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Showing posts from May, 2009

Nicholas Kristof and the dread taxi drivers of doom

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I like New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof a lot, but I take some issue with today's column , which is largely about how to avoid theft, kidnapping battery and murder while travelling in the developing world. Not that his tips are invalid: but too many non-travellers already think that the developing world is a hive of lawless anarchy full of desperate starving people who will treat you as if your clothes were made of hundred-dollar bills, and that column will only reinforce that belief. But it ain't remotely so. OK, I've been mugged in Mexico City, pickpocketed in St. Petersburg, and had my bag stolen in Bolivia - but I've also spent more than a year of my life travelling in Africa and Asia, including a fair number of some theoretically very dubious places, mostly on my own and via local public transit, without once being robbed or feeling like I was in genuine danger. (I did witness a money-changing scam in Zambia once; not the same thing.) As for the risk sta

with nothing on my tongue but hallelujah

I'm pleased to report that I've finished the third draft of my latest book, tentatively titled Swarm , and sent it off to my agents. It's a near-future technothriller about high-tech terrorists using unmanned aerial vehicles for smuggling and assassinations, honesty in relationships, extraordinary people, and the end of the world as we know it.