After the Death of a Salesman

You say you woke up in your hotel room, the staff disappeared and all the doors were locked? None of your samples arrived at their destination in Brazil and your marathon sales trip has collapsed? You took the staff out for Thai food in Chicago to celebrate on the first night of your biggest convention of the year and they all came down with ptomaine poisoning? Clearly it's time to relax and settle down with this coast-to-coast business travelogue that American Library Association Booklist calls "Terrifically funny."

In this entertaining volume, bookseller and publisher Rapoport combines stories of business-trip mishaps with his own reflections and recommendations about the publishing industry. Although the title implies a focus on travelers' anecdotes, Rapoport devotes about half the book to his thoughts on the publishing industry, bemoaning the practices of the large publishing houses and praising independent bookstores for helping to preserve literature. These sections provide valuable reading for anyone interested in the publishing industry. The travelers' anecdotes are told in a light, lively fashion. Rapoport gathered some of the material while on the road selling I Should Have Stayed Home: The Worst Trips of Great Writers (RDR Bks., 1994) and I've Been Gone Far Too Long: Scientists' Worst Trips (RDR Bks., 1995). Some of the mishaps are personal, including the theft of his rental car while on a sales trip. Other stories involve lost luggage, drunken pilots, angry cabbies, missed flights, food poisoning, and the cancellation of confirmed reservations, all on a grand scale that encourages as much laughter as sympathy with the unfortunate travelers. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.?A.J. Sobczak, formerly with California State Univ., Northridge
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Did you ever hear the one about the traveling salesman who . . . ? Well, you will hear them all in this anecdotal romp through the worst (and funniest) sales travel horror stories, from lost keys and lost luggage at the airport to ill-conceived conventions and trade shows to a tour of the Marcos Presidential Palace in the Philippines--and all of Imelda's shoes. Of course, it is not all hilarity; the sad story of virtually enslaved Korean prostitutes, cases of ptomaine poisoning and other illnesses, and just the daily grind of traveling offer a different view of the salesperson's life and times. Of course, there is the story of the woman in Madagascar who had a cab driver drop a four-inch cockroach into her luggage--just for laughs! Rapoport obviously loves this stuff, though some of it is kind of "who cares," but if you're interested in finding out just what it's like for the men and women of the road, this book offers a terrifically funny and occasionally touching insight. Joe Collins