It’s a big world, after all. Telecommunications make it seem smaller, but we’re a far cry from the kind of time-and-space travel predicted by Michael Crichton in Timeline. Any day now, quantum physicists may perfect technology to beam us up, down or sideways, but meanwhile, we’re limited to living in just one small blip of the space-time continuum.

Thus the age-old challenge persists: How to learn about the world past your doorstep?

Movies and TV give us the most vivid sense of being there. But where is the there? Have the locations been chosen to show us the world or merely to grab our attention with glamour, fantasy and the flashiest vices?

So-called “reality” TV couldn’t be further than. Even with family-oriented sitcoms, I won’t trust TV to show me the real world until the camera shots include dust bunnies and pimples.

Less inclined to pretty life up, newspapers take us to a world of timely facts.  But with all due respect to historians, the real world isn’t the headlines. Have you noticed that the news leaves out the most fascinating aspects of human interest? Imagine a daily Pathways the size of The Washington Post, with a world-wide focus, replete with news about holistic health, the environment and spiritual wisdom. Imagine the fascinating interviews and features, maybe even cartoon topics from acupuncture to zen.

Imagine all you like but, alas, these days big papers are more beholden to the establishment  than ever. So they focus on celebrities more often than real people, whose stories could tell us far more about the world. (Which would you rather read about, how a Reiki healer does her daily miracles or the latest installment in the love life of Jennifer Lopez?)

Ride the Internet then, you say? It’s true that the electronic superhighway is a place where you steer. And your chosen destination can be anywhere on the globe. You can even explore blogging, opinionated slices of life from all over the global pie, easiest accessed through http://www.beblogging.com.

Grand though the possibilities seem in theory, in practice the worldwide web can seems less like a place to surf and more a place to be shipwrecked… on an ocean of words. Inaccuracies, rants and lack of quality control can make the valuable pickings slim.

Old-fashioned books, therefore, low-tech or not, could just be today’s best way to travel without physically leaving home. Books, especially quality books from small presses, exist because of someone’s passion to tell you about an offbeat part of the world that’s worth exploring. This column’s offerings succeed brilliantly at helping us see the world--with one interesting exception that proves the rule.

The Global Citizen:

A Guide to Creating an International Life and Career

Elizabeth Kruempelmann

Ten Speed Press

384 pages, $16.95, 1-58008-352-8

Available in bookstores

Ever wish you could see the world on your terms? But even if you could go, how would you afford it? To answer both questions, buy this book.

Elizabeth Kruempelmann can help you become a citizen of the world. She’s tested the concepts in her book by traveling to over 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. And thus she can offer you an easy-to-carry suitcase, packed with both useful advice and entertaining anecdotes.

Favorite example: EK reports her first-time meeting with an executive at a big company in Poland. After some small talk in Polish, the exec was reminded that the meeting was supposed to be in English. “He quickly pointed to a few hooks on the wall and responded with heavily accented English, ‘Yes, yes of course. Please, take off your clothes. I help you.’”

Speaking of potential communication problems, how about your expectations about a country’s being as job-oriented as America? One of the most fascinating aspects of The Global Citizen is its “Mini-Course for the Culturally Challenged.” Did you know that cultures can be classified according to factors like the value they accord to telling the truth or to hiding feelings or to being people-oriented rather than job-oriented? Kruempelmann helps you find the nation to match your preferences.

When it comes to how much people talk, for instance, she says that Americans spend about half the time chatting. If you’d prefer to live in a nation with double the gabbiness, check out Hispanic America. On the other hand, if you value silence, go directly to Vietnam.

Once you’ve used EK’s tools to establish where you’d like to go, and she’s prepared you for culture shock, the next little detail is to make your trip happen. Let her show you a world of opportunity, where you can travel, study, volunteer or even earn big bucks. Fund-raising resources are spelled out in detail. This resourceful woman has thought of everything, even plans for your smooth re-entry to the U.S.

Travel isn’t only for students. It can be for curious people of any age, whether single or married. If you’d like to see the world for real, here’s a resource to make it happen.

The Fractal Murders

Mark Cohen

Muddy Gap Press

282 pages, $13.95, 0-9718986-0-X

Phone: 303-258-0561

One way I never used to see the world involves fractal geography—a mind-boggling discipline that will speak to your inner mystic. Mark Cohen’s gentle introduction to the technical topic would make his book a find even if it weren’t also a terrific read. The mystery’s tightly constructed with humor, action, romance and suspenseful pacing.             

