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20 May 2018
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThirtyOne
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (started but lost interest. Maybe try again this year)
The Places In Between by Rory Stewart
Anyway, any suggestions?
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You need to read Zen and the Art at least twice and, even then, it needs a great deal of thought, not to say effort; without that effort, you won't progress with his theme.
Motorcycle riding is but the stage on which he sets his theme.
Perzig's later book, about morals, is still one that I haven't managed to finish.
In contrast, I lost interest in Stewart's book when he became a politician.
Anything written by Eric Newby is worth a look - he was a travel writer.
"A short walk" has very little to do with walking, but it is about the Hindu Kush.
Whereas, Thesiger happened to put his life into words.
Thesiger and Newby met in one or other of the Stans.
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20 May 2018
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walkabout
You need to read Zen and the Art at least twice and, even then, it needs a great deal of thought, not to say effort; without that effort, you won't progress with his theme.
Motorcycle riding is but the stage on which he sets his theme.
Perzig's later book, about morals, is still one that I haven't managed to finish.
In contrast, I lost interest in Stewart's book when he became a politician.
Anything written by Eric Newby is worth a look - he was a travel writer.
"A short walk" has very little to do with walking, but it is about the Hindu Kush.
Whereas, Thesiger happened to put his life into words.
Thesiger and Newby met in one or other of the Stans.
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I recently read a book by Newby from his 1977 journey on the Trans-Siberian. Good, but nothing like as witty as 'A Short walk...'
Thesiger was an amazing man, tough and extremely strong. When he came upon Newby and his climbing partner in Afghanistan, exhausted and sick with dysentery after their attempt on the summit of Mir Samir and presently trying to inflate an air mattress he remarked 'Gosh, you must be a couple of pansies'.
Thesiger managed to document a very intimate look into two societies now disappeared; The Bedu of Arabia and the Marsh Arabs. Sadly the rest of his travels in Africa and Central Asia are not very extensively documented.
I recently read a book in a similar vein to 'Arabian Sands'; 'Nunaga' by Duncan Pryde. It's a great look at the author's life with the Eskimos of northern Canada in the 1950s and 60s. A great account, though the author does not have Thesiger's social and academic credentials and the book may have been ghost-written.
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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.
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20 May 2018
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Joshua Slocum's "Sailing Alone Around the World", on the "Spray", published 1899. I read my father's copies of Slocum's two voyages about age 10. Slocum's second book ended early when he disappeared at sea. It sparked my dream of traveling to far and distant lands, seeing all sorts of exotic places. Made me a National Geographic fan all my life.
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20 May 2018
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eurasiaoverland
I recently read a book by Newby from his 1977 journey on the Trans-Siberian. Good, but nothing like as witty as 'A Short walk...'
Thesiger was an amazing man, tough and extremely strong. When he came upon Newby and his climbing partner in Afghanistan, exhausted and sick with dysentery after their attempt on the summit of Mir Samir and presently trying to inflate an air mattress he remarked 'Gosh, you must be a couple of pansies'.
Thesiger managed to document a very intimate look into two societies now disappeared; The Bedu of Arabia and the Marsh Arabs. Sadly the rest of his travels in Africa and Central Asia are not very extensively documented.
I recently read a book in a similar vein to 'Arabian Sands'; 'Nunaga' by Duncan Pryde. It's a great look at the author's life with the Eskimos of northern Canada in the 1950s and 60s. A great account, though the author does not have Thesiger's social and academic credentials and the book may have been ghost-written.
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"Among the Mountains, Travels through Asia" by Thesiger covers at least some of his time travelling in the Stans.
To me, he was one of the old school "class" people of the UK who simply lived out their lives irrespective of any one else's concepts of how to do the same.
He not only travelled but he LIVED - not everyone does that.
His time spent with the Marsh Arabs, for instance (later, Saddam tried to end that way of life by draining the marshes).
Thesiger was living life in the mode of Nietzsches' philosophy.
