A Sense of Place: Great Travel Writers Talk About Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration (Travelers' Tales)

This is a great writing book, period. It's not just for travel writers. One for the keeper shelf.

Very good...: I bought this book as soon as I read the list of writers who were interviewed for it. I was not disappointed. The experiences these writers have goes far beyond just two weeks of vacation like the rest of us. They have really seen a lot of the world - and not just the vacation spots. I really enjoyed reading all the different perspectives of these people. And they are just that: people who have seen something different and have shared their thoughts and experiences.

There were one or two writers that I did not care for, but I enjoyed reading their interviews anyway.

I was a little bit surprised to see Author Frommer's name on the list because he does guide books. I have used and enjoyed the Frommers Guides for years. It show more was good to read about him and his life as well.

One way I judge a book is how disappointed I am when the book is nearing its conclusion. I felt that most of these interviews were too short. I wanted to hear more from them. I have looked at and purchased some books of some of the persons interviewed. I guess I can learn more about them from their books. show less

it is indeed very nice to read a little bit about the authors and to hear them speak about their lives and what inspired them.

It is a diverse list of authors, each with his or her own individual style and history. What comes through clearly, is that all of them seem to have a deep connection with the land, and this is accompanied by a sense of humility. They are courteous as well

The book does bring the authors close to us. It is a pity that we don't have this sort of book for Asian authors. I would welcome it.

This is a book of interviews with the best travel writers of our time. Shapiro travels to talk with each of these writers ostensibly to draw out of them tips on travel writing and how they transfer their experiences into the printed word. Instead – or in addition to – Shapiro learns about the connections that these travelers have made with their homes. Some things don’t come as a surprise: Paul Theroux is grumpy and negative (he was born in Medford after all), Jan Morris is kindly and generous woman, Rick Steves is geekily enthusiastic about European travel, and Frances Mayes is not an author I intend to read again. But a lot of these writers I knew little or nothing about and they all were fascinating in some way. So below I’ve show more listed some of their books to add to my every growing list as well as quotes from the appropriate interviews. And maybe one day I’ll join their illustrious ranks.

TIM CAHILL

Lost in My Own Backyard

FRANCES MAYES

JONATHAN RABAN

Hunting Mr. Heartbreak

“It does seem to me that a kind of forgetting has to take place first, because otherwise you’re just landed up with the shapelessness of the journey instead of that imagined shape the journey begins to take on once you’re far enough away from it for the irrelevancies to have leaped out of it, and you left with various essential bits which you can then draw on when you write.” - p. 57

REDMOND O’HANLON

No Mercy: A Journey Into the Heart of the Congo )1997 Trawler (2005)

ISABEL ALLENDE

BILL BRYSON

“I like the business of just going somewhere. The only thing I can do is spy on the world. I sit there and watch what’s happening. … I cannot interact with people; it’s against my nature, and so what I do is spy. It means that you pay attention to the little things in life.” – p. 139

PAUL THEROUX

The Old Patagonian Express

“Books are not written by angels – they’re written by human beings who have problems. If we were normal, balanced individuals, we would not write books.” – p. 144

“What are the most important components of compelling travel writing?

Only one. Seeing a place as though for the first time and truthfully describing your experience of it.” – p. 153

ARTHUR FROMMER

Reissue of Europe on $5 a Day

PICO IYER

The Global Soul

“The reason I travel is to get turned on my head and shown how I’m wrong and get spun around so quickly that I can’t tell right from wrong.” – p. 201

RICK STEVES

SIMON WINCHESTER

Outposts

A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and The Great California Earthquake of 1906.

JEFF GREENWALD

The Size of the World

Future Perfect

“The one thing human beings do better than anything else is communicate. A lot of communication is nasty, but a lot of it is very useful and valuable. That’s why, among all people I admire in the world, the top person on my list is Arthur C. Clarke… [He] came up with the concept of the communication satellite, which is one of the most useful tools that’s been invented in the past hundred years.” – p. 261

ERIC NEWBY

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush

Love and War in the Apennines

Round Ireland in Low Gear

SARA WHEELER

Terra Incongnita: Travels in Antarctica

BRAD NEWSHAM

ALL THE RIGHT PLACES: TRAVELING LIGHT THROUGH CHINA, JAPAN, AND RUSSIA

Take Me With You

“What’s going to engage someone is not the description of a place so much; they will remember the stories of people. We can all relate to human dramas and dilemmas. When I read a travel book, or anything, I want to know about the people involved. It’s nice to have a sense of the writer. I want to know enough about the writer so that I think that person is interesting.” P. 301

TOM MILLER

Jack Ruby’s Kitchen Sink

Trading With The Enemy

“One of the basic things when I do writing workshops is say, after your first draft go through you manuscript and circle every first-person reference and see how many of them you can knock out. When you get down to the absolute minimum, you’ve improved you manuscript a great deal.” - p. 326

PETER MATTHIESSEN

The Snow Leopard

Tigers in the Snow

JAN MORIS

Manhattan ‘45

Oxford (1965)

Coast to Coast: A Journey Across 1950s America show less

I couldn't get through this, too dry.