Nov 9th, 2011 at 10:00AM: Antwerp has been an important port and center of commerce for centuries. Because of this it has a long history of printing and the elegant mansion/workshop of one of its early printing companies has been turned into a museum
The Museum Plantin-Moretus houses a huge collection, including the oldest printing press in the world. Actually there are two of them, both from about 1600 and complete ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
books posts
The oldest printing press in the world
Nov 9th, 2011 at 10:00AM: Antwerp has been an important port and center of commerce for centuries. Because of this it has a long history of printing and the elegant mansion/workshop of one of its early printing companies has been turned into a museum
The Museum Plantin-Moretus houses a huge collection, including the oldest printing press in the world. Actually there are two of them, both from about 1600 and complete ...Henry Rollins, Punk Rocker and Travel Philosopher
Nov 4th, 2011 at 10:30AM: World Hum's Jim Benning spent some time talking with musician Henry Rollins about his new book and the results are freaking excellent. Henry Rollins says one awesome thing after another about travel, photography, climate change, globalization, and lots more.
I had a hard time choosing, but here's one short excerpt:
I hit the streets every day with no real plan besides walking and seeing ...
10 landmarks for lovers of Western literature
Oct 8th, 2011 at 2:00PM: Are you an enthusiast of everything Voltaire? Can you not get enough of Shakespeare and James Joyce? If you are a lover of Western literature, add these 10 landmarks to your upcoming travel itineraries.
The Shakespeare and Company Bookstore
Paris, France
It is only right that the first landmark on the list be in Paris, France, as this is where many French writers, such as Voltaire, Proust, ...Hikes near Madrid: a new guidebook shows you the way (in English!)
Sep 30th, 2011 at 1:00PM: Every year, thousands of English speakers visit Madrid on holiday or to teach English. Most never explore the many hikes near Madrid, and that's a shame. The Sierra de Guadarrama offers some challenging and varied routes, and the lowland areas of the Comunidad de Madrid offer pleasant rambles. One of the best spots is La Pedriza, which can be a tough slog and easy to get lost in.
One of the ...Will Christopher Robin's bookshop be saved?
Aug 20th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
A couple of days ago we reported that a bookshop once owned by the real Christopher Robin was closing.
The Harbour Bookshop in Dartmouth, England, was opened in 1951 by Christopher Robin Milne, son of Winnie-the-Pooh author A.A. Milne. The author used his son as a character in his books. Christopher Robin died in 1996, and rising rents and a slump in sales are forcing the current owners to ...Books by Gadling bloggers
Aug 19th, 2011 at 3:00PM: Gadling bloggers are a busy bunch. When we're not posting the latest travel news or accounts of our adventures, we're writing for newspapers, magazines, and anthologies. Many of us have written books too.
David Farley takes the prize for weirdest subject matter with An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church's Strangest Relic in Italy's Oddest Town. So what's Catholicism's strangest ...Christopher Robin's bookshop closing
Aug 18th, 2011 at 10:30AM: A bookshop opened by the original Christopher Robin of Winnie the Pooh fame will close, the BBC reports.
The Harbour Bookshop in Dartmouth, England, was opened in 1951 by Christopher Robin Milne, son of Pooh author A.A. Milne. The bookshop became a destination for Pooh fans, even though Christopher Robin often hid from visitors. He died in 1996, and the current owners say that a slump in sales ...Travel Read: The Coffee Story
Jul 15th, 2011 at 4:00PM: As a writer, I read many books by authors I know. As a traveler, I read lots of books set in places I've been. The Coffee Story by Peter Salmon gave me the rare chance to read a book about a place I love written by someone I met there.
For the record, I don't review books by friends because that's both unprofessional and unwise. Peter isn't a friend except in the Facebook sense of "I got drunk ...Expanding the Memory of the World: great books and other records
May 31st, 2011 at 11:30AM: When we think of UNESCO lists, we tend to think of UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. UNESCO has another list, however, and it just got a lot longer.
The Memory of the World program lists books, inscriptions, libraries, and other documentary heritage to protect them from "collective amnesia" and the ravages of time. Last week the program held its annual meeting and voted to add 45 new ...Top five travel gadgets NOT to take on your next trip (and what to pack instead)
Feb 23rd, 2011 at 8:30AM:
I'm in the throes of packing for a two-month journey to Ethiopia. I try to pack light, other than the inevitable pile of books. While some tech freaks pack a lot of travel gadgets, I find these to be more of a hindrance than a help. Here are five things that you might want to leave behind if you're heading out for some adventure travel.
