User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
I’ve long been a fan of Anthony Bourdain: ten years ago or more I read, and loved, Kitchen Confidential and A Cook’s Tour and ever since I’ve voraciously chased down episodes of his television shows
No Reservations and
Parts Unknown. In these shows he travels the world, meets people, explores the area and eats and drinks his way through just about anything you can think of. I was so obsessed with these programmes that I even tracked down a food shack he visited in one of his episodes. After watching it on a flight from the UK to Australia I tracked down Harry’s Café de Wheels, in Sydney, which is known for its meat pies and mash – and I have to say the food really was very good!
Like so many people, I was devastated when AB took his own life in 2018. What a tragic loss. And I was surprised when I spotted this book, due for release in April 2021 – is it a book that had been written before his death and was just now being released? Unfortunately not, in fact it’s something that grew out of the recording of a one hour meeting between Bourdain and his assistant, a few months before he died. The net result is, I think, something of a mishmash. In close to five hundred pages we are treated to brief overviews of quite a few of the places Bourdain visited, with each section comprising a collection of quotes from the man himself, details of restaurants he visited (address, average cost of a meal etc.) and some travel information such as where the airports are situated and how much it might cost you to get from there into the nearest centre.
To be fair, the lines from Bourdain are often priceless, reminding me just what a clever and amusing writer and raconteur he was. But why mix it up with the sort of information you’d get from a travel guide or online? In addition, in the e-copy I read the text was broken up by a series of drawings - what a missed opportunity, I’d happily have dispensed with the travel information and swapped the drawings for some photographs. In this format the book just didn’t work for me. So where is the audience for it? I suppose the best fit might be fans of the man who decide they want to track down some of the places featured in his shows, or perhaps just have a record of these places accompanied by some of Bourdain's memorable lines.
My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: really liked it
This is not written by Anthony Bourdain but by his assistant Laurie Woolever. It mainly consists of Anthony's quotes about particular places and information about restaurants, hotels he visited in that place joined together by information on how to get there. Occasionally there are short essays from Bourdain's family, friends and collaborators.
Is this the book for me? Well no, it is not. I do not read travel guides. Why did I choose to read it, well because I love Bourdain's shows and wanted some more of that. I only got a bit, because I got a chock full of quotes from him, which are as usual very good but I had hoped for more. I sort of imagined that this was going to be his world view, a recap after all that travel. It wasn't. I think my sadness at his loss and my wish for more misled me in this case.
An ARC gently provided by author/publishers via Netgalley.
Rating: really liked it
3 ☆World Travel was exactly as the GR summary had described. In accordance with the title, 43 nations had been selected from all corners of the globe, with the exception of Antarctica whose residents do not in any way cater to the tourist trade. But Bourdain had indeed made a memorable show there featuring the scientists, and I recommend looking up that episode.
Bourdain had ended his world perambulations with his suicide in 2018. Nonetheless, this book sounded like him because his main insights or impressions of a country had been extracted from his televised shows - "No Reservations," "Parts Unknown" and "The Layover."
All of us, when we travel, look at the places we go, the things we see, through different eyes. And how we see them is shaped by our previous lives, the books we've read, the films we've seen, the baggage we carry.
Each nation had been presented in a similar format. After Bourdain's general and brief observation, the sections were then delineated by key cities. While most countries had two or three cities featured, the US section highlighted 17 cities. Logistical information reminiscent of "The Layover" was included - ie. how to get from the airport to the key area of interest. Finally, Bourdain's relevant memorable food experience was described, usually in drool-inducing terms, and with the name and address of the specific eatery. (The 2020 pandemic, of course, has threatened the livelihood of many restauranteurs so this may no longer be useful information.)
A few additional essays from Bourdain's brother or another work colleague on their previous joint travel and food experiences were included.
I had listened to the audiobook as well as borrowed the ebook. The 43 countries had been presented in alphabetical order, which made for a disconnected listening experience, as the selections seemed to hopscotch erratically around the world. But what made the experience less pleasing to me, which wasn't necessarily fair, was that the audiobook had been narrated by Bourdain's brother. While I may have mistakenly identified siblings over the phone before, I had no chance of doing so here. I had cognitive dissonance as the words were very much Anthony Bourdain, but the sound and usually the cadence of the narration were not. So if you want to read this because you're a Bourdain fan, go for the printed book, which also had whimsical illustrations.
But honestly, I confess to having expected more. I love to travel but despite this book making me feel hungry, it didn't deliver a huge "wow" factor. It's an offbeat hybrid - a sampler anthology highlighting Bourdain's television shows; and like any travel "guide book," it became dated as soon as it was published. If you're a fan of Bourdain, it's kind of good to have everything so-to-speak compiled in one place. But for me, I'd rather just watch his shows for an injection of his spiky wit and adventurous curiosity.
Rating: really liked it
As a fan of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly and a lover of travel, I was excited and a bit confused to see a new Anthony Bourdain book set to come out three years after his untimely death. My assumption was this was a project he'd had half done - maybe a first draft submitted or something like that - and subsequently some clean-up work was required prior to turning it into a posthumously released book. Sadly, this was not the case.
As Bourdain's assistant Laurie Woolover explains in the introduction, this book was basically born from a recording of a one hour brainstorming session that the two of them had a few months before he passed away. That's it. World Travel doesn't read like a Bourdain book... at all. Because it's not. I personally do not believe this book should be published.
