Tom Parkinson

I was inspired to take up travel writing by a group of authors who attended a guidebook author workshop in spring 2005. Tom Parkinson was one of those authors.

Last week I learned of Tom's untimely death from a heart attack while writing up his latest research on Madagascar. Colleagues and friends put together this tribute to his short life.

His hilariously written blog on what guidebook writing is really like had me laughing out loud in recognition. You get a sense of just how talented a writer he was from the entries.

Tom was still in his 20s when he died.