I’ve read all 12 of Paul Theroux’s travel books. But in The Tao of Travel, Theroux doesn’t just provide dazzling excerpts from his own travel books, Theroux manages to assemble a guide to the best travel books ever written. If you love lists, you’re really going to love this book. Theroux is clever enough just to give the reader a nugget from a classic travel book like Evelyn Waugh’s When the Going Was Good and leave it to the reader to want to read more. You can open The Tao of Travel anywhere and find fascinating prose. This book is a browser’s delight! GRADE: A
Table of Contents
Preface: The Importance of Elsewhere ix
1. Travel in Brief 1
2. The Navel of the World 23
3. The Pleasures of Railways 26
Travel Wisdom of Henry Fielding 39
4. Murphy’s Rules of Travel 41
5. Travelers on Their Own Books 47
6. How Long Did the Traveler Spend Traveling? 55
Travel Wisdom of Samuel Johnson 75
7. The Things That They Carried 78
8. Fears, Neuroses, and Other Conditions 85
9. Travelers Who Never Went Alone 93
Travel Wisdom of Sir Francis Galton 105
10. Travel as an Ordeal 108
11. English Travelers on Escaping England 117
12. When You’re Strange 121
Travel Wisdom of Robert Louis Stevenson 127
13. It Is Solved by Walking 130
14. Travel Feats 147
15. Staying Home 158
Travel Wisdom of Freya Stark 167
16. Imaginary Journeys 171
17. Everything Is Edible Somewhere 181
18. Rosenblum’s Rules of Reporting 198
Travel Wisdom of Claude Lévi-Strauss 201
19. Perverse Pleasures of the Inhospitable 203
20. Imaginary People 210
21. Writers and the Places They Never Visited 215
Travel Wisdom of Evelyn Waugh 231
22. Travelers’ Bliss 234
23. Classics of a Sense of Place 238
24. Evocative Name, Disappointing Place 256
Travel Wisdom of Paul Bowles 259
25. Dangerous, Happy, Alluring 262
26. Five Travel Epiphanies 271
27. The Essential Tao of Travel 2
Phil is a big fan too.
THE TAO OF TRAVEL is a marvelous collection, Patti. Phil will love it.
I haven’t read all his travel books but I’ve read several (as well as many by other writers) so this one sounds good to me.
This is one of the best travel books I’ve ever read, Jeff. Theroux seems to have read every travel book ever published. And collected the best stuff between these two covers.
Now this one looks GREAT! I love Theroux’s writing and have been working my way through his collected short stories for a while now, so this is right up my alley. Though I don’t care much for travel myself – and it hasn’t gotten any more pleasant in recent years – reading about it is wonderful. I’ll be getting this asap.
You will really enjoy THE TAO OF TRAVEL, Rick. Every page has something fascinating on it. Theroux’s knowledge of travel books is impressive.
I reserved it at the library.
You won’t be sorry, Jeff. I found THE TAO OF TRAVEL one of the best travel books I’ve had the pleasure to read.
I’m reading another of your recommendations now, George – THE DAMNED BUSTERS.
It’s fun so far.
THE DAMNED BUSTERS is the first book in a projected trilogy, Jeff. It’s loopy, but I liked it.