Travel Absurdities


Book Description

Travel absurdities, a gathering of stories that have been etched in my memories for years. These incidents were not necessarily funny when they occured but can't help but laugh as I look back in fondness. Vacations, holidays, family reunions, summer outings are supposed to afford us with time to relax and renew our bodies from the normal daily grind of life but oftentimes become mishap ridden as we try to avoid the stress that made us take the trip in the first place. A vicious circle, but just ask me if I want to go somewhere, my answer is always yes! I never completely unpack my carryon. My luggage sits next to my bed beckoning me to take it out the door. This world is so vast and I have such memorable stories to tell, some absured, some humorous and others just one mishap after another. The stories people listen to, sometimes in disbelief.




Duckie Dan the Traveling Man


Book Description

Meet Duckie Dan, a cute furry little duck, who has a desire to travel and have lots of friends. Dan is mischievous and sometimes his curiosity gets him into trouble on his journeys. An unscheduled trip inside a candy factory leaves him a little gooey. Dan is an only-child and seeks out others to join him and enjoy his life with granny. Grandma Hattie made the mistake of saying, "There is always room for one more!"




Bad Tourist


Book Description

Both a memoir in travel essays and an anti-guidebook, Bad Tourist takes us across four continents to fifteen countries, showing us what not to do when traveling. A woman learning to claim her own desires and adventures, Suzanne Roberts encounters lightning and landslides, sharks and piranha-infested waters, a nightclub drugging, burning bodies, and brief affairs as she searches for the love of her life and finally herself. Throughout her travels Roberts tries hard not to be a bad tourist, but owing to her cultural blind spots, things don’t always go as planned. Fearlessly confessional, shamelessly funny, and wholly unapologetic, Roberts offers a refreshingly honest account of the joys and absurdities of confronting new landscapes and cultures, as well as new versions of herself. Raw, bawdy, and self-effacing, Bad Tourist is a journey packed with delights and surprises—both of the greater world and of the mysterious workings of the heart.







The Absurdity of Pride and the Peace of Humility


Book Description

After several years of research into the new discoveries of science and cosmology and the new translations of the worlds religions, I have found that we are not only going extinct, but that we are the ones doing it through pride and arrogance. We as a species have developed an addiction to this ugly, disconnecting emotion. Totally lost to us is the unifying, sustainable emotion of humility. Clearly, unless we can recover humilitys natural state, we will continue in the violent, frightened, unjust lifestyle of pride, and we will force our own speciesand many others on the Earthinto extinction. This book maps out our personal, group, and species pride so there can be no doubt of its powerful influence inand lethal power overeverything about us. A study of how we can get out of pride and into a state of humility occupies most of the book because that is what we must do right now. If we are to live enjoyable and meaningful lives and have a future, we must throw off pride and enter into humility. This book is a map, guide, and call to hope for our joyful and sustainable future. Its a call to come out of our slavery to self to see and embrace other humans, groups, and species of the Earth. In this new state of humility, we will be released to see ourselves not just as citizens of the Earth, but as citizens of the cosmos. In humility, we will discover that we are not the center of anything but an important part of everything. We will throw off things like prides violence, illusions of control, worry, fear, anger, fighting, comparing, judging, competing, and taking everything personally. We will take on humilitys laughterespecially at ourselveslove, justice, peace, forgiveness, identifying with and appreciating everything, and being all-inclusive. The natural thing would have been for us to evolve into humility. It is the only way that any reflective species in the cosmos can ever hope to survive and flourish.




DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Poland


Book Description

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Poland is your in-depth guide to the very best of Poland. Whether exploring the liveliness of its big cities or taking in the natural beauty of its idyllic lakes, beaches and mountains, you will experience the culture of Eastern hospitality and community values of this land that is deeply rooted in tradition and history. With hundreds of full-color photographs, hand-drawn illustrations, and custom maps that illuminate every page, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Poland truly shows you this country as no one else can.




Lyrical and Critical Essays


Book Description

Edited by Philip Thody, translated by Ellen Conroy Kennedy. "Here now, for the first time in a complete English translation, we have Camus' three little volumes of essays, plus a selection of his critical comments on literature and his own place in it. As might be expected, the main interest of these writings is that they illuminate new facets of his usual subject matter."--The New York Times Book Review "...a new single work for American readers that stands among the very finest."--The Nation




Travel Writing


Book Description

An increasingly popular genre – addressing issues of empire, colonialism, post-colonialism, globalization, gender and politics – travel writing offers the reader a movement between the familiar and the unknown. In this volume, Carl Thompson: introduces the genre, outlining competing definitions and key debates provides a broad historical survey from the medieval period to the present day explores the autobiographical dimensions of the form looks at both men and women’s travel writing, surveying a range of canonical and more marginal works, drawn from both the colonial and postcolonial era utilises both British and American travelogues to consider the genre's role in shaping the history of both nations. Concise and practical, Travel Writing is the ideal introduction for those new to the subject, as well as a crucial overview of current debates in the field.




The Age of Absurdity


Book Description

Like Alain de Botton crossed with Charlie Brooker, Foley succeeds in educating and enlightening us in this wry take on the existential dilemmas of modern life. ‘Fascinating . . . the quest for happiness and how we are getting it all wrong' Jeremy Vine, Sunday Telegraph The good news is that the great thinkers from history have proposed the same strategies for happiness and fulfilment. The bad news is that these turn out to be the very things most discouraged by contemporary culture. This knotty dilemma is the subject of The Age of Absurdity – a humourous and accessible investigation into how the desirable states of wellbeing and satisfaction are constantly undermined by modern life. Michael Foley examines the elusive conditions of happiness common to philosophy, spiritual teachings and contemporary psychology, then shows how these are becoming increasingly difficult to apply in a world of high expectations. The common challenges of earning a living, maintaining a relationship and ageing are becoming battlegrounds of existential angst and self-loathing in a culture that demands conspicuous consumption, high-octane partnerships and perpetual youth. Rather than denouncing and rejecting these challenges, Foley presents an entertaining strategy of not just accepting but embracing today's world – finding happiness in its absurdity.




The Absurdity of Philosophy


Book Description

Jeff Smith-Luedke uses rudiments of logic and lingual philosophy. with broad strokes of reason, rationality and consistent argumentation, as well as anecdotes, humanism and descriptive word invention, to posit more specificity to our understanding of our language speaking history and condition.