Table of Contents

Title Page

Table of Contents

Map

Copyright

Contents

Preface: The Importance of Elsewhere

Abbreviations of Book Titles

1. Travel in Brief

2. The Navel of the World

3. The Pleasures of Railways

4. Murphy's Rules of Travel

5. Travelers on Their Own Books

6. How Long Did the Traveler Spend Traveling?

7. The Things That They Carried

8. Fears, Neuroses, and Other Conditions

9. Travelers Who Never Went Alone

10. Travel as an Ordeal

11. English Travelers on Escaping England

12. When You're Strange

13. It Is Solved by Walking

14. Travel Feats

15. Staying home

16. Imaginary Journeys

17. Everything Is Edible Somewhere

18. Rosenblum's Rules of Reporting

19. Perverse Pleasures of the Inhospitable

20. Imaginary People

21. Writers and the Places They Never Visited

22. Traveler's Bliss

23. Classics of a Sense of Place

24. Evocative Name, Disappointing Place

25. Dangerous, happy, Alluring

26. Five Travel Epiphanies

27. The Essential Tao of Travel

Acknowledgments

Permissions and Credits

The Tao of Travel

Enlightenments from Lives on the Road

Paul Theroux

Table of Contents

Title Page

Table of Contents

Map

Copyright

Contents

Preface: The Importance of Elsewhere

Abbreviations of Book Titles

1. Travel in Brief

2. The Navel of the World

3. The Pleasures of Railways

4. Murphy's Rules of Travel

5. Travelers on Their Own Books

6. How Long Did the Traveler Spend Traveling?

7. The Things That They Carried

8. Fears, Neuroses, and Other Conditions

9. Travelers Who Never Went Alone

10. Travel as an Ordeal

11. English Travelers on Escaping England

12. When You're Strange

13. It Is Solved by Walking

14. Travel Feats

15. Staying home

16. Imaginary Journeys

17. Everything Is Edible Somewhere

18. Rosenblum's Rules of Reporting

19. Perverse Pleasures of the Inhospitable

20. Imaginary People

21. Writers and the Places They Never Visited

22. Traveler's Bliss

23. Classics of a Sense of Place

24. Evocative Name, Disappointing Place

25. Dangerous, happy, Alluring

26. Five Travel Epiphanies

27. The Essential Tao of Travel

Acknowledgments

Permissions and Credits

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Boston New York

2011

Copyright © 2011 by Paul Theroux

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,

write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company,

215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

www.hmhbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Theroux, Paul.

The tao of travel : enlightenments from lives on the road / Paul Theroux.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-547-33691-6

1. Travel—Anecdotes. 2. Travelers—Anecdotes. I. Title.

G180.T54 2011

910.4—dc22 2010042022

Book design by Lisa Diercks

The text of this book is set in Miller.

Printed in China

SCP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Permissions and credits follow the index.

Contents

Preface: The Importance of Elsewhere[>]

1. Travel in Brief [>]

2. The Navel of the World [>]

3. The Pleasures of Railways [>]

Travel Wisdom of Henry Fielding [>]

4. Murphy's Rules of Travel [>]

5. Travelers on Their Own Books [>]

6. How Long Did the Traveler Spend Traveling? [>]

Travel Wisdom of Samuel Johnson [>]

7. The Things That They Carried [>]

8. Fears, Neuroses, and Other Conditions [>]

9. Travelers Who Never Went Alone [>]

Travel Wisdom of Sir Francis Galton [>]

10. Travel as an Ordeal [>]

11. English Travelers on Escaping England [>]

12. When You're Strange [>]

Travel Wisdom of Robert Louis Stevenson [>]

13. It Is Solved by Walking [>]

14. Travel Feats [>]

15. Staying Home [>]

Travel Wisdom of Freya Stark [>]

16. Imaginary Journeys [>]

17. Everything Is Edible Somewhere [>]

18. Rosenblum's Rules of Reporting [>]

Travel Wisdom of Claude Lévi-Strauss [>]

19. Perverse Pleasures of the Inhospitable [>]

20. Imaginary People [>]

21. Writers and the Places They Never Visited [>]

Travel Wisdom of Evelyn Waugh [>]

22. Travelers' Bliss [>]

23. Classics of a Sense of Place [>]

24. Evocative Name, Disappointing Place [>]

Travel Wisdom of Paul Bowles [>]

25. Dangerous, Happy, Alluring [>]

26. Five Travel Epiphanies [>]

27. The Essential Tao of Travel [>]

Acknowledgments [>]

Index of People and Places [>]

Preface: The Importance of Elsewhere