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The Ridiculous Race: 26,000 Miles, 2 Guides, 1 Globe, No Airplanes
The most absurd, hilarious, and ridiculous travelogue ever told, by two hit-TV comedy writers who raced each other around the world—for bragging rights and a very expensive bottle of Scotch
It started as a friendly wager: two old friends from The Harvard Lampoon, now hotshot Hollywood scribes, challenged each other to a race around the globe in opposite directions. There was only one rule: no airplanes. The first man to cross every line of longitude and arrive back in L.A. would win Scotch and infamy. But little did one racer know that the other planned to cheat him out of the big prize by way of a ride on a quarter-million-dollar jet pack.
What follows is a pair of hilarious, hazardous, and eye-opening journeys into the farthest corners of the world. From the West Bank to the Aleutian Islands, the slums of Rio to the steppes of Mongolia, traveling by ocean freighter and the Trans-Siberian Railway (pranking each other mercilessly along the way), Vali and Steve plunge eagerly and ill-prepared into global adventure.
The Ridiculous Race is a comic travelogue unlike any other, an outrageous tale of two gentlemen travelers who can’t wait to don baggy cardigan sweaters, clench corncob pipes between their teeth, and yell at their sons, “You lazy bums! When we were your age, we raced around the world without airplanes!”
315 pages, Paperback
First published July 8, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 202 reviews
January 25, 2009
Here's what I learned from this book: those who can, do. Those who can't, write for television. Seriously, this is a book about the most incompetent travelers ever to make it back home without losing a limb. And I realize that was part of their shtick, but even when they're not being incompetent for humorous effect (which is a tough trick to manage, and they mostly don't, because, hey - incompetent!), they're still hopeless. I spent a lot of this book wondering why it wasn't called Two Mostly Useless Guys Wander Vaguely Around the Globe Running into Things.
And, sadly, one of the (many) things they can't do is write a book. They know how to write - although Vali has some annoying tense switches - and they know how to be funny, but they can do these things only in short bursts. So this isn't so much a book as it is a collection of very brief set pieces. And when I say "very short," I mean "several paragraphs." On the up side, this means it's easy to pick this book up and put it down. On the down side, this means it has absolutely no flow whatsoever, and the humor's a lot less, well, humorous, because there's no build at all.
So why did I give this book four stars? Because it is - or it contains - a rare, rare bird, one I've longed to see for the last ten years or so. See, travel and adventure writing is almost exclusively a white man's game. Occasionally I can find travel or (more rarely) adventure books written by women. But I basically never find any written by people of color. And Vali is Indian. It was fabulously refreshing to find anything, anything at all, written about traveling that wasn't from the perspective of a white man. I'd give a lot worse book than this one four stars for that.
Of course, that means I wish this entire book had been written by Vali; Steve's narrative, while it covers more off-the-beaten path areas, could have been written, and written better, by any of a thousand writers in this field. Vali's, on the other hand, is basically unique. Depressing? Yes. But it makes this book worth reading for anyone who enjoys travel and adventure writing, just so we can see how it could be.
And, sadly, one of the (many) things they can't do is write a book. They know how to write - although Vali has some annoying tense switches - and they know how to be funny, but they can do these things only in short bursts. So this isn't so much a book as it is a collection of very brief set pieces. And when I say "very short," I mean "several paragraphs." On the up side, this means it's easy to pick this book up and put it down. On the down side, this means it has absolutely no flow whatsoever, and the humor's a lot less, well, humorous, because there's no build at all.
So why did I give this book four stars? Because it is - or it contains - a rare, rare bird, one I've longed to see for the last ten years or so. See, travel and adventure writing is almost exclusively a white man's game. Occasionally I can find travel or (more rarely) adventure books written by women. But I basically never find any written by people of color. And Vali is Indian. It was fabulously refreshing to find anything, anything at all, written about traveling that wasn't from the perspective of a white man. I'd give a lot worse book than this one four stars for that.
Of course, that means I wish this entire book had been written by Vali; Steve's narrative, while it covers more off-the-beaten path areas, could have been written, and written better, by any of a thousand writers in this field. Vali's, on the other hand, is basically unique. Depressing? Yes. But it makes this book worth reading for anyone who enjoys travel and adventure writing, just so we can see how it could be.
March 16, 2009
The other day, as I was reading this book, I found my husband staring at me with a smile on his face. "What?" I asked. "You just have a really contented look on your face," he said. "You look like you're going to burst out laughing at any moment."
I think that's a very apt description of what one might feel while reading this book, at least, as long as one finds it as entertaining and amusing as I did.
The Ridiculous Race tells the true story of Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran, two friends who, in 2007, agreed to race each other around the world during a two-month period - without the use of airplanes.
Both Hely and Chandrasekaran are television writers for comedy shows, so the book is full of a lot of laughs, in addition to informative tidbits and interesting escapades. My personal favorites were sections on Mongolia, Italy, and Cambodia.
The Ridiculous Race is very consistently funny, at times touching, and a thoroughly good read.
*SPOILER ALERT - DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY ADVANCE INFORMATION*
My one beef with this book is that one of the authors cheated and used airplanes. I personally found this very disappointing and had a hard time focusing on his sections of the book. Other than that, I loved this book!
