PICO IYER
This prolific author, as many a reviewer has said, is the rightful heir to Jan Morris, the British travel writer whose book, Journeys, is a modern classic.
Though he has written fiction and non fiction, three of his best are: Video Night in Kathmandu and The Lady and the Monk plus The Global Soul...
Video Night in Kathmandu may be almost 20 years old, the stories, from Bali to the Philippines, Hong Kong to Japan, prove Iyer to be one of the best travel writers out there. Humorous, poignant and strange, these stories take readers on a tour of emerging economies (China) perfect strangers (Japan) and tourist hotspots (Bali) and how they are changing, and, influencing the West in more ways than the casual observer realizes.
Iyer rightly says when you are flying to Asia, you are winging your way into tomorrow (thanks to the int’l date line) and now, with China an even larger economic power, the book is as relevant as it was when it was published in 1988.
The Lady and the Monk is in my opinion the best book ever written about Japan, in terms of cultural confusion, the beauty of the Japanese culture, the changing seasons, the food, the sadness winter brings, and the oil and water, perfect strangers existence that confronts many foreigners and locals with deep seated questions when living in the Land of the Rising Sun.
The fact the book is fact, not fiction, makes it an even better read, as the story that unfolds is far more than a year in Japan, it’s a glimpse into a dance between East and West that continues to confound, enthrall, and infuriate many a person……
...so if you're off to Japan to travel or to live, read this book.It is better than any guidebook.
The Global Soul is not really a travelogue book, for it is about people who travel by birthright, because of parentage, marriage, upbringing, etc, and the discombobulation that the hybrid culture the Global Soul deals with on a daily basis.
If you were born and raised in the same place, no matter how exotic, sorry, this book may seem like a lunar concept to you; though, if you have parents from different cultures, and spoke a different language at home than you did at school, and your spouse is from a different country, and your children were born in yet another country, and you work in yet another country, then The Global Soul is the book for you. The concept will only become more relevant as the world keeps on spinning and flinging willing and not so willing exiles from where they were born, forging a 'home' where ever fate has sent them....