Buy used:

$20.89

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Friday, April 22 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery Wednesday, April 20. Order within 20 hrs 39 mins

Used: Good | Details

Sold by FrontRangeMarket

Fulfilled by Amazon

Share <Embed>

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Paul Theroux

The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road Bonded Leather – May 19, 2011

by Paul Theroux (Author)

139 ratings

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$8.45

—

Bonded Leather

"Please retry"

$20.89

$39.99

$1.30

Paperback

"Please retry"

$8.89

$3.00

$1.75

Paul Theroux celebrates fifty years of wandering the globe by collecting the best writing on travel from the books that shaped him, as a reader and a traveler. Part philosophical guide, part miscellany, part reminiscence, The Tao of Travel enumerates “The Contents of Some Travelers’ Bags” and exposes “Writers Who Wrote about Places They Never Visited”; tracks extreme journeys in “Travel as an Ordeal” and highlights some of “Travelers’ Favorite Places.” Excerpts from the best of Theroux’s own work are interspersed with selections from travelers both familiar and unexpected:

Vladimir Nabokov           J.R.R. Tolkien
Samuel Johnson               Eudora Welty
Evelyn Waugh                  Isak Dinesen
Charles Dickens               James Baldwin
Henry David Thoreau       Pico Iyer
Mark Twain                     Anton Chekhov
Bruce Chatwin                  John McPhee
Freya Stark                      Peter Matthiessen
Graham Greene                Ernest Hemingway

The Tao of Travel is a unique tribute to the pleasures and pains of travel in its golden age.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date

May 19, 2011
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.9 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0547336918
ISBN-13

978-0547336916
See all details

Paul Theroux
686
Paperback
89 offers from $1.80
Paul Theroux
995
Paperback
72 offers from $2.06
Paul Theroux
866
Hardcover
99 offers from $3.49
Paul Theroux
87
Hardcover
15 offers from $11.97
Paul Theroux
549
Paperback
80 offers from $2.25
Paul Theroux
446
Paperback
111 offers from $1.49

Paul Theroux
995
Paperback
72 offers from $2.06
Paul Theroux
866
Hardcover
99 offers from $3.49
Paul Theroux
995
Hardcover
86 offers from $2.23
Paul Theroux
330
Hardcover
110 offers from $1.30
166
Hardcover
9 offers from $14.74
Paul Theroux
166
Paperback
46 offers from $1.75

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Travel maestro Theroux (The Great Railway Bazaar) conducts a rambling tour of the genre in this diverting meditation on passages from his own and other writers' works. Several chapters spotlight underappreciated travel writers from Samuel Johnson to Paul Bowles, while others explore themes both profound and whimsical. There are classic set-piece literary evocations, including Thoreau on the hush of the Maine woods and Henry James on the miserable pleasures of Venice. A section on storied but disappointing destinations fingers Tahiti as "a mildewed island of surly colonials"; travel epics—shipwrecks, Sahara crossings, Jon Krakauer's duel with Mount Everest—are celebrated; exotic meals are recalled (beetles, monkey eyes, and human flesh, anyone?); and some writers, like Emily Dickinson, just stay home and write about that. The weakest section is a compendium of aphoristic abstractions—"Travel is a vanishing act, a solitary trip down a pinched line of geography to oblivion"—while the strongest pieces descry a tangible place through a discerning eye and pungent sensibility: "I do not think I shall ever forget the sight of Etna at sunset," Evelyn Waugh rhapsodizes; "othing I have seen in Art or Nature was quite so revolting." Photos. (May 26)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review

A "determinedly personal collection of travel appreciation."
-Kirkus Reviews

A "diverting meditation on passages from his own and other writers' works. [T]he strongest pieces descry a tangible place through a discerning eye and pungent sensibility..."
-Publishers Weekly

Start reading The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First edition (May 19, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Bonded Leather ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0547336918
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0547336916
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.9 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,387,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,402 in Travelogues & Travel Essays

Customer Reviews:
139 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Paul Theroux

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Paul Theroux was born and educated in the United States. After graduating from university in 1963, he travelled first to Italy and then to Africa, where he worked as a Peace Corps teacher at a bush school in Malawi, and as a lecturer at Makerere University in Uganda. In 1968 he joined the University of Singapore and taught in the Department of English for three years. Throughout this time he was publishing short stories and journalism, and wrote a number of novels. Among these were Fong and the Indians, Girls at Play and Jungle Lovers, all of which appear in one volume, On the Edge of the Great Rift (Penguin, 1996).

In the early 1970s Paul Theroux moved with his wife and two children to Dorset, where he wrote Saint Jack, and then on to London. He was a resident in Britain for a total of seventeen years. In this time he wrote a dozen volumes of highly praised fiction and a number of successful travel books, from which a selection of writings were taken to compile his book Travelling the World (Penguin, 1992). Paul Theroux has now returned to the United States, but he continues to travel widely.

