Travelogue Books

What a super book -- beautifully written, and with a marvelous tale. Burgess is clearly a great story-teller! I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and will now be searching for others he may have written.

I have known the writer R.F. Burgess 50 years ago when we both studied in Neuchatel Switzerland and was most surprised that he wrote this most interesting book about travelling with his wife by motor scooter from Neuchatel to Majorca. His narrative is very descriptive and the reader easily visualises the travel to and the events and life on that island. I particularly liked his inclusion of the sojourn of G.Sand and Chopin there as they were subject of an essay I wrote in my French Literature course.

BRAVO! A wonderful book about the island of Majorca! The author, Robert Burgess, and his wife, Julie, spent time there when Majorca was still a quiet, romantic, picturesque spot in the Mediterranean. This is an account of their trip one winter from Switzerland to Milan, Italy, where they purchase a motor scooter and travel 700 miles across the Rivieras to Spain. And then by boat to Majorca. Every mile of their trip is marked by unusual people or events encountered along the way, including their getting lost and their battling the Mistral when no one else would venture out into it. But it's on Majorca where the story really gets interesting. They rent a villa on a deserted part of the island where water is caught in a roof catch basin, and the cheapest beverage is either wine or island-made champagne. I found the chapter on Valldemosa especially interesting as it describes the very rooms where George Sand and Chopin lived for a winter in a monastery there. The reader can't help but be touched by the happy details from Chopin's letters, despite his suffering from tuberculosis even as he continues to compose his music. And I won't even mention the fishermen, or Pap struggling to catch the islands biggest "un-catchable" fish, El Señor, with the help of his faithful greyhound aptly named Fugly. Those characters brought tears to my eyes, and they weren't all from laughter! Anyone who enjoys reading about good travel adventures with the kind of humorous characters that often make books about living abroad so popular, will love this one!

Moving to Majorca by Robert F. Burgess is a wonderful chronicle of the author and his wife's adventures in Europe shortly after their marriage. The book begins in Neuchatel Switzerland then moves to Milano Italy at the Lambretta Factory where they purchased a motor scooter and readied it for a 700mile trip through Italy, France and Spain by following the Mediterranean coast. After a chilly, hair-raising, roller-coaster ride on twisty coastal roads through quaint villages and windblown boarder crossings, they finally end up on the beautiful island of Majorca where they spent the winter in a white stucco hilltop villa. This book is full of interesting people, humorous stories and exotic places making it perfect for anyone that wants a fun and memorable read. The exciting bullfight described in 'The Best of the Best' (Ch.33) makes it worth the price of admission.

I just wanted to say how wonderful and inspirational Dr. Capehart's book was to me and my children. The book opened our eyes to how fortunate we really are and my children could really relate to the book. I think Dr. Capehart has the biggest heart I know and will be great in whatever he does. Thanks for writing the book. I know it's touched many people, but know that it has touched my family.

I read the book 4 times and everytime, I was amazed at Dr. Capehart's experiences. His illustrations were great and only enhanced the stories he was telling. I also do missionary work and can relate to his experiences. I loved the book and have recommended it to everyone I know. I think Dr. Capehart has a good heart and will be a great doctor. I love his writing style and hope that he writes again.

I'm currently a student at University of Southern California (USC) Go Trojans! I just read Capehart's, "My African Safari." I have to say that it is an inspiring book. If you want a book that makes you visualize what it would be like to be in Africa, this is the bok. It really made me appreciate America and what I have here. I highly recommend this book to anyone. I hope this review helps you to read this terrific book.

Capehart's stories prove that truth really can be stranger than fiction. Some of his stories made me laugh until I cried...others evoked overwhelming emotions for the people he met and lived with. I was amazed by his experiences with members of the tribe, the local wildlife, and the conditions and patients he saw while volunteering at the hospital. For anyone who has ever become frustrated with the `rush' mentality of American living, or who has wanted to venture off the beaten path, Capehart's tales will open your eyes to another world. I highly recommend it!

Usually, I simply rate items based on whether I like them or not, but Florine Asch's "My Italian Sketchbook" was worth the effort of a comment. I borrowed this book from the library and have now purchased this book because I was astounded by the beauty and volume of drawings in this Sketchbook.

