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World Travel

An Irreverent Guide

ebook
0 of 3 copies available
Wait time: About 11 weeks
0 of 3 copies available
Wait time: About 11 weeks

A guide to some of the world's most fascinating places, as seen and experienced by writer, television host, and relentlessly curious traveler Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain saw more of the world than nearly anyone. His travels took him from the hidden pockets of his hometown of New York to a tribal longhouse in Borneo, from cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai to Tanzania's utter beauty and the stunning desert solitude of Oman's Empty Quarter—and many places beyond.

In World Travel, a life of experience is collected into an entertaining, practical, fun and frank travel guide that gives readers an introduction to some of his favorite places—in his own words. Featuring essential advice on how to get there, what to eat, where to stay and, in some cases, what to avoid, World Travel provides essential context that will help readers further appreciate the reasons why Bourdain found a place enchanting and memorable.

Supplementing Bourdain's words are a handful of essays by friends, colleagues, and family that tell even deeper stories about a place, including sardonic accounts of traveling with Bourdain by his brother, Christopher; a guide to Chicago's best cheap eats by legendary music producer Steve Albini, and more. Additionally, each chapter includes illustrations by Wesley Allsbrook.

For veteran travelers, armchair enthusiasts, and those in between, World Travel offers a chance to experience the world like Anthony Bourdain.


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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 2, 2020
      Woolever, longtime cowriter with the late Bourdain (1956–2018), knits together an impressive food-obsessed travel guide based on her conversations with Bourdain. Flitting from Argentina to Bourdain’s beloved Vietnam, the narrative captures Bourdain’s appreciation of everything from Oaxacan sauces to New York City’s Barney Greengrass restaurant (“If God made anything better, he kept it for himself”) and the “awesomeness” of Hong Kong’s night markets. Entries can be slim—such as “Kenya,” which consists of a dash of history and a quick nod to a restaurant in Kibera­—but the book’s power comes from Bourdain’s joyfully combative stances (“Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands”), unabashed enthusiasm, dense overlay of cinematic references, and world-weary advice (“Sardinia’s the kind of place you better know somebody”). This gloriously messy miscellany of off-kilter observations and lightning-in-a-bottle insights will make one want to read, eat, and experience the world the way Bourdain did. Bourdain’s fans will devour this.

    • Kirkus

      January 15, 2021
      Posthumous selection of Bourdain's thoughts on places exotic and well known, blended into a kind of Baedeker for the hipster set. There's Frankensteining at work here, with Woolever, who worked with Bourdain for nearly 10 years, surrounding his pithy excerpts with the kind of dryly useful information of a standard guidebook--e.g., "Buenos Aires is well served by bus routes, along with a seven-line underground metro system known as Subte, which links the downtown to the outer reaches of the city." When Bourdain kicks in, it's of a different order: "Argentina has the distinction of being home to more head-shrinkers per capita than anywhere else in the world....It's an extraordinary thing, because in many cultures, to confess that you need to even confide in someone is seen as a sign of weakness. Here, everybody does it, and in no way frowns upon it." That's an interesting datum, the kind of thing you tuck away for future reference. Bourdain went to see one of those psychiatrists, confessing, "I feel like Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame--if he stayed in nice hotel suites with high-thread-count sheets." Considering his sad end, the words are revealing. Where Bourdain traveled, drink and excessive eating were sure to follow. In Finland--a place full of people "tough enough to fight off Nazis and Russians"--he ate mystery meat that put "the self-loathing back into drinking" while in Hanoi, Vietnam, for which he had "a deep, abiding love," he taught Barack Obama how to slurp noodles, with a belly-stuffing meal and beer running about $6: "I'm guessing the president doesn't get a lot of state dinners like this." Bourdain went nearly everywhere on the planet, eating and drinking prodigiously along the way. It makes for an exhilarating whirlwind tour, complete with charmingly impressionistic sketches by Allsbrook. It doesn't substitute for a true travel guide, but anyone who loved and misses Bourdain will want this book.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      February 1, 2021
      This is an odd, bittersweet mash-up of a travel guide, covering some 45 countries (Argentina to Vietnam) that Bourdain reported on during his 16 years as a food correspondent for the likes of CNN, Travel Channel, and Food Network. Coauthor Woolever, who collaborated with Bourdain on his cookbook Appetites (2016), completes the project they'd begun before Bourdain tragically took his own life in 2018. Entries are straightforward, beginning with a Bourdain quote--set off in bold blue type--lifted from one of his television episodes on that country, followed by local airport logistics and one or more restaurant entries (with up-to-date contact info), which might include their featured dishes and more Bourdain quotes. Complementary sidebars written by friends and family are sprinkled throughout. Oddly, though, there's no mention of COVID-19, let alone how a traveler might navigate our pandemic world to reach any of these destinations. A surprisingly useful guide, but only for a time and place well beyond ours at the moment.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from September 1, 2020

      A celebrity chef and New York Times best-selling author (e.g., Kitchen Confidential), Bourdain was also a distinguished travelogue. This book, in the works at the time of his death, was completed by longtime coworker/cowriter Woolever. With a 200,000-copy first printing.

      Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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