Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Around the World in 50 Years by Albert Podell - Available

Around the World in 50 Years

My Adventure to Every Country on Earth

by Albert Podell
Tom Perkins
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
This is the inspiring story of an ordinary guy who achieved two great goals that others had told him were impossible. First, he set a record for the longest automobile journey ever made around the world, during the course of which he blasted his way out of minefields, survived a breakdown atop the Peak of Death, came within seconds of being lynched in Pakistan, and lost three of the five men who started with him, two to disease, one to the Vietcong.


After that—although it took him forty-seven more years—Albert Podell set another record by going to every country on Earth. He achieved this by surviving riots, civil wars, trigger-happy child soldiers, voodoo priests, robbers, corrupt cops, and Cape buffalo. He went around, under, or through every kind of natural disaster. He ate everything from old camel meat and rats to dung beetles and the brain of a live monkey. And he overcame attacks by crocodiles, hippos, anacondas, giant leeches, flying crabs—and several beautiful girlfriends who insisted that he stop this nonsense and marry them.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 5, 2015

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781494592158
      • File size: 372980 KB
      • Duration: 12:57:02

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Albert Podell embarked upon an ambitious and unlikely undertaking: to visit every country on the planet, arriving at a total of 196 countries over the course of 50 years. Tom Perkins's narration is clear, comfortably paced, and easy to follow, though perhaps not as colorful as one might imagine the author himself to be. His straightforward narration feels slightly at odds with the persona of Podell, who shows himself to be creative and crafty in achieving his challenging goal, though at times culturally judgmental and personally thorny. A bit more spice to the narration would have added a lot in portraying the type of person who would undertake an adventure such as this. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 12, 2015
      Podell first set his mind on traveling the world in 1964, when he quit his job at Argosy magazine and gave up his life as a bachelor in NYC, in an effort to break the record for the longest land journey around the world. Invigorated by all the sights, experiences, and drama, Podell set his sights higher: to visit every country in the world before he dies. In this lively travelogue, Podell proves himself a worthy raconteur as he recounts his adventures nearly drowning in Costa Rica, diving with penguins in the Galápagos, eating ice cream in the Sahara Desert, panning for gold in Senegal, and eating all manner of local dishes—including monkey brains in Hong Kong. He interacts with his fair share of corrupt officials and soldiers, falls into a manhole full of raw sewage in Africa, and visits the Pacific island of Tuvalu, a major arsenal during WWII that is all but abandoned and “will be the first country to disappear under the waves of the rising ocean.” Rounded out with the author’s frank advice for fellow travellers (he develops a toilet-rating system by country and includes a list of reasons not to visit Haiti) as well as his solemn observations that climate change is very real and that “if the work ethic I observed in the Western world continues to weaken... we are history,” this book is an informative and sobering look at the world’s many cultures and the importance of travel. 31 b&w photos. Agent: Tony Outhwaite, JCA Literary Agency.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading
Check out what's being checked out right now