As the world gets smaller, travel writers face a dwindling supply of fresh global subjects. Like real estate, travel writing is all about three things: location, location, location. The challenge, as Craig Nelson writes in the foreword to his international travelogue Let's Get Lost, is to get as far away from civilization as possible, to go to places where the hustle and bustle of modern life is forgotten amongst the foliage, food, and head-hunting peoples. Yet it's telling that while exploring the Amazon in the second chapter of his book, Nelson bumps into fellow writer P.J. O'Rourke working on his own travel guide. Nelson, however, wants it both ways: When he finds himself alone in some far-off place, like New Guinea, he complains of the loss of personal interaction; when he's surrounded by hostile, fist-shaking foreigners, as in Egypt or India, he derides the lack of Western decorum. This wishy-washy prose is what ultimately hinders Let's Get Lost, as Nelson often can't decide between mean humor and well-meaning cultural investigation. He also has a habit of recounting history instead of his experiences, clogging several chapters with common trivia punctuated by occasional stabs at the natives. At other times, his trips are made limited: The first chapter, on China, is notable mostly for its timing. As Nelson's visit came shortly after the Tiananmen Square massacre, he can't find much to do with people afraid to have their picture taken with a Westerner, but he is treated conspicuously well by the PR-minded Chinese government. However, whenever Nelson finds a place he truly loves, like Indonesia or Africa, his writing really lights up, and when faced with adventure (as in India or during a seasickness-filled boat trip with his father in the South Pacific), his self-deprecating wit makes the local-tour-book facts go down pretty easy. Nelson is no Twain, Theroux, or even O'Rourke, but he does have the guts to trek around the globe, make a fool of himself, eat some strange things, and maybe even convince others to do the same.