We vs Them
Posted on 05. Apr, 2017 by Paul Sochaczewski in Personal essays
WHEREVER I TRAVEL I’LL REMAIN AN “OUTSIDER” The “we vs them” reality is ancient and universal. BANGKOK, Thailand Since forever, groups of people have recognized the difference between their “own kind” and “outsiders.” In a best case scenario, the welcoming of “other” ideas can be positive — strengthening of the gene pool primarily, also […]
Read MoreNegativity Land
Posted on 28. Mar, 2017 by Paul Sochaczewski in Golf
NEGATIVITY LAND Why do we take such delight in golf’s screw-ups instead of the great moments of success? EVERY COURSE, Everywhere A golfer faces more Dark Side moments than Luke Skywalker. We take a morbid delight when golf legends screw up. And we wallow in our own masochistic moments of crash and burn. Why […]
Read MoreLaunch of Distant Greens – 2nd Edition
Posted on 15. Aug, 2016 by Paul Sochaczewski in News and Events
Announcing a new edition of Paul’s classic exploration of golf: Distant Greens Special ebook launch price of 99 cents through August 22. (paperback also available—see below for ordering information) ISBN: 978-2-940573-23-3 Buy on Kindle US Buy on Kindle UK Distant Greens travels to the highest golf course in the world, where breathless Tibetan precepts come […]
Read MoreLaunch of Redheads – 3rd Edition
Posted on 13. Jun, 2016 by Paul Sochaczewski in News and Events
Announcing a new edition of Paul’s classic comic eco-thriller Redheads. Special ebook launch price of 99 cents through June 20. (paperback also available—see below for ordering information) ISBN: 978-2-940573-18-9 Buy on Kindle US Buy on Kindle UK What is Redheads about? In the middle of a Borneo rainforest, a band of near-naked Penan tribesmen, […]
Read MoreFrom Paul Sochaczewski: Launch of Curious Encounters – Southeast Asia
Posted on 01. Mar, 2016 by Paul Sochaczewski in News and Events
Announcing the fifth book in the Curious Encounters of the Human Kind series Special ebook launch price of 99 cents for two weeks Paperback also available ISBN: 978-2-940573-14-1 Buy on Kindle US Buy on Kindle UK I’m pleased to announce the release of the fifth of five books in the Curious Encounters personal travel tales […]
Read MoreAnnouncing Share Your Journey, a handbook to help you write your personal story
Posted on 05. Jan, 2016 by Paul Sochaczewski in News and Events
Announcing Share Your Journey Special ebook launch price of $4.99 (through January 11 only) paperback also available Explorer’s Eye Press. Geneva, 2016. ISBN: 978-2-940573-17-2 Buy on Kindle US Buy on Kindle UK Happy New Year. I wish you health, happiness, and memorable adventures. I’m pleased to announce the publication of a book I’ve been […]
Read MoreComing up in London: Ghost Stories, Writing Workshop, Start Your Own Country
Posted on 01. Jan, 2016 by Paul Sochaczewski in News and Events
Happy New Year! Thanks for your support in 2015— I wish you good energy and happiness in 2016. I’ll be giving two presentations and a writing workshop. Perhaps of interest? HANTUS IN THE HOUSE Indonesian tales of ghosts, spirits, goblins and things that go bump in the night. Tuesday, January 12. 2016 18.15 for 18.45 […]
Read MoreFrom Paul Sochaczewski: Launch of Curious Encounters – Himalaya, and one month until launch of Share Your Journey
Posted on 28. Nov, 2015 by Paul Sochaczewski in News and Events
Announcing the third book in the Curious Encounters of the Human Kind series Special ebook price of 99 cents for one week only Paperback also available ISBN: 978-2-940573-08-0 Buy on Kindle US Buy on Kindle UK I’m pleased to announce the release of the third of five books in the Curious Encounters personal travel tales series — a collection of stories I’ve written […]
Read MoreAnnouncing second new book: Curious Encounters of the Human Kind – Indonesia, and coming soon: Share Your Journey
Posted on 31. Oct, 2015 by Paul Sochaczewski in News and Events
Announcing second book of the Curious Encounters of the Human Kind series Special ebook price of 99 cents for one week only Paperback also available ISBN: 978-2-940573-03-5 Buy on Kindle US Buy on Kindle UK I’m pleased to announce the release of the second of five books in the Curious Encounters personal travel tales series — a collection of stories I’ve written […]
Read MoreAnnouncing new books: Curious Encounters of the Human Kind and Share Your Journey
Posted on 09. Oct, 2015 by Paul Sochaczewski in News and Events
Announcing launch of new book series Special ebook launch price of 99 cents ISBN: 978-2-940573-00-4 Buy on Kindle US Buy on Kindle UK I’m pleased to announce the release of the first of five books in the Curious Encounters personal travel tales series — a collection of stories I’ve written based on my 45 years of living and […]
Read MoreAn Inordinate Fondness for Beetles
Posted on 23. Aug, 2012 by Paul Sochaczewski in An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles
While Alfred Russel Wallace is recognized as co-discoverer of the theory of natural selection (and was perhaps deliberately sidelined by Darwin) he was also an edgy social commentator and a voracious collector of “natural productions” – while in Asia he caught, skinned, and pickled 125,660 specimens including 212 new species of birds, 200 new species of ants, and 900 new species of beetles.
