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48th out of 569 books
—
591 voters
360 Degrees Longitude: One Family's Journey Around the World--A Memoir
by
John Higham (Goodreads Author)
Much more than a travel narrative 360 Degrees Longitude: One Family’s Journey Around the World is a glimpse at what it means to be a “global citizen”—a progressively changing view of the world as seen through the eyes of an American family of four.
After more than a decade of planning, John Higham and his wife September bid their high-tech jobs and suburban lives good-bye,...more
After more than a decade of planning, John Higham and his wife September bid their high-tech jobs and suburban lives good-bye,...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
July 1st 2009
by Alyson Books
(first published 2009)
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Although it took me 3 months to trek my way through this book, it proved one of the best and most inspiring works I have ever read. I must admit, I was more than one time made supremely jealous of this amazing experience, vested on the kids particularly by their loving and incredibly future-minded parents. Instead of buying the children Wiis and movies, they bought them invaluable experiences on a scale only rarely achieved. I spent 5 months living abroad and have been wanting to return ever sin...more
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This title was on one of the goodreads ads so i followed the link. Very glad i did, love this book. They've been to places i've been as well as places i'm considering and places i am *so* not going. Haven't done the google links yet will check them out before i return the book to the library. it is more of a library book than an own book to me; the checklists and helpful hints might change my mind.
The website and the google links mean i don't have to own this book. I just did a bit of exploring...more
The website and the google links mean i don't have to own this book. I just did a bit of exploring...more
Nov 30, 2010
Jessica
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Jessica by:
Goodreads
Shelves:
first-reads,
2010
I won this book as a GoodReads FirstRead giveaway. I sat on it for a while, as I had other books in the queue, but once I started reading this book, I was completely drawn in. It details the World-the-Round trip embarked upon by the Higham family - an amazing feat for a family of four, with two children, ages 8 and 11.
This book, their trip, was incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about their adventures and felt like I got to know their family a little.
While reading it, I started to plan w...more
This book, their trip, was incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about their adventures and felt like I got to know their family a little.
While reading it, I started to plan w...more
Apr 06, 2010
Connie Kuntz
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
My friends and family who love to travel. Sylvia, Carolyn and my Mom, in particular...
Recommended to Connie by:
Goodreads
This is a gutsy story of a family of four that takes a year off to travel around the world. Parents David and September carefully planned the trip over the span of ten years to make sure everything could be as organized, efficient and cost-effective as possible. They brought two tandem bikes with them so they could experience naturally and independently the countries they visited. They also were smart enough to arrange that their friends mail them new books at different destinations throughout t...more
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I really enjoyed reading about the Highams' adventures. We just took our first international trip this year, sans kiddos, and I admire their bravery in planning a trip like this with children. While I don't think we'll take something of this scope on, it has definitely inspired me to save more so that we can take shorter trips with our kids when they're older.
Back to the book, I think John did an excellent job condensing an entire year and visits to 28 countries into a manageable read. A great r...more
Back to the book, I think John did an excellent job condensing an entire year and visits to 28 countries into a manageable read. A great r...more
The Highams, of the Bay Area, took a year off and traveled the world with their two children and this is their story. Gushingly recommended by a good friend. Motivation to make my own similar story with husb, Steve, and cat, Willow. (Though, not sure Willow's up to this.) The book kind of reads like a blog, so you have to be forgiving of the author's somewhat lame sense of humor (he's an engineer, so that explains much of it), yet he offers great perspective as he navigates the world with his wi...more
This is one of the best "travelogue" books I have ever read. It makes me want to buy a bike and peddle across Austria, now! However, a whole year of traveling might be a bit much...maybe just a summer!
I started this book on a Saturday and finished it the next evening. What a great story. I found it impossible to put down, the writing style was great and everything just flowed. I laughed and cried right along with the family, I felt as if I were there with them. I thought it would be more of a travel guide, however, John Higham had my attention from the first to last page. Anyone who wants to read about courage, generosity, faith, travel and history need to read this book.
I received my copy th...more
I received my copy th...more
I kept thinking, "I want to do this! I want to travel the world like this!" Then I remembered I have done this -- but on a ship. This book has inspired me to travel across the US by bike and possibly one day to bike from Barrow, Alaska to the southern most tip of South America.
