Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations from One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer (Travelers' Tales Guides) [Paperback]

Rolf Potts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1932361618 | ISBN-13: 978-1932361612

Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is a collection of rollicking travel tales from a young writer USA Today has called “Jack Kerouac for the Internet Age.” For the past ten years, Rolf Potts has taken his keen postmodern travel sensibility into the far fringes of five continents for such prestigious publications as National Geographic Traveler, Salon.com, and The New York Times Magazine. This book documents his boldest, funniest, and most revealing journeys—from getting stranded without water in the Libyan desert, to crashing the set of a Leonardo DiCaprio movie in Thailand, to learning the secrets of Tantric sex in a dubious Indian ashram.

Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is more than just an entertaining journey into fascinating corners of the world. The book is a unique window into travel writing, with each chapter containing a “commentary track”—endnotes that reveal the ragged edges behind the experience and creation of each tale. Offbeat and insightful, this book is an engrossing read for students of travel writing as well as armchair wanderers.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This could be the first travel book ever to open with a discussion of the word postmodern, which Potts uses to mean placelessness, or dislocation as a result of travel. Many of these stories first appeared online, too, while Potts was “in the midst of a two-year vagabonding journey across Asia and Europe.” In fact, this could be the essence of postmodern travel writing: stories written in the field, filed electronically, and instantly available to readers anywhere. But even if you’re coming to these stories for the first time in the comfort of your own living room, you get a very vivid sense of what Potts experienced in such locales as Thailand (where he tried to infiltrate a Leonardo DiCaprio movie set), Vietnam, Turkey, and Cambodia. Potts is an enthusiastic traveler, eager to try new things and meet new people, and he’s an energetic writer, making sure he describes not only the sights of the places he visits but also the sounds, the smells, and the tastes. Armchair travelers will get an enormous kick out of this thoroughly entertaining book. --David Pitt

Review

"Potts is one of the best travel writers to emerge in the last decade.
Intrepid and thoughtful, he's a Paul Theroux for the backpacker
generation, and Marco Polo reflects this."
—San Francisco Chronicle

"This hilarious collection of stories provokes because Potts asks the
serious question of how to travel in a discovered world. ...If you aspire
to be a travel writer, read this book."
—The Guardian (U.K.)

"Potts isn't so much a travel reporter as a story teller. ...He's more
about getting under the skin of a place — detailing a cast of characters
that would either enthrall or scare the hell out of most travelers,
depending on where they come down on the trust-paranoia continuum."
—Orange County Register

"An equal mix of humor and enlightenment...Potts shows travelers and
would-be travelers the joy of immersing oneself in a foreign culture."
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Best Books of 2008"

"Potts, Internet raconteur and travel-advice sage, is the kind of guy you
wish the pubs had more of: well traveled, generous with funny stories,
eager to listen to yours. You feel envious that you weren't with him in
Cairo to share the convivial squalor of a backpacker hotel, or at an
Indian ashram to study Tantric sex, or even in the Libyan Desert, in the
dark, out of water and lost. And he's able to draw insights from all that
without draining the fun out of the conversation — difficult to carry off
in a pub or a book."
—The Washington Post

"Armchair travelers will get an enormous kick out of this thoroughly
entertaining book."
—Booklist

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Travelers' Tales (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932361618
• ISBN-13: 978-1932361612
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.8 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Travel

More About the Author

Rolf Potts is the author of two books, Vagabonding (Random House, 2003) and Marco Polo Didn't Go There (Travelers Tales, 2008). He has reported from more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The Believer, National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent collection September 3, 2008

By Xandernut

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Rolf Potts is one of the many travel writers to begin his career via the
Internet via Salon, and the book is a collection of his earliest from Salon.com to his recent works from magazines and literary journals. Most of his stories are available elsewhere, so the true draw of this book is the commentaries, which add humor, insight, and occasionally share his frustrations on both the topics and people in the stories, as well as the craft of professional travel writing. The essays themselves run from the humorous ("Storming the Beach") to the painful ("Death of an Adventure Traveler"). The stories explore both sights and sounds of his wanderings and the nature of travel itself, such as the comparison of travelers versus tourists and the business of travel and people's expectations therein. Armchair wanders will love the book, and those who dream of writing about travel for a living will find the book very useful as well as entertaining.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly entertaining September 26, 2008

By Justin

Format:Paperback

Rolf's other book, Vagabonding, is a must-have guide for anyone interested in travel, regardless of age, intended destination, length of trip, or particular travel philosophy. It's been like a travel bible to me, passing it on to friends and family young and old to help explain why it is I enjoy travel so much, and hoping they catch the bug too.

So it was with great interest I picked up Rolf's second book, Marco Polo Didn't Go There. First, this book is different from Vagabonding -- it's not really a practical travel guide. It's a collection of stories from Rolf's career as a travel writer. I had read many of them before, as they appeared in popular travel magazines and websites in the past, but what makes this book unique is his end notes on each story. They act as a portal into the life of a travel writer, filling in the gaps between the paragraphs, and telling the stories that didn't fit into the story.

If you have any interest in travel, becoming a travel writer yourself, or maybe even just learning how a travel writer travels and writes, pick up this book. It's funny, enlightening, and highly entertaining.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding! October 13, 2008

By Gsp

Format:Paperback

Already one of my favourite books! The stories are great in and of themselves, but the unique commentary feature really makes this book standout! Well done again Rolf!!!