Accompanying this wry volume's many accomplishments, Reiner Riedler deserves credit for reminding us that the United States does not monopolize the global marketplace for vicarious experiences available at cost. Yes, Orlando and Las Vegas hold places of honor in this collection. But Riedler, identified in the fall 2009 issue of PDNedu as "one to watch," also reveals examples of Truman Show-quality artifice in such destinations as Shenzhen (China), Antalya (Turkey), and Trautmannsdorf (in Riedler's native Austria). Picture schussing sheiks at Ski Dubai, or the Polynesian dancers at Vichy Aqua Park in Vilnius, Lithuania. Nowadays, the 19th century pictorial travel albums by Francis Frith and others (the original laptops, when one was seated in an armchair) don't suffice for substitute travel. Riedler delivers us to sites that themselves purport to transport us elsewhere. In this world of willful asynchronicity, we hop around like apparating Griffindors in a J. K. Rowling fantasy narrative. The mind, not to mention the perceptual GPS, reels.




Perhaps the strangest assertion made in the book is the last sentence on the last page (144). There, in English, appears the phrase "It should be noted that the locations and people in this book-unless they enter into a relationship of their own accord-are in no way connected with each other." I feel like I missed something. Is this a legal disclaimer the publisher felt bound to include? Are there illicit proximities suggested in the selection? Or do other lifestyle tourism hot-spots disavow the famous Vegas handle, that whatever happens there stays there? And the locations-how might they connect with each other? Or is there an implication about real versus virtual sites merging? More research is needed. But the anachronistic conclusion, that being here now sometimes just isn't enough (sorry, Ram Dass), would only be reinforced by any such exegesis, and Riedler's photographs offer conclusive evidence themselves. (Speaking of Jesus-as in "exe-Jesus"-he's in two of Riedler's photographs, bearing a cross and crucified on Calvary, courtesy of Orlando's Holy Land Experience Theme Park. What kind of fake holiday is that?)




[One translation note for the second edition: the German word "Bulle" on page 76, captioning an image of an idle automated bucking bronco in a Vegas bar, should not appear in English as "cop," despite the fact that police officers have been referred to as bulls. Or is this ride actually an officer in disguise? Stranger transpositions happen in Riedler's worlds.] —George Slade