Around the World in 50 Years - by Albert Podell (Paperback)

About the Book

"In 2003, Albert Podell realized that he'd been to 110 countries in the world. What if, he wondered, he could go to them all? He would set foot in not just the well-known tourist destinations in Europe or the vacation spots in Latin America, but the little-known, far-off lands that most people don't know exist. In Around the World in 50 Years, Podell recounts the misunderstandings, detours, accidents, breakdowns, robberies, and even wars that he needed to overcome to visit every corner of Earth. He describes his encounters with voodoo rituals, fruit-bat pie, the Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon, Cuban counterintelligence agents, the New Guinea wigmen, camel caravans, the Lord's Resistance Army, and much, much more. With a wry, exuberant style, Podell's observations on the unusual and exotic places that lay beyond the usual tourist trails make this book a standout on the travel writing shelf"--

Book Synopsis

The New York Times Best Seller

"Amazing . . . the most original travel narrative ever written." --CounterPunch

Around the World in 50 Years 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 which he blasted his way out of minefields, survived a serious accident atop the Peak of Death, came within seconds of being lynched, and lost three of the five men who started with him: two to disease, one to the Vietcong.

After that, Albert Podell set another record by going to every country on earth. He survived riots, revolutions, civil wars, trigger-happy child soldiers, voodoo priests, jihadists, robbers, corrupt cops, and Cape buffalo. He traveled through every kind of earthquake, cyclone, tsunami, volcanic eruption, snowstorm, and sandstorm that nature threw at him. He ate everything from old camel meat and African field rats to dung beetles and the brain of a live monkey. And he overcame encounters with crocodiles, hippos, anacondas, giant leeches, flying crabs--and several beautiful women who insisted that he stop this nonsense and marry them.

Around the World in 50 Years is a remarkable and meaningful tale packed with some of the most memorable, frightening, and hilarious adventure stories you have ever read.

Review Quotes

"Part travel adventure tale and part madcap farcical comedy, where Hunter S. Thompson meets Anthony Bourdain." --Chicago Tribune

"His writing is breathtaking. . . . This is substantially more than a travel book. It is one man's nearly lifelong, worldwide adventure." --Booklist

"The author's tales are unquestionably entertaining. . . . There is never a dull moment." --Kirkus Reviews

"It's like Crocodile Dundee produced by Monty Python and directed by Woody Allen." --Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet

About the Author

ALBERT PODELL has had successful careers as a magazine editor, director of photography, advertising executive, freelance writer, adventurer, author, attorney, theatrical investor and producer, and philanthropist. He recently became the oldest person to visit every country in the world and one of the very few people to ever achieve this feat. He is a graduate of Cornell University, was a graduate fellow in international relations at the University of Chicago, and holds a J.D. from NYU.