Comments on: What John Steinbeck Can Teach Us About Mexico

By: julie

julie — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:24:11 +0000

Oh, I’ll send it to you! Email me your address!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:11:06 +0000

Must read this! It’s amazing to me how you can pick up a book from fifty (or a hundred) years ago about a place, and it can still ring so true, sometimes much more so than the current travel writing coming out of the same place. It makes you think that perhaps there are these essential characteristics of people and place, even though academia fights that so much at the moment.

By: varundbest

varundbest — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:55:43 +0000

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By: Tim Patterson

Tim Patterson — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:12:12 +0000

I’m so glad!

By: Steven Roll

Steven Roll — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:13:58 +0000

The passage you quote reminds me of this part of Tony Cohan’s book On Mexican Time.

On one of his first visits to SMA, he observes to an expat friend who lives there that the Mexicans are quick to return a smile or greeting with an equally warm response.

His friend replies that when it comes to social interactions, Mexico has a “functioning economy.”

As the current economic troubles in the US show, the satisfaction that comes from earning more money and consuming more stuff is ephemeral at best.

It’s in the acquiring of social capital where real happiness awaits.

Given our shared passion for all things Latin American, I give great weight to your book recommendations. I will definitely check out Sea of Cortez.