Full Circle: a Pacific Journey with Michael Palin by Michael Palin, Basil Pao
Following the hugely popular and successful Around the World in 80 Days and Pole to Pole, Michael Palin set off to meet another challenge: an anti-clockwise circumnavigation of the world's largest ocean, the Pacific. Eighteen countries border the vast expanse of sea that is the Pacific. Palin travelled through them by air, train, boat, car, and on foot, exploring some of the most beautiful landscapes on earth. As he moved through different countries he met the wonderfully diverse communities that make up their populations, many of whom lead far from ordinary lives. Whether he's talking to head-hunters in Borneo or eating maggots in Mexico, Palin recounts his adventures in a vivid and lively style that brilliantly evokes the full colour and richness of the Pacific Rim. Editorial Reviews Amazon.com Review Michael Palin has certainly been busy since his days with Monty Python's Flying Circus. In Full Circle, Palin and a film crew go on a year-long adventure visiting 18 countries along the Pacific Rim. The film was eventually made into a 10-part PBS series, to which this book serves as a companion. Not for nothing is this part of the world called the Ring of Fire; volcanoes punctuate the landscape, and Palin even climbs one still smoking from a recent eruption. But the difficult landscape is only one challenge in this at times hair-raising, at times hilarious, always fascinating journey around the world's largest ocean. In the Philippines, Palin witnesses psychic surgery: on the Urubamba River, Palin simultaneously clings for his life to a dugout canoe as he shoots the rapids and keeps up with England's progress in the World Cup via shortwave radio. Whether he's visiting a Gulag camp in Siberia or chowing down on maggots in Mexico, Palin meets the challenges of rough travel with grace, courage, and more than a little humor. Full Circle is fun to read, includes many color photographs from Palin's adventures, and makes a terrific addition to the armchair traveler's bookshelf. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Library Journal Palin and his associates spent nearly a year touring the Pacific Rim developing and videoing a BBC program. Beginning on a small northern island, the group circles through 18 countries bordering the Pacific Ocean. In each area, Palin highlights something unique, such as slave labor camps or volcanoes. Palin's prior affiliation with Monty Python's Flying Circus has made him well known in the UK, but less so in the United States. Reading his day-by-day record of the journey, he includes personal feelings, anxieties, and thrills. The material, personalized with his creative viewpoint, is often intriguing. Despite publicity-laden acts like eating maggots with natives, he shows himself to be an intelligent, relatively normal, worried father and loving husband. His English pronunciations are generally understood from the context, except when he speaks of going to see geezers: most Americans will fail to fathom for approximately two (amusing) minutes that he is talking about geysers. Overall, he is an excellent reader, with a strong, clear voice and meaningful phrasing. The journey is so extensive that no subject receives any in-depth coverage, but the content is generally interesting. Libraries with devout armchair travelers should consider this well-written diary of an unusual trek. Recommended.?Carolyn Alexander, Brigadoon Lib., Salinas, CA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. About the Author Riley Hart is the girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. She's a hopeless romantic. A lover of sexy stories, passionate men, and writing about all the trouble they can get into together. If she's not writing, you'll probably find her reading. Riley lives in California with her awesome family, who she is thankful for everyday. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From AudioFile Let's capture Michael Palin and make him bring us on his next voyage. This one is the circumnavigation of the Pacific Rim, and it's, at times, so frightening that it's probably best that he go without us and just continue to read his journals aloud. He munches maggots and sees the splendors of distant civilizations, all the while injecting historical facts and personal asides. He characterizes his new acquaintances in the dialects and accents of their regions, and every so often a familiar voice from the old Monty Python appears and reminds us that Palin has a marvelous sense of humor. The combination of his glee, his sensitivity and a good headset is a fulfilling way to travel. J.P. An AudioFile Earphones Award winner. 1999 Audio Award for Unabridged Nonfiction. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Publication Details
Title:
Author(s):
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Binding: Hardcover
Published by: BBC Books: , 1997
Edition:
ISBN: 9780563371212 | 0563371218
320 pages.
Book Condition: Good
dj worn
Pickup available at Book Express Warehouse
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