This month I picked Michael Shapiro’s A Sense of Place as the travel writing pick in The Traveler. It’s interesting to get inside the heads of some of the most prominent travel writers alive today. For me, the book is as interesting as the writer being interviewed. Frankly,sometimes the people are just a little boring. Most times not, and sometimes you’re pleasantly surprised. For instance, Paul Theroux, instead of being the irascible old crank that everyone thinks he is, was just a very private man with strong opinions that would really rather be left alone. I don’t have a problem with that.

As can be expected, some writers took themselves too seriously (writers sometimes tend to do that), while others didn’t take themselves seriously enough. I thought Bill Bryson was too modest. He isn’t kayaking down the Zambezi like Theroux, but his insight and good humor are just as enlightening in it’s own way. Regular readers of The Traveler know what a big fan of Bryson I am. Sometimes I get bogged down with Theroux. My favorite has always been Mark Twain.

In any case, I think A Sense of Place is a good book for anyone interesting in travel writing and travel writers.