From the Inside Flap In Tropical Classical the author of "Video Nights in Katmandu and "The Lady and the Monk visits a holy city in Ethiopia, where hooded worshippers practice a Christianity that has remained unchanged since the Middle Ages. He follows the bewilderingly complex route of Bombay's "dabbawallahs, who each day ferry 100,000 different lunches to 100,000 different workers. Iyer chats with the Dalai Lama and assesses the books of Salman Rushdie and Cormac McCarthy. And he brings his perceptive eye and unflappable wit to bear on the postmodern vogues for literary puffery, sexual gamesmanship, and frequent-flier miles. Glittering with aphorisms, overflowing with insight, and often hilarious, Tropical Classical represents some of Iyer's finest work. About the Author Pico Iyer has written nonfiction books on globalism, Japan, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and forgotten places, and novels on Revolutionary Cuba and Islamic mysticism. He regularly writes about literature for The New York Review of Books; about travel for the Financial Times; and about global culture and the news for Time, The New York Times, and magazines around the world.
S**E
Wondeful eclectic mix of superficial profundity
Engrossing and skillfully written, wether about frequent-flyer miles or italian movie crews. Brilliant for having on bedside table for those 3AM insomnia attacks.
G**S
Five Stars
excellant, lots of new words to learn.
D**G
Not what we might expect
I like Pico Iyer enough to say I have read all his books. This is by far the worst. I struggled to finish it. Filled with book reviews and essays on things like the use of commas it is not what I have come to expect from him. The first 50 pages were ok, but after that it went down hill. I was in Hokkaido Japan over Xmas with this book, hoping to read it near the fire at night. I resorted to my only alternative -- reading Japanese Manga in Japanese (which I can barely read) rather than face this book again. Buy another selection by Pico, not this one.
G**M
A unique abilty to bring out what is truly fascinating
A "classic" look at Iyers work and his uncanny abiltity to seek out the fascinating. He is a travelers traveler, and makes proper leaps to the heart of the matter. He writes to the soul of those who travel, those who understand the paradoxical nature of the world today. With a fluid style and often giddy manor, i am often forced to test my own conclusions and my evaluations of places and spaces.
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