I envy him. I envy his travels and his writing. For me Bouvier writes the best travel novels. It s something different. He doesn't describe the country. he simply lives country's life. Stays somewhere in Anatolia for a month, then suddenly one day decides it is time. Time to go, time to travel.

The Way of the World takes me back to when a generation traveled the world with backpacks, motorcycles and VW buses. It is a travel log set in the late fifties, of two casual travelers in their early twenties, who set off on a trip from Europe to India to explore the backroads and see life in its essence as lived by the local people. The book paints the pictures of gypsys, artists, mountain families and ancient cities with bazaars, using local color and the eye of an artist. Those who have traveled with similiar resources will enjoy the challenges of the innovative repair of an old Fiat in the middle of a desert, the capricousness of venturing into another country with only pocketchange, and the discovery that most people in the world do have a love of strangers.

I read this book one month into a year-stay in Japan. The country which was becoming increasingly unattractive to me became fascinating again. I love this book. Like Alan Booth, the author presents Japan and its people in a unsentimental, yet loving way. Highly recommended.