On the road again.... mentally at least...

Chasing Che – Patrick Symmes (list)
(Non-fiction)
This is perhaps the best travel journal I have every read with the possible exception of The Sahara Unveiled (Langewiesche), and may be near the top of the list for non-fiction book recommendations. This book has all the qualities that I was expecting to find in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Pirsig) but did not. This book qualifies as both highly readable and somewhat informative. The basis of the book is the author’s retracing of a 1954-motorcycle trip around South America by a young Argentine doctor, Ernesto “Che” Guevara; a man who later came to believe that no positive ‘Cultural Revolution’ could take place without the violent overthrow of the government. But his motorcycle and the diary that he kept (Notas de Viaje – Guevara) were rough-worn examples of the pre-revolutionary Guevara, and as such give a meaningful look inside the mind of the 25 year old in search of what it means to be free and alive. I feel Symmes aptly represented Che, without either lionizing him or reducing him to a one-dimensional demi-god of Castro’s Cuban proportions.

Other good travel novels:
The Sahara Unveiled – William Langewiesche
On the Road – Jack Kerouac
Jupiters Travels - Ted Simon
~ Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Pirsig (hesitantly)

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