Around the World in 50 Years: My Adventure to Every Country on Earth

Podell first set his mind on traveling the world in 1964, when he quit his job at Argosy magazine and gave up his life as a bachelor in NYC, in an effort to break the record for the longest land journey around the world. Invigorated by all the sights, experiences, and drama, Podell set his sights higher: to visit every country in the world before he dies. In this lively travelogue, Podell proves himself a worthy raconteur as he recounts his adventures nearly drowning in Costa Rica, diving with penguins in the Galápagos, eating ice cream in the Sahara Desert, panning for gold in Senegal, and eating all manner of local dishes—including monkey brains in Hong Kong. He interacts with his fair share of corrupt officials and soldiers, falls into a manhole full of raw sewage in Africa, and visits the Pacific island of Tuvalu, a major arsenal during WWII that is all but abandoned and “will be the first country to disappear under the waves of the rising ocean.” Rounded out with the author’s frank advice for fellow travellers (he develops a toilet-rating system by country and includes a list of reasons not to visit Haiti) as well as his solemn observations that climate change is very real and that “if the work ethic I observed in the Western world continues to weaken... we are history,” this book is an informative and sobering look at the world’s many cultures and the importance of travel. 31 b&w photos. Agent: Tony Outhwaite, JCA Literary Agency. (Mar.)