Seven years and 40,000 kilometers around the world

books:


	• Odysseus' Last Stand: The Chronicles of a Bicycle Nomad Dave Stamboulis Sanuk Press, 2005 - 355 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Seven years and 40,000 kilometers around the world

In 1992, Dave Stamboulis began a bicycle trip that was to last seven years and 40,000 kilometers around the world. Odysseus' Last Stand: The Chronicles Of A Bicycle Nomad his his account of his adventures as he bicycled through obscure countries and foreign cultures, taking in all the sights, sounds, and teeming life that can be viewed from the slower and more intimate pace of a bicycle. What motivated Stamboulis to his epic odyssey was the need to slow down in a world that was moving every faster, and to explore the role that the bicycle plays in peoples' lives around the world. Odysseus' Last Stand is also a candid and informative study of an attempt to find his place in a world that is a complex web of tensions between ancient traditions and technological/industrial progress, value differences between the developed and the developing countries. Along the way we are treated with insights, compassion, and a great deal of humor. Enhanced with eight pages of color photographs, Odysseus' Last Stand: The Chronicles Of A Bicycle Nomad is especially recommended reading for armchair travelers, as well as anyone who has thought about traveling the world along the lesser known paths.

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Best of the genre

I've read a fair number of cycling oddessy books because I like the topic. Admittedly, within this genre, it can be rare to find a book that is well written, and even rarer to find one with a compelling narrative. However, this gem scores well on both accounts. The author has a lot of material to draw from, as he describes a 7 year adventure around the globe that takes him to some pretty rough but exciting places. More importantly, the events the author faces have a deep impact on him. He conveys this with thoughtfulness and intelligence, but the text is never preachy. This book does offer a unique and honest perspective on world travel however. The events described really stuck with me after I had turned the last page, and I was sad to see the adventure end. For me, "Odysseus' Last Stand : The Chronicles of a Bicycle Nomad," represents the best of the genre. For a more humorous collection of cycle travel anecdotes, Kurmaskie's Metal Cowboy is quite good.

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What a wonderful journey!

I take my hat off to Dave for pulling this off. He travels 40,000 kms across some of the most inhospitable, yet sometimes beautiful terrain in Japan, China, Nepal, India, Australia, South East Asia, Turkey, across many countries in Europe and finally, through his homeland, the US. He lives in some of these countries for varying periods of time and his entire journey takes 8 years to complete. It is an amazing story of the man and his diverse experiences with humankind. A must read for those who love adventure.

Comprised largely of the detailed journals kept throughout his travels, this narrative of a bicyclist's seven-year, 40,000 kilometer odyssey around the world documents the richness of the planet's sights, sounds, and teeming life as experienced from the saddle of a bicycle. During his journey, the author experiences firsthand the effect of international politics on media-invisible cultures while mingling with an endless array of unusual and wonderful characters. As he immerses himself in the culture of every country he visits, learning the languages and customs as he travels, he witnesses the clash of values between developed and developing worlds and the inherent tensions between tradition and progress. Throughout, he comes to a deep understanding of the role that the bicycle plays not only in his life but also in the lives of the world's citizens.

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