Full Circle: a Pacific Journey with Michael Palin - Hardcover

Palin, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0563371218 ISBN 13: 9780563371212

Publisher: BBC Books, 1997

Synopsis

Following the hugely popular and successful Around the World in 80 Days and Pole to Pole, Michael Palin set off to meet another challenge: an anti-clockwise circumnavigation of the world's largest ocean, the Pacific.

Eighteen countries border the vast expanse of sea that is the Pacific. Palin travelled through them by air, train, boat, car, and on foot, exploring some of the most beautiful landscapes on earth. As he moved through different countries he met the wonderfully diverse communities that make up their populations, many of whom lead far from ordinary lives.

Whether he's talking to head-hunters in Borneo or eating maggots in Mexico, Palin recounts his adventures in a vivid and lively style that brilliantly evokes the full colour and richness of the Pacific Rim.

About this title

Review:

Michael Palin has certainly been busy since his days with Monty Python's Flying Circus. In Full Circle, Palin and a film crew go on a year-long adventure visiting 18 countries along the Pacific Rim. The film was eventually made into a 10-part PBS series, to which this book serves as a companion. Not for nothing is this part of the world called the "Ring of Fire"; volcanoes punctuate the landscape, and Palin even climbs one still smoking from a recent eruption. But the difficult landscape is only one challenge in this at times hair-raising, at times hilarious, always fascinating journey around the world's largest ocean. In the Philippines, Palin witnesses "psychic surgery": on the Urubamba River, Palin simultaneously clings for his life to a dugout canoe as he shoots the rapids and keeps up with England's progress in the World Cup via shortwave radio.

Whether he's visiting a Gulag camp in Siberia or chowing down on maggots in Mexico, Palin meets the challenges of rough travel with grace, courage, and more than a little humor. Full Circle is fun to read, includes many color photographs from Palin's adventures, and makes a terrific addition to the armchair traveler's bookshelf.

About the Author:

Riley Hart is the girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. She's a hopeless romantic. A lover of sexy stories, passionate men, and writing about all the trouble they can get into together. If she's not writing, you'll probably find her reading. 

Riley lives in California with her awesome family, who she is thankful for everyday.

About this edition

• Publisher: BBC Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0563371218
• ISBN 13: 9780563371212
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320