Monday’s Links for Curious People: New York City Edition (on Tuesday)

After what was perhaps the most hectic periods of traveling I’ve had in the last 4.5 years, I’ve finally arrived back in in the USA. I’ll be in New York the next few days meeting with some of my readers, other bloggers and having business meetings.

My last few weeks in Spain was busy but very productive. I managed to see some amazing things including the world’s largest telescope, the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias in La Palma, El Tiede on the island of Tenerife, Garajonay National Park on the island of La Gomera, Timanfaya National Park on Lanzarote and Las Canteras beach on the island of Gran Canaria.

Now that I’m back in the US I’ve begun chaining gears. I finished editing my photos from Switzerland and Budapest on the flight from Valencia and got a start on my 1,800 photos I took in the Yukon. Expect a flood of stuff to come down the pipe the next few months.

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What I’m reading

Dune: House Atreides is the first book in the second Dune trilogy written after the death of Frank Herbert. I’m a big fan of the Dune books and I’ve been going back to read all the trilogies in order. I think there are 15 books now. In a fit of boredom last week I got the first book in the second Dune trilogy off the Kindle store. This book chronicles the early years of the Baron Harkonnen and Duke Leto Atreides.

Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization is a book I read several months ago, but I think is worth a mention. I’ve read several books which look at the history of word through the eyes of a commodity. Mark Kurlansky’s Salt is a great example. This book looks a how water, in all its ways, has shaped human history from irrigation to naval warfare. These object or commodity based history books are always interesting because they invert the normal history narrative from people, battles and empires to the things which they use.

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This Weeks Links

• If you have an iPad, download Flipboard and check out the Travel section where I am featured this week.
• An interview I did with Travellerspoint.com
• Want Happiness? Don’t Buy More Stuff — Go on Vacation Time.com
• How to get the correct exposure when taking photos in sunlight: Part I, Part II, Part III RMSP.com
• Another great 360 degree panorama from Dan and Audrey at Uncornered Market: Harvest in the Katmandu Valley, Nepal