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The Best Travelers' Tales 2004: True Stories from Around the World (Best Travel Writing) (Paperback)

by James O'Reilly (Editor), Larry Habegger (Editor), Sean O'Reilly (Editor), Simon Winchester (Introduction) "THERE'S ONLY ONE THING TO WORRY ABOUT IN Costa Rica, and I was distressed to hear a woman screaming about it outside my bedroom door..." (more)
Key Phrases: big wooden stick, cow demon, San Francisco, Costa Rica, Mohammed All (more...)
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Review
"Machetes are like Central American Visa Cards--nobody leaves home without one. They're everywhere. the machete is part of the Central American male identity. the machete is the Swiss Army knife on steriods, practicality manifest, the solution to every problem by which an American is rarely confronted: need to hack a path through the jungle? Open a coconut? Kill a deadly reptile? the answer is a shining silver blade."

Product Description
The more than two dozen stories in this collection span the globe, from battling snakes in Costa Rica to probing personal reactions to India's caste system, navigating the "oldest tourist trap in the world" in Egypt, and learning to cook octopus in Mexico. The book, a mix of the previously published and new stories, has a wide cultural reach, with writers from around the world - some seasoned pros, some passionate novices - covering a vast range of experiences and locales. Themes are equally varied; they include spiritual growth, hilarious misadventures, exotic romance, family travel, stories of service to humanity, women's solo journeys, and much more. The common thread connecting these tales is fresh, lively storytelling that will make readers laugh, cry, wish they were there, or be glad they weren't.

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Travelers' Tales (February 5, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1932361022
  • ISBN-13: 978-1932361025
  • Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #911,636 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
"THERE'S ONLY ONE THING TO WORRY ABOUT IN Costa Rica, and I was distressed to hear a woman screaming about it outside my bedroom door." Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
big wooden stick, cow demon
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
San Francisco, Costa Rica, Mohammed All, Mark Johnson, Saga Dawa, Barbara Johnson, Mohammed Ali, Citizen Mulenge, Albertan Brothers, The Bird King, Bristol Bay, Hotel Yuri, Mount Kailash, Boom Boom, United States, American Express, Central American, Din Tun, East African, Grand Canal, Hotel Mbowe, James Brown, Land Cruiser, Los Angeles, New Delhi
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Citations (learn more)
This book cites 22 books:
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The Best Travelers' Tales 2004: True Stories from Around the World (Best Travel Writing)
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The Best Travelers' Tales 2004: True Stories from Around the World (Best Travel Writing) 4.6 out of 5 stars (7)
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The Best American Travel Writing 2006 (The Best American Series)
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The Travel Writer's Handbook: How to Write - and Sell - Your Own Travel Experiences (Travel Writer's Handbook: How to Write-And Sell-Your Own Travel Experiences) 4.9 out of 5 stars (8)
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37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars How short stories can jog memories you don't have..., March 21, 2004
By Richard Case (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I've been reading a story here and a there from this book for the past few weeks. It's a constant struggle between drinking it all at once, and saving the next story for another day. I've still got a couple left for now, trying to take my time.

There used to be a lot of traveling for me. Lately, however, the office has taken its hold, and I travel little more than the daily commute. Soon, I hope I'll have the chance to experience firsthand the range of emotions, floods of memories, and calls to adventure that this book so commandfully flushes from the soul...

I couldn't help but feel a kinship in "Walking the Kerry Way" with the author's misty trek through the backwoods of Kerry. My father and I recently navigated this homeland of our ancestors that we try to call our own. So much green to help one think... Thank you for a beautiful picture, Tim O'Reilly.

The stories' allusions to Japan also have me fighting the melancholy longing that gainful employment in Los Angeles can induce in the would-be traveler. But when the busy rush of life allows, I treat myself to another of these happy, wistful, beautiful memories recorded by the many fine authors. I know that I'll be out there again, sometime, quelling my building wanderlust.

Its first story is my favorite so far. Patrick Fitzhugh is an amazing author. I'd never been to Central America before, but his handiwork had me convulsing with laughter, and then sadly wishing that I could go "back" to Costa Rica. Yuri is an incredible character! I love that this is a gTrue Storyh! Someone, help me find more of Mr. Fitzhugh's work!!

