What is Bob Harris reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Bob Harris, author of The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time.

Part of his entry:

In non-fiction, I'm reading David Rohde's books Endgame, about the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia, and A Rope and a Prayer, about his kidnapping by the Taliban. I met David when he hosted an event about Bank of Bob at the Strand in New York, he's charming and funny and kind of amazing — if I'd been through half of what he has been through, I'd probably lose my mind. But no, there he is, gracious and humble and plowing ahead with his life. So I'm reading his books partly to try to get inside his head and try to understand how he stayed sane. Also, I was in Bosnia for a chapter in Bank of Bob, and I met people who work with women who survived the massacre. As I read Endgame, my horror at the tragedy and appreciation for the work is...[read on]

About The International Bank of Bob:

Hired by ForbesTraveler.com to review some of the most luxurious accommodations on Earth, and then inspired by a chance encounter in Dubai with the impoverished workers whose backbreaking jobs create such opulence, Bob Harris had an epiphany: He would turn his own good fortune into an effort to make lives like theirs better. Bob found his way to Kiva.org, the leading portal through which individuals make microloans all over the world: for as little as $25-50, businesses are financed and people are uplifted. Astonishingly, the repayment rate was nearly 99%, so he re-loaned the money to others over and over again.

After making hundreds of microloans online, Bob wanted to see the results first-hand, and in The International Bank of Bob he travels from Peru and Bosnia to Rwanda and Cambodia, introducing us to some of the most inspiring and enterprising people we've ever met, while illuminating day-to-day life-political and emotional-in much of the world that Americans never see. Told with humor and compassion, The International Bank of Bob brings the world to our doorstep, and makes clear that each of us can, actually, make it better.

Learn more about the book and author at Bob Harris's website.

The Page 69 Test: Bob Harris, Prisoner of Trebekistan.

Writers Read: Bob Harris.

--Marshal Zeringue