Category Archives: Middle East

Welcome to Mars

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

 On February 9th, the United Arab Emirates Mars Mission’s Hope Probe entered the Red Planet’s orbit. To commemorate the historic moment the UAE government has given visitors to the country a piece of space. Arrivals to Dubai airport on February … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Middle East, Public Transport, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Walk

Posted on October 11, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Good Chance is a humanitarian theatre company founded in 2015 in the unofficial refugee camp in Calais, France that’s often called “The Jungle”. It is behind an exciting  public art project that will travel across two continents and many national … Continue reading →

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Vacation in a Box

Posted on August 6, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, most of us have been forced to postpone our summer vacation plans, but IKEA in Dubai has come up with a clever idea to offer “vacations in a box” to help send customers to far-flung … Continue reading →

Posted in Air Travel, Art, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Tourism | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

You Are An Acceptable Level of Threat

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

A new book called Banksy: You Are An Acceptable Level of Threat and if You Were Not You Would Know About has just been published. The book features a huge collection of photos highlighting some of the most iconic works by … Continue reading →

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Have you or a loved one been affected by persuasive cartography

Posted on June 18, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

Although I am one of those odd people who actually took geography courses at university, Persuasive Cartography is a term I only recently encountered. It usually refers to propaganda art that uses cartography to make a point. An amazing collection … Continue reading →

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Finding refuge in books

Posted on March 11, 2020 by Brian D. Butler

ECHO (Education.Community.Hope.Opportunity) is an organisation dedicated to fostering community and education initiatives in Greek refugee camps. The ECHO Refugee Library is their flagship project. They hope to transform the sites in which they work from places of stagnancy and waiting, … Continue reading →

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Mark Twain Travel Writer

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

When we think about the great 19th century American writer Mark Twain, his lauded Mississippi River novels usually come to mind. However, it was the 1869 travel book The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrim’s Progress  which first brought him prominence. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Europe, History, Middle East, Tourism, Travel Writing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Making Your Mark

Posted on April 26, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Most of us don’t give a second thought to the greatest human achievement in history. But now the British Museum’s new interactive exhibition Writing: Marking Your Mark is celebrating more than 5,000 years of our most amazing legacy. The exhibit, which runs … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Art, Asia, Books, ebooks, Europe, History, Libraries, Middle East, Museums, Tech, Tourism, Writing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s still Constantinople to me

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

As is often the case in the antiquarian book trade, we can search for a title for weeks with no avail and then years later stumble across a copy when we are not even looking. Many years ago I had … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Asia, Books, Europe, History, Libraries, Maps, Middle East, Travel Writing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Lunar Library

Posted on March 6, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Last week, a SpaceX rocket launched a lunar landing module from its base in Florida. That would be interesting in its self, but the mission is an Israeli crowdfunded project to land a module the size of a home washing … Continue reading →

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