Most of us love to travel to an unseen location for our vacation. Why do we travel? Everyone has their own reasons. Some of us travel for getting away from a static images of everyday life. Some of us travel to find out more about a location which was highly recommended by articles, books or friends. But traveling is no joke. There are several hurdles you have to cross before boarding to your means of transportation. After we have crossed the hurdles, do we really enjoy our destination? Do we learn something new from there?
In this book, Alain de Botton tries to address several issues facing a modern day traveler. His aim is to encourage everyone to travel and also to appreciate the beauty or surprises in store for each one of us in our respective destinations. In order to accomplish this, he divides the book into section dealing with the planning of a trip, the actual trip and also the return from the trip. In each of the well defined chapters, he uses two narratives - one narrative forms the travels of the author and the other forms the travel experiences of famous figures in history. The famous figures are either authors or poets who have excelled in many fields. With the narrative, the author familiarized the pains of a modern day man in terms of travels and compares it with two time lines - present (the author's) and the past(the experiences of the famous figures).
The book is an eye opener. If you love to travel, chances are you are already doing what the author has suggested. But you still can read this book. There is always room for improvement. If you don't like travel or if you feel you do not enjoy the destinations, then this is a must read for you. It is non-fiction but still is very entertaining and thought provoking. The language is so poetic that you will be immersed in the book in no time.
The book is an eye opener. If you love to travel, chances are you are already doing what the author has suggested. But you still can read this book. There is always room for improvement. If you don't like travel or if you feel you do not enjoy the destinations, then this is a must read for you. It is non-fiction but still is very entertaining and thought provoking. The language is so poetic that you will be immersed in the book in no time.
Tags: Books,Alain de Botton,Travel
Reading it right now and really enjoying. Thanks for the recommendation Nona.
ReplyDelete:) De rien. You should read this book. I think you are already doing what he has suggested to improve the experience of travel. But then I will let you find it out yourself when you have read it completely.
Deletei enjoy being in my home-somehow travel is too much effort.
ReplyDeleteThen, you have to read this book. :)
DeleteI simply hate staying at home and love visiting places...Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDelete:) Read the book and then we will talk.
DeleteI travel a lot,thanks for suggesting a travel book :)Is it easily available in India?Do check my blog,any comments,any suggestions most welcome:http://www.ankionthemove.com/
ReplyDelete:) You are welcome. Yes, I will visit your site.
DeleteThanks for the suggestion, Nona. It definitely sounds like a book that should be read whether one is an actual or armchair traveller. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely a "must read" for you. Yes, the book encourages people to travel and admire the sights. It also talks the difficulties faced by "armchair traveler". :)
DeleteNona, do you have the link for the e-book on this?
ReplyDeleteThanks,
I get these books from Amazon. I have provided two links on Amazon - the link paper version and the Kindle version. As for other links, I do not have it.
DeleteThanks for dropping by. I will put a link to your website on my sidebars. That way, I don't have to put up a link every month and the visitors can reach your site by browsing through my site. Hope this works too.
ReplyDelete