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Product Description
Product Description
Since 1998, Lonely Planet has been publishing our favorite travel stories. The disasters of "Lonely Planet Unpacked, " the romances of "Brief Encounters," the random acts of generosity in "Kindness of Strangers," the out-there adventures of "Tales from Nowhere" - these stories, and many others, explored the reasons why we travel, and what we find when we get there. Now we've selected the best of them. From the first tentative steps of the young backpacker finding her feet in a London hostel, to the beyond-travel commetment of setting up house in Delhi, the 26 stories in this collection cover the globe and reveal a world of travel experiences.
"Best of Lonely Planet's Travel Writing" Includes:
Tim Cahill, William Dalrymple, Jason Elliot, Pico Iyer, Jan Morris, Emily Perkins, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Danny Wallace, Tony Wheeler, Simon Winchester and more.
"Best of Lonely Planet's Travel Writing" Includes:
Tim Cahill, William Dalrymple, Jason Elliot, Pico Iyer, Jan Morris, Emily Perkins, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Danny Wallace, Tony Wheeler, Simon Winchester and more.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
It's difficult to give an overall review of this collection of Lonely Planet travel stories, because it's so patchy. I found some of the stories early in the collection off-putting, because they seem to represent a rather obnoxious form of travel writer. The typical pattern of the tales in the first third of this anthology runs roughly as follows: an American who considers himself to be a bona fide traveller, rather than - heaven forbid! - a tourist, and therefore wants to head off the beaten track and find the *real* Tibet/Vietnam/Iraq/etc. Without bothering to read up on the are, or pay much attention to the locals, he finds himself in entirely preventable adverse circumstances and appears somewhat bewildered by the inability of the locals to speak English. This leads to startling discoveries, such as, "travelling on Iraqi railways was not exactly the Orient Express" (Cesar G Soriano, "Baghdad to Basra"). Most irritating is Bill Fink's "The End of the Road", in which two young men drive a jeep through rural Thailand close to the borders with Myanmar and Laos, blasting out Jimi Hendrix and calling each other "dude", utterly oblivious to the political and military tensions of the region and wondering why none of the locals want to come out and chat with them.
Luckily, I persevered despite the dispiriting nature of the first five or six pieces, because things really started to pick up with Jason Elliot's "A Visit to Kanasankatan" (and I won't spoil the punchline, but I fell for it totally). From here on in, the stories get a lot less culturally imperial, and begin to revel in the generosity, hospitality, and downright quirkiness of humans from Morocco to the Australian outback, Hawaii to Turkey. The writing in "Wangara's Cross", "A Slight Leaning Backwards" and "Egg Child" is beautiful, the pieces managing to be delicate short stories whilst still conveying enough of a very particular place to be classes as travel writing.
All in all, a strange mix which has given me some ideas about writers whose other work I would like to seek out - but also pointers as to whose to avoid.
Luckily, I persevered despite the dispiriting nature of the first five or six pieces, because things really started to pick up with Jason Elliot's "A Visit to Kanasankatan" (and I won't spoil the punchline, but I fell for it totally). From here on in, the stories get a lot less culturally imperial, and begin to revel in the generosity, hospitality, and downright quirkiness of humans from Morocco to the Australian outback, Hawaii to Turkey. The writing in "Wangara's Cross", "A Slight Leaning Backwards" and "Egg Child" is beautiful, the pieces managing to be delicate short stories whilst still conveying enough of a very particular place to be classes as travel writing.
All in all, a strange mix which has given me some ideas about writers whose other work I would like to seek out - but also pointers as to whose to avoid.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This book contains an number of eclectic travellers' tales from around the world. At the most basic level it may provide guidance to the young or inexperienced traveller. At perhaps the same level it will make sound reading for the armchair traveller and justify their reasons for remaining in the armchair. For actual travellers of the world it provides a series of anecdotes which many will have experienced to one degree or another.
This is not a comprehensive travel guide. As such it is probably best suited to the would-be traveller. That said, it is amusing, surprising and sometimes striking to actual travellers whether on business or pleasure. it's a book to dip in to. Not essential reading but worthwhile all the same.
A good backdrop to the travel approach of Lonely Planet.
This is not a comprehensive travel guide. As such it is probably best suited to the would-be traveller. That said, it is amusing, surprising and sometimes striking to actual travellers whether on business or pleasure. it's a book to dip in to. Not essential reading but worthwhile all the same.
A good backdrop to the travel approach of Lonely Planet.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Best of Lonely Planet Travel Writing is a collection of 26 travelogue stories rather than the more familiar travel guides that the publisher is famous for.