Frankly, I was surprised to learn that it was Cohen’s first novel. His background as a municipal judge helps explain the realistic depiction of detective work. But only years of writing, plus talent and passion, account for the way his story comes alive.

Cohen has created an attractive tough-guy hero. Pepper Keane is a vegetarian ex-Marine who loves to read philosophy. He’s hired by a math professor, Jayne Smyers, who specializes in the geometric shapes known as fractals.

When Smyers discovers that all three of her peers in the field have been murdered, she worries. She should. Bad guys are afoot. And it’s fun to accompany the body-building sleuth as he gives them a run for their money. Frankly, I couldn’t put this story down until I learned whodunit.

The Monk Downstairs

Tim Farrington

HarperSanFrancisco

280 pages, $22.95, 0-06-251785-6

Available at bookstores

Seeing the world takes on a different meaning if you’re a recluse. And not everyone with reclusive tendencies lives in a cloister. If your spiritual interests have ever left you feeling otherworldly, you’ll identify with one of the heroes of Tim Farrington’s novel. Michael is a monk who has been forced to leave his monastery after 20 years.

Maybe you’ve never considered a religious vocation, but you’ve been disappointed by your relationships with God and man. If so, you’ll identify more with the novel’s other hero, Rebecca. She’s a disillusioned single mom with an irresponsible surfer for an ex-husband and a six-year-old daughter who’s an “infallible detector of bullshit.”

Those same detective tendencies evidently belong to the author, who charmed me with his realistically portrayed characters. An ex-monk will, occasionally, move into a basement apartment. But seldom do we readers have the chance to peek into his heart and mind, nor watch him and his landlady discover each other.

The story unfolds with an apparently artless naturalness. Farrington’s at his best when he describes the nuances of falling in love. As he depicts it, the journey is more a drive than a fall, complete with unexpected accelerations and slammed-on brakes. Strictly speaking, this isn’t falling in love, since “falling” implies that nothing needs to be done. And as this novel shows, love can be life’s hardest work.

Who would have expected the awkward Michael Christopher to be so deft? Or anticipated that Farrington’s assortment of imperfect characters would add up to a perfectly delightful read?

How a "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation

Unfortunately, “stylish,” is the very word she chooses to describe Gurumayi, the successor to Swami Muktananda at the Siddha Yoga Ashram.

Now, I’ve seen Gurumayi teach, with eloquence that touches the heart (not to mention a solid gold aura). To call this exquisite renunciate “stylish” misses the point in a colossal way. Unless, perhaps, the professor was really aiming to write for Cosmo.

I’ve also met Ammachi, the Hindu saint whom Eck describes as an “unselfconscious woman” who gives hugs. Missing from Eck’s outsider’s description is what really matters: Ammachi comes from such a high state of consciousness that her darshan brings a contagious state of ecstasy.

Another gem from Eck’s well meaning survey is her description of Transcendental Meditation as “a technique for concentrating and stilling the mind.” If Eck had attended even one free TM talk, she’d never had perpetrated that howler. I ought to know. During the 16 years I taught this technique, I must have given 500 of those beginner’s talks. Never, anywhere, will you find a trained TM teacher who advocates either concentration or stilling the mind. This point is made expressly. And repeatedly. What Eck has done, therefore, is comparable to describing Catholicism by calling the Holy Ghost a relative of Casper.

Maybe the problem is that Eck’s world of comparative religion has more to do with sociology than personal seeking. Maybe this book would have been different if it had been published by a small press, where publishers are more likely to invest in topics they believe in so passionately, they’ll get the spirit right, not just the surface.

After all, which way do you think you’d see the world more vividly? If you financed the trip yourself or if you were given an all-expense-paid assignment to help your company cash in on a trend.

It’s a fair bet that, had the publisher hadn’t been in such a hurry to cash in on a trend, the back cover wouldn’t proclaim that America now has more Muslims than Jews. This exaggeration is contradicted by the author herself. (It’s buried deep in the book, on page three.)

When I first turned to this big press product, I couldn’t wait to learn more about the world’s varieties of religious experience. But three strikes and the author was out, much as I liked her. A New Religious America tastes like a cake mixed with sand. No matter where in the world you picnic, that’s unacceptable