What I will hand-carry to Africa

I travel light—a single suitcase under any circumstance—and can’t remember an exception. I now know what qualifies as an exception: if a school in Africa asks me to hand-carry copies of my books.

In January 2014, I am going to speak at the International School of Tanganyika in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

I agreed to bring books without paying close attention to the quantity they would order to ship to my house.

This is the quantity:

The thought of my books—let alone me—in Africa is beyond what I ever expected, so that huge honor overrides my tendency to keep to one bag.

Hurry, boy. It's waiting there for you.