I think that's a very apt description of what one might feel while reading this book, at least, as long as one finds it as entertaining and amusing as I did.
The Ridiculous Race tells the true story of Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran, two friends who, in 2007, agreed to race each other around the world during a two-month period - without the use of airplanes.
Both Hely and Chandrasekaran are television writers for comedy shows, so the book is full of a lot of laughs, in addition to informative tidbits and interesting escapades. My personal favorites were sections on Mongolia, Italy, and Cambodia.
The Ridiculous Race is very consistently funny, at times touching, and a thoroughly good read.
*SPOILER ALERT - DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY ADVANCE INFORMATION*
My one beef with this book is that one of the authors cheated and used airplanes. I personally found this very disappointing and had a hard time focusing on his sections of the book. Other than that, I loved this book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2016
The best comedy travel writing is when the author(s) simply tell what happened without resorting to artifice. Interactions with cultures, etc., can have exhilarating and hilarious results. This book is okay, hence the two star rating, but the authors seem to try too hard at times to get a laugh: the setup isn't believable enough to deliver the punch line. A very good concept which could have been better executed, in my opinion.
September 8, 2009
I could understand someone saying they found the guys (esp Vali!) to be jerks, and disliked the book, but I really liked it. Vali offers insights into being non-white in places like Russia and Dubai, while Steve manages to write interesting accounts of his two ocean voyages. I was left wondering how much of their sniping was purely the instigation of an editor, and whether Steve was aware of Vali's "travel diversions" all along? Recommended to anyone interested in travel genre to give it a try.
May 28, 2008
This book is so fucking funny I can't tell if the authors are con artists or geniuses. Repeatedly I laughed to the point of embarrassment and read passages aloud to friends. Just go read the first five pages somewhere and you'll see what I mean.
October 28, 2024
Poorly written. Did not enjoy.
January 3, 2009
I'm 75 pages into this 315 page failing effort to be really really funny. The conceit is that the two young TV sitcom writers will be provide laugh-a-minute descriptions of their race to get around the world without using airplanes, one heading east, the other west. There is an obvious difference that becomes clear between writing funny stuff for sitcoms and writing about funny adventures, however - the first just requires some creativity in making things up, the latter requires actually doing stuff for real that is funny when described.
Both the authors are smart (they went to Harvard, which they make sure they include in their two-sentence bios) but apparently they think their readers are idiots. (This could be an outcome of writing for sitcoms. . . ) For example, Chandrasekaran travels east from LA south across Mexico rather than straight across the U.S. in order to describe his meeting with a fellow there who sells jet packs - you see, he'll win by crossing oceans with a jet pack. He claims he's surprised to learn that a jet pack can only fly for thirty seconds and won't get him across the Atlantic. This would be fine if his description of his meeting with the jet pack guy was funny, but it's neither funny nor interesting.
It's pretty obvious where they screwed up - they traveled separately. One can imagine that their describing their adventures together in Outer Mongolia might be amusing, but instead they travel separately and the story switches from one to the other every ten pages or so, competing to see who can bore or annoy the readers more. Occasionally they talk to each other by satellite phone in order to exchange insults.
I'm going to keep at it just because it intrigues me - can it really stay this bad? No - it has to get better. Right?
And no, I didn't waste any money on this. It's from the public library.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, I finished this 300-plus page around-the-world travel book. After the first 75 pages, the book improved slightly. Steve spends more time in his segments describing local history and culture (albeit briefly) and connecting this with his experiences in ways that occasionally are amusing - basically what one would expect. Vali continues for the most part to fail at being humorous with stupid one-liners, although somewhere in the second half he tires of this approach and starts offering some description of what he encounters, too. (He has several pages of background on Cambodian history near the end.)
Steve's contributions are more consistently interesting, but occasionally Vali's observations are more engaging - he is an Indian American he describes some experiences that flow from that background. In Cairo he dressed up as an Egyptian and went to the pyramids and attempted to sell souvenirs, learning that it isn't so easy to sell stuff to tourists. (He sold nothing.)
Mostly this book has a problem with identifying who its likely readers are and then staying "in character" for those readers.
Both the authors are smart (they went to Harvard, which they make sure they include in their two-sentence bios) but apparently they think their readers are idiots. (This could be an outcome of writing for sitcoms. . . ) For example, Chandrasekaran travels east from LA south across Mexico rather than straight across the U.S. in order to describe his meeting with a fellow there who sells jet packs - you see, he'll win by crossing oceans with a jet pack. He claims he's surprised to learn that a jet pack can only fly for thirty seconds and won't get him across the Atlantic. This would be fine if his description of his meeting with the jet pack guy was funny, but it's neither funny nor interesting.
It's pretty obvious where they screwed up - they traveled separately. One can imagine that their describing their adventures together in Outer Mongolia might be amusing, but instead they travel separately and the story switches from one to the other every ten pages or so, competing to see who can bore or annoy the readers more. Occasionally they talk to each other by satellite phone in order to exchange insults.
I'm going to keep at it just because it intrigues me - can it really stay this bad? No - it has to get better. Right?
And no, I didn't waste any money on this. It's from the public library.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, I finished this 300-plus page around-the-world travel book. After the first 75 pages, the book improved slightly. Steve spends more time in his segments describing local history and culture (albeit briefly) and connecting this with his experiences in ways that occasionally are amusing - basically what one would expect. Vali continues for the most part to fail at being humorous with stupid one-liners, although somewhere in the second half he tires of this approach and starts offering some description of what he encounters, too. (He has several pages of background on Cambodian history near the end.)
Steve's contributions are more consistently interesting, but occasionally Vali's observations are more engaging - he is an Indian American he describes some experiences that flow from that background. In Cairo he dressed up as an Egyptian and went to the pyramids and attempted to sell souvenirs, learning that it isn't so easy to sell stuff to tourists. (He sold nothing.)
Mostly this book has a problem with identifying who its likely readers are and then staying "in character" for those readers.
April 5, 2014
The endorsement on the back of this book is from Seth MacFarlane. I chose to read it anyway. The guys who wrote it are like the idiot douche-bags you see around and probably are or have been in your twenties. They're funny and sarcastic and think they're way smarter (and funnier) than they actually are. If they're your friends, they're hilarious; if they're just some of the other drunks at the bar, they're just, well, annoying.
But they went around the world, they made some interesting comments about the places they visited, they recognized some of the inherent dilemmas of traveling for fun in a world where that's not actually available to everyone. A totally entertaining book. At the end, Steve gets a little maudlin, and I don't buy that the U.S. is the "pretty girl" in the "world as high school" analogy. But I appreciate him for the lover of the past that he is and for finding the romance in a journey around the world without airplanes. And Vali is a nice counterpoint for him, applying history to the present and reveling in modernity, and he did in fact push himself to find some out-of-the-way places.
They both spend a significant amount of time focusing on how great the stories they can tell from this trip will be. How they'll talk about it at parties and out-do each other. I understand that travel IS in part about the stories you get to tell, but shining a light on that makes it seem like they weren't totally in the moment. That they care too much about appearances and status and things. Herein lies the douche-bag problem: they care about appearances and finding out about cool stuff, until they get falling down drunk and then all bets are off.
But they went around the world, they made some interesting comments about the places they visited, they recognized some of the inherent dilemmas of traveling for fun in a world where that's not actually available to everyone. A totally entertaining book. At the end, Steve gets a little maudlin, and I don't buy that the U.S. is the "pretty girl" in the "world as high school" analogy. But I appreciate him for the lover of the past that he is and for finding the romance in a journey around the world without airplanes. And Vali is a nice counterpoint for him, applying history to the present and reveling in modernity, and he did in fact push himself to find some out-of-the-way places.
They both spend a significant amount of time focusing on how great the stories they can tell from this trip will be. How they'll talk about it at parties and out-do each other. I understand that travel IS in part about the stories you get to tell, but shining a light on that makes it seem like they weren't totally in the moment. That they care too much about appearances and status and things. Herein lies the douche-bag problem: they care about appearances and finding out about cool stuff, until they get falling down drunk and then all bets are off.
December 23, 2009
I'm within 15 pages of finishing this book, and I can already say this was a huge let-down. The premise is funny. The people are (supposed to be funny). But the execution was so... damn... boring.
The two authors usually write for funny shows, so I expected a good amount of laughs. I found the opposite. I spent so much time trying to figure out why the book was un-funny that it distracted me from completing it in a normal time frame. Here's what I came up with: The act of writing for a TV is show is pretty self contained. The writers control all of the set-up, delivery, and punch line, so in essence, the viewer's reaction is totally controlled. When thrown into the real world with real world scenarios and variables, it's a totally different approach to funny. Both authors equally failed at conveying funny in their narratives (although Vali was marginally more successful), so I blame their common background for the whole mess.
The two authors usually write for funny shows, so I expected a good amount of laughs. I found the opposite. I spent so much time trying to figure out why the book was un-funny that it distracted me from completing it in a normal time frame. Here's what I came up with: The act of writing for a TV is show is pretty self contained. The writers control all of the set-up, delivery, and punch line, so in essence, the viewer's reaction is totally controlled. When thrown into the real world with real world scenarios and variables, it's a totally different approach to funny. Both authors equally failed at conveying funny in their narratives (although Vali was marginally more successful), so I blame their common background for the whole mess.
December 20, 2022
this was okay- two guys bet on a race around the world -no airplanes. Well, one guy cheats and takes planes almost for the entire trip - and as you can imagine his half of the book is not at interesting and the guy (Steve) who traveled by container ship, the Trans-Siberian Railroad, the QE2, etc. His actual journey was sometimes more interesting than his observations - although he had pretty good observations too. Vali, also had some interesting things to say about some of the places he went to but for me, the fact that he wasn't really doing the race as agreed - I found his stories not nearly as compelling to read. Also, this was published in 2008- the humor is very dated -things that might have been funny then, things one might get away with saying then - not so much now. And while I can I am happy to not judge the humor of a 2008 book by 2022 standards I just couldn't get over the general feeling that the humor was just a bit to frat-house for me - a bit childish.
February 27, 2012
On the basis of what we find in the biographical notes, we'd expect that Hely and Chandrasekaran ought to have created a work in the great tradition of travel humor. However, they fall far short of the mark. The premise is delicious: two men race around the world in opposite directions without the aid of aircraft. Problems: they really aren't serious, and one flagrantly cheats. They're seemingly more interested in drinking, partying and carousing than anything else. And both behave like middle school truants. Want a really funny travelogue? Go back to Twain's "Innocents Abroad" and see how it's done. I'd avoid this one.
March 16, 2009
Fun, light reading, perfect for a plane or train ride, though sadly I read it at home. Not quite your ordinary travel guide since the boys do get to places very few of us will ever visit voluntarily.
May 29, 2025
Book Overview
In 2007, two friends -- Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran -- embarked on a race around the world without using airplanes. Steve traveled West, and Vali traveled East. The first guy who circled the planet and make it back to Los Angeles would be declared the winner. The prize? A bottle of the finest Scotch they could find.
Not being just ordinary guys (both are writers for television comedy shows), they were able to get a book advance to bankroll their trip. The result was this book, which chronicles each man's journey.
Steve -- the more serious of the two and the one committed to racing by following the rules -- starts his trip on board the container ship Hanjin Athens. As such, he is able to definitively answer the question: Is fourteen days on the Pacific a grand, romantic adventure or crushingly boring? To quote Steve:
The short answer is "crushingly boring."
By the time we left port, it was clear that the greatest danger facing me wasn't pirates or storms. Or sharks. Or giant squid, Or flesh-eating jellyfish. Or being raped and stabbed by sailors. Or string rays.
It was keeping my idle mind from destroying itself.
After this journey, Steve takes a road trip through China (including a gut-wrenching but hilarious night at the Peking Opera) and ends up on a train that takes him through Mongolia (with a brief stop at Ulaanbaatar , which he affectionately dubs "A City for People Who Hate Cities.") Along the away, he becomes obsessed with drinking fermented mare's milk. (Wonder what fermented mare's milk tastes like? Here is Steve's description: "Get some half-and-half and a can of warm Sprite. Mix the two in a glass. Let sit for a few days on top of your radiator.") He then boards the Trans-Siberian Railroad and meets Vali at the "halfway" point in Moscow.
Meanwhile, Vali starts his trip driving to Mexico with a attractive woman he has hired to help him navigate and translate the country. (Did I mention they have a side bet on who can do the most awesome things during the trip -- The Awesomeness Contest? With "awesome" being defined as "meeting and romancing the most beautiful girls possible.") Vali's goal is to visit the world's premier designer of jet-packs, which Vali intends to purchase and use to fly across the oceans. However, jet-packs cost $250,000 and can hold only 30 seconds worth of fuel, so he is forced to scuttle this plan. After driving north back to the United States, Vali breaks the no airplane rule and flies to Brazil, where he joins a Brazilian graffiti gang. (In Rio, he begins having his trip-long problems with travel visas and document.) From there he jets to Europe and visits London, Paris ("Beneath my awestruck face my blood boiled. I was furious Paris was not overrated."), Berlin and Warsaw -- before meeting Steve in Moscow.
In Moscow, the two meet for a "truce day," in which hijinks, practical jokes and obscene amounts of drinking set the tone. They then depart and go their separate ways.
Steve hits St. Petersburg and Finland before visiting Sweden, where he spends some awesomeness time with a lovely Swedish lass named Ingrid. He then takes a week-long jaunt around Western Europe before boarding the Queen Mary 2 (or "How I Crossed the Atlantic, or, Six Days Trapped on the World's Most Luxurious Floating Nursing Home!"). (This part of the travel narrative includes a guide to "Paris for Weirdos.") Once he reaches New York, the final part of his journey is accomplished via Amtrak and riding with a long-haul trucker.
Meanwhile, Vali hits his stride and travels to Cairo, Amman, Palestine and Dubai -- wrapping things up with an eye-opening stay in Cambodia. (His description of the temples of Angkor made me want to add it to the list of places I must go someday.) He then jets home to Los Angeles.
Who makes it to LA first and wins the race? Who cares? It is the journey that matters.
My Thoughts
This is not your standard travel narrative. This is a travel narrative written by two very funny, sarcastic men who will remind you of every immature doofus you've ever known. Thank Goodness!
This book was such a fun read -- I was pretty much laughing throughout. Although there are moments of seriousness and you'll learn a bit about the countries they visit, the goal of this book is not to educate -- it is to entertain. And the authors are wildly successful. (The book flip-flops between Steve and Vali's accounts of their trip so you get a roughly approximate feel for what they were doing at about the same time during the race.)
I just loved this book. I don't think there is anything more to say about it -- I tried to include a taste for the spirit of the book in the book overview so you'll have a taste of what you are in for so if what you read was appealing, get the book today. OK ... here is one last excerpt just to whet your appetite. It is from Steve and describes "The Cultural Wonders of Ulaanbaatar." I picked this part (though I pretty much could have opened the book anywhere and started typing) because I think it perfectly captures the tone of the book and the mocking relationship between Steve and Vali.
There are only three things in Ulaanbaatar worth seeing. One is the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan, which, according to my guidebook, has "an extraordinary array of stuffed animals." I did not visit it. I can see stuffed animals in Vali's bedroom.
Second is the Museum of Natural History. The dry air of the Gobi Desert is good for preserving fossils, so this museum has its pick of dinosaur skeletons. It's totally awesome. Probably. I can't say for sure, because it was closed when I went. I tried the old "but I'm a famous paleontologist from the prestigious United States Institute of Dinosaurs who has traveled all the way here to see the dinosaur skeletons but am only here for one day!" routine, but the guard understood me just enough not the believe me.