The sketches are absolutely superb and nowhere close to being the rigid architecturally perfect "sketches" which I have seen in other books. Now I greatly respect the talent that it takes to do those other sketches but as a fellow watercolorist, I prefer the looser quality and nature of Ms. Asch's. Hopefully she has future holidays planned and thus future sketchbooks. As a side note, I would love to see the two sketchbooks relating to France (one in Paris and another in Alsace, I believe) of hers which seem to be very difficult to get here in the U.S. Highly recommend this book. It is beautiful and gives one a strong desire to travel!

Beautiful book. The artist makes even the most mundane object interesting. Inspiring for both the armchair traveler and aspiring artist. This is one fo the best in the "My X Sketchbook" series.

Florine Asch allows us to accompany her on a Grand Tour of Italy. She takes us along, at a leisurely pace, that does recall a time when travel was more about the journey than the destination. Dominique Fernandez, who writes the Introduction to "My Italian Sketchbook," tells us that "tourist" originally meant, "one who travels, not to arrive, but aimlessly, as the servant of beauty."

Ms. Asch's attachment to Italy is palpable in her glorious sketches, all executed in watercolor. Her elegant sketches, 100 of them, depict the known sites, and the scenes that are rarely seen by the hurried tourist. She captures a sunset view of Saint Peter's in Rome, the beauty of Lake Como, a Tuscan landscape, the medieval majesty of Sienna, the Renaissance glory of Firenze, the Duomo in Milan, a studio filled with Greek plaster figures, a horse and buggy by Rome's Trevi Fountain, the carnival in Venice, street scenes in Naples, a Sicilian piazza, and marketplace.

Florine Asch uniquely portrays the ordinary and extraordinary vistas, and views, of Italy. My tourist photographs never looked like this. A wonderful book to keep as a remembrance, or to give as a gift. Anyone who loves all things Italian, will love this book. I certainly do!

I have loved Italy since I was a child, something about the people, the food, the great scenery, old, historic monuments, there is just so much to learn about and appreciate, and this wonderful gem of a sketchbook does just that. Florine Asch takes us on a Grand Tour of Italy which is brought to life by her amazing, beautiful, detailed watercolors - MIlan & the Lakes [also noteworthy are depictions of daily life like in the bustling markets], Verona, Venice, Florence, Rome [the Piazza Navona], the Bay of Naples & Sicily. It is a riot of color, a lush depiction of Italian life, and the beautiful rendering of the Italian countryside & cities. A wonderful addition to the Sketchbooks series [of which I am a collector].

This is an excellent book, very entertaining. A true reflection of the thoughts and opinions of the time period. So politically incorrect for present day, but amusing nonetheless.

In the early 1900's Katherine Routledge sailed from England to Easter Island on the schooner 'Mana', leading a group of experts on the first modern day scientific expedition to uncover the secrets of the island. This book is a first-hand account of the expedition. It includes lots of detail on the famous stone statues (moai), the native people & their legends, the mysterious script (rongo-rongo), the bird cult, and much more. Routledge even managed to learn the local language in the hope that interviewing the natives would shed some light on the island's prehistory.

The book is well written and fun to read. It includes lots of fine illustrations, including photos and drawings, depicting the most important sites. It is definately a must-read for visitors to the island, or just for anyone interested in Easter Island and its strange history.

I fancy the image of Katherine Routledge as a kind of female Indiana Jones. Certainly she was adventurous for a woman of the early part of the century; just getting to the island in a yacht ranks as a mildly swashbuckling achievement. There are also some references in the book that she had already been to East Africa, perhaps before the turn of the century, although I have been unable to find further information on this.

The Mystery of Easter Island was originally published in 1919, based upon the research of an English lady, Katherine Routledge, who lived on the island in 1914-15. She learned the Rapanui language and interviewed all the old people she could find who still remembered the past. The more we now know about the archaeology of Easter Island, the better this material looks. Routledge did excavations, camped out all over the island and accumulated vast quantities of research material. A 'must read' for someone going to Easter Island.

I read this book several years ago and it is still one of my all time favorites. Katherine Routledge has an incredible ability to describe the world around her from out fitting the boat to the difficulty of navigating the eastern coast of South America she is able to describe the world in such a way you feel that you are there. The incredible thing about the book is what she is describing takes place in 1916. She is able to give you the feeling that you are taking a global sailing trip and exploring the island first hand.

please get in touch with me, I have a book that I have had for twenty some odd years I know that after researching Rockwell Kent that someone can give me a historical and monetary value, it was edited by Rockell Kent in 1939, it has the most beutiful paintings from world famous painters. Hence the title World famous Paintings.

