What's an American Doing Here? Reflections on Travel in the Third World

Book excerpt: Stan Diamond's adventurous travel to remote corners of the world provides inspiration to the prospective and seasoned traveler alike. As a life-long educator, his observations about the value and meaning of such travel are thoughtful and informative, while his encounters with all kinds of people in unusual places offer knowledge, humor, surprise and joy. Stan's memoir begins with his childhood thumbing through pictures in an old World Book Encyclopedia and continues through his development as an enthusiastic voyager to some of the least likely destinations imaginable. So what else is there to worry about beside disease and sanitation, running out of gas or unavailability of medical care! Well, maybe rockslides and landslides, storms and floods, frozen roads and crazy drivers, marauding bandits and slippery thieves, insurrections and civil wars, spewing volcanoes and other such precarious hazards one might stumble upon... Frankly, I do not have any good advice for the reader about such things. Just try to avoid them if you can. Stan Diamond spent most of his life teaching children, directing schools and writing about his educational ideas. In his retirement he transformed those skills to become a popular lecturer, consultant and author. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with his wife Beverly. Publisher's Web site: http: //www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/WhatsAnAmericanDoing Here.htm