Seduced by the Horizon

Mark Koopman’s collection of travel tales carries the reader on a wild and surprising exploration of a handful of the world’s more intriguing destinations, including more than one visit to Japan. Although the author has rather poor vision, he teams with friends and family and connects with local folks in an effort to live, eat and play as they do. While he is somewhat eclectic and takes an open approach to much of what he encounters, a few of his travel companions have idiosyncrasies that easily match his own. From down-home cooking and prophetic divinations out of the kitchen of a Turkish grandmother to boisterous French bars to wandering the Himalaya in the company of a man with a peculiar hobby, the people he travels with, and those he encounters, are more vivid than the sought-after vistas. As it turns out, there are characters everywhere he goes. While he and his main travel companion, Kerry, try to be culturally sensitive and strive to make reasonable non-perilous choices as they poke around, the world has a way of occasionally introducing obstacles, both physical and cultural. Being a man with albinism, and the corresponding mop of white hair and diminished visual acuity, some of those interactions and situations get a little extra twist, but the book treads the boundary between travelogue and memoir. Mark has studied the world like a traveler since he was a child and his journeys are inextricably woven into his life. While he and his companions regularly seek out the exotic, in cuisine and experience, they seemingly trip through humor and good fortune at every turn. Read more