Reviews

You won't find reviews of Hike Your Own Hike or The Hidden Europe here (that's a lie: there's one review for The Hidden Europe). Instead, this section is for my review of other books, especially nonfiction books, which I comprise 95% of my reading. I occasionally review clothes, movies, a politician, a gadget, or anything else that looks promising.

I've put my best reviews here, but if it's not enough, then you'll find hundreds of reviews on Amazon. I am one of the top 10,000 reviewers on Amazon with over 1,500 helpful votes. And yes, I can review your product if you'd like. Just contact me to see if I'm interested.

http://www.amazon.com/rss/people/A37FFWZUGO8L7W/reviews/ref=cm_rss_member_rev_manlink

New layer...

Nomadic Matt is a pioneering travel blogger. One day, we'll call him the grandfather of travel blogging during the Golden Era of travel blogs.

He's not known for his travel feats but rather for the extensive tips he's provided on his popular website, which focuses on budget travel.

In 2025, he refreshed his bestselling book, which is now called How to Travel the World on $75 a Day.

It used to be $50/day, but inflation and a post-COVID world forced Matt to update his book or watch it fade into irrelevance.

His book is packed with tips. Here are my favorite ones.

The best websites to keep track of the latest credit card deals

Pay your rent and get frequent flyer points with Bilt Rewards

Matt's top three airline booking sites

My favorite airline website is Kiwi, and use this link to get $10 off. He doesn't mention Kiwi in his book.

Instead, his favorite flight booking sites are:

For insurance

Sell your old clothes to raise money for your trip

Online Garage sale to raise funds and downsize

Anytime Mailbox starts at $6 and has several locations.

Lodging Sites

LateRooms
Last Minute
Hotel Tonight
Priceline
Hotwire
Roomer allows you to buy someone else's hotel reservation at a steep discount
Agoda excels in East Asia

Food

Matt is a foodie. I am not. Here are some of his favorite sites:

EatWith with 5000+ hosts in over 130 countries
WithLocals
Traveling Spoon

Ride-sharing or hitchhiking for the 21st century

Search for "ride-sharing" and the name of the region/country where you are traveling. You'll usually find options. I've used BlaBlaCar in Europe, for example.

Tourism Cards

Nomadic Matt sold me on the tourism cards that give you access to popular sites and public transportation. Although that can save you nearly half the price, it's only suitable for those doing a whirlwind, fast, and comprehensive tour. If you want to see the British Museum, don't get the London Pass. But it makes sense if you're going to see most of the significant sites.

Why is Africa left out?

The first half of the book offers general, practical advice. The second provides specific guidance to various regions. For example, he has a section about Australia.

You'd think a book that helps travelers live on $75 a day would encourage tourists to visit Africa. Like Southeast Asia, parts of Africa have a low cost of living.

For example, in 2013, in Benin, I rented a two-room place with a shower (but a shared outhouse for a toilet) for $10 per month! Ten years later, maybe the price has doubled to $20 a month!

Still, Nomadic Matt confesses, "I had to make trade-offs and omit the lesser-visited countries and regions..." (Kindle Location 1434).

I won't quibble with his decision or logic.

Conclusion

When I got an advanced copy of Nomadic Matt's book, I expected to be bored out of my mind. I figured it was a book for beginners or intermediate travelers, not hyper-experienced travel studs like me.

As usual, I was wrong.

Nomadic Matt pumped me with many ideas I was oblivious to. Although I shared my favorite ones on this page, buy How to Travel the World on $75 a Day to get all his excellent advice.

Book Review

An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi presents a comprehensive exploration of the continent's history from an African perspective, challenging long-standing Western narratives that often overlook Africa's rich past.

Overview

The book begins with the origins of humanity, focusing on significant themes and civilizations throughout Africa's history. Badawi emphasizes the continent's diversity and the importance of local voices, drawing on interviews with historians, anthropologists, and local storytellers across over thirty countries. This approach aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of Africa's historical narrative, moving beyond the typical focus on colonialism and slavery.

Is the Keystone 3 Pro the best hardware wallet for 2025?

It's certainly in the top 5 finalists!

My review hits on 10 points: 7 positive, 3 negative.

Please see my video review below:

Review

If you appreciate my honest review, please buy the Ellipal.

I want to highlight that:

* Ellipal is a leader in air-gapped cold crypto wallets
* Ellipal has a 4.0-inch display that shows precisely what you’re signing; trust what you see.

