinner with Persephone: Travels in Greece - by Patricia Storace "I lived in Athens, at the intersection of a prostitute and a saint."  This is how this book begins, a memoir of the author's year in Greece. I truly adored this book. I read it while I was in Greece, and it really gave me great insight into the Greek people, particularly in Athens.
	The Acropolis: The Acropolis Museum - by Katerina Servi The new Acropolis Museum is housed in an amazing building at the foot of the Acropolis, with a stunning view of the Parthenon. This book guides you through the museum, giving interesting information and highlights the most important exhibits. The museum is spectacular to visit - don't miss it!
	Athens: The City Beneath the City: Antiquities from the Metropolitan Railway Excavations - by Liana Parlama, Nicholas Stampolidis During excavations for the Athens metro (built for the 2004 Summer Olympics), many archaeological artifacts were discovered, as highlighted in this book. The contrasts of old/new are quite striking if you view the artifacts (or replicas), at several metro stations.
	Time Out Athens I read this Athens guide cover to cover... not sequentially, but like an explorer... long before I made plans to visit the city. It helped me know I wanted to stay a month, which I did. A bit out of date, but I don't imagine that what made this book special has changed much - just be sure to refer to a current guidebook as well.
	Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day - by Philip Matyszak Set in Athens in 431 BC (you'll meet Socrates), this book is designed to educate and amuse. This "well-researched yet irreverently unacademic guide" gives context for Athens today. If you like this book, you may be interested to know that the author has written other similar works, including Rome.

Created with the HTML Table Generator

A quarterly box for your cat

Torn between laughing and something bordering on outrage. Well, not quite, but how dense an companies get?

But your cat will like the box...
Creative Commons image chromewaves on Flickr 

A travel magazine has added a whole new feature, launched with great excitement: a quarterly subscription box, that for a mere $89 a quarter - or choose the $39/month option - plus tax (of course), you get your magazine (separate subscription) in a box full of consumer goods meant to inspire you to travel. Free shipping! WTF?!?! Like this makes sense?

$350 a year can go a long way towards a vacation.

It's certainly not green: that box filled with fancy pasta made in Italy, along with gourmet olive oil, some one-of-a-kind wooden spatula (lovely, I'm sure), a little just-add-water herb garden and a boring (or exciting) scarf won't just sprout wings and fly.

Yes, I am a travel agent, and yes, I help people burn jet fuel to hop around the globe... the contradiction is not lost on me.

But here's what I'm thinking:

What a waste of money and resources.

Why not 'sell' contributions to micro-loans or give-a-family-a-goat or literacy abroad? Send me a story about who is being helped. Maybe fund an annual draw for a trip to a village helped? Or something both innovative and inspiring?

Just getting people to give their credit card (on a non-secure webpage no less), contributes nothing to the greater good.

It doesn't get the subscriber any closer to their travel dreams; rather it adds to consumer debt (for many).

It's madness.

PS. Looking for an image to put with this post, I tried 'carrier pigeon'.. and stumbled across a service that will actually carry a letter part way by bird - delivering it to the postal service to take it the rest of the way (along with a pigeon certification). It's called Pigeongram. More here.

WOW Air's Dream Job for 2

WOW Air is hiring for a dream job for 2. Is that you?

WOW Air is looking for a person - and their "best friend" - to visit some of the airline's 38 destinations around the world and document their travels in a digital guide. The job is just 3 months long. You will be paid, will be given an apartment in Reykjavik and, no doubt, will work your ass off!

Application deadline: May 14

Travel Guides announced: May 18
Start Date: June 1, 2018

Considering the "winners" will be announced a mere 4 days after the application deadline, your video application is going to need to be good! They are looking for you to show off your hometown, so get to work!

Where you'll report for work on Day 1

Want the job? Key links:
Now hiring for the world's best summer job
Travel Guide Job Details & Application Process
YouTube Video


Resources
Dream Job Alert: WOW Air Wants to Pay You to Move to Iceland and Travel the World - Mental Floss
Dream job alert: Airline will pay you to travel around the world - Good Morning America

Parikkala Sculpture Park

Creative Commons image mikeancient on Flickr 

Just 3 hours east of Helsinki, tucked next to the Russian border, lies the town of Parikkala.

Creative Commons image
1030333033@N08 on Flickr 

While relatively isolated, the tiny town receives more than its share of visitors, drawn to incredible sculptures created by Veijo Rönkkönen.