As I broke the spine of 360 Degrees Longitude: One Family's Journey Around the World, I was quite the worrywart. Because I had been one of the incredibly lucky folks to have received John's Higham's wildly entertaining emails DURING the trip (forwarded to me by my sister who was herself incredibly lucky to be on John's email address list to begin with), I couldn't help but wonder how on EARTH John was going to top his already well written stories? But I'm so happy to disclose that as it turns ou...more
I love books about families that travel around the world. And while Americans are the least travelled people I know, it's always them who take their entire families on the road and then write about it later. Now is it that they take their families on the road more then most or are they the ones who just always have to cash in on a book later? I wonder. Anyway, I saw this book at Borders a few weeks ago and found it only at the LAPL system. It sat for 3 weeks and then when I couldn't renew it, I...more
This was a great little story of a family of four who takes a year off from their 'real lives' to travel the world. As I began to read this story, I was a little frustrated - maybe because I was trying to get something out of the book that I wasn't getting. Then, as I continued to read, I became more appreciative for the writing and the way the story is told. Upon completing the book, I got the most out of my reflections of the story as a whole. I am grateful to the writer for not overdoing the...more
This was an honest and witty memoir of one family's yearlong adventure around the world. I appreciate this book because I can relate on some level, since we are also a Mormon family living in the Bay Area. I like to think of myself as adventurous but this was a whole different level. While I plan to travel much more than I am currently able to - and with the kids even! - the only way I can really figure out how to afford it is to live abroad. This definitely made me think about exactly HOW I wan...more
We met the Highams shortly after moving to the Bay Area because we go to the same church as them. As soon as I found out about their big trip - I knew they were cool people! I've heard so much about their trip and seen mementos that I couldn't wait to read their book.
I loved the book so much and I couldn't put it down! They took a trip around the world with their 2 children. They left their jobs, their house, and their normal lives. The stories and experiences they had were amazing and changed...more
I loved the book so much and I couldn't put it down! They took a trip around the world with their 2 children. They left their jobs, their house, and their normal lives. The stories and experiences they had were amazing and changed...more
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I won this book as a Goodreads giveaway, and was very happy to get a chance to read it. John Higham writes about the year he and his wife and children spent traveling around the world. Of course, not everything went as planned, and their whole agenda had to be revised when 11-year-old Katrina broke her leg a few weeks into the trip. But through it all, the family stayed positive and came out closer than before.
I had to laugh at Katrina and her brother Jordan being so engrossed in their books th...more
I had to laugh at Katrina and her brother Jordan being so engrossed in their books th...more
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I felt like I knew this family and it left me wanting to know more about them. I thought that the Google Earth connection was a very clever and fun aspect to the book. I would love to do this adventure with my family one day and this book makes me think it might be possible. I would recommend this to anyone who has a bit of wanderlust in them and who wants to give their family the world.
When the Higham family's one year "world the round", trip was over, I was sad too because that was the end of the book.
Yes, I thought the Highams were crazy. Around the world in one year with TWO kids under the age of 12? Camping? Staying at hostels? Feeding piranha's to alligators? Yikes! The book was a real roller coaster filled with funny moments, poignant episodes and thought-provoking descriptions of some of the most horrific sites on the planet. Who thought a rocket scientist could write...more
Yes, I thought the Highams were crazy. Around the world in one year with TWO kids under the age of 12? Camping? Staying at hostels? Feeding piranha's to alligators? Yikes! The book was a real roller coaster filled with funny moments, poignant episodes and thought-provoking descriptions of some of the most horrific sites on the planet. Who thought a rocket scientist could write...more
Jan 18, 2013
Michele
added it
This book is awesome! It's humorous. I love the interaction with Google Earth. So far, the only negative thing about this book is that if you don't have access to high speed internet, you will only get part of the experience - it really is an experience. It would also be a difficult book to read on the go, unless you take your laptop everywhere.
