NOT SO FUNNY WHEN IT HAPPENED

Cahill (Pass the Butterworms, 1997, etc.), the founding editor of Outside magazine, has culled these diverse and diverting pieces from books by Dave Barry, Bill Bryson, J.P. Donleavy, Mark Salzman, David Sedaris, and other travel-writers and editors. Most are short—five or six pages—but there is one considerably longer one by Randy White. With most of the stories set in other countries, cross-cultural mishaps abound (e.g., getting one’s hair cut in Turkey or having one’s dental work done in Cameroon). Animals (a baboon in the bedroom in Zimbabwe, a ferret in the trousers in Scotland, and a wayward jumping frog on Amtrak) figure in several tales, and dealing with human vomit, urine, and feces provides the humor in three others. Clearly, not all are equally charming or will appeal to the same sense of humor. Cover-to-cover reading at one sitting is easily accomplished but not recommended lest the idiosyncratic humor of individual pieces be blurred. Quirky little paragraph-long pieces separate the titled anecdotes, even briefer items appear in boxed inserts within them, and (apparently) cartoons (not seen) will be added.

An amusing diversion, good for your next long flight.