The Size of the World

by Jeff Greenwald

A respected travel writer, who at the age of forty traveled around the world without ever flying, recounts his startling and moving experiences as he walked, bused, trained, and sailed through a twenty-five-thousand-mile, nine-month trip. IP.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Adventure, China, Asia, Biography Memoir, Memoir

420 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Jeff Greenwald has published six books, including Shopping for Buddhas (just out in 25th Anniversary edition) , The Size of the World (for which he created the first Internet travel blog) and Snake Lake. His tales and essays appear in many print and online publications. Jeff’s first voyage abroad, at 17, ended in utter disaster, and a host of subsequent mishaps have provided rich fodder for his storytelling career. His critically acclaimed one-man show, “Strange Travel Suggestions,” premiered in San Francisco in 2003. Jeff is also the Executive Director of Ethical Traveler (www.ethicaltraveler.org), a non-profit dedicated to human rights and environmental protection.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this travelogue. I have a particular weakness for travelogues. However, I would have enjoyed this a lot more if there was less talk about the author's flaccid middle-age peen. I'm reading a nice description about a Mali city and the Peace Corps volunteer he met there, and then boom! Our dude is narrating how he would love to rip her clothes off and violently fuck her in the middle of the street. I can only imagine how the poor woman must have felt if she ever read the book. He does this with basically every woman he meets.

Also this author is part of a school of travel writers and bloggers that I call the "suffering mothers." Like your mom who tells you to get out of her way when you ask if you can help then five minutes later complains about how no one helps her around the house, these writers thrive on suffering. They treat travel as a chore that must be undertaken instead of a pleasure and moan about traveling all the time. They devote much time to the travails they have suffered on cross-country buses but thrive in their superiority over those poor mortals who choose cushy flying over authentic overland treks and go to comfy destinations like Ibiza. If you hate travelling so much, don't do it.

I did like it better towards the end where he got less whiny.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeff Greenwald is a travel writer who, looking at his life as he approached his 40th birthday, found that he was spending too much time in airports and not enough time having genuine travel experiences. So he decided to travel around the world by land and sea - no airplanes allowed. I love Jeff's mix of humor, spirituality, and (understandable) kvetching; and his powers of observation. The book is often funny and at times deeply moving. Also, with such a wide range of experiences and locales, it's a good blend of two types of travel reading experiences: I Want To Go There and Glad He Went There So I Don't Have To!

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must say I enjoyed it. I think I enjoyed it because I read it like the trip it describes. It was a very long and very slow trip, so I took a very long and very slow time reading it. I kept reading other things in-between. So whenever I came back to it I was refreshed and not bored by JG's "voice" or the things he described.

Sometimes it did seem like a bit too much Asia. And I wasn't particularly fond of Sally, but she wasn't in it much. This is an interesting book for people who suffer from wanderlust, like me. It presents the difficulties of travel with a clear eye but it doesn't go so far as to make you never want to leave your home. The difficulties are almost enticing!

[cat · Rating 1 out of 5]

This travelogue chronicles a trip that the author took from about Dec. 1993-Sept. 1994 - traveling around the globe without flying , and boy oh boy it does not hold up well. The travelogue had so many places of cultural disrespect or unnamed white superiority and saviorism (he literally calls his travel companion a 'white angel" at one point while she is playing with kids in Mali) that I started marking the pages for that and for his male chauvinistic bullshite - and it is a lot of pages. Skip this one, despite the interesting concept of the trip around the world.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked his travels, the concept, but I wasn't fond of him as an author or main character. He has a very annoying habit of quoting or making reference to things that are not easily accessible, which gives him a definite air of pretension. And all those references were not necessary to the story so I found it a hindrance. I definitely would have no desire to hang out with him. Of course this book was written in 1994 which makes him about the age of my parents, so maybe that's just him being a Boomer. It is interesting though and kudos to him for apparently being the father of the internet travel blog.

[Sarah Ewald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book about a trip around the world, taken in late Dec. 1993-Sept. 1994, is fascinating. It was undertaken in the pre-9/11 world, security-wise, but many of the same problems still exist. The premise of Jeff's trip was to circumnavigate the world via the ground or via ocean, and not take any air travel. That created problems along the way, and he ran into many who couldn't understand his reluctance for air travel. It started out slow, but I couldn't wait to get back to it every night. Great travel book for those with wanderlust.

[Tim Basuino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally this was a worthy read, although it stumbles in places. Even though this adventure took place a quarter century ago, I sense that in many respects little has changed - in spite of all the ensuing gentrification, Oakland circa 1994 doesn't seem that much different than Oakland 2019. Some comfort in that I suppose...

Greenwald comes off as being something of a hipster, not that there's anything wrong with that, but there is a "I'm too cool for you mortals to understand my situation" vibe running throughout this book which runs a bit thick at times. I also found his letters back to his publisher something of a distraction.

But those are quibbles... by and large I got a lot of learning about the details underlying planning such an adventure - certainly there is a lot we take for granted in terms of crossing international borders, even travelling within a country's borders - witness the misadventures in crossing the Sahara and the author's frustrations on the drivers' ineptitude. One also senses Greenwald's displeasure with some of the progress civilization has made in terms of the flattening of the world's cultures - yes, there are benefits to the 'backward', but they come at a great cost - but that's a losing argument - we all want the goodies over preservation.

