Traveller

Observations from an American in Exile

By: Michael Katakis, Michael Palin - introduction

Narrated by: Michael Katakis

"How could I have known then with no maps acquired and my bags not yet packed that my journey had already begun? ...The tools of a traveler are compass and map. They calculate distances covered and destinations sought but cannot measure the consequences of experiences on a human heart," writes Michael Katakis in his introduction.

Traveller is a collection of letters and journal entries that bring the immediacy of experience together with perceptive reflections of the author's own past. The entries in this volume are not travel guides. They are more personal, like letters from the most desirable sort of friend. The friend carries the listener with him as he meanders through the medina in Fez or into the hills of Gallipoli. His voice is such that listeners can almost smell the herbs and dusty soil of Crete, and always they are introduced to the people he meets along the way.

For anyone curious about the world, and introduced with a foreword written and read by Michael Palin, Traveller is sure to delight, infuriate and, perhaps most importantly, inspire thought about the complex world around them.©2009 Michael Katakis; (P)2009 Simon & Schuster

A poignant reading of journal entries

Katakis reads his own journal entries from 25+ years sharing insights of people in Africa, Greece, Turkey, Vietnam and several other places. As he notes, he is a traveler, not a tourist.

Not exactly a travelogue

This is my first review. In spite of being an avid reader and world traveler for decades I have not ever felt moved to vent or express until now. Mr. Katakis' travelogue or whatever he intended it to be was definitely not what I expected. It is the indulgence of a far leftwing liberal who actually went as far as to leave the US after Bush's election or the Iraq War declaration or whatever. (I remember a lot of people who threatened to do that, gosh somebody actually did?) I wanted a traveler's book maybe to tell me about the few places I have yet to see. Instead I got the "arrogant American liberal" book whose snipey little remarks reveal a childish attitude that people can be all good or bad (or at least Bush and Cheney can be all bad), that his fellow Americans traveling abroad are embarrassing to him, and that he has some kind of talent for reading his book - sorry maybe it would have been a little bit more bearable if read by a professional. Note to author: I did not support Mr. Bush or Mr. Obama with my vote, but I don't view either of them as evil people, actually I think they both are admirable, probably very honest, intelligent people just with different convictions from mine, and forced into making difficult decisions in difficult times. Maybe when you grow up to be an adult you will realize that life and people are more complicated than the way you would like us to believe. I have all Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama's books, and although they are self-serving, they are more generous to others in their writings than you are.
And Michael Palin shame on you for misleading me in the introduction. Your books, unless I recall incorrectly, were not bashers but entertaining travel fare.