Product Description

Simon rode a motorcycle around the world in the seventies, when such a thing was unheard of. In four years he covered 78,000 miles through 45 countries, living with peasants and presidents, in prisons and palaces, through wars and revolutions. What distinguishes this book is that Simon was already an accomplished writer. In 25 years this book has changed many lives, and inspired many to travel, including Ewan McGregor.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12370 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 456 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780965478526
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Brought up in England by a German mother and a Romanian father, Ted Simon found himself impelled by an insatiable desire to explore the world. It led him to abandon an early scientific career in favour of journalism, and he has worked for several newspapers and magazines on Fleet Street and elsewhere. Ted Simon is also the author of Riding Home and The Gypsy in Me.

Customer Reviews

One of the best books ever written
This book captures first hand the now little known adventure of a British journalist who set out to ride around the world on a motorcycle. It is an incredible story and something any reader should enjoy. Every teenager/student should be issued with this book so that they can understand what adventure is [they should also be issued with Ernest Shackleton's story]. It is also a period piece capturing something of the flavor of the early 70s -- although not so obtrusively that it would offend those who scorn that period. The writing is direct and honest. The author does not shy away from ridiculing himself at times -- the linen suit incident still stays with me 15 years after I first read this book. This book provides insight into not just the authors thinking but the behavior of people in different cultures across the world (Ted came to accept problems calmly as help always seemed to come along). I read this book while in hospital and sadly gave it away to a fellow patient who I had been friendly with. It probably changed my life, as I still sometimes think of some of the incidents described. I will buy a copy for my son one day so that he will understand what adventure is. [Contrast this to that dreadful "Zen & the Art of..." book]. Ted travelled around the world on a Triumph Trident (perhaps the last ever made) -- not a BMW or a Harley. No support team, cell phone or GPS satellite navigation. This book let's you share the experience.

Four years on two wheels condensed into 447 pages.
Hard to determine how to rate this book. I just finished the last page...

I have to admit that it's truly a travel book. ZMM by Pirsig is much more of a philosophy than a book about travel. Simon instead takes you through Africa and the Atbara desert, roads that had channels cut through them deep enough that he had to keep his legs up near the handle bars, various bribes at numerous country borders, and tea stops along the way for rest. He also intrigues you with a prison escapade in Brasil and a fever in India as well as waiting for rivers to drop in Austrailia while drinking stubbies and eating steaks with truckies at a local outback cafe.

My negative comments are relatively simple: 1) No hard description of what he's up to in the beginning, just jumps right in, and all of a sudden you're in Africa. 2) A great lack of description of most of the mileage (runs from place to place sometimes). Perhaps this is a given for such a long trip. [Please don't be deterred by this... he's very descriptive for most of the journey.] 3) Lack of a map showing the whole trip. [Small maps are given in each "Chapter"- if the chapters could be called that.]

Writing style compared to Pirsig is very different and much less refined, but in a way this also allows us to go along with Simon on his great adventure. The writing and the road-miles seem to roll together. And in this way I think it's true to form. I have to admit that it was a great book even with the minor faults above. And as far as the god-talk previously mentioned, it's easy to forgive someone who can recall his experiences, in most of the major countries on the globe, first hand a slight misplaced grandiosity. :^) Especially with how much he's been through by the end.

From one rider to the other, my hat's off to Simon.

Run Out and Buy This Book!
JupiterÕs Travels stays with you long after you close the book. it is a classic travel narrative which belongs with the finest: ThesigerÕs Arabian Sands, NaipaulÕs An Area of Darkness, ChatwinÕs In Patagonia. Ted SimonÕs motto should be Carpe Diem. One day he decided to stop what he was doing to travel around the world on a Triumph motorcycle. The trip took him four years to complete. Ted shares with us his thoughts and feelings during the journey and his insights into many different cultures. What impresses me most, however, is TedÕs openness towards the people he meets and their different modes of life, and his honesty with himself and with us, his readers. Best of all, before our eyes, he grows and becomes a wiser person. He changes and so do we!