Fresh-Air Fiend by Paul Theroux

 

In this anthology, Paul Theroux writes about various trips he has taken around the world.  Although many identify him as an author who writes about train trips, his preferred method of travel is kayaking or sailing around coastal lands.  In this book, he talks about his trips in Hawaii, Easter Island and Palawan.  He also talks about travel in the United States which was the first I had read of his travels here.  He spends a lot of time in Cape Cod and surrounding areas kayaking and also discusses traveling in Florida.

But it's not all self-travel.  He talks quite a bit about his time in Africa with the Peace Corps and how he started his travel book writing along with the novels he writes.  He also spends time talking about China and a trip he took down the Yangtze River and areas adjacent such as Hong Kong before the handover.

In an interesting ending to the book, he has articles about other travel writers, all of whom he knew.  He discusses Bruce Chatwin, John McPhee, V.S. Pritchett, Graham Greene, William Simpson and Rajat Neogy and it is interesting to see his take on other travel writers and his generosity in talking about them.

I came to know Theroux's writing through his novel, The Mosquito Coast and then started reading his travel books.  He is an American author, although he lived in England for seventeen years while married and raising his family.  He has traveled and written about his travels all over the world and he descries the 'travel' of most tourists who have a tailored experience set up for them by others.  This book is another in his many travel books that readers will enjoy and it is recommended for nonfiction readers who enjoy learning about the physical world around them.