Featured Book
Curious Encounters of the Human Kind – Himalaya
This is the third book in a five-book series of unusual (and true) personal travel tales..
What’s a girl to do when a Hindu god doesn’t return her mountain? Would you risk your life by hugging a tree? How do you find a nameless young girl you first met (for five minutes) twenty-six years earlier? For environmental consciousness should we trust the international-bureaucrats or a Bhutanese farmer? Does the Himalayan yeti illuminate the dark side of our souls? Why do we share a need with Tibetan refugees to “rid the land of demons”? How do “often frothy” phalluses protect Bhutanese villagers?
Featured Photos
Featured Articles
Uncle Joe and Aunt Anisoara
My uncle and aunt’s love affair illustrates the challenges of trying to decipher a relationship.
How could I not love an uncle who, when he babysat me, let me stay up well past my bedtime to watch wrestling (Antonino Rocca was my favorite) and horror movies (Boris Karloff’s The Mummy was the scariest)? How could I not love an uncle who lived in the middle of Greenwich Village, who took me to my first Broadway show, who tried to disprove Einstein? How could I not love an uncle who invented a slew of often-useless gadgets, and who chastised major corporations for their lousy ad campaigns — and then offered them new campaigns that were hardly better? How could I not love an uncle who married a wannabe Romanian noble and bought a farm in the middle of the Adirondack mountains because it resembled his wife’s native Transylvania?
Uncle Joe Rubin died of colon cancer in 1960 when I was 13. I was at an age when I was particularly incurious about life’s complexities and more than a little spooked by having a close family member wither away in our spare room.
News & Events
Happy Return to UK for Alfred Russel Wallace
Jilted, Culture Shock, Illness, Writer’s Block, and Unpacking 20,000 Beetles Stress From Alfred Russel Wallace’s Move Caused a Long Delay in Writing His Most Famous Book Happy Return to UK for Alfred Russel Wallace (1862) — April 1 HURSTPIERPOINT, West Sussex, England Moving is one of life’s most stressful activities. Consider Alfred […]
10 November — Opening of COP 30 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Ah, yet another international gathering to discuss progress in addressing the problem of climate change. This year it will be held in Belém, Brazil, and the participants will also focus on nature conservation in the country, including the vast Amazon region. I’ve been following Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace for some 50 years, including a […]
Intro to a speculative biography of Ali
My speculative biography of Ali, Alfred Russel Wallace’s assistant, was honored as the Best Historical Book of 2024 by the United States Peace Corps Writers. Here’s an excerpt from the book’s introduction. Look Here, Sir, What a Curious Bird Intro to a speculative biography of Ali, Alfred Russel Wallace’s assistant in the Malay Archipelago […]