Paul Theroux's many books include Picture Palace, which won the 1978 Whitbread Literary Award; The Mosquito Coast, which was the 1981 Yorkshire Post Novel of the Year and joint winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was also made into a feature film; Riding the Iron Rooster, which won the 1988 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award; The Pillars of Hercules, shortlisted for the 1996 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award; My Other Life: A Novel, Kowloon Tong, Sir Vidia's Shadow, Fresh-air Fiend and Hotel Honolulu. Blindness is his latest novel. Most of his books are published by Penguin.

Customer reviews

5 star		53%
4 star		28%
3 star		6%
2 star		8%
1 star		4%

How are ratings calculated?

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

R. DelParto

In harmony with the landscape

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

As a well renowned traveler and writer that explored the world Author Paul Theroux shares those experiences with readers in “The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road." The book is not merely a travel log of the places he has been but a combination of contemplation and imagination that intermingles with the most legendary writers that, too, have traveled the farthest ends of the globe from the east to the west through fiction and all that it possesses in color and smell and the most barren and exotic natural landscapes.

From the beginning of the book Theroux stresses that books can take the reader to any place that they are open to travel and provides a way to fantasizing freedom on a road that paves a journey of endless possibilities. Simply stated, “Eventually, I saw that the most passionate travelers have always also been passionate readers and writers. And after reading that quote it will not be last, the book contains 27 thematic chapters that blend passages from Theroux’s previous books and writers that have inspired him as well from Ralph Waldo Emerson to T.S. Eliot and the quintessential writer of travel Paul Bowles. It had not always been the list of literati that sprung an interest in travel but his earliest childhood memory with the book “Donn Fendler: Lost on a Mountain in Maine" that has stayed with him with lasting impressions of lessons and inspiration and the wisdom of Buddha, “you cannot travel the path before you have become the path itself.” Not only does the tone of philosophy breathes through the book but also history and experiences that resonates with the greater meaning of what travel deeply means for those that have made the journey parallel to Theroux. There are several interesting parts of the book but one that stands out that relates to bridging of the gap between the past – the time spent traveling to a place and the present -- what it is during the moment it is experienced; this may be understood in the chapter “The Navel of the World.” Theroux makes and interesting point, “to travel in ignorance of a region’s history leaves you unable to understand the “why" of anything or anyone…learn as much about religions and social taboos and respect them” (Kindle location 702).

After reading The Tao of Travel one may ask the same question Theroux asked, “what is your favorite travel book?”

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

William J. Fickling

What a marvelous book! Is this Theroux's swan song?

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2011

Verified Purchase

Like many of the previous reviewers, I have read many of Theroux's previous travel books, have enjoyed all of them, and have learned something from each of them. Therefore it was with considerable anticipation that I ordered and read this book. I knew before I read it that it would be a compendium or compilation of travel musings from Theroux and others, and I was not sure whether I would enjoy it. I am happy to say that I enjoyed the book thoroughly and that it quite exceeded my expectations.

It is true that there is very little that is original in this book. So what? What is there is marvelous, and even though Theroux quotes from himself a good bit, it is also quite true that it is highly unlikely that I would ever have come across most of the reflections on travel by other authors that Theroux includes here. That alone makes this book a gem. For example, here is this pearl from Hans Christian Andersen, right on page 1: "Homesickness is a feeling that many know and suffer from; I on the other hand feel a pain less known, and its name is 'Outsickness.'" Is there any true traveler with whom that quote won't resonate? I am very much like Theroux in that, like him, I have felt a wanderlust, and urge to travel, at least from childhood or early adolescence, and it is exactly that wanderlust that Andersen is referring to when he mentions "Outsickness." For me the urge to travel began when I read Richard Halliburton's books as a teenager, and I was happy to see that Theroux mentions and quotes from Halliburton here. This is especially gratifying because, although Halliburton is remembered and revered by people of a certain age, he is almost forgotten today.

Theroux does not shrink from differentiating between travelers and tourists. I had to chuckle at one of Theroux's own comments: "Choose your country, use guidebooks to identify the areas most frequented by foreigners--and then go in the opposite direction." This is very similar to something I have always said to acquaintances that I consider serious travelers--if, when you tell people where you are going and their response is "what the hell do you want to go THERE for?"--then you know you're going to the right place. Theroux also mentions other essentials of travel if it is truly going to be the learning experience or epiphany that you want it to be: travel alone, don't overplan, and above all, leave your electronic equipment at home.

This book is unlike anything that Theroux has written before in that it seems to be a distillation of everything essential to be said about travel--hence, I suppose, the title. But it also caused me to wonder, given that Theroux recently turned seventy: is this Theroux's swan song? Is this his goodbye to travel writing? Is this his way of saying "that's all there is; there is no more?" Will we be seeing any more travel books from Paul Theroux? If that is indeed the case, then this book is a very worthy ending to an illustrious career. If you love travel, and if you haven't done so already, I urge you to buy a copy posthaste.

