Simon Winchester has chosen what are, in his opinion, the five best travel books. (For those not familiar with this Five Best feature of OpinionJournal, check out the archive here – very useful to get some great book ideas.)
I thought I knew travel literature fairly well, but I had only heard of one of Winchester’s picks, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Travels With A Donkey. But I may not be alone in not hearing of his other picks; two of them (Oxford by James Morris and Impossible Journey by Michael Asher) don’t have a single review on Amazon, and three of them (the two above plus Vagrant Viking by Peter Freuchen) appear to be out of print. The last one (Eothen by Alexander Kinglake) I had never heard of, but apparently this was the book no Winston Churchill claimed taught him how to write!
My curiosity is piqued. Has anyone here read any of these books? Are they really among the five greatest travel books of all time?
AT Semlin I still was encompassed by the scenes and the
sounds of familiar life; the din of a busy world still vexed
and cheered me; the unveiled faces of women still shone in
the light of day. Yet, whenever I chose to look southward, I
saw the Ottoman’s fortress - austere, and darkly impending
high over the vale of the Danube - historic Belgrade. I had
come, as it were, to the end of this wheel-going Europe, and
now my eyes would see the splendour and havoc of the East.
and I’ve just found the full text here: Eothen text
It was out as a neat little hardback maybe 6 or 7 years ago, so I’d expect s/h copies to be available…
I’d argue strongly that a book which is about a single city is not a “travel” book, especially if the writer is a native of the country in which the city is located. So that knocks James MORRIS’ Oxford off the list as far as I’m concerned. (BTW altho’ still James at the time ‘Oxford’ was written you’ll find the book more easily if you search for Jan Morris as the author.)
I agree with Twickster’s choices & I’ll add Brazilian Adventure by Peter Fleming and A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby. (Well anything by those two authors, but we’re limiting to around 5)
How can you have a list of great travel books and not include a Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Mecca and Al-Medina by Sir Richard Burton? And at least one Twain travel book (although my choice would be The Innocents Abroad.)
And, it might be purely personal, but I’d include Robert Heinlein’s Tramp Royale.
How about Paul Theroux’s The Great Railway Bazaar?
I have never read or even heard of any other than Travels with a Donkey. I agree with **Mr. Rosewater ** CalMeacham and jackelope that Bryson, Twain and Steinbeck (Log from the Sea of Cortez, too!) would be on my list.
Some reviewers delight in making themselves sound highbrow by assembling a list of elitist books that few have ever heard of, rather then their real personal faves.
I second or third or whatever The Innocents Abroad. I reread it shortly before taking a trip to Italy several years ago, and it made my trip a lot more amusing than it otherwise would have been, I think.
