Veteran Bangkok novelist Dean Barrett recently quizzed bargirl Lek on the beginning of the world. It turns out that this college-educated beauty had the whole thing sussed out. We here at WoWasis are printing her explanation, which we assume will soon be a major element in every Thail university’s science curriculum. And you get to […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Literature' Category
WoWasis book review: Duch, the Khmer Rouge King of Torture. ‘The Master of Confessions’ by Thierry Cruvellier
It’s tempting to stop reading about the reign of terror in Cambodia, led by the Khmer Rouge. The major statistic, an estimated quarter of the nation’s population murdered, is well-known. It’s the why of it that leaves us here at WoWasis, along with the rest of the world, perturbed. That’s where French author Thierry Cruvellier’s […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘The Marriage Tree,’ Bangkok fiction by Christopher G. Moore
Here at WoWasis, we make it a point of avoiding reviewing books in which vampires and ghosts play prominent roles. So we thought veteran novelist Christopher G. Moore sandbagged us when he introduced some phantasms in the early pages of his most recent novel, The Marriage Tree (2014, ISBN 978-616-7503-23-3). We needn’t have worried. They […]
Read the rest of this entry »Death of an investigative journalist: Was Canadian Dave Walker slain over a non-governmental organization scam?
It’s been nine months now since noted Canadian journalist and author Dave Walker’s body was found on the grounds of Cambodia’s Angkor Watt ample complex. His murderer s — one assumes that more than one did the killing and carted away the body — have yet to be identified, nor has a motive been determined. […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis Galapagos book review: The essential ‘Wildlife of the Galápagos’
Here at WoWasis, we recommend two nature guidebooks for travelers to the Galapagos. We’ve already reviewed Pierre Constant’s Marine Life of the Galapagos: The Diver’s Guide to Fishes, Whales, Dolphins, and Marine Invertebrates, which is the essential marine life guide. For land animals, plants and flowers, you won’t find a better one than Wildlife of […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis Galapagos book review: ‘Floreana: a Woman’s Pilgrimage to the Galapagos’
Like author Johanna Angermeyer, writer Margret Wittmer spent decades learning the intricacies and challenges of learning to live in the Galapagos islands. Unlike Angermeyer, though, Wittmer’s infrastructure was non-existent to the point that she and her small family had to create everything from scratch. As detailed in Floreana: A Woman’s Pilgrimage to the Galapagos (2013, […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis Galapagos book review: The best Marine Life guidebook on the Galápagos that we’ve seen
If you’re like us here at WoWasis, you’ll go scuba diving or snorkeling in the Galapágos Islands, then come back to your hotel wondering what you saw. Then you’ll go looking in several of the tourist shops looking for a good marine life guidebook. But you won’t find one. Instead, you’ll find plastic fish charts […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘Killing Pablo Escobar: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw’
It’s been more two decades since Pablo Escobar’s reign of terror over the nation of Colombia ended, but travelers still encounter vestiges of the carnage. In Bogotá’s Museo Histórico Policia, for example, a whole section is dedicated to the hunt for and death of Escobar. You’ll see a roof tile stained with his blood, his […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: ‘The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Drug Trade’ by Alfred W. McCoy
The first edition of Alfred McCoy’s The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Drug Trade was written in 1972 and was updated in 1991 and 2013. It has an amazing longevity, and has been cited numerous times in other works. As a plethora of researchers have discovered, the book, although nearly 50 years old […]
Read the rest of this entry »WoWasis book review: 22 Fascinating Walks in Bangkok by Kenneth Barrett
Bangkok is one of the world’s most fascinating cities, particularly when you can get into her inner essence. It’s tough to do, though. The Skytrain floats above it, traffic is usually a mess, and then there’s the heat. We here at WoWasis have always found walking to be a pleasure in Bangkok, especially if you […]
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