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January 28, 2012
I was lucky, when I entered corrections some years ago, that my training instructor was Vinny Nigro. He was a man of exacting standards who had a great sense of […]
November 21, 2011
On Thanksgiving, I will be among the millions of Americans who have the somewhat unpleasant experience of handling a raw turkey, recently out of the refrigerator, relieved of its plastic […]
September 27, 2011
Some of my subjects, I admit, are a bit dark. But this one is the opposite. I first came upon Ophelia Dahl in Tracy Kidder’s book, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest […]
September 13, 2011
In 1994 I published an article in the New York Times Magazine called “The Hand-Off.” It was about the search of a young mother with AIDS, Evelyn Mirach, for someone […]
August 7, 2011
Last Sunday was my friend Rick’s birthday. But two weeks earlier, his car’s odometer reached 200,000. Which matters more? I know about the miles because he took a picture of […]
June 20, 2011
Sometimes when I’m writing I get behind on my movie viewing, and so it was only recently that I got to watch “How to Train Your Dragon,” a movie recommended […]
April 29, 2011
As literature struggles to retain its place of importance in our cultural life, it’s thrilling to see the birth of a new and serious magazine. The first issue of The […]
April 26, 2011
Last week Tim Hetherington was killed in Libya. Hetherington was a British photographer who lived in New York. With Sebastian Junger, he made “Restrepo,” the Oscar-nominated documentary about American soldiers […]
March 1, 2011
My latest book, The Routes of Man, is now out in paperback, sporting a beautiful new cover and an improved subtitle: Travels in the Paved World. It is available at […]
December 15, 2010
Recently the wife and I went to see “127 Hours,” Danny Boyle’s film about the real-life misadventure of mountaineer Aron Ralston. Ralston, as moviegoers know, was solo hiking in a […]
December 6, 2010
Historic roads: going but not gone
For weeks (okay, months) I’ve been meaning to link to this thought-provoking post at BLDGBLOG, written by Geoff Manaugh. It’s about ancient routes all around us — at Monticello and […]
June 29, 2010
Though I’m always after my wife for saving too much stuff, in fact I have the same problem. One thing that’s been particularly hard for me to get rid of […]
June 4, 2010
Has Garry Trudeau been reading The Routes of Man? (image via Slate)
February 28, 2010
Since its launch on February 9 (and even before then, in pre-publication media) my new book has been reviewed in print, on the radio and online. More reviews, I’m told, are […]
February 20, 2010
One of my favorite photographs of a road is by Nicholas deVore III. Nicholas was one of those rare people of approximately my age or older who grew up in […]
February 15, 2010
The magazine The Week asked me for a list of my top six books about travel on roads. It’s in the current issue.
February 13, 2010
A lot of us work to music. I used to play music to help get me get going, to start the flow – mostly music without words, and especially guitar […]