| Synopsis: |
Taking the form of ten journeys, White Sands is an exploration of why we travel from perhaps Britain's greatest globetrotter. Episodic, wide-ranging, funny and smart, it marks a return to the subject of Dyer's most successful backlist book, Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It, albeit with the wisdom of age. From viewing a lightning field in the Mexican desert by night, to chasing Gauguin's ghost in French Polynesia, from falling in love with a tour guide in the Forbidden City of Beijing to tracking down the house of a childhood idol in LA, Dyer pursues all permutations of the peak experience, explores the voyage through time, and plumbs the effects of distance. In his trademark style he blends travel writing, essay, criticism, and fiction, with a smart and cantankerous wit that is unmatched. Like Alain De Botton's On Travel and Rebecca Solnit's A Field Guide to Getting Lost, this is a book for armchair travelers and slacker philosophers everywhere. |