The Man in the Empty Boat

Marc Saltzman and I ended up taking similar paths in life - both of us studied abroad in China, both of us suffer from occasional bouts of anxiety, both of us are writers (well, he is, I merely just aspire to be one.) So I found a lot to like and relate to in this, his most recent book, which is an......more

I first encountered Mark Salzman's writing when participating in a memoir writers' critique group that met over a period of a couple years. The group leader suggested Lost in Place as a good example of the genre. I thought it was a wonderful book (my comments are at that link), and (after finish......more

"If a man in a boat is crossing a river and an empty boat drifts along and bumps into his, he won’t get angry. But if there is someone in the other boat, then the man will shout out directions to move. …If a man could make himself empty, and pass like that through the world, then who could harm him?......more