Tucker Cox | ZETEO

Culture and History Matter

November 13, 2014 by William Eaton

“Culture and history matter, values and traditions endure,” writes David Greene. In his travelogue, Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia, Greene shares a mature understanding and affinity for an enigmatic country. How can Russians accept the harsh reality they live in—a country with low life expectancy, rampant health problems, gaping inequality, and a dwindling population? What is holding people back? Is it fear? Fatigue? Fatalism? Public apathy? An innocent but false belief in country? A […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR • Tags: Russia, trains, travel

The Wander Year

November 6, 2014 by William Eaton

The Wander Year is Mike McIntyre’s memoir of his and longtime girlfriend, Andrea Boyles’ year of travel. In 2000, McIntyre, then 42, and Boyles, 40, covered 22 countries on 6 continents. They crossed the equator 6 times, took 45 flights and slept in 169 beds “plus one sand dune.” The trip cost $51,470. We’ve penciled in an itinerary, but we’re carrying a big eraser. If we sound a bit aimless, it’s because we pretty much are. There is no grand purpose or […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR • Tags: travel

Australia: unaccountably overlooked and packed with unappreciated wonders – Part III of III

September 25, 2014 by William Eaton

Part I – “Australia’s curious sense of disconnectedness” is about the Aussie people, a “beguiling fusion of America and Britain” – 11 Sept 2014 Part II – “It is an environment that wants your dead” – Bryson writes about his travels through the Australian Outback – 18 Sept 2014 They are “unaccountably overlooked,” in this land “packed with unappreciated wonders,” Bill Bryson comments on Australia’s Aborigines. In a Sunburned Country Bryson humorously, seriously, and poignantly writes about the great continent Down […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR

It is an environment that wants you dead – II of III

September 18, 2014 by William Eaton

Part I – “Australia’s curious sense of disconnectedness” is about the Aussie people, a “beguiling fusion of America and Britain” – 11 Sept 2014 Part III – “Unaccountably overlooked and packed with unappreciated wonders” – is about Aborigines, earth’s oldest culture and stromatolites – earth’s oldest life form – 25 Sept 2014 In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson writes about the Australian continent’s vast emptiness. “You cannot say you have been to Australia until you have crossed the Outback,” declares Bryson. “It is […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR • Tags: travel

Australia’s curious sense of disconnectedness – Part I of III

September 11, 2014 by William Eaton

Part II – “It is an environment that wants your dead” – Bryson writes about his travels through the Australian Outback – 18 Sept 2014 Part III – “Unaccountably overlooked and packed with unappreciated wonders” – is about Aborigines, earth’s oldest culture and stromatolites – earth’s oldest life form – 25 Sept In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson gives robust insight into Australia’s irresistible appeal. We lose ourselves in Bryson’s sense of humor, stopping momentarily to smile, chuckle and […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR • Tags: Australia, Bill Bryson

A selection of traveler’s (tall) tales

September 4, 2014 by William Eaton

In the canon of travel literature, few books match The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. The tales of his journey are the tallest, many pure fantasy. His book – also called The Book of Marvels and Travels – was one of “the most popular in Medieval Europe.,” available in English, Latin, French, German, and other tongues. Few scholars believe Mandeville existed. All have speculated on the author’s true identity. No one knows for sure. Nonetheless, Travels is a sine qua non of guidebooks. […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR

Woven Wind – Shadow of the Silk Road, 3 of 3

August 28, 2014 by William Eaton

Part 1 is introduces the Silk Road, the world’s best known itinerary Read part 2 (21 Aug) about the Road’s ethnic diversity ranging from Europe to Korea “Magic clung about it always. The earliest silk – the Indians called it woven wind – was sheer as gauze.” Colin Thubron’s splendid travelogue, Shadow of the Silk Road, winds through Afghanistan and Iran. He spends his last night in ancient Antioch. Today called Antakya, the Silk Road ended – or began – at […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR

A tableland blistered by ice and wind – Shadow of the Silk Road, 2 of 3

August 21, 2014 by William Eaton

Part 1 is introduces the Silk Road, the world’s best known itinerary Part 3 (28 Aug) discusses Thubron’s journey through Afghanistan and Iran, ending in Turkey Colin Thubron’s travelogue, Shadow of the Silk Road, is pure joy. His descriptions are vivid. They are alive. His natural and spontaneous metaphors and similes have immediate impact. His prose runs effortlessly. Thubron leaves Xian bound for Kashgar via the Road’s southern route. He rides through fifteen hundred miles of desolation rimming the Taklamakan dessert and Tibetan […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR

Language and identity as shifting as the sands – Shadow of the silk road, 1 of 3

August 14, 2014 by William Eaton

Read part 2 (21 Aug) about the Road’s ethnic diversity ranging from Europe to Korea Part 3 (28 Aug) discusses Thubron’s journey through Afghanistan and Iran, ending in Turkey Colin Thubron’s Shadow of the Silk Road records his 7,000 mile journey from Xi’an China to Antioch, Turkey (today Antaky). Thubron is a peerless author of travel books. The Times of London placed him 45th on their list of the 50 greatest writers since 1945. The New York Times says he is “the dean of […]

Categories: Tucker Cox, ZiR