Trash

During a visit to one library we were shown several rooms full of books that had been donated by American libraries. I was going to say "well-meaning" but deleted it. Going for the jugular instead.

I was embarrassed by what I saw. What a load of crap. Moldy books, dime-store romances falling apart, incomplete Worldbook sets from 1982, a coffee-stained Commodore 64 manual etc etc.

Are you kidding me? What consummate arrogance! That we think our trash would be someone else's treasure.

"Oh, they're just learning English so it doesn't matter."

It matters.

/end rant

Hmm, what to read?

What am I going to read?  Answering that question is one of the most fun aspects of planning for any trip, especially a big one.

For 5 weeks in Africa I brought along the Lord of the Rings trilogy, wanting to get them finally read before the movies began coming out later that year. Finished them all, but imprinted the story on the Nigerian landscape. Forever in my mind, Mordor will be Zaria's broken mountain, and Sam our elderly, disabled housekeeper at the Kano Guesthouse.

So, what am I going to read in China?  My strategy:

1. 2 slim volumes for the long flights from Portland to Hong Kong (via Tokyo), engaging somewhat quick reads that will keep me awake
2. 1 slim volume for 3 days in Hong Kong and the flight to Fuzhou, something topical/local
3. 1 large, dense read to last the whole 3-week exchange, something very not-Chinese, for contrast and enjoyably odd imprinting
4. 1 slim volume for the flight Fuzhou>Hong Kong, and the long flight home (on which I will try to sleep)

My selections:

1. The Ghost Map  by Steven Johnson, and Gentlemen of the Road: a Tale of Adventure by Michael Chabon
2. When China Ruled the Seas by Louise Levathes
3. The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine
4. Amsterdam: a Novel by Ian McEwan

Whew. That was hard. Good thing I'm a librarian.

Review: Travelers' Tales China

Traveler's Tales China
edited by Sean O'Reilly, James O'Reilly, Larry Habegger

Bras, buddhas, and beers. This is exactly the sort of book I love for travel prep. 

A collection of stories, essays, and excepts, peppered with sidebar quotations, it covers a wide range of topics, from various perspectives and time periods. Plenty of flavor without the bulk of readings lots of different books.

Review: River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze
by Peter Hessler

Within days of announcing this trip, four different people suggested this book, and I wasn't disappointed.

Written as narrative non-fiction, the book covers two years when Peter Hessler taught English in Fuling as a Peace Corps volunteer. I was a little slow to get into the story, which in part reflected the experience of the author. It takes him some time to hit his stride in Fuling, and once he does, the story picks up too.

Although I won't be going near Fuling, general lessons can be learned from Hessler's experiences. For example, here are his two very useful ways to handle any questions or topics that might be sensitive.

"Americans do not have much information on this subject. I would like to learn more."

"I do not know if it is true, but I have been told..."

 I also recommend the book if you have any interest in the topic of damming the Yangtze. I do not know if it is true, but I have been told the dam may cause environmental problems.

Review: Lost on Planet China

Lost on Planet China: One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation
by J. Maarten Troost

The first book I read for this trip, before I even knew I had been selected for the exchange, almost... well, it gave me pause.

Troost's book is an informal and exceedingly honest account of his recent exploration of China. As I read, I thought of the ways I would have edited the same experiences, would have tried to be polite or worried about offending my hosts. Yet, I appreciated the honesty, and Troost does a good job of not allowing his open treatment to become negative or overbearing.

And, he's hilarious.

That said, I am concerned about some of the difficulties he experienced, namely pollution (general air quality, pervasive cigarette smoking), crowding (personal space, spitting etc), and the eating of live squid ("live" as in "alive and squirming").

No one ever said adventure was easy.

Citation Surfing 2.0

You're familiar with the concept of citation surfing? Yes, skip ahead.

In research, if a book is useful for your needs, pay attention to its "Works Cited", footnotes, or bibliography, etc. Why? Because this author you find so useful didn't invent his book all by himself. He used other resources which are potentially useful to you. Use his research, follow the trail, surf the citations from resource to resource to aid your research.

Here's my 2.0 twist. I also look the useful book up on Amazon.com. Not for the obvious "also bought" and "also searched" features. That data is too often muddied by gift purchases or tangential info-meandering. Instead, I search the Listmania. These lists are deliberately put together for a described purpose by people who offer up some idea about who they are via their profiles.

If the vagabond physicist/gardener put said useful book on a list called "Essential China for Travelling Smartypants", then I suddenly have a whole list of books from someone who I like or respect (in that special Internet way) to review for my trip.

And this is just one example. You can also mine Goodreads.com (all the good stuff is behind a (free) membership) or other social networking sites with book/info components.

My first read for this trip was Troost's Lost on Planet China. His brief bibliography also gave me:

• Mao: The Unkown Story - Chang & Halliday
  
• The Search for Modern China- Spence
• Mr. China - Clissold

I've put all three books on hold at my local library. Using the Amazon List method with Lost on Planet China, I found these lists to explore further:

• Books for Teaching in China
• Travel East Asia
  

After I've reviewed the three books from the library, I'll check the sources for the ones I like, place more holds and do more citation surfing 2.0 to lead me to more resources to put on hold. And so on.

The trick is to do this part quickly so I have plenty of time to actually read all the cool stuff I find.