Why read The Way of the World?

Book cover of The Way of the World

Book description

In 1953, twenty-four-year old Nicolas Bouvier and his artist friend Thierry Vernet set out to make their way overland from their native Geneva to the Khyber Pass. They had a rattletrap Fiat and a little money, but above all they were equipped with the certainty that by hook or by…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Way of the World as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Chris Stowers

Author

The Way of the World details a journey made in 1953 from Geneva to the Khyber Pass in an unreliable Fiat. The elements of adventure, reportage, whimsy and hope are gathered in this permanent resident of my bookshelf. I often re-read this book, penned from the diaries of then-24-year-old Nicholas Bouvier, and wish I had been born 40 years earlier so that I could have joined him and his artist friend Thierry Vernet on their epic road trip!

Bouvier, a Swiss national cited as a "traveler, writer, and photographer," transcends these rather workaday classifications in this seminal volume, becoming more…

From Chris' list on inspiring a passion for travel and life as a foreign correspondent.

Christopher Corr

Author

It’s the account of 2 young Swiss men who in 1953 decide to drive from Geneva to the Khyber Pass in a beat-up and tiny Fiat Topolino with very little money but with big plans. He shared the journey with his good friend Thierry Vernet, an artist whose powerful graphic drawings illustrate the text.

Bouvier begins the story with some wise words about the nature of travel: "Travelling outgrows its motives. It soon proves sufficient in itself. You think you are making the trip, but soon it is making you- or unmaking you."

They had an arduous journey with all…

From Christopher's list on for travelling vagabonds.