The Book of Roads: Travel Stories from Michigan to Marrakech by Phil Cousineau

The Book of Roads:
Travel Stories from Michigan to Marrakech
by Phil Cousineau

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Published: 2015
Publisher: Viva Editions; 2 edition
Genre: Travel
Paperback: 232 pages
Rating: 4

First sentence(s):
CHRISTMAS EVE, 1956. The snowdrifts pile up against our small brick house, impossibly white, rising with the moon, and shrouding the cars in the street.

Cousineau’s wanderlust has driven him to visit nearly 100 countries as a backpacker, documentary filmmaker, travel writer, photographer, and art and literary tour leader. For him, travel gives us what his mentor Joseph Campbell called “the key to the realm of the muses.”

As author of the best-selling travel book The Art of Pilgrimage, Cousineau continues to crisscross the world as a travel writer, filmmaker, and host of Global Spirit.

The Book of Roads: Travel Stories from Michigan to Marrakech is the culmination of a lifetime of travel experiences, from the steel factories of Detroit to headhunting villages in the Philippines, the war-torn villages in the Balkans to the river roads of Canada once traversed by his voyageur ancestors.

My two-bits:

There are many travel tales compiled in this book. The short pieces make for quick doses of experiences in a variety of places.

The stories are mostly quiet observations and reflections shared.

About the author:

Phil Cousineau is a writer, teacher, editor, independent scholar, documentary filmmaker, travel leader, and storyteller. The author of more than 30 nonfiction books, Cousineau has more than 15 documentary screenwriting credits to his name, including the 1991 Academy Award-nominated Forever Activists. His life-long fascination with art, literature, and the history of culture has taken him on many journeys around the world; one of his bestselling books is The Art of Pilgrimage, inspired by his many years of meaningful travels.

Born in an army hospital in Columbia, South Carolina, Cousineau grew up in Detroit, and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years. American mythologist Joseph Campbell was a mentor and major influence; Cousineau wrote the documentary film and companion book about Campbell's life, "The Hero's Journey." The “omnipresent influence of myth in modern life” is a thread that runs through all of his work. He lectures frequently on a wide range of topics--from mythology, film, and writing, to sports, creativity, travel, art, and beauty. Currently he is the host of the much-praised “inner travel” television series, Global Spirit, on Link TV and PBS, and is finishing a book on beauty.

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* part of SF Travel Book Club