The third thing to see in UB is the Gandantegchilin (or you can just get away with "Gandan") monastery. This is the only one to which I can give my wholehearted personal endorsement.
My Final Recommendation
A hilariously funny read. I loved it and recommend it wholeheartedly. If you are seeking a straightforward travel narrative, this is not for you. However, if a well-written, tongue-in-cheek, smart-ass, laugh-out-loud travel narrative disguised in the form of a race around the world is your cup of tea, this book is a no-brainer. Buy it now. You'll love it!
In 2007, two friends -- Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran -- embarked on a race around the world without using airplanes. Steve traveled West, and Vali traveled East. The first guy who circled the planet and make it back to Los Angeles would be declared the winner. The prize? A bottle of the finest Scotch they could find.
Not being just ordinary guys (both are writers for television comedy shows), they were able to get a book advance to bankroll their trip. The result was this book, which chronicles each man's journey.
Steve -- the more serious of the two and the one committed to racing by following the rules -- starts his trip on board the container ship Hanjin Athens. As such, he is able to definitively answer the question: Is fourteen days on the Pacific a grand, romantic adventure or crushingly boring? To quote Steve:
The short answer is "crushingly boring."
By the time we left port, it was clear that the greatest danger facing me wasn't pirates or storms. Or sharks. Or giant squid, Or flesh-eating jellyfish. Or being raped and stabbed by sailors. Or string rays.
It was keeping my idle mind from destroying itself.
After this journey, Steve takes a road trip through China (including a gut-wrenching but hilarious night at the Peking Opera) and ends up on a train that takes him through Mongolia (with a brief stop at Ulaanbaatar , which he affectionately dubs "A City for People Who Hate Cities.") Along the away, he becomes obsessed with drinking fermented mare's milk. (Wonder what fermented mare's milk tastes like? Here is Steve's description: "Get some half-and-half and a can of warm Sprite. Mix the two in a glass. Let sit for a few days on top of your radiator.") He then boards the Trans-Siberian Railroad and meets Vali at the "halfway" point in Moscow.
Meanwhile, Vali starts his trip driving to Mexico with a attractive woman he has hired to help him navigate and translate the country. (Did I mention they have a side bet on who can do the most awesome things during the trip -- The Awesomeness Contest? With "awesome" being defined as "meeting and romancing the most beautiful girls possible.") Vali's goal is to visit the world's premier designer of jet-packs, which Vali intends to purchase and use to fly across the oceans. However, jet-packs cost $250,000 and can hold only 30 seconds worth of fuel, so he is forced to scuttle this plan. After driving north back to the United States, Vali breaks the no airplane rule and flies to Brazil, where he joins a Brazilian graffiti gang. (In Rio, he begins having his trip-long problems with travel visas and document.) From there he jets to Europe and visits London, Paris ("Beneath my awestruck face my blood boiled. I was furious Paris was not overrated."), Berlin and Warsaw -- before meeting Steve in Moscow.
In Moscow, the two meet for a "truce day," in which hijinks, practical jokes and obscene amounts of drinking set the tone. They then depart and go their separate ways.
Steve hits St. Petersburg and Finland before visiting Sweden, where he spends some awesomeness time with a lovely Swedish lass named Ingrid. He then takes a week-long jaunt around Western Europe before boarding the Queen Mary 2 (or "How I Crossed the Atlantic, or, Six Days Trapped on the World's Most Luxurious Floating Nursing Home!"). (This part of the travel narrative includes a guide to "Paris for Weirdos.") Once he reaches New York, the final part of his journey is accomplished via Amtrak and riding with a long-haul trucker.
Meanwhile, Vali hits his stride and travels to Cairo, Amman, Palestine and Dubai -- wrapping things up with an eye-opening stay in Cambodia. (His description of the temples of Angkor made me want to add it to the list of places I must go someday.) He then jets home to Los Angeles.
Who makes it to LA first and wins the race? Who cares? It is the journey that matters.
My Thoughts
This is not your standard travel narrative. This is a travel narrative written by two very funny, sarcastic men who will remind you of every immature doofus you've ever known. Thank Goodness!
This book was such a fun read -- I was pretty much laughing throughout. Although there are moments of seriousness and you'll learn a bit about the countries they visit, the goal of this book is not to educate -- it is to entertain. And the authors are wildly successful. (The book flip-flops between Steve and Vali's accounts of their trip so you get a roughly approximate feel for what they were doing at about the same time during the race.)
I just loved this book. I don't think there is anything more to say about it -- I tried to include a taste for the spirit of the book in the book overview so you'll have a taste of what you are in for so if what you read was appealing, get the book today. OK ... here is one last excerpt just to whet your appetite. It is from Steve and describes "The Cultural Wonders of Ulaanbaatar." I picked this part (though I pretty much could have opened the book anywhere and started typing) because I think it perfectly captures the tone of the book and the mocking relationship between Steve and Vali.
There are only three things in Ulaanbaatar worth seeing. One is the Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan, which, according to my guidebook, has "an extraordinary array of stuffed animals." I did not visit it. I can see stuffed animals in Vali's bedroom.
