“I walk long distances as is my habit, making notes of cultural anomalies.”
By Hardie Karges
CreateSpace, 17.50, 322 pages
The United Nations officially recognizes 192 member nations. Hey, wouldn’t it be a trip to try to visit as many as humanly possible within a short period of time? That’s the premise of this self-published book by a fifty-something American working his way through a midlife crisis. Beginning in Buenos Aires in October of 2008 and ending two years later in the South Pacific, Karges the author backpacks to 139 different countries before returning home to Los Angeles. Disappointingly, the resulting book isn’t a description of different cultures and travel experiences’ richness, but a personal diary that happens to include a countdown of border crossings and airport landings. Open the book on anypage, country, continent, and the commentary will be the same: how’s the coffee street food wireless connection local grocery story mattress? Although the author seems to find his musings on the countries he’s visited, they are not appealing to this reviewer. Written in the short, distracted and disjointed style of a personal blog posting, with all the IMHO and LOLs left firmly intact, this is a book that would have benefited from a good editor. Not recommended.
Reviewed By Linda Frederiksen
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