A glorious story of adventure when Kent and two friends sailed on a private schooner from Labrador and Newfoundland to Greenland. We are carried along through deep fogs, icebergs, storms and calms until the men are shipwrecked in a violent storm on Greenland's rocky shore. The story also presents an absorbing and tender tale of the relationships of Kent with the people of Newfoundland, his two shipmates and the Stone Age Eskimos of Greenland -- who threw him a highly successful party in spite of the language barrier. Kent illustrated the text with over 100 magnificent sketches and woodblock drawings that in themselves are worth the price.

North by East is truly one of the greatest sailing books I have ever read. High adventure through the eyes of a true poet and artist.

Rockwell Kent is arrogant, verbose, and totally charming. N by E is his account of a near-disastrous sailing trip to Greenland via Labrador and the Davis Strait, undertaken in the late 1920's. His beautiful woodcuts illustrate nearly every other page, and Kent's mix of intelligence, enthusiasm, and attitude are the perfect complement to his art.

I found this book as I was looking for a travelogue on Africa before I went there. What a delightful surprise it was. I loved it. I've gone on to read everything that Eddy Harris has written. His self-aware, honest reflections of what he is thinking as well as experiencing are a great read. And as a person academically trained in "cross-cultural sensitivity", I thoroughly enjoyed him saying very "unsensitive" things that any American has to really be thinking in some of his circumstances. I gave this book to my sister who has no interest in Africa and she liked it as much as me. It's just a fun (and educational!) read.

This book was greatly informative of what modern Africa is like. Many of us have misconceptions or just a vague knowledge of the so-called "Dark Continent". Harris opens it up for us. I found his courage and his adventurous spirit to be both touching and inspirational. My imaginings manifested themselves this year when I treked through Spain on the Camino de Santiago- where I met with and engaged the culture, the elements and my own will. The process of discovery and adventure outside commercial tourisim is the REAL way to travel. With travel we change the way we think of where we live ... this book encourages this philosophy and will hopefully provoke people to take some time and go off to discover something. I encourage all readers to discover this book. It will challenge you and the enrichment you recieve may surprise. Thank you, Harris.

The first three fourth of the book was amazing. The author painted a clear picture of the places he visited and the people who lived in the places he visited. I was, however, at times a bit annoyed by his failure to go beyond poverty and corruption to find the many positive images of the land and the people. I am an African who was born and raised in the continent ...and although living in the west has improved my "economical situation" I would not change the memories of my childhood for anything.

I also felt that Mr. Harris rushed through the last couple of chapters of the book. They lack the detailed imagery as well as the enthusiasm that was exhibited for the first three fourth of the book.

Still, I thought this was the best travel book I read on Africa.

This is quite possibly THE best non-fiction book I have ever read. It is a triumph of superb, lyrical writing and devestatingly honest philosophical reflection. It is a travel book, certainly - Eddy L. Harris, the author of (to my knowledge) four stunning "exploration" books like this one, travels through Africa top to bottom - but so much more.
Harris not only explores his terrain, he explores its people, its customs and the reaction he gets from Africans. At the same time, he explores his own inner being: what did he, as a Blackamerican, expect to get out of Africa? What did he really come to understand? And so on. As much as the book is about Africa the continent (and the reader is treated to descriptions of villages, recreation, transport, jungles, wildlife, etc.), it is about skin color, people, race, generosity, need, pride, and everything else that makes people human.
The description was beautiful and powerful: I would put the book down for the night, and when I started it again, would be transported instantly back to where Harris was and what he was experiencing, without any sense of a break.

This book deals with the generosity of a people who have nothing, thje patient endurance of a people who have been trampled on for centuries. This is not to say that the book was a typical liberal interpretation of the Third World; nor were Harris' experiences as a black man what one might expect. In fact, Harris' honesty was astounding. He described his neuroses about germs (and how he had to get over that in a hurry!), his anger at the condition of the African people, his sadness and pity at the tyranny of black officals. And in South Africa, he found not only a peace which he did not expect, he even felt so overwhelmed he retreated into a formerly white-only luxury hotel, an oasis amid the poverty of the black population. This, of course, was the source of further inner exploration about his guilt and his place as a black man, but an American - a true "Native Stranger."
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Podroze ksztalca wyksztalconych - taki wniosek nasuwa mi sie po przeczytaniu tej pelnej elokwencji, erudycji, dobrych przemyslen, madrej, ciekawej, pelnej interesujacych faktow, zebranych informacji z roznych zrodel ksiazki.

