“Finding Wonder in the World”
The world can feel bleak. There are more things to worry about than we can hold in our heads. Yet, we also live in a world filled with wonder, joy, surprise, and delight. And the stories we tell ourselves about the places we live and the larger world hide deep and delightful strangeness.
Dylan Thuras of Atlas Obscura will highlight how by reframing what “travel” means, it can allow us to uncover remarkable “hidden gems” — the obscure experiences or locations that every destination, including your own backyard, possesses. From places like the Gates of Hell, a fiery crater in Turkmenistan, to the centuries-old Root Bridges of Cherrapunji, India, Dylan will talk about how travelers can look for their own hidden gems by finding new ways to engage with both the places they travel to and their own backyards.
Event Registration:
https://secure.qgiv.com/for/wslj/event/853092/
Speaker Bio
Dylan Thuras is the co-founder and creative director of Atlas Obscura, and co-author of the No. 1 New York Times bestseller “Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders” and New York Times bestselling kids’ book “An Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid.” Thuras has been a correspondent for NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and host of the NY Times T-Brand podcast “So You Want to Work Abroad,” and a guest on “CBS Sunday Morning,” “Science Friday,” and in print in the New York Times, New Yorker, and Men’s Health. As a speaker on travel and media he has spoken at the New Yorker festival, SXSW, La Ciudad de las Ideas, EG, and Destinations International among others.
Dylan’s pursuit of the unusual began as a teenager exploring abandoned buildings in the Midwest and eventually took him to Budapest for a year, where he and his wife Michelle Enemark explored and wrote about Eastern Europe’s forgotten histories. He lives with his wife Michelle and their two children, Phineas and Jean, in the Hudson Valley. Visit him on Twitter at @dylanthuras.
