Customer Reviews

Yak Pizza To Go! Travels in an Age of Vanishing Cultures and Extinction

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Warning: This travel guide is not designed for the "accidental tourist," the person who travels to foreign lands hoping only to recreate a faraway, expensive version of his homeland. This book is for anyone who wants to travel not only for pleasure, but also for knowledge. With humor and incredible insight, Phil Karber writes of his adventures in the lands he has visited, lands that most of us will only see on National Geo specials. Karber immerses himself in each culture, learning as much as he can about the history, philosophy, people, and customs of each country that he visits. After reading this book, the reader will feel as if he, too, has visited each place Karber describes. This book is a must-have for anyone who plans to travel to these exotic locales, but it is also a delightful way for those of us who lack the courage, time, or funds to travel to experience places that may no longer exist in a few year's time.

i am unable to leave the usa due to physical problems. this book takes me places in my imagination that i never thought i would go. the writing is crisp with a dry humor. the author lives his life as he says in the book, a roaming vagabond, tied to the countries his wife is assigned to. with her job they spend all their time all over. i just wish i had been able to accompany him on some of these travels. i am only 2/3 through the bbook, it is very long. i just wish it had another 500 pages to anticipate when i go to bed at night which is when i do most of my reading. in short, a fascinating book from a new author. i hope he has another book in his future.

I wish everyone could know Phil Karber. This is his first published work but I bet not his last. The exploits he writes of are extraordinary and very entertaining, plus educational. His travel stories reveal the passion the author has for adventure and leaves you wishing that you could accompany him on his next trip. From the deepest Africa to Asia, above sea level and below,"Yak Pizza To Go" will leave you enlightened in more ways than you could possibly imagine. Buy the book for yourself and an extra one to give to a friend, then you both can experience the culture and politics of far away places and never leave your safe domicile. As an extra bonus, the book cover design and illustration is outstanding and suitable for framing.

While visiting family members in Arkansas over Easter weekend, I happened to read a review for the book Yak Pizza to Go by Arkansas native Phil Karber. The excerpts from the book in the review left me craving more and as soon as it came out, I purchased a copy. I was not disappointed. As an avid traveler (I believe I may have run into Karber while visiting Sapa, Vietnam), this book is incredibly interesting and entertaining. Unlike most travel books that only tell you where to eat, sleep, and drink, Yak Pizza To Go provides the reader with this information along with a capsule summary of the history and culture of the regions that Karber has visited. From the bia hoas of Hanoi, Vietnam to meeting fellow Arkansan Hillary Clinton at the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, Karber's informative and at times sarcastic stories along with vivid and accurate descriptions of these places flooded me with memories of my own journeys and a longing to visit others. This book is a must read for anyone who is serious about traveling and getting the most out of their experiences to foreign lands.

I've just finished Yak Pizza--and how much I was transported from Fort Smith, AR to places I've only dreamed or heard of. Each day I looked forward to that time after dinner when I could grab Yak Pizza, get off by myself, and take trip after trip.

Phil Karber did a remarkable job here, finding the right distance from his subject matter--at times letting places and experiences speak for themselves and at just the right times giving such keen insights from observation and analysis.

There were such poignant moments and then humor and then righteous indignation and then such a knowledge of the background history of environment, economics, political/social structure. . .and gadzooks what a vocabulary.

I wrote a haiku over my impressions the night I finished the book and had such bittersweet emotions on finishing it--here tis Brushed bamboo, twisted thickets of morass. Leeches hold time in their craw.

Phil Karber is my Dad's first cousin. Trust me, the sarcastic humor runs in the family. I have not read my cousin's book yet, but I have no doubt that it is wonderful. Phil is a great guy to be around, and he could write a dozen books about his life. I would love to read about his childhood also.