These authors are now dead - Pirzig died only about a year ago - I know of no one who can replace them, with a possible exception of Jordan Peterson who is sweeping all before him at present, coming at life from a very different, professional, perspective but covering similar ground nevertheless.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obi...-Thesiger.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/24/b...intenance.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by grumpy geezer
Joshua Slocum's "Sailing Alone Around the World", on the "Spray", published 1899. I read my father's copies of Slocum's two voyages about age 10. Slocum's second book ended early when he disappeared at sea. It sparked my dream of traveling to far and distant lands, seeing all sorts of exotic places. Made me a National Geographic fan all my life.
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I recall that book from my teen years also, when I was very much into sailing and all things associated with being at sea. A man who was way ahead of his time I guess.
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20 May 2018
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' Good Vibrations - Coast to Coast by Harley' by Tom Cunliffe. (2000)
and
' Backblocks America' by Jo and Gareth Morgan. (2007)
These books both inspired me to ride 42,000 km (26,000 miles) around North America during 2007/08.
Then I read: ' Under Asian Skies' by Sam Manicom. (2007)
I broadly followed Sam's tracks for a few years from 2009/10 onwards.
Originally though, back in the 1970s, I read and re-read ' Around the World in Wanderer III' by Eric C Hiscock. (1957) .. or was it by J. R. Hartley?
I never did sail around the world! although I managed to sail a trans-Atlantic (Gibraltar ~~> New York City) back in April 1989.
Books can and definitely do give us inspiration & motivation. 
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20 May 2018
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Gertrude Bell and the Arabs
Quote:
Originally Posted by Walkabout
In contrast, I lost interest in Stewart's book when he became a politician.
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In contrast to the modern day political animal, here was a real politician who got things done and held real beliefs while not being afraid to express them; not a Thesiger certainly, but living her life fully.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Bell
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20 May 2018
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Not dead yet 2nd edition by Oisin Hughes dropped on my doorstep Friday.
Only brought this after seeing his RTW trip on Youtube. Will let you know how it pans out but if his videos are anything to go by then it should be a 9 or 10 out of 10.
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20 May 2018
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Benson-1215
Not Dead Yet by Oisin Hughes .. his RTW trip on Youtube.
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Thanks for the heads-up. 
I've just hooked-into the first of his video series. Looks like a fab story to follow. Six minutes into Part 1 of 52 .. and I've already subscribed!
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20 May 2018
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ouroboros2015
Wasn't keen on Oisin's stuff. Pretty much anything by Colin Thubron is worthwhile.
Specifically for moto travel: it's gotta be Dan Walsh for me (I know he divides opinion; but I think he's a great writer).
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I'm a Dan Walsh fan as well. Dan was on HUBB years ago and is mentioned in several posts over the years. And you might even find his posts here under Dan23.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ays-must-36591
You can buy his book on Amazon, also sold under title of "Endless Horizons".
https://www.amazon.com/These-Days-Th.../dp/1846053102
I liked the book but for me his best were articles he wrote for UK's
BIKE magazine. He worked for them for years, goes even further than his book does. Africa, UsA, Latin America and more.
I had mentioned Dan to some Motojourno friends I knew at US Motorcyclist magazine. They ended up sponsoring Dan after reading his BIKE pieces. They got him a new BMW F650 and some up front cash and he did a few installments for the magazine.
So off he went, writing pieces for both BIKE and Motorcyclist ... but something happened in Buenos Aires and Dan kind of went into a self described drunken spiral. He finally pulled out and managed to get the book done.
But as I've said, IMO, Dan's best work were his articles from the road.
Dan is a Manchester, UK native. Not sure where he is now.
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21 May 2018
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So many good suggestions. I'll have to update the first post and make a comprehensive list.
I'm glad to see that a number of you mentioned quality of writing as well. It's something that I particularly look for being a English teacher and having done my fair share of wordsmithing.
