Customer Reviews

The Journey is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon

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This is the most beautiful book I have ever read, and it hardly contains any words that weren't torn from a magazine or cut from a food container. I absolutely recommend it for anyone who is touched by lives led for adventure, for journalists and photojournalists alike, for diary-keepers and journalers, for artists and photographers and collagists and secret writers of poetry... Anyone who has a speck of compassion in them and an eye for color and beauty will treasure this. What a life lived!

This book will put you in a trance and change your life. It reinforces what is real and important, and pulses with the brilliant existence of Dan Eldon, who lived to his maximum potential, passionately, fearlessly free.

We all have the ability to minimize our flaws and enhance our strengths. Dan reminds us of this. We have the ability to see beyond the ordinary to glimpse the majestic miracle of being alive. This book is filled with the dreams and reflections of a true romantic hero, a war correspondent willing to put his own life on the line to deliver the truth. It is a book of light and shadow, and rather than telling people what to think, Dan offered his own perspective.

This is a book for people of all ages because it removes the linearity from time, from age and development, and proves that the length of a life, in this case, twenty-two years, is a cross section of eternity. My perspectives on life and death have changed because the images in this book are so powerful.

You will find something new every time you open this book, if you look. You will be amazed, and grateful that Dan took the time to record so much. You might get the fever to start doing this on your own. This book spans the gamut of human emotion, and there is something in it for everyone.

I bought this book upon it's release in 1997. I can remember allowing the contents of this memoir to captivate me for hours on end. I lent my copy to a friend shortly thereafter and subsequently forgot about it. I recently ordered a replacement and I must say, this book is even more compelling than I ever remembered. Dan Eldon was a profound visionary, an articulate statesman and a devoted caretaker. As a Reuters photo-journalist, he traveled the world and served as a dipomatic embassador to many, yet his life was taken prematurely in a stoning riot in Somalia. He experienced more in his brief 21 years than most of us will over an entire lifetime. A MUST HAVE.

When I stumbled on to Dan Eldon's diaries, I was eighteen and relatively directionless. I had lots of good ideas, but a mixture of laziness and fear was keeping me from acting on my adventuresome and compassionate impulses. The story of Dan's passionate, brief and fearless existance inspired and obliterated me, sending me into a little crying crisis the night I took it in, cover to cover. I couldn't believe, or any longer tolerate, my own complacency. The book's dual storytelling, of seeing Dan's dreamlike, haunting, amusing and intrieguing images, and reading his mother's words about the specifics of those times in his life, was devestatingly effective. He was a boy my age and after my own heart, but in his short life he had seen the world, recorded and contributed to it, and embraced it and its peoples and challenges with daring that I had never seen before. The medium of his journal created a lens through which I could see the world as he had seen it. This glimpse gave me the courage to follow my own heart and this courage took me across Europe this summer, and into a major in sociology. I have read hundreds of books, but no single book has ever influenced or affected me more than "The Journals of Dan Eldon." Ever since, I have shared it, one by one, with my friends who I thought could understand and appreciate it, and every one of them has had the same reaction. I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially anyone who has big dreams, but does not believe in his or her own potential. Through the sincerity and artistry of its cryptic and moving images, Dan's soul is shared with every reader, and there is nothing more inspiring than being blessed with an intesely personal glimpse at the soul of a truly human hero. I emphatically and respectfully recommend this book.

The Journey is the Destination: the Journals of Dan Eldon is a fabulous work. After my art teacher showed me this book, I went out and got it for myself. It shows the life and thoughts of a person who did great things during his short time on earth. The art is amazing, humerous, and thought provoking. It interested me and also made me want to do something to help those who need my help in other places such as Africa. The journals of Dan Eldon made me want to explore, help, create, and live my life to its fullest. If you would like a look at a very talented person who helped others while living a very interesting and entertaining life, this is a great book.

In this case, a picture is worth infinite words. In my case, I bought the book based on title alone: it drew me in that fast. When I got home, I was immediately fascinated by the beautifully raw artwork. This is the kind of stuff that just pours out, instant genius because it does what all the best art does: breaks the rules because it's simply not concerned with them; never pauses to imagine there are any in the first place. It's created with a childs intuition to make things just because they needs to be made, with no fear, and because making things is worthwhile. And FUN. This is fun stuff to take in because it's so pure. So; that part of the book is amazing. BUT THEN - you go back to the beginning and read the incredible account of Dan's life as told through his mothers eyes, and then the work transcends genius and becomes as powerful as christ on the cross, or an indian totem, or a japanese garden, or the Koran, or a family quilt, or a sunset. Suddenly all the visual clues that were at first just visually beautiful, they become a life. A wonderful life of young love, adventure, immortality, success, understanding, and tragedy. I felt like I knew these people. I wish I did. I want a journey like this one. Between the work itself and a mother's public contemplations on what the work is about, this book becomes golden. It will change you for the better, I guarantee, and in the meantime make you aware of this 22 year old kid who, above all his talents, simply knew how to live. Something many of us, myself included, often have trouble with because of all those damned rules. Enjoy.

Eldon's story of the war-torn Somolia is as much an artwork as it is an engaging story. This "book" is a reproduction of photojournalist Dan Eldon's journal from his travels in the most impoverished regions of Africa. Part insightful reading, part artistic work, this book should be on anyone's reading list who wants to know more about the world we don't see everyday, and it truly makes one think about all we have, and all Eldon lost...5 out of 5 starts easily!

Dan Eldon attended St. Martins School, Mill Hill London England as a young boy. In dedication to his memory St.Martins School has awarded an annual prize for the last 2 years to the child who has shown outstanding personal qualities through dedication and hard work during the academic year. My daughter Emily (aged11) was priviledged to have been awarded the Dan Eldon prize this year. His memory lives on through many children in London who have been at St.Martins School and we are honoured to be associated with such a fine young man. His book is a history of a unique young life which although tragically cut short at an early age was not wasted.

This truly is an incredible publication. Some reviews state disappointment at it not being the story of a fascintating life cut short. I disagree. This book is exactly that. Look into the private pages of an artist/ adventurer who was never anticipating their publication. This book is fascinating, inspiring and at the same time, tragic. What brilliant talent Dan had. And what a perfect way to preserve the memory and art of a short but full life. This book will directly effect all who read it.

I had the chance to see Dan Eldon's mother speak at UCLA last year and that just made the book seem all the more real. Amy was there too, and she was as beautiful in person as she was in Dan's photos. I have read several reviews which have criticized The journey is the destination, but what we all need to remember is that this book chronichles someone's life. It's art, not fiction. Either you closed the booking recieving some kind of knowledge or inspiration,or you just saw some neat pictures. Saying that Dan copied Peter Beard's work is stupid as well as ridiculous. Many photographers, and artists keep journals like Dan's. I am a photographer and before I saw Dan or Peter Beard's journals I was making collages out to my photographs. There are numerous photo journals like Dan's and Peter's, what makes them all different and special is that they were constructed by unique individuals.