Cultured Travel Guide Books - Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?: A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics, and Professional Hedonism |
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List Price: $13.95
Our Price: $7.24
Your Save: $ 6.71 ( 48% )
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.4092
EAN: 9780307394651
ISBN: 0307394654
Label: Three Rivers Press
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: 2008-04-22
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Release Date: 2008-04-22
Studio: Three Rivers Press |
| Spotlight Customer Reviews: |
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Reasons Your Travel Guide is Out of Date
Comment: Great book to get an insider's perspective on why so many travel books have out of date information. Well written. Great storyteller. Awesome read for individuals who are having a mid-life crisis or who are considering a drastic career change.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fu$#in Awesome!!!
Comment: this is the kindling of mind trip escapades I always find myself in, but never seem to be able to capture with the pen...damn brilliant, like an acid trip of hunter s thompson, with a bit of henry miller and without question traits of Bret Ellis, this is the kind of stuff that is no nonsense, pure adrenaline rush, passport missing, stuck on Ibiza with a missed plane, page turning, extasy swimming word salad of total bombasity...makes you want to quit your day job and travel the world...immediately, right this second...amazingly readable...it reminds the reader of f'ing the status quo and going with your heart and partying till dawn, and making love with rock stars, and passing out on bathroom floors in third world countries...man the joyride of reading for the summer, superb, I CANNOT recommend this book enough...it was a joy to read, and I would love to follow the author on any adventure he has...I love his wit, humor, priceless timing, and inevitable luck....love the booze, the partying, the sex, the setting it all aside, and going with the flow...I envy it all...To Ivy League schmucks who cant think outside the box, Thomas makes you all seem miniscule in comparison
jump on board baby
Customer Rating:
Summary: Those were the good old days! Glad they'll never come again.
Comment: One of the rare books you read in one sitting and clammer, "Is that all there is? MORE! MORE! Encore! Encore!
Starting from his 9 to 5 office existance where his spirit is slowly becoming excruciatingly squeezed out of existence - the author finds the patron saint of disillusioned men, DB Cooper, hijacker of the Boeing 727 on 11/24/71, the author's birthday.
Thus is hijacked and born the natural of travel writer. His first assignment is to Brazil. From going by the book to writing the book to go by(the method of writing changes from good old day's amateur to the tried and true professional), the reader is rewarded with great story writing, rogue wit, black humor, insider knowledge of the travel world, and wild escapades of sex, booze, drugs, music, food , dance , & danger.
By books end the reader is wanting another adventure where turning the next page brings you just around the bend and who knows what kind of hell is going to break loose there. For in this true adventure it's the not knowing what to expect or when, but that its going to be...quickly turn the page.
Last, but not least, IT'S THE CHARACTERS THAT NOT ONLY CARRY THE STORY BUT MAKES IT ALL WORTH YOUR WHILE!
Highly recommended!!!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Hilarious Tale of Misadventure Told by a True Anti-hero
Comment: This book starts out almost sobering in its account of a malcontented office worker suffering through the daily grind under the thumb of his overly scrutinous boss, something most of us can relate to with ease. From here the story deviates from the norm as instead of suffering through another day of boredom (like most of us) or finding out he is in fact the chosen one (thank the Matrix for ruining that convenient plot twist) the author simply walks away from it all. The potentially career making first job, the daily grind, and trying lifestyle, instead he resigns to a life of relative poverty and adventure as he takes a job with Lonely Planet as a guide book writer. Before anyone else gets any idea let me clarify that he is highly educated with a Masters from Stanford and various other writing experiences behind him. This is where we meet the real Thomas Kohnstamm though, the drinker, the chauvinist, and the braggart. Still as the book progresses through his many misadventures and learning experiences, most of which are gathered throughout the course of his first paid trip overseas and guide book experience in Brazil, we see the humor, work, and wonder that accompanies him throughout his travels. In the end you should understand that this is not a book for the devotes of the guidebooks, if you find yourself clutching your Frommers or Fodors every time you board a plane please leave this book alone as it will only terrify you to a dizzying extent. But if instead you love getting messed up in the mix of your travels then you will feel more then at home with this book and its harrowing tales of comedic misadventure. In the end if you're looking for a good laugh built on a true story check it out. I really enjoyed it and think everyone else will to. Just don't expect to learn too many moral lessons from it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Comment: A great read, I wanted it to go on and on. It isn't an expose' of the tarnished travel book biz, it's a "Dharma Bums" for our modern age. I loved the "new ethics", the nods to the changing culture, vastly insightful inner dialogs, I mean it's all there. If you feel out of touch with this generation, you need to read this book. I think this would make a far more interesting and funny movie than "Drink, Play, F@#k" by Gottlieb, which just got signed to MGM or something. The two books are somewhat similar in that the protagonist sets out on a life changing journey, but "Do Travel Writers Go To Hell" actually makes you feel that you are there. I am hoping there will be a part II. (Didn't the Dharma Bums have a sequel?).
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| Editorial Reviews: |
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
WANTED: Travel Writer for Brazil
QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED
Decisiveness: the ability to desert your entire previous life–including well-salaried office job, attractive girlfriend, and basic sanity for less than minimum wage
Attention to detail: the skill to research northeastern Brazil, including transportation, restaurants, hotels, culture, customs, and language, while juggling sleep deprivation, nonstop nightlife, and excessive alcohol consumption
Creativity: the imagination to write about places you never actually visit
Resourcefulness: utilizing persuasion, seduction, and threats, when necessary, to secure a place to stay for the evening once your pitiable advance has been (mis)spent
Resilience: determination to overcome setbacks such as bankruptcy, disillusionment, and an ill-fated one-night stand with an Austrian flight attendant
As Kohnstamm comes to personal terms with each of these job requirements, he unveils the underside of the travel industry and its often-harrowing effect on writers, travelers, and the destinations themselves. Moreover, he invites us into his world of compromising and scandalous situations in one of the most exciting countries as he races against an impossible deadline.
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