Second is the Museum of Natural History. The dry air of the Gobi Desert is good for preserving fossils, so this museum has its pick of dinosaur skeletons. It's totally awesome. Probably. I can't say for sure, because it was closed when I went. I tried the old "but I'm a famous paleontologist from the prestigious United States Institute of Dinosaurs who has traveled all the way here to see the dinosaur skeletons but am only here for one day!" routine, but the guard understood me just enough not the believe me.
The third thing to see in UB is the Gandantegchilin (or you can just get away with "Gandan") monastery. This is the only one to which I can give my wholehearted personal endorsement.
My Final Recommendation
A hilariously funny read. I loved it and recommend it wholeheartedly. If you are seeking a straightforward travel narrative, this is not for you. However, if a well-written, tongue-in-cheek, smart-ass, laugh-out-loud travel narrative disguised in the form of a race around the world is your cup of tea, this book is a no-brainer. Buy it now. You'll love it!
March 13, 2017
One of the funniest books I've ever read.
January 18, 2010
It's such a fun idea, to think about racing a friend around the world without the help of airplanes. And these two guys are sit com writers, so you would think that it would be laugh out loud funny. It's really not. If I could have given this book two and a half stars I would have, but I just couldn't go to three.
Vali (one of the authors) cheated the whole way round, from the very beginning. Didn't even try. I think that just pissed me off. And, his travels, documented throughout the book, are like frat guy with unlimited cash on Spring Break. Just not my scene.
Steve (the other author) really gave it a go, and saw all the sights and really tried to see what he could of the places he went and made some interesting observations about the culture, architecture, food and people where he was. I found myself toward the end skipping the Vali-narrated sections.
I guess I just expected more from two Harvard educated comedy writers.
Vali (one of the authors) cheated the whole way round, from the very beginning. Didn't even try. I think that just pissed me off. And, his travels, documented throughout the book, are like frat guy with unlimited cash on Spring Break. Just not my scene.
Steve (the other author) really gave it a go, and saw all the sights and really tried to see what he could of the places he went and made some interesting observations about the culture, architecture, food and people where he was. I found myself toward the end skipping the Vali-narrated sections.
I guess I just expected more from two Harvard educated comedy writers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 21, 2009
The story of Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran and their race around with world without the use of airplanes. The first one of them back to Los Angeles collects a rather expensive bottle of scotch. Vali heads east and Steve heads west; the result: The Ridiculous Race . Readers get to follow Steve across the Pacific, China, the Trans-Siberian Railroad, Finland, Sweden (where I now, officially, want to live--though I don't quite remember why so it couldn't have been that great of a reason....), Italy, England, the Atlantic and then across the U.S.A via tractor-trailer while reading about Vali's jaunts through Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, China....etc. I found this book to be a fairly entertaining read. At times, it dragged a bit and I expected a few more hearty laughs from successful comedy tv-show writers, but in the end I didn't feel like I had totally wasted my time.
February 4, 2017
I liked this book. It is a story of 2 friends who race around the world without the use of airplanes for the winning prize of a bottle of scotch. It is a humorous story and I learned a few things about other countries and civilizations in the process. A solid 3.8 stars from me.
December 20, 2017
Fun, entertaining travel experiences.
The two authors are comedic scriptwriters in Hollywood who have challenged each other. Who would win a race around the globe if one person traveled east and the other west. The catch is that neither can use a plane and they must have interesting experiences along the way. The prize? A bottle of scotch . So in April and May 2007 off they went.
Steve Hely traveled west with his first experience on a cargo ship to the Siberia via South Korea. Through China and Mongolia to Moscow where he agreed to meet Vali. He left St Petersburg to travel to Finland and ferried to Stockholm. He slept through Denmark on his way to Berlin and onwards to Italy where he tried to find some long lost relatives. He made a quick stop in San Marino only because he had a side bet with Vali on who would travel through the most countries (no spoiler alert here). Trains took him to Paris and London and the Queen Mary 2 to NYC and truckin´ back to LA.
Vali Chandrasekaran traveled east from LA but he first went to Mexico to see if he can use a jetpack to cross the Atlantic Ocean. No chance. Back to the USA for him. So, he decides to cheat and use airplanes. He flew from Atlanta to Brazil then onwards to London and a train to Paris in time for the French presidential elections (Sarkozy). Onward to Berlin and Warsaw and Moscow where he met Steve. He then flew to Cairo and onward to Amman, Jordan. He had planned day trip to the West Bank of Palestine (or Israel to the Israelis) but the bridge closed so he stayed in Israel longer than planned. He flew to Dubai for a couple of days and onto Cambodia and Shanghai and LA.
Each had good stories. They saw Tiananmen Square, Sistine Chapel, Dead Sea, the Pyramids among many others. But they also experienced the local cuisine and relaxed with the locals. They both enjoyed meeting young women along the way. They both had interesting border crossing challenges. But, who won the Awesomeness Challenge? They didn´t say and it´s hard for me to say as well.
I enjoyed their travels but the ending was anti climatic. Maybe it´s because I wanted them to continue their travels or one of the women they met on their travels would fly to LA to meet them at the end of the Race. The ending needed more of a punch. Overall, I did enjoy it.
