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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Travel writers lie, argues Thompson, and their editors not only know and excuse it, but demand it. As laid out in this vivid and ribald memoir by veteran travel writer Thompson—a former editor of Maxim and Travelocity.com's short-lived print magazine—the industry is packed to the rafters with hacks churning out the same reheated swill for thinly disguised advertorial copy in glossy magazines. Sick of leaving the most interesting material on the cutting-room floor, Thompson slashes through the clichés of the travel industry's snake-oil salesmen with unmitigated glee. The Caribbean is a miasmic hellscape. The supposed narcoterrorist danger zone, Colombia, is a wonderful place with wonderful people (But who buys magazines to read that?). And the widely respected Lonely Planet guidebooks have ruined more travel destinations than have the tourists its writers sermonize against. If all Thompson was aiming for had been caustic observations about the industry he knows from the inside out, the book would have been an amusing but limited experience. But Thompson weaves his take on the travel racket and the damage it does into an engagingly personal narrative about his own nomadic life, tossing out raucous anecdotes about teaching ESL in a remote Japanese town or snorting cocaine with fellow staffers in the Alaska House of Representatives. (Dec.)
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Travel writers lie, argues Thompson, and their editors not only know and excuse it, but demand it. As laid out in this vivid and ribald memoir by veteran travel writer Thompson—a former editor of Maxim and Travelocity.com's short-lived print magazine—the industry is packed to the rafters with hacks churning out the same reheated swill for thinly disguised advertorial copy in glossy magazines. Sick of leaving the most interesting material on the cutting-room floor, Thompson slashes through the clichés of the travel industry's snake-oil salesmen with unmitigated glee. The Caribbean is a miasmic hellscape. The supposed narcoterrorist danger zone, Colombia, is a wonderful place with wonderful people (But who buys magazines to read that?). And the widely respected Lonely Planet guidebooks have ruined more travel destinations than have the tourists its writers sermonize against. If all Thompson was aiming for had been caustic observations about the industry he knows from the inside out, the book would have been an amusing but limited experience. But Thompson weaves his take on the travel racket and the damage it does into an engagingly personal narrative about his own nomadic life, tossing out raucous anecdotes about teaching ESL in a remote Japanese town or snorting cocaine with fellow staffers in the Alaska House of Representatives. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“[Thompson] knows the score and he tallies it accurately. ... A dead-on demolition job. ... The book is a savagely funny act of revenge.”—The New York Times
“Impassioned, funny, and uniquely honest.”—Esquire
“Consistently irreverent, Thompson is wickedly entertaining ... reminiscent of Chuck Klosterman and David Foster Wallace. ... The unvarnished reality in these pages might just make you more eager than ever to hit the road.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“If there is such a pastime as extreme tourism, Chuck Thompson is surely its guru.”—Boston Globe
“Thompson is the real thing, a travel writer in the sense that Mark Twain or Hunter S. Thompson was, and Redmond O'Hanlon is. He’s a travel writer like Anthony Bourdain is a food writer. He’s a travel writer for people who don't much like travel writing.”—The Oregonian
“A rare victim’s-eye view into the world of travel marketing and the nervous, unmoored corporate weenies who populate it. ... fascinating reading, in a plane-crash sort of way.”—Washington Post
“Smile When You're Lying could do for the travel industry what The Tipping Point did for the tipping point industry.”—Joe Queenan
“(Thompson’s) prose is quick and witty; it’s like sitting down over a beer with the most experienced traveler you’ll ever meet.”—Aspen Times Weekly
“My three favorite travel writers of all time are Robert Louis Stevenson, Graham Greene, and Chuck Thompson. Smile When You're Lying not only tells the truth about the travel-writing racket, it gets to the heart of some of the travel industry’s best-kept secrets.”—Kinky Friedman
“More than confessions of a veteran gallivanter … an indictment of those who would prettify the world … full of trenchant truisms.”—Los Angeles Times
“An aggressively funny account of the world from an acerbic, energetic professional traveler who tells it like he sees it and has no reservations about sharing his stockpile of outrageous (mis)adventures and advice…. At his best, this Thompson will remind readers of Hunter S.—provocative and thoroughly engaging, with a manic liveliness.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Thompson’s weapons are wit, a well-oiled subversive reflex and a defiantly unbuttoned prose style.”—The New York Observer
“Vivid and ribald…. If all Thompson was aiming for had been caustic observations about the industry he knows from the inside out, the book would have been an amusing but limited experience. But Thompson weaves his take on the travel racket and the damage it does into an engagingly personal narrative about his own nomadic life…”—Publishers Weekly
“Thought-provoking … laughing at [Thompson’s] stories caused pain.”—Salt Lake Tribune
“Bitingly funny … as much as Thompson loves to play the curmudgeon, a reader can tell that through it all, he still loves to travel, despite, or perhaps because of, all the challenges.”—The Columbus Dispatch
“A great storyteller with an unusual tolerance level for adventure.”—The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)
“Witty prose entertains as it educates...the perfect read for a long plane ride.”—Seattle Magazine
“Highly recommended.”—Calgary Herald
“Fascinating and frequently hilarious, thanks to Thompson’s wicked sense of humor.”—Portland Mercury
“Reading Thompson is like listening to a buddy who shoots from the hip. Although readers may not always agree with Thompson's conclusions ... they will recognize an authentic voice on the subject of travel when they encounter it.”—Booklist
“Thought provoking political commentary … will keep you entertained even as it makes you think.”—Ramblingtraveler.com
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Shanghai Bob, United States, Lonely Planet, Latin America, Rope Challenge, New York, World War, Casa de Campo, Surf Trio, Eastern Europe, Expedia Travels, San Francisco, Cold War, Magazine Master, East German, Middle East, Koizumi Keiko, Subic Bay, California Dan, Terry Jones, Penis Olympics, Costa Rica, Southeast Asia, Giri High School, Dominican Republic Browse Sample Pages:
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Shanghai Bob, United States, Lonely Planet, Latin America, Rope Challenge, New York, World War, Casa de Campo, Surf Trio, Eastern Europe, Expedia Travels, San Francisco, Cold War, Magazine Master, East German, Middle East, Koizumi Keiko, Subic Bay, California Dan, Terry Jones, Penis Olympics, Costa Rica, Southeast Asia, Giri High School, Dominican Republic Browse Sample Pages:
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