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Loading... A fortune-teller told meby Tiziano Terzani
None. I found this book quite by chance in Heathrow airport and that in itself is apt. How good it would it be if we could all spend at least a year of our lives traveling only by land or sea? Forgive me for saying this but British ‘idiots’, like their American counterparts have sucked all joy out of air travel in their relentless pursuit of higher margins and lower fares and ‘secure’ airports, these days it’s all self-check-in and paying extortionate amounts for your excess baggage, it’s faceless, corporate and incredibly unfriendly. Journalist Tiziano Terzani was told by a fortune teller that he most definitely should not travel by air for a year and he took the advice to heart and spent a year traveling by land, train, cab, bus, steamer, elephant, or cruise ship. As such this is a wonderful book that captures the real rhythm of each Asian country, the smells, the soul, the heart and most of all the warmth of the people. I thought the fact that Terzani goes in search of a local ‘fortune-teller’ in each country he visits would become repetitive but it really didn’t. Well done! (  ) stuartechambers | Aug 13, 2012 |  This was an interesting memoir of travels in the Far East via train, car, and boat. ( ) krin5292 | Jul 2, 2012 | Ich hatte auf eine Art Reisereportage gehofft, statt dessen war es leider ein Buch von einem Esoterik-Gläubigen Journalisten, so dass das Buch sehr diffus pseudo-religös war. Dies hat mir alles verdorben. Der Autor kann zwar schreiben, doch das was er schreibt hat mich die ganze Zeit nur aufgeregt. (  ) volumed42 | Jan 26, 2012 | un libro con un titolo evocativo e pieno di suggestioni ; l'ho trovato molto coinvolgente e mai scontato nelle descrizioni e nelle riflessioni (  ) mara4m | Jun 8, 2011 | This is one of the best travel books I've read and I've read a lot!! I think most readers (whether they travel internationally or not) will find this to be an informative and enjoyable read. (  ) Jcambridge | Mar 16, 2011 | no reviews | add a review
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Terzani's odyssey across Asia is full of revelations and reflections on the dramatic changes underway in Asia. Having spent two decades on the continent, he brings a deep love for the place to his journeys, but also the eyes of someone troubled by the changes he sees. Burma and Laos, finally open to outside contact, are now funnels for AIDS and drugs; Thailand has been traumatized by its rapid development; China is an anarchy fueled by money rather than ideology, where Mao has been transformed into the god of traffic. Surrounded by the loss of diversity wrought by modernism, Terzani asks if the "missionaries of materialism and economic progress" aren't destroying the continent in order to save it. Fortunately, there is a flip side to his occasionally dispiriting commentary, one that Terzani discovers in his hunt for fortunetellers. Through his side trips to seers who read the soles of his feet, the ashes of incense, and even the burned scapula of sheep, it becomes clear that the Orient of legends, myths, and magic still determines people's lives as much as the quest for money. By staying earthbound, Terzani lived to tell of an extraordinary journey through the ever-shifting kaleidoscope of Asia.--Lesley Reed
(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:46:56 -0500)
"Warned by a Hong Kong fortune-teller not to risk flying for a whole year, Tiziano Terzani - a vastly experienced Asia correspondent - took what he called "the first step into an unknown world....It turned out to be one of the most extraordinary years I have ever spent: I was marked for death, and instead I was reborn."" "Traveling by foot, boat, bus, car, and train, he visited Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Geography expanded under his feet. He consulted soothsayers, sorcerers, and shamans and received much advice - some wise, some otherwise - about his future. With time to think, he learned to understand, respect, and fear for older ways of life and beliefs now threatened by the crasser forms of Western modernity. He rediscovered a place he had been reporting on for decades. And it reinvigorated him."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)
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