- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Lonely Planet; 1 edition (Aug 15 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1741045193
- ISBN-13: 978-1741045192
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 272 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #862,035 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
From Booklist
Lonely Planet's annual anthology contains 30 thrilling and bizarre stories. In some of them, the authors intentionally traveled to "Nowhere" but experience unintended consequences. In others, the writers stumbled on "Nowhere" by accident and recounted the adventures that ensued. George writes in his introduction that regardless of specific setting, situation, or state of mind, what all these pieces share is "the quality of disorientedness." The locations range from Tuscany to Timbuktu, Antarctica to Yap, and from Equatorial Guinea to Pol Pot's toilet in Cambodia. Others include the Ottawa County Museum in Kansas (it looked like a glorified machine shed), South Georgia (so isolated that baby fur seals would follow humans like puppies), and Borneo, where there are only two destinations, upriver and down. The book offers readers a chance to travel to "Nowhere" without ever leaving home. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
these smart and exhaustively researched guides have become the gold standard for serious, independent travelers.' --San Francisco Chronicle
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
overall...boring,
By
This review is from: Lonely Planet Tales from Nowhere: Unexpected stories from unexpected places (Paperback)
There's a reason not many people go to places considered as "nowhere"--not much happens there, there's little life and it's too quiet. Now I'm not saying the writing is not good through much of this collection but the topic runs out of steam. Look, I get it, sometimes the most interesting stories come about by getting lost and ending up at the end of nowhere. Problem is these writers too often look to make sense of this or for some meaning (whether profound or not) from these adventures.Sorry, this would have been better if a group of comedians wrote this as too many of these essays were way to dry and made my eyes glaze over.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews) 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very well selected stories - beautiful book,
By travelling alex b20 - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lonely Planet Tales from Nowhere: Unexpected stories from unexpected places (Paperback)
I bought this book in an overprized Amsterdam bookstore and was actually quite skeptical if it was worth the investment. After all, who wants to pay for blog-like stories printed on paperback?It was worth every cent. The stories are very well selected. One can only imagine the amount of travel tales the editors must have gone through before finding these outstanding pieces of travel writing. The stories - as you would expect from a Lonely Planet publication - come from the most bizarre corners of the globe, but it is not the exotic places but the interactions with the people that make this book special. Some of the stories resonate for days after putting down the book. The story of the guy who tries to write a book on SARS in China, travelling the country without finding much, and in the end loses everything almost has a Franz Kafka feeling about it. This book is a screaming buy. Go and get it. 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Armchair Travel... With a Few Speedbumps,
By Xoe Li Lu "xoelilu" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Lonely Planet Tales from Nowhere: Unexpected stories from unexpected places (Paperback)
The introduction and forward (by Don George and Tim Cahill respectively) to this collection of off-the-beaten-path travel stories were unbearable, but once I decided to allow myself to skip ahead to the first story things really started to move. Of the thirty essays, most are fun and interesting, while a few are real clunkers (Art Busse's 'Primavera," and the whiney "Animals, the Lot of Us" by Alana Semuels are particularly poor entries, and it doesn't help that they are back-to-back). Joshua Clark's entry, "His Picture Nowhere," was intriguing, however the author's attempt to be "artsy" in his delivery backfires. Standouts include Pico Iyer's account of visiting Easter Island with his elderly mother, and Simon Winchester's attempt to uncover the "worst country in the world." A few of the essays take on the pretentious tone of self-styled "adventurers," but most are fun and interesting. Overall, a decent read with a few rough patches.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pack This Along,
By Polkadotty - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lonely Planet Tales from Nowhere: Unexpected stories from unexpected places (Paperback)
You will visit far-flung places and some not-so with really interesting folk as your guide. The writing is consistantly high caliber and the tales descriptive, adventurous, engaging, enlightening, exciting, funny, warm-hearted and thought-provoking. The best verge on poetry and rival the best literature. What's great about this book is its accessiblity. Each story is short enough to finish within a few minutes which makes it a perfect take-along read. Perhaps on a journey of your own.
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