There's no better travel accessory than a book: works anywhere, requires no accessories, and rivets the mind. And, while I'll countenance alternate points of view, the size of mass market "pocket" paperbacks is the best form of book. They are four and a quarter by seven inches, fit easily in your coat or blue jeans pocket, and hold your attention for hours. I constructed the shelves of my office bookcase to be just over fourteen inches tall and about ten inches deep to ensure I could quadruple stack pocket paperbacks: two rows high, two rows deep. When I prepare for my flight on Sunday, I'll go to those stacks for a few new (to me) volumes and maybe one old one, for comfort. Everything else will be in my checked bag.Reading the travel columns on the internet makes you think that travelers have many more needs than we do. What a person actually needs on a long flight is a slim wallet, for the holding of tickets and enough cash for the purchase of sufficient drink to steel one's courage to board, a sandwich in one pocket and a book in the other. What else could you need? With a full belly and an occupied mind, the flying steel tube does the rest. Our needs-met traveler's hands are unoccupied, no bags or clutter on the jet bridge, and there is no frantic search for charging ports. Boarding a plane or train, such a person could be heading anywhere and still be properly equipped. Imagine the mental strength such a traveler has. No need to fight for bin space; no rushing into the inevitable queue before the book's chapter ends; no worries that the Kindle hasn't been charged or episodes not downloaded or flying sky-tube Wifi is down. Such calm. Maybe our mythical contented flyer is the fulcrum around which a universe can turn.
The Buddha would laugh. Of course we come equipped with everything that we need.
Sadly, my preference for buying mass market paperbacks used will soon be the only way to acquire them: the book people aren't printing any more. I'll leave the ones I finish in the seat-back pocket for you.
Reading
Say a Prayer for the Paperback
The mass-market novel was integral to the development of liberal democracy. It’s basically dead.