The Traveler's Tales publishers have produced another hard-to-put-down read with The Road Within, the latest in their series of "experiential" guides, which is "based on a simple and ancient premise: that the experience of other travelers provides our best map to a strange land." With this book the land is uncharted indeed, as it seeks to delve into the mysteries of the human heart and soul. Authors such as Annie Dillard, Huston Smith, Natalie Goldberg, and Barry Lopez use their travels in the exterior world to do some interior navigation. Based on the fact that "some journeys are destined to alter our lives irrevocably," this is a guidebook that can accompany you to any destination--where memories, not maps, make the terrain most palatable and exciting.


From Library Journal
Editors Sean, James, and Tim O'Reilly have gathered stories about voyages?physical, cultural, spiritual, emotional, and psychic?that have had deep and profound changes on the lives of the traveler. A biologist sees a spectacular display of bioluminescence of squid, a photographer finds his first sense of what it is to be truly alive during a walking trip around Lake Superior, and a rabbi in Jerusalem on pilgrimage finds his daily "mikvah," or ritual bath, allows him to be reborn. The one drawback is that some of the shorter stories do not fully grasp the essence of the editors' premise?how journeys alter life irrevocably. This is still recommended for medium and large public libraries.?David Schau, Kanawha Cty. P.L., Charleston, W.Va.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Independent Publisher
This hefty and fantastically varied collection of on-the-road enlightenment is an intimate travelogue best savored upon returning home, rather than read as a travel appetizer. Edited by the three O'Reilly brothers, founders of the Travelers' Tales Guides, these stories prompt readers to return, inwardly, to their own transforming moments, and savor the blend of these writers' stories with their own. Though sharing a spiritual component, each tale contains the loose semblance of an unsentimental lesson; even one as obvious as this: The journalist can't always stay out of the story ("The Serpent," by Dennis Covington). Understanding each writer's transformation, and the circumstances which precipitated it, doesn't require membership in an organized religion, just a reader curious about the world, with a few road trips under their belt. "My religion usually depends on what holiday I do or do not want to celebrate, or the biases and proclivities of the country or people I happen to be visiting," writes Marael Johnson in "Psalm Journey." And her words suggest the opinions of many, though not all, of the other writers in this collection. There are human-against-nature stories, still-quiet-moment stories and Dorothy-you're-not-in-Kansas-anymore stories, each a powerful life lesson from what the O'Reillys call "that great and hard teacher: Travel." It is a lucky reader who returns home from an adventure with their memories, a warm sofa, a blanket and this book.


Book Description
The Road Within is a book of transformation, of lessons learned, maps drawn and burned, and spiritual blessings bestowed by that great and hard teacher — travel. Learn what mystics and saints have always known — that wondrous things await people who are in touch with themselves, with the world, and with God. Authors featured in this very different kind of travel book include Annie Dillard, Huston Smith, Natalie Goldberg, Andrew Harvey, Barry Lopez, and Bill Buford.


The publisher, O'Reilly and Associates
The Road Within is a very different kind of travel book, a venture into the hidden territory of the human spirit and heart. It is a book of transformation, of lessons learned, maps drawn and burned, and blessings bestowed by that great and hard teacher: travel. Some journeys are destined to alter our lives irrevocably. All of us have had experiences while traveling that have changed our personal view of the world. Somehow we come back from travel changed, our perceptions broadened, our consciousness clearer -- a feeling of being closer to who we really are. Once we have had a taste of this kind of change, we can't get enough of it or learn too much about the process. Other peoples' experiences can help us understand the dimensions of this inner journey. The Road Within will help you understand what all the great mystics and visionaries of the world have always known -- that you are closer to yourself, the world, and God than you can imagine and that wondrous things await you. Here is a book that will change your life.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Road Within is a very different kind of travel book, a venture into the hidden territories of the human spirit and heart. It is a book of transformation, of lessons learned, maps drawn and burned, and spiritual blessings bestowed by that great and hard teacher: travel. It will show you what the great mystics and saints have always known - that you are closer to yourself, the world, and God, than you can possibly imagine, and that wondrous things await you on your journeys.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal