About


 

Abita Mystery House, Abita Springs, LA

Abita Mystery House, Abita Springs, LA

Hi, my name is Ben and, for those who don’t already know me, I’m a different kind of guy.

 

No one is uniquely happy or unhappy, creative or uncreative, but I am uniquely me.  It has taken me a while to get used to that fact, “to forge [my identity] in the smithy of my soul,” as James Joyce’s Stephen Dedalus put it, but there you are.  Like many in my family, I’m a late bloomer.

 

The first book I recall reading alone was J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings and when I finished its 1000+ pages I cried, wishing for more.  There wasn’t any more, strictly speaking, so eventually I had no choice but to create. That is, to contribute in my small way to the process of creation.

 

How I got from there to here is a long story, with many detours, roadblocks, and not a few potholes, but such is the glory of life in its immensity of opportunity.  I encourage you to read more, in my books, in my blogs, in my photos.  There are few greater pleasures than to share some joys and learnings with others.

 

Enjoy!

 

Or, as my publisher’s Author Bio puts it:

 

“Ben Batchelder has traveled some of the world’s most remote roads.  Nothing in his background, from a degree in Visual & Environmental Studies at Harvard to an MBA from Wharton, adequately prepared him for the experiences.

“Currently publishing My World Book 1: Hitching the Globe on $10 a Day, he leads a bi-hemispheric life, as a mountain man in the hills of Minas Gerais, Brazil who comes down to the sea at Miami Beach, Florida.”

 

Ben