The Other (Verso, $16.95) is a compilation of four lectures, its publication serving as a philosophical eulogy to Ryszard Kapuscinski’s life in literary journalism (Travels with Herodotus, Shadow of the Sun).  With a hearty appreciation of philosophers Levinas and Tischner, Kapuscinski turns their philosophy of “otherness” (today, a dilettantish ivory-tower password of sorts) into an intimate—and supremely workable—ethic for 21st-century living. In globalization’s collision of Western with non-Western, encountering the individual “Other” with empathy and enthusiasm is what will most aid us in making sense of our world, and of ourselves.