20 years ago, when I heard that Michael Palin was going to go around in the world in 80 days, I thought what a pile of schlock. Get a (semi-)famous man, hustle him on a ship, and see what insights you can get out of him.
Twenty years later, Palin is still hustling on ships and seeing the world, and now I’ve finally read his book. And what do you know, it’s good. I just put down Around the World in 80 Days just a few seconds ago, and I liked it. Most of it was about him traveling on dhows, freighters, and trains but in the end that is what it was about and it was good.
I’ve read Theroux, Dalrymple, and now Palin. Which means I have a whole slew of books ahead of me to read by Dalrymple and Palin and this brings a smile to my face because this means I have so much to read.
We only have so much time in this world and so must always read the good books first.
I’d just like to mention one more thing. I was talking to my older sister the other day, and she knew Michael Palin as the global traveler. She couldn’t give a damn or even know what a Python is. It just shows that one can keep on changing one’s job description until the end of one’s time.
