Customer Reviews

Accidental Enlightenment: The Extraordinary Travels of a Modern-Day Gulliver

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There is a big world out there and Steve Banick has seen many corners of it. His stories about these encounters make "Accidental Enlightenment" a tremendous read. His prose is engaging and the themes of these stories leave the reader thinking about a lot more than simply travel and adventure long after they have finished this book. I consider Banick to be an excellent writer and I look forward to new titles from him. There are many trips on this planet that I still wish to take and I think there are many others like me who share this desire to see more of our world. This book offers the reader a number of valuable and poignant insights in how one might approach trips of this kind. Where to go, what to do, how to engage the locals, how to observe the events unfolding around you in a new and unfamiliar place. All of these themes can be found in "Accidental Enlightenment". I highly recommend this to be on your reading list as you will probably find yourself with a slightly new perspective after you have had a chance to absorb all that Mr. Banick has to say in this book.

What a ride! Those are the words that would best explain this read by author Stephen Banick. Here is a man who devoted a year of his life to travel the world and in doing so found his destiny, and changed his future.
Accidental Enlightenment is not your ordinary run of the mill chit chat about travel. In this work our author does indeed give you some tips on traveling, some interesting places to visit and tells many of his adventures, but he goes further. He shares with you how the places and people he went to and met touched the very core of his soul and changed his life. He embraced with openness and acceptance the many ways of the people he encountered; from their beliefs, right down to the food they ate. His words and his interaction with everyday people from different countries help to bridge the gap and the mysteries that shroud our lives in that area.
His writing is honest and bold, sharing whole-heartening with you the world as he tasted of it. A very interesting read that draws you right into the heart of the adventure of travel and the world we live in.

If you enjoy traveling and foreign cultures you will enjoy Bill Bryson's creative writing in this book

I stopped reading after I went back and counted about 37 uses of I, me, my or mine in the first three pages. There is nothing accidental or enlightened that I could find. Hugely disappointing.