An American Traveler: True Tales of Adventure, Travel, and Sport [Hardcover]

Randy Wayne White (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2003

An American Traveler comprises more than a dozen essays by former fishing guide and best-selling novelist Randy Wayne White. White, creator of the Doc Ford eco-thriller series, has produced an eclectic mix of pieces with a singular, driving theme: A so-called "safe" sedentary life is as predacious as slow cancer. In this book, White demonstrates by example that the fun, the drama, the craziness of exploration -- internal and external -- is a singularly important part of the human experience. White dives with great white sharks in South Africa, but his love and concern for his two sons, who are traveling with him, generates powerful and subtle undertones that carry throughout the book, and makes this far more than a collection of travel-adventure narratives. White hangs out in Australia with the Crocodile Hunter, he writes about the late Peter Blake and the New Zealand sailing team, he jogs the Mayan ruins of Guatemala, and he battles insects in his backyard garden. He's the lead sledder for an entry in the US toboggan championships, he explores Vietnam (and gets lost jogging in Hanoi) -- and just as powerfully explores what it's like to reach middle age.

Editorial Reviews

Review

What Mr. White is good at is finding the unbeaten path to nowhere and teaching the reader how to follow his example... And what he is very good at is evoking the scene once he gets there.--The New York Times

Randy White is not simply a wonderful writer; he is a fishing guide of genius.--Paul Theroux

From the Back Cover

An American Traveler is an eclectic, thought-provoking mix of essays with a singular, driving theme: A so-called "safe" sedentary life is as predacious as cancer. Returned more or less intact from his travels and writing from his Florida porch, Randy Wayne White demonstrates by example that the fun, the drama, the craziness of exploration, inward and outward, is a singularly important part of the human experience ¿ one to cherish and savor.
White hangs out in Australia with the Crocodile Hunter and with Peter Blake and the New Zealand sailing team; he jogs the Mayan ruins of Guatemala and battles insects in his backyard garden. He's the lead sledder for an entry in the U.S. toboggan championships; he explores Vietnam, and gets lost jogging in Hanoi. He dives with great white sharks in South Africa; he plays baseball with dreamers and retired major leaguers. In a piece about his baseball team barnstorming in Cuba, he brings to play all the elements that make the estrangement between Cuba and its North American neighbor so tragic. Just as powerfully, he explores what it's like for the contemporary American male to reach middle age.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592280331
• ISBN-13: 978-1592280339
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,713,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Randy Wayne White is the author of sixteen previous Doc Ford novels and four collections of nonfiction. He lives in an old house built on an Indian mound in Pineland, Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another side of White..., March 6, 2005

By 

B. Bookhout - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An American Traveler: True Tales of Adventure, Travel, and Sport (Hardcover)

Randy Wayne White is my favorite mystery writer, but I had never read any of his non-fiction until I found, by accident, a cheap used copy of his earlier "Batfishing in the Rainforest". Generally I don't like travel books, but I gave this one a try and was immediately hooked. I've since ordered new copies of all the others.
His latest offering is "An American Traveler", a collection of off-beat tales from exotic locales with the author as protagonist. Middle age and literature are explored. An account of an impromptu pilgrimage to find the late, great John D. MacDonald was the highlight of the book for me. White writes with an easy, self-deprecating humor that brings the place and action to life. He lives life fully and makes the reader want to do the same. Reading these tales, it's easy to see why his Doc Ford novels are so authoritatively written. White writes what he knows.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Growing pleasure, July 19, 2005

By 

John Bowes (Oxford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An American Traveler: True Tales of Adventure, Travel, and Sport (Hardcover)

Have you got five minutes? Spend the time, read one story a day. You will look foward each day to something different. A talented writer gives us a unique twist on... something. As much as I enjoy Doc Ford, I really enjoy the non-fiction. I'll work my way thru the rest.