GPS
Yes, these are handy, but they can break with rough ...Books! Travelers share what to read on the road
Feb 22nd, 2011 at 2:00PM:
There's nothing like a trip for catching up on your reading. Even if you've filled your schedule with dawn-to-dusk sightseeing, there are still quiet moments at the hotel or by the pool, not to mention those long flights. So what's best to read while traveling? On Saturday I'm heading to Harar, Ethiopia, for two months, so this has been on my mind. I asked a bunch of seasoned travelers what's in ...The Joy of Cookbook Shopping: Why Bookstore Tourism Matters
Jan 31st, 2011 at 10:30AM:
The first puzzle one encounters when seeking out (or stumbling upon) Bonnie Slotnick's bookstore in New York is how to enter. Perplexed non-locals can often be seen standing in front of the shop, housed in a century-old building in the miasma of the West Village's tangled streets, staring into the big picture window where Slotnick usually displays books based on a theme. Here's a hint: walk up ...Book Review: Underground England
Dec 14th, 2010 at 2:30PM: England is a land of countless half-forgotten legends and secret hidden places.
In Underground England: Travels Beneath our Cities and Countryside, Stephen Smith explores these places, worming his way through damp caves and exploring haunted tunnels under crumbling castles. While he starts with natural caves, of which England is blessed with more than its fair share, he soon veers off into ...SkyMall Monday: It's my first Christmas tree, Charlie Brown
Nov 29th, 2010 at 1:00PM: Today is Cyber Monday. It's the internet version of Black Friday. What does all this retail marketing speak mean? Well, it's officially the holiday shopping season (with a special emphasis on the shopping). By now, your Thanksgiving leftovers have begun to spoil and your mind has replaced thoughts of turkey with lists of gifts for family, friends and coworkers. With so much emphasis on shopping, ...Favorite hiking spots near Madrid
Oct 29th, 2010 at 11:30AM: While most people come Madrid to sample the cuisine and see the art museums, Spain has much more to offer. Just an hour from the capital Madrid is the Sierra de Guadarrama, a chain of rough mountains wreathed in pine forest. While the strange rock formations of La Pedriza are perhaps more impressive, the Sierra de Guadarrama is the favorite getaway spot for madrileños because it's so easy ...Visiting the Brontë sisters in Yorkshire
Oct 7th, 2010 at 9:30AM: People say literary genius is a rare thing, something seen only once in a thousand or a million people. Maybe so, but the Brontës had three (and maybe five) literary geniuses in the same family.
From their father's parsonage in Haworth, Yorkshire, in northern England, the three Brontë sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne produced some of the most popular books in the English language. ...Cambridge named UK's most boring place to shop
Sep 15th, 2010 at 4:00PM: Cambridge is high on many visitors' lists of places to go in England. The historic colleges of Cambridge University are almost as impressive as those of Oxford, and punting on the River Cam rivals a boat journey on the River Isis.
Oxford and Cambridge have always been rivals, but now Oxonians can sit back, smug in the knowledge that the "other" university is in a town deemed the blandest place ...Swap shelves in airport bookstores - Airplane tip
Aug 9th, 2010 at 10:16AM: I've been noticing swap shelves in airport bookstores lately. Store owners are starting to encourage frequent fliers to leave a book and take a book. This helps you get fresh reading material for free (or cheap) and lightens your load of a book you're done with.
A few airports, like Portland International, have used bookstores where someone has undoubtedly just sold back that bestseller you ...Galley Gossip: Funny flight attendant book - Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase!
Aug 9th, 2010 at 9:30AM: Ever since reading the book Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase: Hilarious Stories of Air Travel by the World's Favorite Flight Attendant, written by Betty N. Thesky with Janet Spencer, I've been tempted to do a spin in the middle of the aisle as soon as I've finished serving my three rows to alert the flight attendant working on the other side of the cart that I'm ready to move. Normally we'll ...More Egyptian pyramids to open to the public
Jul 16th, 2010 at 3:00PM:
Visitors to Egypt have always flocked to the pyramids of Giza and Saqqara. Many people don't realize, however, that these are only the most famous of more than a hundred pyramids in the country. In fact, there's a whole "pyramid field" to the west of Cairo that includes Giza, Saqqara, and numerous other groupings across a long swath of desert. Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities is now ...