Officially known as the Parikkala Sculpture Park, the Veijo Rönkkönen Sculpture Garden is one of Finland's most important examples of contemporary folk art.

"Rönkkönen is more than an installation or a sculpture park; it’s a community, and although some of the artwork is disturbing, the forest is unquestionably quite magical, an amalgamation of many different worlds coming together all in one place." (The Culture Trip)

Creative Commons image 1030333033@N08 on Flickr 

What causes the sometimes 'creepy' reaction is the facial expressions of the concrete statues. Some even have human teeth. The uniqueness of each statue is also what makes the whole collection so special.

"Veijo Rönkkönen was only 16 years old when he started working on his park. Veijo had recently got a job as a press worker in a paper mill in his hometown Parikkala, a job he held for 41 years. With his first pay check, he purchased ten apple tree seedlings and a bag of concrete to create a garden around his family home. For the next fifty years, until his death in 2010, he dedicated all his spare time and money planting flowers and trees and creating hundreds of caricature-like sculptures, mostly of full scale human figures." (Amusing Planet)

Creative Commons image
1030333033@N08 on Flickr 

A recluse who enjoyed his own company and practiced yoga, Veijo continued to live in the family home, adding to his works.

"Veijo Rönkkönen's yard, and the path leading to it, are filled with over 450 statues, 200 of which are self portraits of the artist in Yoga positions he has mastered. The statues have loudspeakers hidden inside them, and the sound effects add to the eeriness of this place." (Oddity Central)

Creative Commons image 1030333033@N08 on Flickr 

While Rönkkönen was happy to share his sculptures, leaving his park open to the public, he never wanted to meet his admirers. Instead, visitors left impressions and notes to him in a guestbook.

Veijo Rönkkönen was recognized with the Finlandia prize in 2007, but sent his brother to collect the prize on his behalf.

Following his death in 2010, Rönkkönen's family sold the site, hoping it would be preserved. The ITE Association is partnering with the new owner, an art lover named Reino Uusitalo, to repair the sculptures and provide guided tours.

Curious?

Satisfy your curiosity with this view of the park entrance (on Google Street View).

Creative Commons image mikeancient on Flickr

If you go, why not stay a few days? There is plenty to see and do, including ample birdwatching, Ateljee-Koti Seppo Saukkonen (250 works by the artist), Honkakylä Merchant’s Museum, Museum of Horse-Drawn Vehicles & Agricultural Implements, Parikkala Dairy Museum and the Papinniemi Archaeological Site. (Visit Parikkala)

Resources
Parikkala Sculpture Park - Official Website
THE RÖNKKÖNEN SCULPTURE PARK - Go Finland
The strange Park of Veijo Rönkkönen - Big in Finland
Veijo Rönkkönen Sculpture Garden - Atlas Obscura
The Sculpture Park of Veijo Rönkkönen Is the Weirdest Place in Finland - Oddity Central
Veijo Rönkkönen’s Sculpture Park - Amusing Planet
Recluse Dies, Leaves Behind Hundreds of Secret Sculptures in Finland - The Culture Trip
The Parikkala Sculpture Park Reviews - Trip Advisor (rating 4.5/5)
How to get from Helsinki to Parikkala - Rome2Rio
Cottages and Vacation Rentals nearby - Go Finland
Parikkala Sights and Attractions - Visit Parikkala

Creative Commons image mikeancient on Flickr

Review: Priceless - How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures

Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As an art lover, I have always been fascinated by stolen art and forgeries. Who did it? Why? How? Where is the work now? Is it hanging on some rich person's wall? (and who does that anyway?!?!). Is it stuffed in a garage somewhere? Did someone stash it somewhere and then die? Can it be covered before it is destroyed and lost forever?

FASCINATING STUFF. If this interests you as much as me, you'll probably enjoy Priceless. It was pretty interesting to learn about how major heists were resolved. It was freaky to learn about works almost recovered and then the opportunity lost due to turf wars and egos. Regardless, listen and you will travel the world in pursuit of lost treasures.

The book was written as a memoir, so it includes the background as to how the FBI's first art sleuth got to his post, which was not what I might have imagined.

It was heartening to learn that the priority was on recovering works first, and catching the bad guys second.

It was equally disheartening to hear about how the art crimes division would fall out of favour, and an intelligent and dedicated agent would be bounced around supervisors that didn't get or appreciate art. But all in all, interesting tales, and a good listen for art and mystery lovers.

