Showing posts with label Time Out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time Out. Show all posts

David Farley's Irreverent Curiosity

A couple of weeks ago I sat down with David Farley at Jack's Coffee in the West Village to talk about travel, writing, and Restless Legs, his ever-expanding support group for the wanderlust stricken. This week my Q&A with the author of An Irreverent Curiosity appears in Time Out New York. Here's an outtake from our conversation.

You’ve given advice on how to write a bad travel story. Which kinds of travel writing are you tired of reading? What makes you cringe?
 

Good question. One thing I really like about good travel writing is when the writer puts the place or the thing they’re writing about into a context. In travel writing, the best stories will entertain us and educate us at the same time. And when they’re just writing about what they did it’s neither entertaining nor educating at all. I want that nice balance of understanding the place and being able to see the place. I want the person to describe the landscape and interpret the landscape.

Pick up a copy of the magazine for my full interview with Farley or, if you're allergic to paper, read it online.

Wrapped Up in Books

Many people are wondering what the Apple iPad will do to the publishing landscape once it goes on sale this weekend. For all of the opportunities this product promises, there is also concern that it may hasten the obsolescence of so-called "old media," like books. Maybe so. I have no idea what kind of life expectancy printed information has any more, but until further notice, I intend to continue patronizing brick and mortar businesses, starting with New York's best specialty bookshops. Because book jackets do still matter to me.