PART 1: The Ecclectic Traveler

My preference is for travel books devoted to a single adventure.  I started to make an exception and buy collections of travels.  Some of the books are built around a theme--the most remote outposts or others simply write a series of eclectic adventures in one book.   Here's my collection.


1.  Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire, Simon Winchester (2004).  Winchester traveled over 100,000 miles to vestiges of the British Empire including Diego Garcia, the Falkland Islands and the most remote island on earth, Ascension Island.  Bought new.

2.  The Offensive Traveler, V.S. Pritchett (1967).  Pritchertt says he is an offensive not in the sense that he travels in a state of arrogance or complaining but that he is always observing and watching the private lives of other people where he is an outsider.  Wonderful  essays on Eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran and Spain.  Bought used but can't remember where.


3.  Falling Off the Map: Some Lonely Places of the World, Pico Iyer (1994).  Iyer is considered by some as the best living travel writer.  He has a way of finding places that just don't fit in and an eye for the absurd.  Bought used somewhere.

4.  The ends of the Earth: A Jurney to the Frontiers of Anarchy, Robert Kaplan (1996).  Kaplan uses his political and historical acumen as he travels through chaotic or despotic regions of Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia.  Bought used State Department Bookstore.

5.  Along the Road: Notes and Essays of a Tourist, Aldous Huxley (1925).  Huxley, best know for Brave New World, started his travel book with an essay asking what is the point to travel at all.  His essays are mostly about his sampling of art, music and settings around Europe.  Bought new.

6.  Far Horizons: The Travel Diary of an Engineer, Joseph Ehlers (1966).  Inscribed by the author, "Best Wishes."  A short series of travelogues by an Engineer who traveled Alaska, Asia and South America.  Bought at the State Department Bookstore.

7.  Adventures and Escapes, edited by E.W. Parker, part of Heritage of Literature Series (1953).   Very small book with short adventures in Africa, India and military adventures.  Owners stamp, "Stephen Straker, 5 Merrick Close, Tuckahoe, NY.  Bought used at a book sale but can't remember where.

 8.  All Over the Place: Fifty Thousand Miles by Sea, Air, Road and Rail, Compton MacKenzie (1948).  Covers Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Middle East.  Written in a logbook style with foldout maps.  Bought used somewhere.