So, I'd recommend this book for a unique outtake on travelling, but try not to get too distracted by the occasional quirkiness.

[Suzanne Fournier · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jeff Greenwald is turning 40 and pitches a book idea to travel around the world by land in about 6 months. A publisher bites and this is the result.

I enjoyed the premise of this book and some of it's parts. By the end however, I found the author frustratingly naive, and careless. Despite the book being over 400 pages, the author arbitrarily decides to omit several days worth of travel in China (because it would take too long to explain?) and invites the reader to ask him about it if they ever meet him in person... There is also a traveling companion who appears after this section with no introduction whatsoever. I was also surprised at how abruptly the book ended, I liked the ending but expected an epilogue or some final thoughts on the journey overall.

[Julia Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is the book of same title I read. I'm putting in books I had notes on and neglected to put the author's name on my notes. I did say it was Interesting and I bought it at a used book store -- "over land across the world" is the whole of my notes.

[Roxanna Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Size of the World combines humor, adventure, and keen insight as Jeff Greenwald explores the globe in unconventional ways. From active volcanoes to snowy mountains, his odyssey is both hilarious and deeply reflective. A must-read for anyone who loves travel, curiosity, and the joy of discovery.

[John Conway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. Keep in mind he's a journalist so it starts out a bit like a news paper column but do persist as the pages go by you get more of a feeling of the author as a person.

[Marcin Budzik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow read. The book has some interesting parts, but I did not care for its style.

[Gary Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's what I wrote:
https://pacificsun.com/jeff-greenwald...

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the first book with which I was ever conscious that it had made an impact on me.

I was a science nerd at the time but I got it with a Barnes and Noble gift card from Christmas. maybe it was the situation in which I bought it (it was my first time going to the barnes and noble at hawthorne mall...I told my dad on the way home that I could just hide out behind the shelves until they closed and then live there...they had comfy chairs, there was a cafe, bathrooms, books!). I was completely enamored. I had no interest in travel at the time--don't even know what possessed me to buy it. but I did. and I read and reread and reread it. at this point I don't even remember if it was good, well-written, etc. (but I just saw it on a travel writer's list of the 10 best travel books so maybe it was good...) I adored it. and now I have the travelling nomad bug again. and I shall get it from my parents' house the next time I'm there. and I'll read and reread and reread it again.

[Andrew Hecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greenwald travels around the world close to the equator with his HP donated laptop. It's a good book. Greenwald is a deft and elqouent writer. However, he's one of the reasons I didn't become a travel writer. I took a travel writing seminar with him and several other writers during which he complained constantly about how little he was paid and how difficult the lifestyle is, very understandably. That didn't really bother me, I was still interested. I thought he make a good mentor. He's a good writer yet quite sanguine about the business. But when I approached him, he more or less blew me off. It was a real turn off.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had some problems with the narrator of this book, but the content and subject matter overshadowed this in the end. Somehow it's reassuring to read the story of a man trying to circumnavigate the globe without leaving its surface during his mid-life crisis with only his ex-girlfriend who is seeking her Indian guru for company while you are stuck in the Jet Blue terminal at JFK. The journey takes him to some fantastic places, raises some interesting questions, and made me feel nostalgic for a pre-9-11 world where this kind of travel experience was probably much more possible.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows the author on his journey around the world, a journey made all the more arduous as he is commissioned to do so without ever leaving the surface of the earth. No air travel makes for a long trip, but also offers more allowed this modern day traveler insight into the logistics of how hard traveling used to be.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would never want to go on the journey that Jeff Greenwald did in this book. I like creature comforts too much. And I like my tongue to stay pink, not black (read the book to see what I mean). However, reading about someone else taking this journey was certainly interesting. Greenwald's writing style is easy and entertaining. His ideas are insightful.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I flat-out adored this book. From page 1, the author's humble approach to travel captivates. Greenwald brings a vast planet down to human scale and gently expands human purposes out into the infinity of time.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this a few years ago. It is an account of the authors travel around the world mostly by land without flying. A quick and enjoyable read, very humorous and fun.

[Bookstax · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! I want to do the same trip myself one day.

[Coco Quinn]

Good Post review... sounds very "Middlesex" in span of time and characters.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy his books. My favorite is Shopping for Buddhas.

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome...... a bit heavy on the religious extrapolations... but over all i like it, i would love to go around the world like that!!

[Sheera]

it's a glimpse of different places, different cultures.

[Lefluf · Rating 2 out of 5]

He's very horny, this guy.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't find this book super suspenseful, but I did like the author and appreciated his honesty and soul searching during a 7 month trip around the world without taking a single airplane flight.

[Dan Tasse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guy travels around the world without airplanes. Very interesting adventures. Scary, exciting, annoying, difficult, transformative, etc. I liked this a lot.

[Jamal C.]

i'm eager to read now

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This travelogue is fairly well written and even a bit philosophical.