Partner Profile – Longitude Books

In this issue of the Brown Travelers e-newsletter, we hope you will enjoy learning a little more about our partner, Longitude Books, and the two Brown alumni who founded it. If you have an experience, story or photo from a past Brown Travelers trip that you would like to share with us, please feel free to contact us at Brown_Travelers@alumni.brown.edu.

If you’ve traveled with us in recent years, you’ve received a comprehensive list of suggested reading from Longitude Books, Brown Travelers and your faculty lecturer. These lists are crafted with the expertise of a Brown faculty member and the expert knowledge of two Brown alumni, Darrel Schoeling ’80 and Daniel Kaizer ’78.

Darrel and Daniel started Longitude Books, “a book store arranged geographically,” in 1997 as a way to help travelers expand their minds. As Darrel puts it, “Books make you want to travel and traveling makes you want to read.” Longitude’s book recommendations include travel narratives, field guides, natural histories, classic accounts of exploration and adventure, books on art, archaeology and cooking, novels and guidebooks that all enhance the travel experience.

Longitude develops custom reading lists for individuals, programs like the Brown Travelers and tour operators. Brown Travelers began working with them in 2001, as Longitude hand-picks each book to match the trip and then we vet them by the faculty member to insure travelers receive a relevant book selection. Feedback from both faculty and travelers helps them fine-tune their lists.

Many travelers are familiar with Longitude, but many don’t know that if it weren’t for Brown, the company probably would not exist because Darrel and Daniel would not have met. Their paths crossed because at one point they both studied ecology and evolutionary biology at Brown, which Daniel described as “a small, fantastic group.”

After graduating from Brown with a degree in biology, Darrel became a 20-year veteran of adventure and educational travel; for many years he organized and led tours to far-flung destinations from Antarctica to Madagascar, the Amazon, the Galápagos, Alaska and the North Pole. He is active in conservation issues and has lectured on responsible tourism.

Daniel also concentrated in biology at Brown and went on to earn a master’s degree in ecology from Florida State University (where he was a National Science Foundation fellow) and an MBA with honors from Columbia. His official biography describes him as “a trained ecologist and former book editor” as well as “an avid reader and traveler.”