Patrick, any chance there's an online resource for Dan's work from his motojournalism days?
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21 May 2018
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cry of the kalahari
the cry of the kalahari took me to africa!!
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21 May 2018
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThirtyOne
Patrick, any chance there's an online resource for Dan's work from his motojournalism days?
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Years ago I looked but could not find much of his work in the BIKE archives. Now?
I'm sure it's all out there somewhere.
You may find his work in archives of Motorcyclist's magazine and perhaps BIKE's are now more comprehensive than 10 years ago when I last looked.
I used to hang onto BIKE magazines when I was working at City Bike. But ditched everything about 8 years ago. Too much clutter. Tons. 
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21 May 2018
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mollydog
[/B]
I'm a Dan Walsh fan as well.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ays-must-36591
I liked the book but for me his best were articles he wrote for UK's
BIKE magazine. He worked for them for years, goes even further than his book does. Africa, UsA, Latin America and more. |
It's been a while since I last read These are the Days etc but a little like Zen and the Art etc you start off wishing you could lead his lifestyle and then end up pleased that you don't. Both the best of times and the worst of times at the same time.
Paul C's (anyone here?) review of These are the Days on Amazon puts bike travel books in a kind of scholastic pecking order: Sam Manicom is the trusted teacher who delivers the goods, Graham Field's lessons will pass in a blur. You won't remember half of what you did but it was inspirational, but Dan Walsh is the crazy supply chemistry teacher who got sent home at lunchtime. Pity that Dan wasn't around for the 'is this the real life, is this just fantasy' early days of Bike but making it back from his first 'road test' might have been problematical.
If he does get back into print I hope he manages to avoid second album syndrome. I've been reading Three Men on the Bummel recently. No, it's not some kind of Victorian gay porn epic but the follow up to Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome where, now somewhat portly, they wheeze their way round the Black Forest on bicycles. It would be perfect for a literary version of those 'you'll never believe what that cute kid actor looks like now' click bait sites.
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21 May 2018
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Quote:
Originally Posted by backofbeyond
It's been a while since I last read These are the Days etc but a little like Zen and the Art etc you start off wishing you could lead his lifestyle and then end up pleased that you don't. Both the best of times and the worst of times at the same time.
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IMO, Dan's work is nothing like Zen and the Art.
For me, only readable part of Pirsig's "Zen and" were his literal bike maintenance parts, too few and far between for me.
The rest were scattered thoughts of a semi boring Philosophy teacher. 
In contrast, Dan's book is mostly totally readable ... funny and entertaining, save the very end ... which gets a bit depressing. But mostly we see humor everywhere ... which is very hard to do!
But as I said above ... IMO, all his BEST WORK can be found in his earlier BIKE articles. All funny, up beat, crazy ... and FUN! (a good editor can make even an average writer look brilliant!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by backofbeyond
Pity that Dan wasn't around for the 'is this the real life, is this just fantasy' early days of Bike but making it back from his first 'road test' might have been problematical.
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So did you actually read his BIKE articles? His Africa stories were some of my favs.
2nd album syndrome is tough. As much as I wanted to love Ted Simon's follow on books ... I did not. Jupiter was it. His Zenith, IMHO.
The guy being left out ... a real current pioneer ... is Austin Vince.
Hopefully we'll get a new crop of young traveler geniuses soon to re-define the genre and keep us interested.
Same Manicom tried to pass off a trip he'd made 5 years previous for a current Adventure book. Some decent writing ... but a bit sleepy for me. A classic "jumping on the ADV band wagon" guy.
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22 May 2018
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Book!
Seven Ages of Parisb - by Alistair Horne
One of my very favorites <3
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Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
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helps answer the question - Why Go? Inspirational stories by veteran travellers Greg Frazier (5 times RTW), Peter and Kay Forwood (193 countries), Tiffany Coates (Mongolia Mayhem) and Rene Cormier (University of Gravel Roads).
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