In the midst of more random Baja reading from The Book of Lists #2 , I came across a 1980 list of the "10 Best Overlooked Travel Sites in the World", according to legendary travel journalist Lowell Thomas: 1) The Brooks Range country of northern Alaska 2) The Antarctic continent, especially the area known as...

"There was also dispute about [Alexander the Great's] parents. Much of this was posthumous legend; the Persians later fitted Alexander into their own line of kings by a story that Olympias had visited the Persian court, where the king made love to her and then sent her back to Macedonia because her breath smelt appallingly...

The following quote -- which appears to infer that Richard Nixon dreamed up a kind of Ur-Internet in the early 1970s -- appears on page 483 of The Book of Lists #2 , which I have been reading off and on in Baja. What I find especially fascinating is that this Ur-Internet scheme appeared in...

As Oliver Stone's new film Alexander nears theatrical release, I wanted to reveal some more facts about the historical Alexander the Great, from the pages of Robin Lane Fox's eponymous book. Today's entry deals with Alexander's nominal homosexuality: "In ancient Greece moderate homosexuality was an accepted companion of sex with wives and prostitutes. It was...

The Best American Travel Writing 2004 anthology, which was guest edited this year by Pico Iyer , has just been published by Houghton Mifflin. Notable writers chosen for this year's main selections include John McPhee, Tim Cahill , Adam Gopnik, Joan Didion, Peter Hessler , Thomas Swick , Mark Jenkins, and Patrick Symmes (who landed...

In the house where I do my writing in Baja, there is a copy of The Book of Lists #2 , which I read from time to time in idle moments. Of the many fascinating and bizarre facts in this book, one page that caught my attention was "11-Year-Old Bradley Goldstein

One of the best books I've read so far this year was Robin Lane Fox's historical biography, Alexander the Great . Thus, I was pleased to notice that Oliver Stone's latest film, which debuts late next month, is based on the life of the famous Macedonian warrior-king. Simply entitled Alexander , Stone's film stars Colin...

As the 2004 Athens Games wind down, I wanted to share a few more notes on the ancient Greek games, from Tony Perrottet's recent book, The Naked Olympics . On the competitiveness of the ancient Greeks "Greeks loved to compete over everything

I was happy to discover this morning that my college classmate Gina Ochsner has a piece of fiction in the current issue of The New Yorker . Entitled " The Fractious South ", it is set (as is much of her short fiction) in Russia. Though Gina has in the past won the Flannery O'Conner...

Though far more culturally important to the Greek world than the modern Olympics, the ancient games took place over the course of just five days. Below is a reconstruction of the ancient Olympic program, taken from Tony Perrottet's The Naked Olympics : The Ancient Greek Olympic Program The original format of the ancient Olympics was...

Those of you following the Athens Olympics of TV will see a lot of travel-writer Tony Perrottet in coming days, as he is slated to appear on NBC, CNN, ESPN and MSNBC to share insights from his book, The Naked Olympics . Those wishing to see him in person can catch him next Monday, August...

Those planning on vagabonding through Kansas on late-summer road-trips might be interested to know that my father, George Potts, has just published A Pocket Guide to Common Kansas Mammals , along with photographer Bob Gress. Published in cooperation with the Great Plains Nature Center , the booklet can be picked up for free at various...

The Athens Olympics are due to start any day now, and -- amidst all the hype -- I wanted to remind everyone how the ancient Greek Olympics once represented the most profound travel event in the Western world. As my travel-writing colleague Tony Perrottet says in his recent book The Naked Olympics , "each Olympiad...

I've been curious about the independent travel 'zine Young Pioneers ever since the editor, Dan Eldridge, intereviewed me over a year ago in Seattle. Now, finally, the first issue of the 'zine (officially called Young Pioneers: A Journal of Independent Travel Culture ) is out, and it's an impressive debut. In some ways Young Pioneers...

Nhan Trinh, an old friend of mine from our days back at Wichita North high school (he later went on to study at Cornell), has just published a book of poetry on Sandra McPherson 's Swan Scythe Press. Entitled Pursue , Nhan's book is decribed by poet Rigoberto Gonz

My favorite indie travel book publisher, Travelers' Tales , is celebrating ten years in the publishing industry by putting out a "year's best" anthology, entitled The Best Travelers' Tales 2004 . Simon Winchester wrote the introduction , and contributors include Brad Newsham , Jeff Greenwald , Richard Sterling , Larry Habegger and Stephanie Elizondo Griest...

I just finished reading James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential , the first piece of crime-genre fiction I've read in years. It was complex and engrossing, and I had a hard time putting it down on my recent transit flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I was particularly struck by how different it was from the...

I just tallied up all the books I read last year, and (counting only the books I completed in their entirety), my grand total was 38 -- a pretty healthy year of book reading for me. Here's a look at the rundown: Travel narratives and essays Hold the Enlightenment , by Tim Cahill Road Fever...

My nephew, Cedar, who is four years old and lives on a farm in Kansas, wrote a book for me yesterday. Since he didn't know how to mail it to me as I make my way through Central America, his mother (my sister) transposed it into an email. I guess I'll have to wait a...

This month, Lonely Planet released a new anthology for its "Journeys" series, entitled The Kindness of Strangers . Edited by Salon.com vet (and LP global travel editor) Don George, this book explores the unexpected human connections that so often transform our travel experiences. And, in what was certainly a coup for Don G. and Lonely...