Some well known names in (and out of) the travel world author the pages: Jan Morris, Simon Winchester and Pico Iyer and there's a particularly amusing tale from Danny Wallace who is dazzled by the kindness of his Czech fixer in Prague.
After a frosty start, he lets go of his inhibitions and allows his new found friend to take him out on the town, introduce him to friends, buy him food, even invite him to sleep on his sofa (despite Wallace's protests).
"These Czechs are alright" thinks Wallace, warmed by his experience. But the warmth soon goes cold. On the way to the airport, the fixer presents Wallace with a hefty bill, which not only covers the cost of all Wallace's meals and beer, but the cost of all the beer and food of everyone he met and even a charge for sleeping on the sofa!
Each story is just a few pages long, but topics are wide ranging; from adventures in the Ethiopian outback to Iraqi train journeys; from the hunt for Turkish tigers to somewhere you will never have heard of but may be closer to home than you realise: Kanasankatan.
For fans of travel writing, this book is a taster menu from which you can choose something more meaty if you find something you like. Showcasing a broad selection of writing styles and topics in one book, a short bio is given for each author, so you can easily track down more of the their writing if you wish.
Some are most definitely better than others, but overall, Best of Lonely Planet Travel Writing is a good collection of some great (and a few not so great) travel stories and for fans of intrepid travellers' tales, this is recommended reading.
Some well known names in (and out of) the travel world author the pages: Jan Morris, Simon Winchester and Pico Iyer and there's a particularly amusing tale from Danny Wallace who is dazzled by the kindness of his Czech fixer in Prague.
After a frosty start, he lets go of his inhibitions and allows his new found friend to take him out on the town, introduce him to friends, buy him food, even invite him to sleep on his sofa (despite Wallace's protests).
"These Czechs are alright" thinks Wallace, warmed by his experience. But the warmth soon goes cold. On the way to the airport, the fixer presents Wallace with a hefty bill, which not only covers the cost of all Wallace's meals and beer, but the cost of all the beer and food of everyone he met and even a charge for sleeping on the sofa!
Each story is just a few pages long, but topics are wide ranging; from adventures in the Ethiopian outback to Iraqi train journeys; from the hunt for Turkish tigers to somewhere you will never have heard of but may be closer to home than you realise: Kanasankatan.
For fans of travel writing, this book is a taster menu from which you can choose something more meaty if you find something you like. Showcasing a broad selection of writing styles and topics in one book, a short bio is given for each author, so you can easily track down more of the their writing if you wish.
Some are most definitely better than others, but overall, Best of Lonely Planet Travel Writing is a good collection of some great (and a few not so great) travel stories and for fans of intrepid travellers' tales, this is recommended reading.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not for me
As others have said, this is a rather uneven collection. Some fiction, some non-fiction, but all of it sharing a strange lack of interestingness. Read more
Published 12 months ago by elmsyrup
Absorbing Book About Global Travel
Being interested in global travel, consisting of far away and often unaccessible places, it makes good reading for those who perhaps dream of visiting these places, but are for... Read more
Published 14 months ago by E. A. Redfearn
not a travel guide
Quite entertaining, a motley collection of travel stories and anecdotes by various authors. As other reviewers have said, the content is eclectic and patchy in places, but overall... Read more
Published 17 months ago by D. Graham
Interesting, eclectic and inspiring...
This collection of Lonely Planet's travel writing is really quite inspiring stuff. A broad range of established writers offer their own short stories, which cover a wide range of... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Ben
Some great writers here
As some of the other reviewers have said, it's a bit of a mixed bag. 'Best of' implies some kind of selection, but there's really nothing here except the travel writing. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Philip Hale
Been there, done that?
One of those where I would like to give four and a half stars, the initial impression is that this is both a book of travel disasters and a potentially tiresome dossier of... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Francis Mitchell
Mixed, could be better but cant please everyone
As many of the reviewers have already stated, this is a really mixed bag. Some of the writing is pure genius while others are painful to read. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Jennifers Daddy
Get the Bug
This is such an excellent book to dip into and enjoy - there is a variety of stories here and the writers and styles are just as varied. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2010 by L. Hardt
Not what I was expecting at all
I can't say that this book is good or not - I simply do not know. What I can say clearly is that it in no way resembles what I was expecting and what I thought it was going to be. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2010 by Mr. M. A. Reed
Excellent - more for the briefcase than the backpack
There is some great stuff here, from an account of a trip gone badly wrong in the Australian outback to Jan Morris on Admiral Fisher. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2010 by Mr. F. Ledwidge
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