The two authors are comedic scriptwriters in Hollywood who have challenged each other. Who would win a race around the globe if one person traveled east and the other west. The catch is that neither can use a plane and they must have interesting experiences along the way. The prize? A bottle of scotch . So in April and May 2007 off they went.
Steve Hely traveled west with his first experience on a cargo ship to the Siberia via South Korea. Through China and Mongolia to Moscow where he agreed to meet Vali. He left St Petersburg to travel to Finland and ferried to Stockholm. He slept through Denmark on his way to Berlin and onwards to Italy where he tried to find some long lost relatives. He made a quick stop in San Marino only because he had a side bet with Vali on who would travel through the most countries (no spoiler alert here). Trains took him to Paris and London and the Queen Mary 2 to NYC and truckin´ back to LA.
Vali Chandrasekaran traveled east from LA but he first went to Mexico to see if he can use a jetpack to cross the Atlantic Ocean. No chance. Back to the USA for him. So, he decides to cheat and use airplanes. He flew from Atlanta to Brazil then onwards to London and a train to Paris in time for the French presidential elections (Sarkozy). Onward to Berlin and Warsaw and Moscow where he met Steve. He then flew to Cairo and onward to Amman, Jordan. He had planned day trip to the West Bank of Palestine (or Israel to the Israelis) but the bridge closed so he stayed in Israel longer than planned. He flew to Dubai for a couple of days and onto Cambodia and Shanghai and LA.
Each had good stories. They saw Tiananmen Square, Sistine Chapel, Dead Sea, the Pyramids among many others. But they also experienced the local cuisine and relaxed with the locals. They both enjoyed meeting young women along the way. They both had interesting border crossing challenges. But, who won the Awesomeness Challenge? They didn´t say and it´s hard for me to say as well.
I enjoyed their travels but the ending was anti climatic. Maybe it´s because I wanted them to continue their travels or one of the women they met on their travels would fly to LA to meet them at the end of the Race. The ending needed more of a punch. Overall, I did enjoy it.
May 16, 2017
I recently gave Steve Hely's The Wonder Trail four stars but this one only gets three. Pretty much all of those three stars goes to Steve and not Vali. Sort of. I've got a problem with Vali. And it started out right at the beginning of the book. What was up with that stupid handcuff thing? Is he 12 years old?! Lame-o. And then practically right off the bat he decides to cheat and fly everywhere. Okay, so what's the point of that?
What I loved about The Wonder Trail was it really showcased Steve's wanderlust and fascination with the world and for a long while in this book it was again showing Steve to be thoughtful and interesting and well-read while Vali came off as a lame-o, stupid fratboy. His jokes weren't even funny. Then in the last half to third of the book Vali started writing some really thoughtful and interesting things about the places he was in. It was weird. I still thought he was a total dickhead because he continued to fly everywhere...but all of a sudden he had some wonderful things to say about the places he was in.
Did Steve actually ghost for him a bit? Okay, that's not fair, but I have a really hard time reconciling that idiot-Vali who drinks to excess, flies everywhere, and makes retarded jokes with the Vali who is thoughtful and has super-interesting things to say about his travels. And it frustrated me to no end that he wouldn't even want to follow the rules of the race.
The 3 stars actually goes to all the interesting bits in the book about the various places regardless of who wrote them. And zero stars to the fratboy shenanigans.
What I loved about The Wonder Trail was it really showcased Steve's wanderlust and fascination with the world and for a long while in this book it was again showing Steve to be thoughtful and interesting and well-read while Vali came off as a lame-o, stupid fratboy. His jokes weren't even funny. Then in the last half to third of the book Vali started writing some really thoughtful and interesting things about the places he was in. It was weird. I still thought he was a total dickhead because he continued to fly everywhere...but all of a sudden he had some wonderful things to say about the places he was in.
Did Steve actually ghost for him a bit? Okay, that's not fair, but I have a really hard time reconciling that idiot-Vali who drinks to excess, flies everywhere, and makes retarded jokes with the Vali who is thoughtful and has super-interesting things to say about his travels. And it frustrated me to no end that he wouldn't even want to follow the rules of the race.
The 3 stars actually goes to all the interesting bits in the book about the various places regardless of who wrote them. And zero stars to the fratboy shenanigans.
March 10, 2023
I'm not exactly sure what to say about this book. The idea is ridiculous--a race around the world without the use of airplanes. The authors, both TV comedy writers (at least at the time when this was written), are hilarious--I laughed several times.
The part I just can't seem to understand is the why of it all. What was the point of this race? What was the point of this book? It was really maddening to see them go around the world without actually seeing any of the world. What a waste of time and money—both their publisher's and mine. And because they frame this race as this whim of an idea and then proceed to just go for laughs, these men have learned nothing from this experience--at least nothing they were willing to share with us.
One of the best things about travelling is what it teaches you about the world, yes, but also about yourself, and I would have liked to see how this race around the world changed them. Vali's sections come a little closer, since he's a brown man traveling in places where that immediately puts him at a disadvantage. I would have loved to hear more from him about that. But while he mentions in passing, he doesn't go into any depth there.
The end was also very anticlimactic and disappointing.
2 stars for the laughs--especially for Steve's experience at the Peking Opera.