Video

Vegans have a marketing problem: they're perceived to be annoying, self-righteous, judgmental, and inflexible.
Author Matthew Halteman's book Hungry Beautiful Animals is designed to fix that perception and make veganism more appealing and less threatening.

Visit Matt Halteman's website about Hungry Beautiful Animals.

He appears on the WanderLearn Show four times! Listen or watch all 4 episodes below:

#1 Does Going Vegan Have To Suck?

Matthew Halteman and I discuss his book Hungry Beautiful Animals. Here's the timeline of our discussion in case you want to skip to a section.

00:00 Intro

04:30 Marketing Problem?

07:00 Practical Tips

10:00 Kindergarten Values

12:00 Abstract food

16:30 Aspirations

20:40 Fish

Video

Podcast

#2 What Do Vegans Think about Lab-Grown Meat?

Lab-grown meat has many other names:

Cultivated Meat: This term is increasingly favored as it accurately describes growing meat from animal cells in a controlled environment.
Cell-Based Meat: This name emphasizes that the meat is derived from animal cells rather than whole animals, highlighting its scientific origins.
Cultured Meat: Like cultivated meat, this term refers to meat produced through cellular agriculture techniques.
Clean Meat: This term was popular among early advocates, suggesting a more ethical and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional meat.
Synthetic Meat: This name indicates that the product is artificially created, which can evoke mixed consumer reactions.
Slaughter-Free Meat: This term appeals to ethical consumers concerned about animal welfare and the implications of traditional meat production.

Matthew Halteman and I discuss his book Hungry Beautiful Animals. Here's the timeline of our discussion in case you want to skip to a section.

Podcast

Video

#3 Tips on Taking Baby Steps To Becoming Vegan

Matthew Halteman and I discuss his book Hungry Beautiful Animals. Here's the timeline of our discussion in case you want to skip to a section.

00:00 Know yourself

05:15 Negotiating and compromising

09:15 Cognitive Dissonance

Video

Podcast

#4 Are Vegans Unhealthy?

Matthew Halteman and I discuss his book Hungry Beautiful Animals.

Professor Halteman mentions NutritionFacts.org.

Video

Podcast

Book review

In his excellent book "The Better Angels of Our Nature," Steven Pinker observed that humanity has become less barbarous with each passing century.

Consider the improvements to:
- Women's rights
- Gay rights
- Racism
- Slavery
- Death penalty
- Wars
- Prisons

Pinker was asked, "What will people in the 22nd century think of us? What are we doing that will seem barbarous and immoral to future humans?"

Pinker said (I'm paraphrasing), "The way almost everyone financially supports the barbarous and inhumane treatment of animals by buying and eating animals."

True.

Yuval Noah Harari is one of my top three favorite authors. I also love Bill Bryson and Walter Isaacson.

Therefore, I was thrilled that a few months ago, I got an advanced copy of Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, which launches today, September 10, 2024.

It's a 515-page book but has 11 chapters filled with headers, making it modular and readable.

I also reviewed his previous book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.

I loved Nexus, although Homo Deus is still my favorite Harari book.

Nexus explores the evolution of information networks from prehistoric times to the present, focusing mainly on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on society.

Listen to the podcast

Wow. If you want the most comprehensive study of George Mallory's 3rd and final climb up Mt. Everest, read this book!

The book Mallory, Irvine, and Everest: The Last Step But One by Dr. Robert Edwards examines the mystery surrounding George Mallory and Andrew Irvine's 1924 attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

The book provides a fresh and original perspective on this historical event, as the author is a mathematician who has applied modern analysis techniques to the available evidence. Dr. Edwards has thoroughly researched the contemporary accounts, letters, and artifacts related to the climb and has identified inconsistencies in previous narratives.

The book's release coincides with the 100th anniversary of Mallory and Irvine's fateful expedition and offers unique insights. Mountaineering experts Jochen Hemmleb and Thom Dharma Pollard have praised its potential to shed new light on whether Mallory and Irvine were the first to conquer Everest. This unique perspective is sure to enlighten the audience.

Mallory picked a strong, young, inexperienced climbing partner, Andrew Irvine, to push to the summit.

Video interview with the author, Robert Edwards

Podcast

SPOILER #1: Nobody knows if either one of them made it. And this book doesn't offer a definitive answer either.

However, this book will enthrall you if you want to learn what the most meticulous researcher has discovered.

