In the summer of 1997, Tim Doherty set off alone on a daunting round-the-world cycle tour, which turned out to be even more awe-inspiring than he could have hoped. For this book, he has taken the most fascinating and humorous experiences from his diaries and woven them together into a collection of true short-stories.
With many beautiful photographs, sketches and maps, “This Breathtaking World” is a vivid and very personal account of life on the road. The title has a double-meaning, as the author is a chronic asthma sufferer. Tim encountered many problems, but the varied cultures and fantastic scenery along the way were his daily rewards. What remains with him most, however, is his impression of the people in each of the countries he cycled across; their remarkable generosity and hospitality.
Tim completed his tour successfully, finishing up in his home town of Sheffield, England, more than two years after he’d cycled off from there, having pedalled a total of 21,688 miles.
Although Tim finished his trip more than 10 years ago his report is timeless, as is cycling around the globe. The black and white pictures and some drawings add a personal touch to this book. A nice read for cyclists and arm chair travellers.
Doherty, Tim
This Breathtaking World: Around the World by Bicycle 1997 – 1999.
London, Lulu, 2009. 978-1-4452-2150-2. This title is for sale at both Amazon and Lulu as paperback.
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on Apr 11th, 2010
@ 22:07:
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make
on Jun 2nd, 2010
@ 14:44:
I actually found this book to be slightly dull for the following reasons:
There seemed to be too much focus on the faxes he was sending, or calls he was making to either his mum or girlfriend and then the interaction between them passing on the messages.
There was scant information or detail about the places he actually cycled through.
The reporting of conversations he had with various people he met were like a child had written them. For instance, on one occasion he meets some guys who are going to climb Mount Ararat and for some completely unexplained reason they just give him a tshirt.
the print quality is that the photographs are actually printed on the pages rather than a glossy paper section in the middle, therefore some images are almost impossible to view.
After I read this book (because of this recommendation) I actually found books written by Anne Mustoe that are vastly superior in the language used, the vividness of description, the routes that she takes (all her journeys were following historic routes) and the empathy that you develop for her almost instantly.