The part I just can't seem to understand is the why of it all. What was the point of this race? What was the point of this book? It was really maddening to see them go around the world without actually seeing any of the world. What a waste of time and money—both their publisher's and mine. And because they frame this race as this whim of an idea and then proceed to just go for laughs, these men have learned nothing from this experience--at least nothing they were willing to share with us.
One of the best things about travelling is what it teaches you about the world, yes, but also about yourself, and I would have liked to see how this race around the world changed them. Vali's sections come a little closer, since he's a brown man traveling in places where that immediately puts him at a disadvantage. I would have loved to hear more from him about that. But while he mentions in passing, he doesn't go into any depth there.
The end was also very anticlimactic and disappointing.
2 stars for the laughs--especially for Steve's experience at the Peking Opera.
November 19, 2022
Ich hatte mich auf dieses Buch echt gefreut. Die Ausgangslage klang aufregend und versprach Abenteuer und eine tolle Geschichte. Leider wurde diese Erwartung dann nicht erfüllt. Die meisten Abenteuer waren nicht wirklich welche, oft wurde ein außergewöhnliches Vorhaben beschrieben, um dann direkt danach sofort zu sagen, dass man es aber dann doch nicht gemacht hat. Fast alle Orte wurde mit einem grundsätzlichen Pessimismus beschrieben (außer den USA) und vor allem war bereits nach wenigen Seiten klar, dass die Prämisse des Buchs von Anfang an über den Haufen geworfen wurde. Der ganze Sinn und Zweck der Wette wurde von einem der Teilnehmer von vornherein ignoriert. Die Wette war bereits vorbei, bevor sie überhaupt angefangen hatte. Alles in allem bin ich von dem Buch sehr enttäuscht.
May 11, 2021
The general premise of this book was enough to have me chucking to myself before I'd even purchased it. As I read it at work, my colleagues were alarmed on several occasions to find me laughing to myself in the office, but some scenes were just too amusing to restrain myself through.
Four stars because the ending was a little anticlimactic, but the authors do themselves point out that the part of a worldwide trip where the trip, well, ends, is bound to be less entertaining than the trip itself. Still, if you're interested in books about travel, or silly bets between friends, you can't go wrong here.
Four stars because the ending was a little anticlimactic, but the authors do themselves point out that the part of a worldwide trip where the trip, well, ends, is bound to be less entertaining than the trip itself. Still, if you're interested in books about travel, or silly bets between friends, you can't go wrong here.
October 8, 2020
Ich hatte ganz im Sinne der Autoren Spaß, aber: Die beiden sehr unterschiedlichen Charaktere Vali und Steve schreiben im Wechsel, und während ich die Steve-Kapitel immer schnell rum hatte, musste ich mir Vali erkämpfen. Ich empfand ihn als bemüht lustig und konnte mich einfach nicht mit ihm anfreunden. Auf Seite 359 von 412 habe ich Die Wette beiseite gelegt und es monatelang nicht mehr in die Hand genommen. Und dann, Überraschung, habe ich mich plötzlich den letzten Seiten gewidmet, mich mit Vali versöhnt und grunzend gelacht.
March 23, 2017
Es hätte ein tolles Buch sein können: Interessante Einsichten in fremde Länder, Kuriositäten, Reiseprobleme....wenn Steve das Buch alleine geschrieben hätte! Leider macht einer der beiden Herren bei der Wette nicht ganz mit, über seine Hälfte des Buchs habe ich mich tatsächlich geärgert. Sehr schade! Die andere Hälfte des Buchs fand ich sehr gut!
August 25, 2018
it's an easy chill read. There's that sarcasm in the book that makes you wonder and pause sometimes "is what the authors are saying really true and did happen or is it just sarcasm, which adds more thrill to the book, because it makes you think and imagine for yourself how true and how sarcastic the narrative is.
i enjoyed the chapter about Egypt the most.
i enjoyed the chapter about Egypt the most.
February 2, 2025
Overall the book is really good, but it bothered me that one of the guys completely ignored the rules of the race, it killed the vibe a little bit, made it a little bit less fun.
Also the ending was very anticlimactic but at least they were honest about it.
But other than that, the book was amazing and really funny.
Also the ending was very anticlimactic but at least they were honest about it.
But other than that, the book was amazing and really funny.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2018
The title should have been The Not-So-Ridiculous Race. It's not funny and it's probably the worst book I have ever read. Don't waste your time in this book. I got it as a gift and forced myself to finish it.
November 5, 2018
I would have given this 4 stars if something hadn't happened on page 55 (of 315) that soured a lot of my feelings towards one of the protagonists for the rest of the book. You'll know what it is if you read it.
December 26, 2018
Slightly funny, somewhat dated humor and one guy cheats. Occasionally, a good story is shared but definitely too many facts in a small period of time makes it hard to even remember anything that happened.
May 17, 2022
Wühltischfund.
Könnte ganz witzig gewesen sein, leider ist das Ganze voller Fäkalhumor und Sexismus. Aber wahrscheinlich nicht so verwunderlich, wenn einer der Autoren Witzchen für "American Dad" schreibt.
Könnte ganz witzig gewesen sein, leider ist das Ganze voller Fäkalhumor und Sexismus. Aber wahrscheinlich nicht so verwunderlich, wenn einer der Autoren Witzchen für "American Dad" schreibt.
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