I loved this book and wish I could go on my own World-the-Round trip! I was surprised when I turned to the back and found out how cheap it really was! I loved hearing about the family's different experiences and I loved the little "truths" that I found that reminded of my own family ("I found a light saber in my cereal!"). Some of the things like Hiroshima and Cambodia were really enlightening even though they were saddening and I want to visit them. I also liked the names that they gave to peop...more
I have been travelling 2 with my family (incl 3 children from 2, 7 and 8 at that time) for a year non stop around the world. celebrated new year in sydney, had an earthquake in New Zealand while sleeping near the beach, met wonderful people from all over the world at the strangest places and the we swam near the sharks at the great barrier reef, watched whales, patted dolphins, climbed mountains incl glaciers.. went to beautiful musea all over the world.. (they are still talking about the wonde...more
This is my "Great Book" pick of the year, and I have decided that it will be my gift of choice to friends and family this holiday season. I found it an easy, witty and fascinating read as I journeyed with the Higham family around the world. 360 Degrees was easy to pick up and hard to put down, and I feel like I have seen peoples and countries in the world with new eyes. Frequent outbursts of laughter kept me awake reading long after I should have turned out the lights, and even my 8-year old dau...more
This is a book about an American family of four (mom, dad, and two kids aged 12 and 8) taking a year-long trip around the world. It's written as a travelogue mostly by dad, with occasional excerpts from the kids' diaries. The descriptions of various countries and places they've been too are pretty informative, and there are occasional glimpses into the family's dynamics. It took me quite a long time to read it because I was also following the book's thread on Google Earth where the family tagged...more
I really enjoyed this family travel memoir! I must admit I even stalled to prevent the inevitable end. Naturally, as the youngest member of a world traveling family myself, this was a very interesting story. I could relate in so many ways, especially Jordan’s Epiloge about going back home.
Throughout this wonderful true story, I caught myself laughing out loud and saying things like, “Oh my gosh!!” “Oh no!!” and “That’s so true!” Loved the chapter about the elephant, could visualize the bridges...more
Throughout this wonderful true story, I caught myself laughing out loud and saying things like, “Oh my gosh!!” “Oh no!!” and “That’s so true!” Loved the chapter about the elephant, could visualize the bridges...more
Considering how much I love traveling, I thought this book would be a run-away hit for me, but it was pretty middle of the road. Higham writes about taking his family of four on a year-long trip around the world. However, a lot of the book is really about odd bits of minutia and really seems to skim over or miss the really interesting parts of traveling.
He made several clichéd statements about the “learning experience” in traveling that made me roll my eyes. Such as this statement about poverty...more
He made several clichéd statements about the “learning experience” in traveling that made me roll my eyes. Such as this statement about poverty...more
Fabulous book about family, travel, comfort, trust and letting go to behold what you already have. A story of a family's quest to travel the world, to be together, to try new things and to be open for life in the fullest.
‘Home is where your stuff is.’
John Higham and his wife September planned this trip for more than a decade: a year-long trip around the world. John and September and their two children Katrina aged eleven and Jordan aged eight spent the year visiting twenty-eight different countries, and experiencing many adventures.
This book provides a fascinating perspective of their journey, and the writing is enhanced by the visuals in the Google Earth layer. I found that I read the book first, from cover to...more
John Higham and his wife September planned this trip for more than a decade: a year-long trip around the world. John and September and their two children Katrina aged eleven and Jordan aged eight spent the year visiting twenty-eight different countries, and experiencing many adventures.
This book provides a fascinating perspective of their journey, and the writing is enhanced by the visuals in the Google Earth layer. I found that I read the book first, from cover to...more
I think that this is a great book so far and I really want other people to read it also, don't be scared because it is thick, once you get in to it you'll finish it like that!
This book made me want to take my own trip around the world. What an amazing experience for this family. Very interesting reading.
I absolutely love this book. It's about a couple who had a dream that they would quit their jobs and take their two kids around the world (mostly on tandem bikes). It is very well written and I have laughed many times throughout the book reading about their adventures. I love that the couple (and their kids) decided to go see the world and teach each other about different cultures. It also has passages throughout the book where you can go on Googlearth and check out where they went. I did not do...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| A Journey around the World. | 3 | 14 | Jan 06, 2013 01:00pm |
After completing his graduate degree in aerospace engineering, John Higham moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he started his career and accumulated ten U.S. patents for various aspects of satellite design. Although he arrived in the Bay Area single, it wasn't long before he met September and they became inseparable. John, September, and their two children, Katrina and Jordan, still live in...more
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