The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise

A quiet and contemplative book that's part essay part travellogue, as the author draws on his visits to many spiritual places on this earth. Observing how our strive for a paradise and the sites we associates with it, are often surrounded by warzones or amidst other forms of human suffering.

• Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad
• Jerusalem, the eternal city of many religions and eternal conflict
• Sri Lanka, often seen as the Garden of Eden
• Srinagar in Kashmir, in contested territory by India and Pakistan
• Ladakh, Himalaya
• North Korea
• Bridge of Heaven outside Osaka
• the holy and polluted waters of the Ganges in Varanasi

The book stays feather light, as he gives us vignettes of his travel experiences. There's possibly another version of this book out there, that looks a bit harder at the connections between religious paradises and violent fanaticism.