List Books During Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World
| Original Title: | Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World |
| ISBN: | 0486261131 (ISBN13: 9780486261133) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Mark Twain
Paperback | Pages: 712 pages Rating: 3.97 | 1383 Users | 107 Reviews
Mention Based On Books Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World
| Title | : | Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World |
| Author | : | Mark Twain |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 712 pages |
| Published | : | September 1st 1989 by Dover Publications (first published January 1st 1897) |
| Categories | : | Travel. Nonfiction. Classics. Humor. Adventure. History. Autobiography. Memoir |
Interpretation In Favor Of Books Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World
"We sai1ed for America, and there made certain preparations. This took but little time. Two members of my family elected to go with me. Also a carbuncle. The dictionary says a carbuncle is a kind of jewel. Humor is out of place in a dictionary." — Following the EquatorSo begins this classic piece of travel writing, brimming with Twain's celebrated brand of ironic, tongue-in-cheek humor. Written just before the turn of the century, the book recounts a lecture tour in which he circumnavigated the globe via steamship, including stops at the Hawaiian Islands, Australia, Fiji Islands, New Zealand, India, South Africa and elsewhere.
View the world through the eyes of the celebrated author as he describes a rich range of experiences — visiting a leper colony in Hawaii, shark fishing in Australia, tiger hunting, diamond mining in South Africa, and riding the rails in India, an activity Twain enjoyed immensely as suggested by this description of a steep descent in a hand-car:
"The road fell sharply down in front of us and went corkscrewing in and out around the crags and precipices, down, down, forever down, suggesting nothing so exactly or so uncomfortably as a crooked toboggan slide with no end to it. . . . I had previously had but one sensation like the shock of that departure, and that was the gaspy shock that took my breath away the first time that I was discharged from the summit of a toboggan slide. But in both instances the sensation was pleasurable — intensely so; it was a sudden and immense exaltation, a mixed ecstasy of deadly fright and unimaginable joy. I believe that this combination makes the perfection of human delight."
A wealth of similarly revealing observations enhances this account, along with perceptive descriptions and discussions of people, climate, flora and fauna, indigenous cultures, religion, customs, politics, food, and many other topics. Despite its jocular tone, this book has a serious thread running through it, recording Twain's observations of the mistreatments and miseries of mankind. Enhanced by over 190 illustrations, including 173 photographs, this paperback edition — the only one avai1able — will be welcomed by all admirers of Mark Twain or classic travel books.
Rating Based On Books Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World
Ratings: 3.97 From 1383 Users | 107 ReviewsJudgment Based On Books Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World
Mr. Twain was still poignant, but not cynical at this writing. Very witty and, at times, almost breathtaking in descriptive ability. Most of this Volume II is set in India, whereas most of Volume I took place in Hawaii, and is just as illuminating as was the first. If you are a Twain fan but haven't read "Following the Equator" yet, please do.A free Kindle download. I may not ever finish it because I do love reading Mark Twain's quotations and witticisms, but no so much his long and drawn-out prose.* * * * *I just don't think I can finish this, alas and alack.
If anybody tells you Mark Twain wasn't a liberal, find this book, put it in your posession and read every other chapter outloud to that person. Written rather late in his life (1891 or so), this is Twain's nonfiction account of a trip on a passenger ship around the equator. He writes a chapter describing a comic incident aboard ship and then the next chapter is a sober indictment of man's inhumanity to man. The chapters on Australia are most telling. He sees the Australia's treatment of
As usual, a highly entertaining account of Twain travels. This time he travels through the Pacific - Australia, New Zealand, India, Africa mainly - with stops at various islands and smaller countries. The chapters on India were disturbing, detailing murder and suicide in the late 19th century there. My India history is somewhat vague. I had a general idea but the specifics were hard to take. Also hard to take were all of the chapters dealing with the white man's subjugation of black natives -
It took Mark Twain a year to circumnavigate the globe for a lecture tour, which he would then turn into his travel memoir: Following the Equator. In that spirit, I decided to take a year to read the book so that I could approximate the experience as much as possible.Okay, that is a lie. It did take me a year, but that was definitely not the plan. The plan was to read Following the Equator about ten years ago when I bought it and placed it on my shelf. For one reason or another it just sat on
Overall, just okay (**) but there are enough moments that I really liked (****) or found amazing (*****) that I think a three-star rating is more accurate.There are lots of gems here and many of the aphorisms that begin each chapter (attributed to Puddd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar) are masterpieces but, at the end of the day, I have to confess that Twain's brand of humor tends to grow tiresome for me -- especially in a book this long. Having tried the print edition years ago, I listened to the
After Innocents Abroad and Roughing It this was a much rougher journey. I am surprised that Mark Twains wife and daughter accompanied him on this tough adventure. He barely mentions them. This is your real adventure into parts unknown. Twain digs into earlier histories of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, India, as well as his notes from his own earlier journeys. He compares, for example, men only working in the fields in India, and women slaving in Bavaria, and France that he saw before. But he
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