Books

The Last Pink Bits, Travels Through the Remnants of the British Empire, by Harry Ritchie (Sceptre, 1998)

Harry Ritchie island-hops his way through seven British territories in the Atlantic in this observant, witty travelogue about Britain's faltering grip on its empire abroad. Amidst humorous anecdotes (scuba diving in Salt Cay off Turks and Caicos Islands, sans clothes) and insightful observations (sun, wealth, and stability make Bermuda too good to be true), Ritchie weaves in politics, history, and economics. From golf to drugs to Margaret Thatcher, Ritchie offers readers an intelligent, quirky view of Bermuda and its British island sisters.

Bermuda Shorts, The Hidden Side of the Richest Place on Earth, by T.C. Sobey (Barricade Books, 1995)

Discover a Bermuda most tourists never do when author T.C. Sobey moves to the island in search of paradise and finds "nothing is ever as it seems on the surface." In spite of its low crime, high per-capita income, and sunny clime, Bermuda has its absurdities, and Sobey illustrates this with his trademark drollness as he explains locals' resentment of tourists, the trivialities of police enforcement, and the strange phenomenon of "island fever": "Living on a remote island twenty-two miles [35 km] long and barely two wide can do strange things to your head," he writes.

The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved, by Lawrence David Kusche (Prometheus Books, 1986, reprint, 1995)

Kusche separates rumor from fact in this non-fiction mystery that debunks common misconceptions about the Bermuda Triangle. After digging up stats on "mysterious disappearances" from the Coast Guard, Air Force, and newspaper archives, Kusche considers the possibilities. Electromagnetic aberration? Space-time warp? UFO-beaming station? Sea monster? His conclusion blasts conspiracy theorists and sets the record straight…for now.