Eric Weiner
in conversation with Don George
Recorded Wednesday, October 7th, 2020
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Eric Weiner in conversation with Don George
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Eric Weiner’s Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons From Dead Philosophers combines his twin passions for philosophy and global travel in a pilgrimage that uncovers surprising life lessons from philosophers around the world, from Marcus Aurelius to Arthur Schopenhauer, Confucius to Montaigne.
Eric is an award-winning journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Geography of Bliss and The Geography of Genius, as well as the critically acclaimed Man Seeks God. Eric is a former foreign correspondent for NPR, and reporter for The New York Times. He is a regular contributor to The Washington Post, BBC Travel, and AFAR, among other publications. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area
Don George is an editor-at-large for National Geographic Traveler magazine, as well as host of the National Geographic Live series of conversations with notable authors. In four decades as a travel writer and editor, Don has visited more than 90 countries on five continents. He has traveled throughout—and written extensively about—Europe and Asia. He has also lived in France, Greece, and Japan, working as a translator in Paris, a teacher in Athens, and a television talk show host in Tokyo. Don is the author of The Way of Wanderlust: The Best Travel Writing of Don George, and has received dozens of writing awards, including the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year Award.
“Money matters but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important. So are friends. Envy is toxic. So is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude.”
– Eric Weiner, The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World
A personal note from Eric Weiner.
Sent October 12th, following his Conversations With Authors session.
Dear Book Lovers,
I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Don George as much as I did. There we were—two travel writers unable to travel! Yet, thanks to the technology of our day, we were able to journey vicariously, and in our minds. I was reminded of something Henry Miller once said: “One’s destination is never a place but a new way of looking at things.”
With that in mind, I’ve spent the past several long months determined to look at things differently. Books help. A lot. Here are a few of the titles I’ve immersed myself in recently.
Books to Comfort
When Things Fall Apart, by Pema Chodron
Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
My Bright Abyss, by Christian Wiman
Book to Make You Think
Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino
Civilized to Death, by Christopher Ryan
Book To Scratch That Travel Itch
The Songlines, by Bruce Chatwin,
Sovietistan, by Erika Fatland
Books To Read Slowly
The Black Prince, by Iris Murdoch
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, by Haruki Murakami
Be well, fellow travelers and bibliophiles. Keep reading. Keep thinking. Keep dreaming.
Eric
