There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
-- "A Book" by Emily Dickinson
Tales of Adventure
The Great American Road Trip
It seems that basically all of these books are about trips of roughly the same
length, i.e., 3 or 4 months. If you spend less time than that on the road, you
don't have anything to say. If you spend more time than that, you lose the good
English middle class values that would lead you to finish a book. Summary:
Blue Highways has the best writing;
Travels with Samantha has the best pictures;
Travels with Charley has a Nobel-prize winning author.
Travels with Lizbeth, by Lars
Eighner, isn't all that naturally grouped with the above textbooks, but this
three year chronicle of gay dog-owning homelessness will leave you thinking.
Note: If you want pictures with no text, then consider America in Passing
by Henri Cartier-Bresson (Bulfinch; 150 pages). I was surprised by
the things that caught H.C.B.'s eye and the America circa 1940 that he
reveals.
Not so Adventurous Really
-
Passage to Vietnam 70
photographers collaborate to produce a great book and a fantastic CD-ROM, by the
same folks who did Alice to Ocean and the Day in the
Life books.
Guidebooks
Practical Travel-related Books
-
Jet Smart by Diana Fairechild (a new philosophy
for flying)
Not Books at All
Long trips can be edifying if you have audio tapes from The Teaching Company,
which records America's most dynamic university professors. You'd be surprised
how compelling history, literature, and philosophy lectures can be. I have
purchased many of these courses and consider the money well-spent.
Click here for my reviews of specific courses.
Please Contribute!
If a travel book has changed your life, made you think, or helped you on a
journey, please write a few paragraphs to share with the world. Send your review
to
philg@mit.edu by electronic mail and it
will find a permanent home here.