Wiecej wiem dzieki tej ksiazce na przyklad o Piramidach w Egipcie, niz wie moj znajomy, ktory pojechal na wycieczke do Egiptu i umie tylko opowiedziec o cenach za rozne skarabeusze, ktore przywiozl, silnym sloncu i plotki o wspoluczestnikach wycieczki. Dowiedzialem sie o Zaolziu rzeczy, o ktorych nie mialem pojecia, o zbiorach w muzeum Sm,ithsonian w Londynie, pojawil mi sie przed oczyma glosny i zatloczony Bangkok. Jakze ciekawe dokonania ma Polonia w Kanadzie! Jakie dobre oferuje dzieciom ten kraj i jakie sa madre polonijne fundacje i instytucje. Tyle sie pisze bzdur an temat Polonii, ale tak wspaniale sie zorganizowala. Takie sprawy powinny byc szeroko znane w Polsce. Zachecila mnie autorka do odwiedzin Ziemi Swietej, zapachnialo mi "Przeminelo z wiatrem", Jakciem Londonem... ale Ameryka to marzenie zycia, ktore chyba nie spelni sie.

Ksiazka pokazala mi, jak mozna podrozowac madrze, nie tylko z mapa, ale z ksiazkami literackimi, isc ich sladami. Niezwykle erudycyjna ksiazka, przyjemna lektura, lekka, madra i zachecajaca do korzystania ze swiata w przemyslany sposob.

It is a collection of essays about different places that are fascinating. The book is written with talent and love for the poeple and places the author has seen. I found particularly interesting the story of Cairo - looking for the city's characteristics shown in Naguib Mahfouz "Migdag Alley. He is a writer I admire very much and was happy to learn that the Polish born writer likes him to!

Kolejna ksiazka autorki znanej z solidnosci w przedstawianiu faktow. Ksiazka liczy tylko 156 stron, a jednoczesnie zawiera duzy ladunek wiedzy krajoznawczej z az 4 kontynentow. Przyczynia sie wiec do rzeczowego wzbogacenia wiedzy o swiecie kazdego jej czytelnika. Znajdziemy w niej zarowno ciekawe informacje o Ziemi Swietej, bardzo obecnie spopularyzowanej przez pielgrzymke Papieza Jana Pawla II, jak i malo znane fakty z zycia Agaty Chriestie, znanej angielskiej autorki powiesci kryminalnych, jak i wiele innych ciekawostek.

Exceptional. Read this with one eye on Homer's version and the other on Huler's. An epic journey all comes together.

A very interesting book. Scott Huler does a very good job of blending an ancient tale of travel and adventure with his own personal wanderings around Southern Europe. Scott's obsession with "The Odyssey" becomes the reader's obsession too. - Ray Charlton

Back in 2001 author and radio commentator Scott Huler swore that he would never read James Joyce's "Ulysses" after a number of failed efforts to do so. Inevitably, soon afterwards Huler found himself a member of a reading group focused on reading "Ulysses". And Huler found himself thinking more and more about Homer's "Odyssey", the fountain from which "Ulysses" sprang. He determined to re-read "The Odyssey", but then found to his chagrin that he could not "re-read" it because he had never actually read it in the first place, beyond a junior high school exposure to the book which -- like most such high school exposures to the great classics -- was much more an exercise in escaping reading "The Odyssey". So, as a mature adult Huler began genuinely reading the epic poem and became entranced by it, to the point that he decided to undertake a journey to follow Odysseus's path across the Mediterranean and seek to better understand the places experienced and the lessons learned by the ancient Greek hero, "the man of twists and turns." These are lessons applicable to everyday life, it would seem -- not that Huler ever adopts a didactic (or even overtly "inspiring") tone. Rather, "No-Man's Lands" is pleasantly rambling.

"No-man's Lands" is Huler's tale of his journey, as much of a journey through his heart and mind as through the Mediterranean. It is good-natured and thoughtful. And along the way, the reader learns with Huler much about the real soul of "The Odyssey".

