Book excerpt: When Sam Aronow decided to move from the US to Israel, the only travel books he could find about it were more interested in religion or politics than an actual place. Naturally, he would have to write his own. The result is an eclectic and irreverent journey to almost every corner of his adopted homeland, from major cities to forgotten wildernesses, from battlefields to blizzards, and from ancient artifacts to the annoyances of modern life.