13 people found this helpful

Helpful

The Accumulated Wisdom of Travelers...

Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2011

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )Verified Purchase

In 2011's "The Tao of Travel", veteran travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux offers a fascinating collection of observations, anecdotes and small wisdoms from his many years on the road and from the experiences of other travel writers.

This collection includes selections from a variety of travelers, such as Samuel Johnson, Henry David Thoreau, Robert Louis Stevenson, Peter Matthiessen, and Freya Stark, to mention just a few. The book explores, in intriguing ways, how and especially why travelers leave home, and why they write about their experiences. "The Tao of Travel" samples centuries of travel books, including unique captures of persons, places, times, and more than a few instances of fiction.

On display is Paul Theroux's superbly enjoyable prose and his keen but wry sense of observation. He includes, naturally, some essential lists for his fellow travelers to argue over, such as the most dangerous, alluring, and happy places he has visited, and the ten items that constitute his personal tao of travel.

"The Tao of Travel" is very highly recommended as an entertaining reading experience for fans of Paul Theroux, and for those who themselves feel compelled to travel; they will understand the tao.

42 people found this helpful

Helpful

Donald H. McLean

It's a great smorgasbord to snack from when you feel the need ...

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

It's a great smorgasbord to snack from when you feel the need for faraway places but are homebound. I have mirrored many of his travels including the Peace Corps so I relate to his travel philosophy. PT's writings have filled my life for decades and to see this composite is a dream. I've given away many copies to friends leaving for or returning from travels to faraway places. People who are travelers...that is...not tourists. Thank you, Paul!
Don

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

G. Heath

short review of The Tao of Travel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2011

Verified Purchase

Paul Theroux has written about eight (?) full-blown travel books, all of then first-rate in my opinion, and a whole bunch of fiction that is at least of equal quality to his non-fiction. In other words, the guy deserves a life-time achievement award of some kind, if not the Nobel Prize for Literature itself. It was then with some slight disappointment that I read this rather chopped up effort, which seemed like it had been thrown together, but was in fact the result of a lot of reading. Theroux is, among other things, a pretty good literary critic, and I'm sure this book could have been better arranged with a different or even no structure. Ah well, publishers have the last say, I guess...Lots of nuggets here, but no real meat. You can learn something from Theroux's reading, but he is conservative by nature and looks back at a lot of travel texts rather uncritically. A survey of contemporary travel writing compared to historical travel writing might have been a more fruitful approach. Another problem I have with this book is that it's written by a travel master, but actually Theroux doesn't get into the nitty-gritty of his own extensive travels; he appears not to draw lessons from experience; he does not speak of personal development, almost as if his own Tao of Travel just existed, always existed, and doesn't change. This cannot be true, and a more involved explanation of what he had learned over the years would be a truer exposition of his Tao, because there is no one Tao objectively speaking, as anyone who has the slightest inkling into what Taoism is about will perfectly understand...the Tao is unknowable and cannot be named...but we can develop are own Art of Travel. Still, I feel this book was well worth getting for the nuggets, and it is a useful survey of travel literature, a genre Paul Theroux did a lot to rejuvenate in the 1970s.

21 people found this helpful

Braddan

Very Dissapointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 24, 2012

Verified Purchase

The combination of the title, format and author combined to tempt me to this purchase.

Sadly I wish I had saved the money.

Rather than being the interesting collection of witty excerpts cleverly compiled and interlinked with insightful commentary that I had anticipated it is simply a dull catalog of travel drivel that as far as I could tell had no emotional commitment from Mr PT. If pushed i would suggest one or more editors simply pulled a bunch of acclaimed travel writers literature together, threw darts to select paragraphs and the passed to Mr PT to approve, which he sadly did.

The only book I have not finished :(

2 people found this helpful

Daniel Marc Reicher

A classic

Reviewed in Canada on July 24, 2013

Verified Purchase

I first borrowed this book from my local library but soon felt the quality of the content required personal possession with no time limits. The volume is beautifully bound in red leather and has good heft in the hand. Paul Theroux takes one on a wonderful, insightful tour of many authors from different epochs as they wrote about their travels - real and imagined.

A rare treat and a happy surprise for readers. Thank you, Mr. Theroux.

One person found this helpful

P. Zwatz

Das schönste Reisebuch...

Reviewed in Germany on April 11, 2016

Verified Purchase

Eines meiner Lieblingsreisebücher.. Zu tiefst philosophisch... Sehr tiefsinnig und interessant!
Wunderschöner Einband, perfekt zum Mitnehmen!
Hab das Buch oft auf Reisen dabei...

Translate review to English

Helene Fuldauer

the author

Reviewed in Canada on January 19, 2022

Verified Purchase

I read it before. I offered it as a present to a friend.

See all reviews

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road Bonded Leather – May 19, 2011

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customers who bought this item also bought

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Review

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Product details

About the author

Paul Theroux

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries