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88th out of 127 books
—
27 voters
Hold the Enlightenment
by
Tim Cahill
In his latest collection of death-defying exploits and far-flung travels, Outside Magazine editor Tim Cahill visits the side of an active volcano in Ecuador, the Saharan salt mines and the largest toxic waste dump in the Western Hemisphere. He also ventures to find a Caspian tiger in Turkey and giant centipedes in the Congo. Cahill is one of the last great intrepid journal...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
September 9th 2003
by Vintage
(first published 2002)
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This is the latest of adventure travel writer Tim Cahill’s nine travel collections including such illustrious titles as Pass the Butterworms, and Jaguars Ripped my Flesh. Cahill’s style is conversational, entertaining, well-researched and often LOL funny. This collection starts at a yoga retreat where he pokes fun at those who think they are closer to universal wisdom than the rest of us, but admits he does experience some benefits, like feeling better. He takes us to Bali in Entranced Duck, Mal...more
Tim Cahill helped found Outside magazine and he's done some serious traveling. Most of the articles featured in this collection appeared in Men's Journal, and they're all interesting in some way. Some of the essays seem a bit underdeveloped, possibly due to the constraints of the medium. On the whole, there's almost always a nugget of something substantial at the heart of these works, and that raises the essays above classic adventure-travel narrative into a much more interesting and rewarding r...more
In bygone years, I was a big fan of Tim Cahill, but I was less impressed with this collection. It must be hard to be in the same camp as authors like Bill Bryson (especially when you look like his long lost brother), when your audience sits down, opens your book and demands "Amuse me". In this, I feel Cahill tries hard, but his heart's not really in it. He seems to be a bit more jaded and uninspired by his own material. It's readable enough, but in many of the stories I felt a bit like Karl from...more
Cahill is an American with a sense of adventure , a sense of humour and a lively writing style. Short travel pieces, all a good blend of facts, figures and fun. I particularly enjoyed "This Teeming Ark" (down the Congo River on a barge), "The Cowpersons of Tanzania" (cattle herders and East Africa) and "The Platypus Hunter" (searching for the eulusve beast). I'd like to read more of his books.
The back of this book indicates that it's travel/adventure, and that's correct because it includes essays about some of Cahill's travels to exotic and sometimes dangerous places. But he is also hysterically funny, and I've never been disappointed in anything I've read by him. I think I want to read "A Wolverine is Eating My Leg" next.
Cahill's "Pecked to Death by Ducks" was hilarious, but this one sputtered along, looking for inspiration. The best chapter was the one on following a journalist around Columbia and watching stage-managed drug raids complete (all that was missing was grandstands and hot dogs). For the most part, though, I'd say to read "Pecked" and not this one.
An interesting book. I especially loved the piece about the tigers in Anatolia. I wondered, though, why he kept going on about how funny the book was going to be (in the prologue). It wasn't really funny at all. Not that it was a problem, I found it informative and entertaining nonetheless.
Great collection of essays, entertaining and 'enlightening'. Cahill has traveled the world seeking out unusual experiences and situations but, some of his best stories have happened close to home. He offers some great travel advice, too.
I read this for my book group...it was not a book I would ordinarily read. While I liked glimpses of out of the way places, the personality of the author rubbed me the wrong way...especially in the title chapter.
Better than a lot of the travel type memoirs I've read lately. He runs the gamut of emotions - mostly during "extreme" travel - makes me want to be more adventurous. And get into a cage to watch great white sharks swim by!
A fairly fun collection of travel essays from Tim Cahill, ranging from his home in Montana to Australia to South Africa to Turkey. Interesting, but didn't really strike a chord with me.
Cahill is always fun. This collection is not necessarily his best, but is a very entertaining read, nonetheless. Particularly loved the Tanzania and Colombis pieces.
This was an interesting mixture of essays. The last one (Trusty and Grace) was worth the entire lot. I expected more humor, but it was okay that it wasn't thre.
I liked it a lot. The stories are full of fascinating places and people, adventures and insight.
More of the same from Cahill -- but what an entertaining same it is.
One of my favorite authors. Great adventure.
I think the yoga essay was the best one.
Yep, adventure travel stories.
Tim Cahill's dry reports from wild wild adventures - accidentally charging a troop of gorillas, weighing up the dangers of being in the sea off South Africa where Great White Sharks pick seals off, etc - are all entertaining to read, so much so that even I, a die hard lover of what Cole Porter called The Great Indoors, feel the urge to get out and experience nature red in tooth and claw. (And then I pour a Talisker, and the urge drifts away)
A splendid book, nonetheless
A splendid book, nonetheless
Tim Cahill is a really good travel writer. I got to know him by reading Outside magazine, and a former boss got me this book for Christmas back in 2002. I'm just now getting around to reading it. It's a collection of short stories about his trips to various exotic places and the people, animals, events, etc. he encounters. If you like travel, enjoy some pretty good humor and really solid writing, you'll like this.
interesting collection of travel and adventure stories.
A collection of short stories that combine adventure, travel, and humor, with a subtle thread of the author's philosophy. Easy reading, but deep thinking!
This is one of my favorite authors. Satirical, dark travel writing. He says everything and holds nothing back. This collection of stories will have you rolling in your seat, questioning your life, and in the middle will bring you to tears unexpectedly. This was my first Cahill book and so far my favorite.
Collection of magazine articles and essays. "Professor Cahill's Travel 101" is a hoot.
Rule 1: Avoid psychotic travel companions.
Rule 1, corollary 1: The most carefully chosen travel companions become the most psychotic.
Rule 1, corollary 2: Psychosis is contagious.
Rule 2 is the one I've vowed to remember.
Rule 1: Avoid psychotic travel companions.
Rule 1, corollary 1: The most carefully chosen travel companions become the most psychotic.
Rule 1, corollary 2: Psychosis is contagious.
Rule 2 is the one I've vowed to remember.
a great collection of essays by one of my very favorite travel authors (jaguars ripped my flesh, pecked to death by ducks, road fever). this guy is hilarious and insightful. he goes to unusual places and has a great eye for the local. it is always fun to read his stuff.
Feb 09, 2013
Lauriekoski
added it
A collaboration of his adventure travel. His first essay is about hunting for the rumored to be extinct Caspian tiger in the Kurdish area that borders Iraq, I felt like I was at his side through the entire experience, can't wait to read the rest.
I was expecting more from Tim Cahill. Many of the essays I've already read before in other forms, but the whole book is still entertaining and makes me want his job even more.
This guy is overly danger-seeking, but comes to the same conclusions about life and travel that I have. Very validating.
This book was not terrible, but not what I was in the mood for when I read it for bookclub.
collection of essays about travel and adventure, some better than others.
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Tim Cahill (born 1944 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a travel writer who lives in Livingston, Montana, United States. He is a founding editor of Outside magazine and currently serves as an "Editor at Large" for the magazine.
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