For example, Edwards spends pages examining everything about the mysterious ice ax found high on the mountain.

SPOILER #2: The ax is almost certainly Irvine's or Malory's, but we don't know which one. The author concludes that it was placed there and didn't tumble or drop there accidentally.

What I love about this book is that Edwards lets the evidence speak.
Although he speculates, he admits when he's speculating to let the reader reach their conclusion.

After reading this excellent book and interviewing the author, here's my best guess as to what happened:

Mallory probably reached the summit late in the afternoon, forcing him to descend at night. When investigators found his corpse in 1999, Mallory's sunglasses were in his pocket, indicating he descended at night. He ran out of oxygen, which sapped his strength and heat just when he needed to stay warm at nightfall. He had few clothes compared to modern climbers. Without oxygen, he got disoriented and wobbly. His judgment worsened. One slip was all it took to break his leg and slide down to his resting spot, where he was found decades later.

This hypothesis is my speculation, not the book's.

Get the book, and judge for yourself.

WARNING: This book may bore people with only a passing interest in this topic.

VERDICT: 5 out of 5 stars!

Buy Dr. Robert Edwards's books

Voynich Reconsidered is on Amazon.

D. B. Cooper and Flight 305: Reexamining the Hijacking and Disappearance is on Amazon.

Mallory, Irvine and Everest: The Last Step But One is on Amazon.

Book Review

The Gifts of Africa: How a Continent and Its People Changed by Jeff Pearce is a book I wanted to love.

I love this book's goal.
The point is to highlight what Africa has done for the world.
Many believe Africa hasn't produced anything useful or innovative since the pyramids.

Although it has been the least innovative continent in the last two thousand years, that doesn't mean it hasn't contributed anything toward humanity's progress.
This book points out overlooked African gems.

Fortunately, Jeff Pearce isn't an insufferable, politically correct man who tries to blame everything under the sun on the white man and portray Africans purely as victims.
Still, at times, he lapses into such a tired narrative.

I also like that he's not prone to senseless cheerleading. He talks about:

"a highly impressionable writer rattles off how the Dogon people of Mali knew about Jupiter's moons and Saturn's ring and more. Impressive--except it's ridiculous. Simple common sense reminds us that none of these astronomical phenomena can be seen anywhere on Earth with the naked eye."

He's willing to admit Africa's limitations:

"The Aksumites were the only Africans aside from those in client states for Rome to issue their own national coinage, which they used from about the late third to the seventh century."

As Chinua Achebe said:

"I do not see that it is necessary for any people to prove to another that they build cathedrals or pyramids before they can be entitled to peace and safety. Flowing from that, I do not believe that black people should invent a great fictitious past in order to justify their human existence and dignity today."

Amen.

Since I am writing a book about traveling 8 years to all 54 African countries, I appreciated his insight.

Why did I dislike it?

- He is too verbose! He often goes into painful detail. TMI.

- The book goes off on tangents too often. For example, he talks extensively about Steven Biko. It's off-topic.

- He faults Europeans for making crude African maps but doesn't say that Africans made no (long-lasting) maps.

CONCLUSION: I love his conclusion. He concludes that Africans contributed to humanity. Their contributions were less than those of Eurasians, but they moved the needle. It's a vital point. I just wish he had made it more succinctly. I hope someone writes a book half the length of this one and focuses on the key points like a laser.

VERDICT: 3 out of 10 stars.

Book Review

NJ Ayuk has written a provocative book called A Just Transition: Making Energy Poverty History with an Energy Mix.

Ayuk sums up his book in 6 words: "Gas First. Solar and Wind Later."

Here are some memorable parts of the book:

16% of the world is African, but they produce 3% of emissions.
"Africa has supplied oil and gas to the world--while neglecting its own needs."
Coal emits "nearly twice as many greenhouse gas emissions as natural gas per unit of energy."
More than 600 million people in the Sub-Sahara have no access to electricity.
"The dignity of work goes a long, long way in building a strong, sustainable community."
"Africa has 40% of the world's solar energy potential."

He sums up his book in a sentence: "We cannot ignore the needs of millions in our zeal to prevent climate change."

Listen to the WanderLearn Podcast review

In this video, I review Coinkite's Coldcard MK4, the newest bitcoin-only hardware wallet in 2023!
After unboxing it, I review the Coldcard MK4's latest features.

Throughout the review, I compare it to the MK3, the previous Coldcard model, which I compared to the Ledger.

Toward the end, I address the questions: