This collection of decidedly opinionated articles, essays, and ruminations, by the author of "My Other Life" and "Kowloon Tong," transports the reader not only to exotic, unexpected places in the world but also into the thoughts, reading, and emotions of the writer himself. Over the course of two decades, Paul Theroux gathers people, places, and ideas and "serves as both the camera and the eye, and both the details and the illusions are developed with brilliance" ( "Time" ).