At age 44, having finally read James Joyce's Ulysses (which he had vowed never to do), Scott Huler immerses himself in Homer's epic tale, The Odyssey, and embarks on an adventurous six-month pilgrimage to retrace Odysseus's return from the Trojan war to Penelope and Telemachus, his wife and son, in Ithaca.

When Polyphemus the Cyclops demands to know Odysseus' identity, Odysseus replies, "My name is No-man." Later, when the Cyclops cries out, "No-man is killing me!" his fellow Cyclopes think he is not in any trouble. Hence the book's title, and Huler's determination to boldly go where No-man has gone before.

Along the way, we encounter the Lotus-eaters, the Cyclopes, the Laestrygonians, the witch Circe, the kingdom of the dead, the island of the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the cattle of the sun, and enjoy many other episodes.

Whether The Odyssey is historical/geographical or a mythological tale imagined by a poet ("The poets always lie," said Plato), cannot be ascertained. However, Huler quotes many ancient Greek and Roman writers--Thucydides, Strabo, Herodotus, Ovid, Pausanias, Polybius--who provide a plausible itinerary for Odysseus's travels.

Reading Huler's travelogue/memoir is a sheer delight! Filled with self-deprecating humor, No-Man's Lands provides numerous chuckles and laughs. The book is more than slapstick humor, however. The author's critical analyses reveal an impressive knowledge of Homeric questions, and his sensitive judgments takes the answers he learns and sagely applies to our own lives and world.

A very easy to read, enjoyable book. Mr. Jones sets forth his observations on what must have been quite a journey. He is perceptive and maintains an open mind and an adventurous spirit. If you are considering travel to the Far East especially, it is a must read.

Jason's journey makes me feel `connected' to the everyday people he met throughout his journey. This 'connection' is one you can only get from bonding and living with the locals rather than just passing through as a tourist. I appreciate Jason's opinion and experiences because he immersed himself into the lifestyle and culture of the common folk and even stayed in some of their homes. No lavish hotel or tourist style vacation can compare. How many tourists know the Wild Wall of China even exists? I can't wait to take a similar lap westward with my 6-year old son. Thanks for sharing, Jason!

Nomad: Letters From A Westward Lap Of The World by Jason Jones is an inherently fascinating travelogue of backpacking around the world on a mere $40 a day. Detailing unforgettable experiences in 25 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, Nomad is thrilling true life story of adventure, meeting new friends worldwide and viewing truly magnificent sights, as well as the terrible pain of learning about the 9/11 attacks when far from home. So vivid it makes the reader feel as if he or she were personally on the road, Nomad is a recommended pick -- especially for armchair travelers who dream of tramping around the world themselves.

You know, I find most travel books wordy and boring: Over descriptive of minute details, and under descriptive of the culture and people. In a time when world events and struggles are brought close to home, I just want an "every man" set of observations. Mr. Jones gives that in this book.

Shoot, I feel like I could call him 'Jason' after reading this book. It's like you sat down with a buddy after he got back from his big trip, and he told you about the adventure on a Sunday afternoon, over a six-pack of beer. It's disarmingly causal, and it's pleasantly concise.

This is not a history book, it's Jason's (Sorry, Mr. Jones) viewpoint told so you feel like you're walking along beside him. It gives you a glimpse into the world of everyday people around the world without political or media bias. Jason's just a guy, and these are people he meets. It really helps place perspective on the nightly news.

Sometimes I forget that there are everyday people in these other countries, just trying to make it and take care of their families. That's good perspective when we only hear about the leaders of those countries on TV. Jason introduces you to a number of entrepreneurial people who are following their dreams and setting goals, just like us, only halfway around the world.

I'm past my window of opportunity for a world trip backpacking adventure, but I now feel like I've been on one; one with a good friend. Plus, "Nomad" saved me a lot on airfare.

That's why I like this book, and I hope you will too.

I recently found myself recommending this book yet again and I realized that far too few people had commented on it. I used to work at a magazine that had published two excerpts from this book and I was priviliged to help edit Bilger's work for publication.

Bottom line is that this book is sorely overlooked, despite Bilger's New Yorker affiliation and the various "best of" anthologies that many of these pieces appeared in. Bilger may be the best science writer working today - but that seems like an unfair qualification. He's just flat out an excellent journalist and writer, as evidenced by his keen observation and predisposition to rewarding literary style arcs in journalism. When Tom wolfe first coined the term 'New Journalism' I'm pretty sure this is exactly what he had in mind. In addition to the immense pleasures of the writing itself, in the end you actually learn something. I sincerely hope more people read this book and I continue to scour the New Yorker table of contents for his work.

