- ISBN13: 9780307394651
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
For those who think that travel guidebooks are the gospel truth.
The waitress suggests that I come back after she closes down the restaurant, around midnight. We end up having sex in a chair and then on one of the tables in the back corner. I pen a note in my Moleskine that I will later recount in the guidebook review, saying that the restaurant “is a pleasant surprise . . . and the table service is friendly.” –Thomas Kohnstamm, professional travel writer and author of numerous Lonely Planet guidebooks
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5 Comments
One of the best and most entertaining stories I’ve ever read! I want to buy copies for my grandchildren. Everyone should get a glimpse of this side of life. This author exudes exceptional talent. He paints a portrait for us that many only ever fanatasize or daydream about and this guy lived to write about it. Thank you TK. Please create another work of genius for us all!!
January 23rd, 2010 at 5:07 am. Permalink.
Certainly an engaging read. But then I’ll bet that Silence of Lambs is an engaging movie. The only thing the author is more into than escaping is getting wasted and laid. So what if he gets into a sleazy business and keeps it up. I had the travel bug, so I traveled for 5 years, until I realized what it was about myself that I was running from. I avoided the Lonely Planet crowd, and the druggie crowd like the plague. It’s real easy to do.
Everyone the author writes about is messed up. I traveled among the poor and disenfranchised for the most part – but I met with an almost unrelieved positive outlook and approach to life, even in war zones and slums.
The author is just a co-dependent for escapism of the lowest sort.
The writing may be an adequate version of gonzo journalism but the content or message is vapid at best.
I only wish I could give this book a minus five stars for negativity.
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:36 am. Permalink.
I read about this book when all the buzz came out about the Lonely Planet writer you didn’t actually visit the location. After the buzz ended up being about nothing, I was still interested in the book.
The writer does an excellent job keeping us in his head as he travels and lives a little on the edge. The story moves well and I found myself really looking forward to getting back to the book.
AS someone who really enjoys travel, I was inspired by the adventureness of the writer. I usually restrict myself to high end hotels and the standard tourists destinations. But it’s the times that I have moved off the beaten path that I have found myself enjoying the trip most. Thomas is an expert at finding that route.
If you enjoy travel, it’s likely that you’ll enjoy this book.
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:45 am. Permalink.
Reading this book, I felt like my crazy friend was telling me about his ridiculous time in Brazil.
This is a great book for anyone who wants to know what its like to be bold, travel by yourself! Kohnstamm’s book is shocking and real. Did you go with Kohnstamm and party in Brazil? Because after this book you will feel like you have.
I recommend this book for anyone who wants to travel the world. As crazy as the book is, a lot of it is very relatable. My favorite part was how Kohnstamm describes the hostel lifestyle and mini-culture perfectly! All the crazy people he meets, becomes friends with, drinks with. Anyone who has had to pay money to sleep in a hot room with strangers who might steal your stuff and do weird things in the dark can reminisce with Kohnstamm.
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:56 am. Permalink.
“What kind of a man spends his best years sitting in a chair?”
Kohnstamm has written a book that makes me want to get out of my chair, and toss my perpetually connected work life into the East River, which will make sense when you read this book.
There was a bit of controversy around this book before it came out having to do with Kohnstamm’s work on Lonely Planet. The truth, after reading this adventure on the road, is that his writing was a gift to Lonely Planet and the charges of plagiarism were way off the mark. Kohnstamm mixes the reality of writing a travel guide with the experiences of being on the road in Brazil; a place where every day can bring another strange adventure to the open minded traveler. Kohnstamm strikes a balance between drunken hedonism and the details that make each episode ring, hilariously true. This is not only a book about travel and travel writing, it is laugh out loud funny which was a great surprise.
“Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?” made me want to get up from my chair, pack my bags and see what the road has to offer, but I have a cat, a mortgage and a wife that insists upon me working. I will have to settle for Kohnstamm’s next book. I can’t wait!
January 23rd, 2010 at 7:27 am. Permalink.