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New England in a Nutshell to Be Published July 2nd

New England TravelWith the forced downturn in travel and a public yearning for more regional exploration, I took advantage of this unintended sabbatical to author a new book, New England in a Nutshell. I did a deep dive into the more than 700 articles I wrote for The Boston Globe, Yankee, Boston Magazine, Outside, Men’s Journal, and numerous other publications during the past quarter century and distilled those stories down to a readable round-up format. The more than 50 categories and 300 entries includes 10 Classic New England Hikes, 8 Summer Drives That Will Keep You Smiling, 6 Hidden Art Historical Gems, Top 12 Country Inns to Get Pampered, 6 Favorite Lobster/Clam Shacks, and a whole lot more. Only the finest entries made the cut! For example, I’ve visited over 1,000 inns in New England and only selected my top twelve. It’s ideally suited for exploring the region this summer when most people want to stay close to home.

The book/ebook is slated to published on July 2nd and you can pre-order the book/ebook now at Amazon. The ebook includes all hyperlinks to listings. The paperback includes front and back cover illustrations from Manhattan-based artist, Sarah Schechter, and a small sampling of photos from Lisa, who accompanied me on many of my assignments, resulting in published work for the Boston Globe.

Half the proceeds from sales of the book will be spent on gift cards to support the many businesses I’ve highlighted. They’re all in dire straits right now due to the pandemic and could use the much-needed financial support. All readers have to do is send me an email at steve@activetravels.com and say they purchased an ebook or book and I’ll put them into the many raffles for free giveaways. Depending on the number of books sold, this could translate into dinner for two at the restaurant that supposedly invented the fried clam, Woodman’s, biking to 5 lighthouses on the outskirts of Portland with SummerFeet Cycling, or a weekend getaway at one of my recommended B&Bs, the Saltair Inn in Bar Harbor.

Thank you for your support and if you could help spread the word, I’d greatly appreciate it! For the next 3 weeks on my blog, I will present to you 12 of my favorite selections in the book. So please stay tuned!

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Stocking Stuffer No. 3—The Creative Spark

Meet Michael Shapiro like I first did on a trip to Kenya almost a decade ago and you’re immediately attracted to his zest for life and adventure. Heck, he guides his own raft down the tumultuous Colorado River for three weeks for a heavy dose of adrenalin. Once you get to know Shapiro, you also realize he doesn’t beat around the bush, asking poignant questions about your life, even taking the time to listen. These are the essential qualities of a great interviewer and Shapiro is one of the best as you’ll see in his latest work, The Creative Spark. During the past decade, Shapiro has interviewed some of our brightest luminaries for the San Francisco Chronicle and other publications. They include authors David Sedaris, Barbara Kingsolver, and Pico Iyer; musicians Smokey Robinson, Lyle Lovett, and Jethro Tull lead singer and flutist Ian Anderson. He’s also spoken with director Francis Ford Coppola and comedian Joan Rivers. In these interviews, Shapiro digs deep to find the inspiration that transforms their visions into art. Buy the book directly from the independent bookstore, Book Passage, and Shapiro will include a hand-written note. He’ll also be back on Monday, December 2nd at 7pm as part of Book Passage’s Left Coast Writers Salon and will be happy to sign books at that time. 

 
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The Map Thief is the Perfect Summer Read

New Brunswick’s Grand Manan Island is one of those idyllic locales where you have little or no distraction. So I took advantage of my free time last week to read the latest book by author Michael Blanding, a writer I’ve known for over a decade since his days as editor at Boston Magazine. Blanding’s subject this time is E. Forbes Smiley III, one of the foremost map dealers in the world before he was caught stealing a map from the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University in 2005. In a plea bargain, he admitted to stealing close to 100 maps worth more than $3 million from the foremost map collections in the world including the British Library in London, the New York Public Library, and the Boston Public Library. 
 
Working as a travel writer, I certainly have an affinity for maps. I even remember having a New York City subway map on the walls of my college apartment. But map collecting to me is about as exciting as stamp collecting and I thought this was going to be another obligatory read I had to slog through because I knew the author. Man, was I wrong!  This is an excellent character study that I’d love to see an actor tackle on the big screen, similar to Shattered Glass, the brilliant film about New Republic plagiarist Stephen Glass. In fact, the book was so compelling it was hard for me to put it down. Yes, Blanding delves into mapmaking and the impact on Colonial exploration, highlighting the gems, the “Honus Wagners” that fetch the most money at auction. But the meat and potatoes of the read is Smiley, an Orson Welles-type character who’s always the life of the party with a huge personality and laugh. The one who turns his college buddies on to great Blues records, fine wine, and entertains their kids at his summer home in Maine. 
 
I opened the book thinking Smiley was another petty thief or con man with a Blue Blood name, not unlike the despicable Clark Rockefeller. But the beauty of this book is that you end up empathizing with Smiley. He has to compete against incredibly cutthroat map dealers, he’s spurned by collectors after assembling their phenomenal collections, even the New York Public Library reneges on its deal to let Smiley sell some of their wares after he persuades a collector to donate his entire collection to them. Then he has to deal with a redneck neighbor in Maine who wants to build a motorboat marina across from his quiet lakefront property. So in the end, he steals maps from libraries that can’t even keep track of them, incompetent at cataloguing what they acquire. Do I think it’s wrong that he stole a map from a book once owned by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury killed by Henry the VIII? Absolutely. Would I like to down a pint with Smiley the next time I’m on Martha’s Vineyard, where he now resides? Absolutely.