Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.41
EAN num: 9781564406231
ISBN number: 1564406237
Label: Globe Pequot Pr
Manufacturer: Globe Pequot Pr
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 420
Printing Date: 1995-10
Publishing house: Globe Pequot Pr
Sale Popularity Level: 1053159
Studio: Globe Pequot Pr
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Amazon.com:
To recapture 'the sense that the sidewalk in front of [his] house is connected, physically, with every other place on Earth' -- and inspired by Tibetan ritual, Chinese fortune cookies and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s axiom that 'Strange travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God' -- Greenwald set himself a unique fortieth birthday challenge: 'To travel from Oakland, California, to Oakland, California, without leaving the ground.' This is the story of his journey around a planet covered with very good people and very bad roads.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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the reason that i didn't really enjoy "the size of the world" is because mr. greenwald seems more heck-bent on letting the reader know what a hip and happening guy he is than on actually, y'know, traveling and stuff. he tells us all about how he left his parents' east coast home at an early age, hitchhiking with something like five bucks and a dime bag of pot. how bohemian. there are also several other examples which i can't really remember right now, i remember him talking about his huge jazz collection when it was really inappropriate and unnecessary to the story for him to do so. also he spends the majority of the book pining over his bondgirl of a traveling companion (the best quote of the entire book is "if intellegence is an aphrodisiac then she's an oyster dinner" or something like that). he demonstrates remarkable journalistic restraint by leaving it to the reader to discover that she's totally out of his league. basically, "the size of the world" reads like a college indierock geek's diary, forced and heavy handed coolness and everything. that's forgivable if you're eighteen. if you're forty and a professional journalist its a crime against dignity and good taste. also its boring. you have to give him credit for trying, though. i'm just sitting here panning it over the computer. makes you wonder who's really the geek, huh?
come to think of it, any apparantly average forty year old who actively pursues a twentysomething knockout like he's brad pitt is pretty cool after all. i take all the bad things back.
Rated by buyers 
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First, I'm not real generous when it comes to giving a full "five stars" and have read easily over 100 travel essays. This book is the most enjoyable and enlightening I've read. I very first read it over 2 years ago and have given copies out to several friends. Each one loved it.
I just picked it up again (a real rarity for me). It's every bit as good as I recalled. Insightful with respect to both the places he visits as well as the author's introspection. Wonderful imagery- articulate, adjective-filled.
Read this book.
Rated by buyers 
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I thought this book was going to be about a man who traveled around the world without the benefit of airplanes. What the very first two-thirds seems to be about is a man who is trying to beat the clock to get to Nepal in time to join an expedition to Mount Kailas. The universe seems to be hell-bent on preventing this from happening. Once this situation is resolved, the rest of the book is much more interesting. And if you can overlook the fact that the author is trying to actually get somewhere on a certain date, his adventures are a lesson in ingenuity. I was disappointed that there were no maps in the book, sending me to my atlas on a regular basis. Not that there is anything wrong with a little self-education, but when you are sitting at a coffee shop, the maps would have come in handy. I admire Greenwald for undertaking such a arduous journey. I also admire his ability to meet and connect with such interesting characters along the way. Maybe traveling alone left him more open for these encounters. The book left me wanting to see those places he loved and avoid those he didn't, but I think I'll fly.
Rated by buyers -
This midlife-crisis-pilgrimage-travelogue is not as large in scope as its name implies. Still it is a very readable and entertaining assortment of short takes on an unorthodox trip around the world and through the author's restless mind. Greenwald so loves the Tibet region, though, that one feels he failed really to enjoy the the long trip through the rest of the big world in his eagerness to get there before dashing home. Ah, well, it was his kora, and we can only hope he takes us along on his subsequent adventure.
Rated by buyers -
This midlife-crisis-pilgrimage-travelogue is not as large in scope as its name implies. Still it is a very readable and entertaining assortment of short takes on an unorthodox trip around the world and through the author's restless mind. Greenwald so loves the Tibet region, though, that one feels he failed really to enjoy the the long trip through the rest of the big world in his eagerness to get there before dashing home. Ah, well, it was his kora, and we can only hope he takes us along on his subsequent adventure.
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