Bilger calls himself a gonzo journalist, and it may take just that type of writer from the fringes to head out in search of folks who eat squirrel brains or play rolley hole (a marbles game). Yet he proves greatly sympathetic to his subjects (more so than gonzo god Hunter S. Thompson, for example). In the hands of a Faulkner or a Flannery O'Connor, the tales of bullfrog farmers and coon hunters might have become Southern gothic grotesqueries. But Bilger paints them in vividly human colors in ways that might even make you want to go noodling for flatheads (a most unique method of catching catfish). This is a fun look at the lives of people we rarely encounter.

Most of us who live outside the South have adopted the "New South" image, consisting of budding high-tech nodes, car plants in South Carolina, and, of course, the Atlanta Olympics. Bilger shows that unique southern traditions, including those squirrel brains, are still around and thriving. He is not judgemental (although he doesn't seem too anxious to relocate), but rather paints a detailed and sympathetic portrait of a unique and still vibrant rural southern culture.

This is storytelling at its best. I first read one of the essays in this book in the New Yorker and right away I knew I'd be looking to read everything that Burkhard Bilger writes. This book contains eight essays but I think of them more as real-life stories. In the table of contents each essay title has a subtitle. Even they are a pleasure to read, each one beginning with the words "In which". To give you an idea of what I mean, here's the subtitle for the essay on moonshining: "In which the age of the microbrewery meets the modern police state, with intoxicating results".

In the introduction the author tells us how he started writing these tales about the South. He was living in Massachusetts and decided he wanted to get a coonhound which he knew, and missed, from growing up in Oklahoma. But finding a coonhound in New England wasn't easy. He says "A few people had heard rumors of such dogs, but none had actually seen one in the flesh." He ended up at the home of a breeder who handed him a magazine "American Cooner". The author said "It was the strangest publication I had ever seen." And so began his journey in search of life outside the popular culture which is all most of us know, beyond the "range of most antennas".

Each of the essays is about a tradition, or sport, or way of life that is in danger of dying out, some of them illegal, some not. He visits a woman in Oklahoma who breeds coonhounds and hunts racoons more than 340 nights a year, a man in Kentucky who hunts and eats squirrels, and a man in Georgia who owns a fish hatchery, frog farm, and wild hog preserve. Each of these stories is, in the end, about people and this is where Bilger's writing really shines. He knows how to write about people better than almost anyone else I've read. I read alot of non-fiction and profiles of people and I know it's not easy to write about people in a way that gives the reader the sense that they now know that person, at least a little. The writer spends a few days with someone, hangs out with them, talks to them for hours. Then he has to sit down and from all those hours pick just the right details, just the right quotes, just the right observations, to make that person seem real on the page. And Bilger has mastered that art.

Beyond the people, he also puts the stories into a larger, sometimes historical, context. In the story on cockfighting he goes to Louisiana where some people are reluctant to talk to him even though it's one of the few states where the sport is still legal. He tells about the popularity of the sport in different parts of the world and in the early history of America, when it was not only legal but a "fashionable amusement". In fact it didn't begin to be banned until the 19th century, and New York in 1867 "became the first city to ban all blood sports." The author talks about the efforts to outlaw the sport in the few states that still allow it, and he does mention animal rights activists but he doesn't interview any. He doesn't seem to be trying to write an unbiased account, and if there's any doubt about where the author's sympathies lie, that doubt will be dispelled by the time you get to the last paragraph of this essay which gives us his view (brilliantly written, I think) of modern civilized America.

The final story is about marbles. Yes, marbles. A specific game called rolley hole, which he tells us "is to other marble games as chess is to checkers". It's about the near extinction of the game and how it was revived by a folklorist, and how the revival led to, among other things, an international competition in England. Even if you know nothing about marbles, even if you've never heard of rolley hole, this story will have you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what this is all about. But in a larger sense this story is also about how and why life is changing in our country and whether anything can be done about that, even by a well-meaning folklorist. The last few pages are reflective and philosophical and I was left not quite sure whether to feel sad or hopeful.

Make no mistake about it, the author likes the people whose stories he tells. He writes about each of them with great warmth and affection. And reading this book made me feel happy to be in this world with all its strangeness.