Compulsively Aimless

It's difficult to be objective about yourself.  Sometimes it takes an outsider to offer a different perspective.  As Americans, our natural disposition is to be liked.  But that's not always the case.  Here's my short collection of outsiders who have come to America and reported their findings.  Some admirers; some less so. 1.  Cio America!  An Italian Discovers the U.S.  Beppe Severgnini (1995).   Columbus discovered America and five hundred years later, Italian journalist, Beppe Severgnini, rented a row house in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood and recorded his observations for the next year.  Severgnini offers a wonderful sense of detachment to make his observations amusing showing affection for America but also gently poking fun.  Bought used somewhere. 2.  American Notes: A Journey, Charles Dickens (1842; Fromm edition, 1985).  In 1842, Charles Dickens toured the U.S. writing about Wall Street, the prison...

In advance of the one trip I made to Australia, I bought some books.  Bill Bryson was by far the most entertaining, Bruce Chatwin the most esoteric, Robert Hughes the most weighty.  I still have yet to read Alan Moorehead's Rum Jungle but expect it will be rewarding based on his White Nile and Blue Nile books. 1.  In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson (2000).  Bryson has a way of taking the dangerous and making it quaint or enjoyable probably because he knows you're safe and comfortable reading in an armchair.  Australia, he lets you know, is full of the ten most poisonous snakes in the world plus other deadly wildlife like Great White Sharks, crocodiles, box jellyfish, toxic jellyfish and sea-shells that attack you.   The outback and surrounding sea are also deadly.  You learn that a Prime Minister once was lost at sea after swimming on a local beach (possibly due to a rip tide).  I read this book on the plane over.  Bought used at...