In the book Sochaczewski, who has lived and worked in Southeast Asia for more than 40 years, follows Wallace’s eight years of exploration in Southeast Asia, based on Wallace’s classic book The Malay Archipelago.
In An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles Sochaczewski has created an innovative form of storytelling, combining incisive biography and personal travelogue.
Read MoreDistant Greens
Posted on 14. May, 2012 by Paul Sochaczewski in Distant Greens
Distant Greens travels to the highest golf course in the world, where breathless Tibetan precepts come face to face with the oxymoron of Indian military intelligence. To a golf course in the Amazon rainforest, near the source of rubber, which revolutionized the game. To the Middle Kingdom, to examine claims that it was the Chinese, and not the Scots, who invented golf. And to a volcanic Indonesian course where the Mermaid Queen ensures that “her” sultan always has good weather when he plays.
Distant Greens also travels into the soul of golf, the rituals, the belief that a tetrachaidecohedron-dimple-pattern can make a difference. Why can throwing junk-shop 4-irons provide an insight into the soul? What does a Zen priest in Japan hope to teach his acolyte golfers? Why do people cheat? Why do golfers remember the bad shots instead of the good shots? And why is golf more important, to some folks, than sex?
Read MoreRedheads
Posted on 02. Apr, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books, Redheads
In this satirical eco-thriller…
In the middle of a Borneo rainforest a band of near-naked Penan tribesmen, encouraged by an equally clothes-challenged renegade Swiss shepherd, hesitantly blockade a logging truck, testing their commitment to protect their forest home.
Nearby, an orangutan researcher is threatened with being thrown out of her isolated study site unless she can reach a delicate compromise with the powerful minister of the environment.
Who has the answer to saving the world’s oldest forest – the marketing experts of the world’s largest nature conservation group or the earnest monkey-wrenchers? Can the timid Penan rise up to defend their home?
At the heart of Redheads fictional action lies the very real problem of rainforest destruction and the philosophical question of where the real boundaries lie between apes and humans. And just what is it about red silk underwear, anyway?
Read MoreShare Your Journey – Mastering Personal Writing
Posted on 07. Oct, 2015 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books, Share Your Journey
I’m pleased to announce the publication of a book I’ve been working on for twenty years: Share Your Journey: Mastering Personal Writing.
It contains the (surprisingly easy) techniques professional writers use to write personal memoirs and travel stories that connect with editors and readers.
This fun and well-illustrated handbook is filled with cartoons, music, and film references, as well as plenty of examples of good and bad writing. It’s based on the writing workshops I’ve run in some twenty countries.
Read MoreCurious Encounters of the Human Kind – Southeast Asia
Posted on 07. Oct, 2015 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books, Curious Encounters of the Human Kind
This is the fifth book in a five-book series of unusual (and true) personal travel tales.
What’s the attraction of coffee that’s been digested by a civet? Can 200-million-year-old fossilized freshwater shark dung bring you good luck? Why do boys like to make things go bang — hey, lemme try the AK-47!? Why is the belching and slovenly widow of Laos’s first president so possessive about the animal she considers her white elephant? How did Vietnam’s last elephant hunter, at the age of 90, get a lucrative sponsorship deal for a tonic that makes men more powerful? Did a love potion help a Filipino politician become governor? And what role did an absurdly-rich, secretive American businessman (who enjoyed deflowering virgins) have in creating Vietnam’s golf boom?
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