Name: Travellers All
Brand: Austin Macauley Publishers
SKU: 9781528994804
Price: 33.99 GBP
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)
Author: Mark L Salter

An attractive, personal, superbly curated evocation of the golden age of travel right up to the present day. Travellers All is a meticulously researched work on the history of travel writing and travel writers, and seeks to rekindle a love (and hate occasionally) of the works of our finest writers.

There is a thematic approach which includes twenty-seven chapters of commentary on the experiences of the various authors on such topics as packing, means of travel, attitudes to local people, sex and love on the road, companions, food and drink, reasons for travel etc. Each chapter has sections, for example ‘Everyday Living’ includes a commentary (with short indicative quotes) on accommodation, daily chores, cooking, bugs, sleep (or lack of it), general filth, conversation, entertainment and so on.

A large number of the classic (and sometimes less than classic) travel books are visited and the author reflects on how travel has evolved and changed. It is hoped that brief extracts from illuminates like Cable or Crane, Thesiger or Theroux, Kinglake or Kingsley and Bryson or Bridges will develop, with the commentary, an empathy for the hopes and adventures of some wonderful works. In passing, the marvellous tapestry of past and present corners of our world, as well as of its people, are revealed through different travellers’ eyes.

Mark L Salter was brought up in isolated cottages, first in Warwickshire and then the North Oxfordshire Cotswolds. He studied geography at Manchester and then post-graduate agricultural economics at Hertford College Oxford.

After a spell with the Ministry of Defence Intelligence Department, he taught in Bridgnorth in Shropshire. He has travelled widely, both independently and as leader of group travel. He lives with his wife, Caroline, and has three children – Corin, Rosalind and Jack.

Customer Reviews

5.0

1 reviews

Craig Turner

Mark Salter is both well read and well-travelled. That is evident in abundance throughout the book, as it explores a vast variety of travel experiences through the eyes of almost every traveller you can think of, and a few more! Delving not just back in time, but into almost every corner of the globe as we know it. This book will not tell you where to go, when or how to travel but it will inspire you with a richness of places and peoples that have been explored across the ages. Giving a window on opportunities which will make your mind (and body) wander. The book takes a thematic approach to travel, diving deep in to the exploits of others regarding ‘Packing’, ‘Means of Travel’, ‘Eating and Drinking’ and ‘Landscapes’. Topics we would all perhaps typically associate with travel. And whilst I began to read the chapters in chronological order I was soon distracted by later chapters on ‘Route Finding’, ‘Questions of Style’ and ‘Revolting Moments’. Therein lies the hidden beauty of this book. You can navigate your own winding route; be distracted by what appeals to your own interests, double back, take two steps forward and not follow the logical and linear routes that perhaps others would advise. Not so much a travel book but a book where you can travel your own path. Personal favourites included ‘Flights of Fancy’, a chapter about those who embellish the truth. Partial truths, ego-boosting and misinformation are not just the communication currencies of social media influencers but have been in evidence for a long time prior. “Disguise’ and “Humour’ also drew my attention; the latter in my opinion being an invaluable asset for travel but so often over looked in the travel literature. If you are looking for something more instructive, then the last chapter ‘The Top Ten” travel books, which also has an additional eight ‘also rans’ will almost certainly give the most experienced traveller or travel reader inspiration to expand their personal library. Travellers All has something that will appeal to all travellers; no matter your level of experience and wanderlust. So, I will borrow from the authors approach in this book, whereby he set out ‘to represent an extraordinary world perceived by some extraordinary people and if this in any part comes over then I have done, at least in part, some sort of job’. I would go as far as saying the author has done a great job. This deeply thoughtful and masterfully crafted book will make you want to pack your bag almost immediately to find those magical remnant corners of the world (and your mind) untouched by materialism. At the very least, it will make you seek out some almost forgotten texts of true travel and exploration that will feed your soul.