View all my reviews

A Merchant's Wife Teatime

I love discovering a new artist. Or a new-to-me artist.

Today it was Boris Kustodiev.

I stumbled across Kustodiev's work, A Merchant's Wife Teatime, when I was searching online for a picture of watermelon seeds! Thank you Google.

Boris Mikhaylovich Kustodiev (1878-1927) was a Russian painter, book illustrator and stage designer. If I have seen his art before, it didn't connect with me, as some of it is quite traditional.

But this image caught my eye. The colours, her rich robes, the cat... how WONDERFUL it is!!

Below are a few other works of his that I like.

Boris Mikhaylovich Kustodiev - Wikipedia

Podcast: Ologies

I have posted before about ologies on my blog (read that ologies post here)... so I was interested to find that there is now a blog named Ologies.

I've subscribed, but not listened yet, but thought I'd post it here, before I forget.

Ologies Podcast - on iTunes
Ologies Podcast blog - Alie Ward
@ologies - on Twitter

The secret on page 101

Great story on As It Happens tonight, and it reminded me of something from my Kamloops days...



This story reminded me of something my mother used to do, when she worked as the "book doctor" at the Kamloops library in the 60's and 70's.

Part of her job was to put the library's rubber stamp on page 101 of every book. If the book was shorter, the stamp went on page 51.

I think it had something to do with people stealing books, then saying it wasn't the library's, that it was a book they owned. As I write that now, it seems illogical, because if that was the case, why would the thief even appear at the library with said book?

Maybe there are librarians out there that know more about this.

Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I bought The Hunger Games not knowing what to expect, but encouraged by the reviews. I don't often read fantasy, so it's not a category I usually consider, but there was an Audible special, so it was a good time to try something new.

Right from the beginning, I enjoyed the characters and the narration was good. I forgot that I was reading/listening, and just disappeared into the book. The premise was so far from anything I could imagine, there wasn't much opportunity to think about what things meant, or what might happen next. The story clipped along, and what happened next was always a surprise.

I did like how the advanced technology and capabilities of the powers to be were slowly revealed, and I liked the juxtaposition of almost primitive conditions played off the surreal.

I accomplished nothing on my weekend, except drawing while I listened, until I was finished. Total escape, but not so good if you have things to do!

I gather this was #1 in a series (it ended with many unanswered questions), so I'm sure I'll partake of the series. Though will save the next one until I can afford to listen non-stop.

View all my reviews

Review: Code Girls

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II by Liza Mundy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Code Girls break the code

Code Girls is an excellent "read" and I'm glad I didn't pass it up.

My mom worked in Communications in WWII (though on the Canadian side of the border), so was always curious about what she really did. There were many parallels with the story of the women in this book, which I enjoyed.

Regardless, it's a fascinating story. The lives these women led, and the very real contribution they made ~ for which they were never recognized ~ made for a good book. The details on how they broke the codes - and how complex they were - largely kept my attention. As I read other reviews before I purchased, I intentionally did not try to keep the women straight, and it was fine.

For the last 1/3 of the book, I was falling asleep with it at night, and although I set the sleep timer, I kept needing to rewind. As a result, I felt the same stories were being told over and over again... I don't know how much of that was repetition, and how much was my dozing off. But the end of the book wrapped up well. Very insightful.

See the great pictures on author Liz Mundy's website

View all my reviews

GlobeIn

I stumbled across this innovativc company today, making a dofference... and allowing others to do the same. Check it out.

Artisan Box Subscription

Every month, GlobeIn brings the world to you in our signature handwoven basket, filled with heart and soul. The soul of craft and of far-away lands; the soul of our artisans, their cultures and the hours of work they’ve put into their creations. What you receive in the mail every month isn’t just a basket; it’s a treasure chest connecting you to the palm trees of Sri Lanka, the sugar cane fields of the Philippines and the desert sun of western India.

Shop

It’s our passion to discover extraordinary, useful finds from all over the globe and share them with you. Our shop features products sourced from direct relationships with artisans as well as vetted partner organizations. From Mexican woven baskets to Ghanaian coasters, each handcrafted good we share with you is remarkably distinct.

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We are dedicated to supporting artisans from around the world and in developing countries where, after agriculture, artisan goods are the second largest source of employment. By supporting us, you help reduce poverty by giving these artisans and their communities, a global audience. To help you connect with our gifted artisans, every month we highlight one artisan or artisan collective and ask you to crowd-fund their special project.

Creative Commons images 577 on Flickr

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