Purchasing this book shouldn't be a matter of personal finance; get it, and read it. It will let you travel, and will remind you of the times you've had, or the times you'd like to have had. Itfs bursting at its seams; it needs you to read it. Everyone should have a chance at these pages.

Simple Evaluation: YES, THIS IS A GOOD BOOK.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Lives up to its name as a "best travel writing" collection, December 22, 2005
This review is from: The Best Travel Writing 2005: True Stories from Around the World (Paperback)
The Travelers' tales books come in a variety of types. Some are collections that focus on a particular region (Thailand, Italy, the American southwest.) Others are unified by particular running themes (food, danger, spiritual growth). Others are "best of" compilations, collecting the purported acme of the genre, often pieces that appear in other Travelers' Tales books.

I love the whole series, but I've been surprised in the past that the "best of" compilations aren't always (subjectively speaking) actually the best ones. But this one really is, and I highly recommend it.

The finest travelers' tales, of which this contains many, convey the full force of travel. Being a stranger in a strange place, you note and remember much that you'd ignore in your daily life; everything seems more vivid, more memorable. If you're in a particularly different place, perhaps your old life will seem strangely alien, even puny, when reflected upon in a different cultural context. These new people, landscapes, cities, loom so large in your consciousness, it's like being a child all over again.

The best stories in this collection convey those feelings, and many others.

Perhaps because I myself love traveling in SE Asia, I found this collection's pieces on the region to be among the book's best:

One, "The Ghost Road," covers the author's attempt to find the Burmese section of the old Stilwell road. The reader feels the cultural exoticism of the place, and also the spookiness of trying to outwit an authoritarian, nasty government.

"Circuit Broken" is a wonderful capturing of a moment many travelers have experienced; the author is determined to get away from the normal tourist path in Vietnam, and finds herself in a bleak, depressing place. She has an epiphany about the perils of being driven by negative emotions rather than by positive desires.

"Trigger Happy in Cambodia" describes the creepy overtones of the previous genocide that haunts that land still.

But there are plenty of fine pieces in here even for those who aren't, as I am, fascinated by SE Asia. I absolutely loved "Tipping Point in Tikal," for example. Solitary travelers all over the world have had experiences like this one; different people coming together quite accidentally on their respective pilgrimages, the things they share in conversation, the way they observe and remember each other. I still have very clear memories of people I have met in far corners of the globe, each with a different life story, each with a different motivation for travel.

These and other excellent pieces make this collection a fascinating one. The traveler who puts this in her/his backpack and hits the distant road will find it an insightful companion.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Journey Begins With the First Mis-step, January 22, 2009
This review is from: The Best Travel Writing 2008: True Stories from Around the World (Paperback)
We're at our best, worst and most humorous when we travel. We can't help it. We're painfully human and while we may start out with the best of or reasonably good intentions, hopes, and semi-open minds we're bound to wake up one morning to the mutterings of a foreign language or in an interesting or even slightly bizarre location wondering just where exactly we might have left our underwear and asking ourselves, why is the goat winking?
Traveling broadens our minds but not necessarily our butts because we usually end up walking or hiking more than we're used to and eating better when we're away from fast food joints and snack foods. It expands our intellects too even when we're not always ready for it, like say when we meet that someone somewhere who is truly by far, more wise and intelligent than any teacher or professor we ever ran across in high school or college.
We listen and nod in appreciation and maybe smile then or later for the accidental insight. Who knows? Maybe we'll grin too at the realization that the only final exam we have in life is what we genuinely take away and effectively use regardless of its source.
Travel also occasionally spanks our snotty misconceptions and gets us to take a time-out to rethink our ethno-centric ways or perhaps to appreciate what we have.
The Best Travel Writing 2008 reminds us why we need to travel more. It does so with some great insight from some occasionally gifted writers. Hey, not all the pieces sparkle but they all shine and let's be honest, what's best for someone isn't always best for others. But you know what? You're bound to find one or two in this collection that will define the term for you. A good read and a good bargain.
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