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Eric Newby

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A Traveller’s Life Paperback – 28 Oct. 2010

by Eric Newby (Author)

4.3 72 ratings

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A chronicle of travels, some homely some exotic, from the man who can make a schoolboy holiday in Swanage as colourful as a walk in the Hindu Kush.

Eric Newby's life of travel began in 1919, on pram-ride adventures with his mother into the dark streets of Barnes and the chaotic jungles of Harrods, and progressed to solo, school-bound adventures around the slums of darkest Hammersmith. His interest piqued, Newby's wanderlust snowballed, and his adventures multiplied, as he navigated the London sewer system, bicycled to Italy and meandered the wilds of New York's Broadway. Whether travelling abroad as a high-fashion buyer for a British department store or for pure adventure as a travel writer, even when reluctantly participating in a tiger shoot in India, Newby chronicles his adventures with verve, humour and infectious enthusiasm.

After nine years as the travel editor for the Observer, Newby reluctantly gave up the post, eschewing the new form of human-as-freight travel. However, this change was certainly no pity for his readers, as the latter-day Newby continued on his unwavering quest for fascinating detail and adventure wherever he roamed, whether on two feet or two wheels. ‘A Traveller's Life’ chronicles the incredible adventures of one of the best-loved tour guides in the history of travel writing.

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Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publisher

HarperPress
Publication date

28 Oct. 2010
Dimensions

12.9 x 2.34 x 19.8 cm
ISBN-10

0007367872
ISBN-13

978-0007367870
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bestselling essays books;bestselling non fiction books;travelogues books;books on essays

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Review

'Eric Newby writes as lightly as he travels. “A Traveller's Life” is a tonic and a pleasure' William Trevor, Guardian

'The thing that sets Eric Newby quite apart from other literate travellers is his gusto. Where others flutter on impressionistic wings, tread self-consciously across unpeopled wastes, or muse lyrically and sometimes disproportionately about the past, Newby barges into everything with relish and mockery in the very opposite of the grand manner. . . . Everything Eric Newby has written is a joy. This compendium is a treat' Geoffrey Moorhouse, The Times

'The highly engaging peripatetics of a man who was born with a natural hunger for lonely and exacting places, a wry but charitable outlook on his scurrying fellows, and a silver pen in his hand' Observer

'This is a collection of jewelled vignettes: part travel, part life. A feast. . . . One of the few great travel writers who makes you want to follow in his footsteps. . . . As he travels on, Newby never loses this childhood freshness of vision, his essential innocence as a traveller. Perhaps this is his greatest gift' Times Literary Supplement

'Whatever his quest may be, he allows us to accompany him vicariously on it … and his book is a delight to read' Auberon Waugh

'Appealing autobiography by ex-travel editor who can find adventure in a pram trip or a London sewer' Sunday Telegraph

'A Traveller's Life offers a high-spirited collection of memories, packed with good things, of a man who can make a schoolboy holiday in Swanage as colourful as a walk in the Hindu Kush' Observer

'In order to belong to the inner circle of free-range travelers you have to be willing to choose the hard and hazardous bits - and this is where Eric Newby is so outstandingly good' Punch

'Eric Newby's admirers will not be disappointed' Listener

About the Author

Eric Newby was born in London in 1919. During World War II, he served in the Special Boat Section and was captured. He married the girl who helped him to escape, and for the next 50 years she was at his side on many adventures.

After the war, he worked in the fashion business and book publishing but travelled on a grand scale, sometimes as the Travel Editor for the Observer. He was made CBE and awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the British Guild of Travel Writers. He died in 2006.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperPress (28 Oct. 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0007367872
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0007367870
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.9 x 2.34 x 19.8 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 443,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 809 in Biographies about Essays, Journals & Letters
- 1,206 in Travel Pictorials
- 1,911 in Sports Humour

Customer reviews:
4.3 72 ratings

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4.3 out of 5

72 global ratings

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Leopold

Travel as it used to be - exhilarating, frightening and sometimes prosaic.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 January 2020

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How could a young man- nineteen years old- give up a steady job in the family rag-trade business and suddenly up- sticks to sign on as a deckhand on the last grain clipper, bound to Australia and back.? Read “The last grain race”.
War in the Special Boat Service, capture and escape, - “ Love and war in the Apennines”. Recapture and POW camp Then nice steady job at Peter Jones where two of his fellow ex- ,employees were - almost ludicrously - Audrey Hepburn and Roy Jenkins.
Back to Italy to find and marry Wanda, the nurses who helped him escape in the war.
Off for “ A short walk in the Hindu Kush” then vividl, historical travel and travel writing. What a man, what a life. All in this book; a terrific, irresistible read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 April 2015

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An excellent read about real adventures

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 November 2021

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Enjoyed the description of all the various places and the experience of travelling in that period of history. Many that I had been to my self.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 September 2022

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Amusing but rather slight. It's really a series of essays about his travels from those in the pram through to his adult explorations.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 February 2014

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Eric Newby has a great writing style, which makes his books very easy to read. They are also full of fascinating little details of a varied life. I can highly recommend it.

One person found this helpful

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Mark Keatley-Palmer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 August 2017

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He is a great writer - love his books

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 July 2013

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Any book by Eric Newby is an experience to be savoured. A very unique writing style and a true teller of tales.

2 people found this helpful

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FINSY

Good read and funny

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 July 2020

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Bought it for an aunt who enjoyed it so I've ordered more from the same author

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June Kirby

Good

Reviewed in Brazil on 6 January 2023

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O assunto. Uso para ler.

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Emily

Newby is "the man"!!!

Reviewed in the United States on 21 June 2013

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Newby is the original "traveling man". With a love of travel forged in the battles and heartbreak of the Second World War Newby writes of people and places with humor and insight. I read one Newby book and ended up buying everything he wrote. He was a traveler from Brokaw's Greatest Generation and he left us a valuable legacy.

3 people found this helpful

Paul Lawrence

A worthwhile addition to your Newby collection

Reviewed in the United States on 10 December 2016

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This Newby novel is an interesting brew as he has here collected a wide range of anecdotes about his travels. The book is set out chronologically and that makes for a very readable account of his life in travel. The work has the usual concise Newby prose and his thumbnail descriptions are wonderfully evocative. There is also a lot of the dry understated humour of his other works and his wry observations about lifes trials and tribulations and the various cultural foibles he encounters on his journeys.

The book starts with some amusing stories centred around 'The Baby as Traveller' and while I won't spoil it for you there are a lot of interesting cultural observations around class and what it was like growing up in 1920's England. The book moves through his early family holidays and there is even a chapter about journeys in the imagination where he talks about one place he always dreamed of going - Istanbul - and his discussion of the works that he read to fuel his imaginary wanderings around that area will have you adding a few more books to your wish-list. As the book progresses we get brief vignettes about some of his adventures in World War 2 and eventually the book moves on towards his time as travel editor in the Observer.

It must be said that a lot of the stuff in here is probably bits 'n' pieces left over from his other more stand alone works or could be deemed as padding but the writing style and the fact that the book covers such a span of time means we start to see a body of work of someone in snippets from different times in his life.

If you have enjoyed books like A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush or Slowly Down the Ganges then you should avail yourself of a copy of this. The language used is interesting and is very much a product of its time and that makes it all the move flavoursome to the armchair traveller.

5 people found this helpful

Terrence Hoy

A good laugh

Reviewed in the United States on 1 August 2016

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Very funny and joyful

Greek

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on 5 December 2014

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A nice review of Newby's life.

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