The Tao of Travel
Enlightenments from Lives on the Road
-
- 13,99 $
-
- 13,99 $
Description de l’éditeur
This beautiful collection of travel wisdom is the perfect gift for any Theroux fan, and will equally delight seasoned travelers, young adventurers, and everyone in between.
Few have traveled more than Paul Theroux, and fewer have crafted the original, perceptive, and entertaining body of work that he has. The Tao of Travel is a departure for him: it's a gift book, a gorgeously illustrated and pithy distillation of quotes about the pleasures and perils of travel by Theroux himself, as well as many other travel writers he admires, including Dervla Murphy, Graham Greene, and Bruce Chatwin. Inspired by the number of readers who have asked him for his favourite travel book, Theroux has artfully selected over 1000 quotes, both historical and contemporary, giving the reader genuine insight into what underlies the travel urge in humans.
Whether it's modes of travel or the art of packing, loneliness or the unexpected kindnesses of strangers, unusual meals in weird places or encountering danger, The Tao of Travel contains a smorgasbord of delights for any travel junkie.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Travel maestro Theroux (The Great Railway Bazaar) conducts a rambling tour of the genre in this diverting meditation on passages from his own and other writers' works. Several chapters spotlight underappreciated travel writers from Samuel Johnson to Paul Bowles, while others explore themes both profound and whimsical. There are classic set-piece literary evocations, including Thoreau on the hush of the Maine woods and Henry James on the miserable pleasures of Venice. A section on storied but disappointing destinations fingers Tahiti as "a mildewed island of surly colonials"; travel epics shipwrecks, Sahara crossings, Jon Krakauer's duel with Mount Everest are celebrated; exotic meals are recalled (beetles, monkey eyes, and human flesh, anyone?); and some writers, like Emily Dickinson, just stay home and write about that. The weakest section is a compendium of aphoristic abstractions "Travel is a vanishing act, a solitary trip down a pinched line of geography to oblivion" while the strongest pieces descry a tangible place through a discerning eye and pungent sensibility: "I do not think I shall ever forget the sight of Etna at sunset," Evelyn Waugh rhapsodizes; "othing I have seen in Art or Nature was quite so revolting." Photos.