Basically, this book is an unhelpful travel guide to places around the entire world. It's broken down into short chapters devoted to Bourdain's travels in 43 (!!) different countries, most of which are subsequently broken down into several different cities Bourdain traveled to within them. It is highly formulaic in that each chapter starts with a brief overview of the city followed by (I kid you not) the 3-letter airport code and cost/timing of getting from the airport to the actual city. Next comes a description of some $600+/night hotel that Bourdain tended to stay at, then maybe one tourist attraction he liked, and finally 2 or 3 bars/restaurants he loved. Pepper in some Bourdain quotes, short stories told by people who knew him in said city, and random drawings and repeat this formula. Over and over. For 43 (!!) countries.
If I want travel tips for a particular locale, I'll buy a travel guide devoted to said spot. If I want to read stories from Anthony Bourdain, I'd reread Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly or check out A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines. This book attempted to do both of those things together and it failed miserably.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Rating: really liked it
Anthony Bourdain's show "No Reservations" and his other shows featured his irreverent humor and his biting observations. Though Bourdain has taken another path in his journey, many of us can still hear his voice. This book, which was in progress before his untimely demise, attempts to harness that voice to a sort of rambling travel guide. At best, this book offers us readers quotes from Bourdain's voice overs. Itlso offers a kind of travelogue and sometimes interviews with fortunate or unfortunate proprietors of restaurants whose lives were changed by Bourdain's show featuring their restaurants.
Rating: really liked it
I don't think Anthony Bourdains name should have been attached to this project at all. It felt like the writer wanted to release the book rather than create a piece of work that would make Bourdain proud. It was formulaic. Quote, brief & surface level explanation of quote, and then airport info followed by 1 or 2 restaurants. She could have taken the time to really understand how those trips went, the interactions on his travels, how he felt, what he left behind when he left these places. This work felt nothing like Bourdain.
Rating: really liked it
This is a collection of quotes from Bourdain's shows supplemented with airport information, what hotels he stayed in and a smattering of original writings from some of the people he worked with on his shows. It's a very disappointing book. I can't believe how brazen the co-author Laurie Woolever is - the Bourdain text is taken straight from his shows and not from her interviews as she claims in the Introduction! There is more value to be gained from just watching reruns of Parts Unknown or No Reservations.
Rating: really liked it
Look, I know everyone misses the great Anthony Bourdain, his death was a shock to us all, and he’s influenced an untold number of people in how and why they travel…all good things…
…and I really, really wanted to like this book, and looked forward to having it motivate me to plan a post-COVID trip, but I was sorely disappointed.
From the intro, we learn that it was conceived while Bourdain was still alive back in March 2017, and it’s admirable that his “lieutenant” Laurie Woolever wanted to complete the book, but overall I found it to be all over the place and could have benefitted from a tightened format and far less filler. For example, each country/city profiled contains a section entitled “Arrival and Getting Around” which gives details about airports/train stations and for getting around the city in question once you arrive. Is this really necessary for this book? It’s likely that any details on the cost of a taxi will be out-of-date within a year or two. It’s something you’d find in a typical travel guide book, a la Lonely Planet, which IS updated every few years to include updated prices, etc., but I was surprised such info was even included. Also, there’s this thing called the “internet” which would have the most up to date prices on taxis, metros, etc. that is easily accessible to most people planning a trip…
The book also lists Bourdain’s go to hotels at each of the places profiled, and we discover that while Bourdain was a huge fan of dive bars and low-key restaurants, when it came to lodging, he enjoyed the lavish. For someone who is basically a professional traveler, who likely gets networks to pick up the tab for such lodging, I get it, but similar to my point above, I’m not reading this book to find that the average cost per night at the &Beyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge where Bourdain stayed in Tanzania is $1,100 per person per night (pg. 309), or that he stayed at the Amankora hotel in Bhutan, where the average price of a suite per night is $1,250 in the high season (pgs. 31-32). Not surprisingly, his TV shows never showcase where Bourdain stayed, because it’s a bit inconsistent with the image he portrays.
The book could have been tightened, chapters better organized other than in alphabetical order by country, and perhaps just a bit more of an homage to the man (it hardly addresses his untimely death, or even how at the time it was published, many folks are waiting for the world to re-open to travel due to COVID – though I believe COVID is mentioned briefly in the chapters, but not in the intro). His words are highlighted in blue font, which is helpful, but it’s still haphazard and all over the place. Some locations get little more than a hotel or restaurant mentioned – for example, Jerusalem in Israel gets no more than 3 pages devoted to it (pgs. 141-143), and in addition to the “Arrival and Getting Around” section, it discusses the American Colony Hotel and Majda restaurant, as well as some of Bourdain’s thoughts about “easily the most contentious piece of real estate in the world” (pg. 141). There’s nothing more to say about his experience there? Really?
The final country profiled is Vietnam, which I know was near and dear to Bourdain’s heart after reading a profile on him in “The New Yorker” magazine years ago. Bourdain famously sat down with President Obama over noodles in Hanoi, and the profile delves into Bourdain’s love of traveling through the country by motor scooter, and how he has considered buying property there. Most of this is absent from this section, and it made me want to go back and revisit that profile in “The New Yorker.”
As this book left me wanting more, it made want to revisit his shows, or even re-read his breakthrough book, “Kitchen Confidential.” Yes, this book is an instant best seller, as will any future books with his name attached to it. But as I found from my experience with this book, just because his name is on the cover doesn’t mean it’s worth reading (and I'm glad I took it out from the library instead of paying for it).
Rating: really liked it
World Travel
By Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain was an icon who saw different cultures and parts of the world through the food that binds us together as humanity. His voice and style with the auspiciousness of understanding the world in which we live, is written so beautifully in this book.
This travel guide is a collection of his favorite places that he has visited and is a wonderful read especially now that an escape read is part of what keeps our sanity intact. I enjoy the deep dive into these places and what makes these special and memorable. This would make an amazing gift for foodies, travel junkies and anyone that loved Anthony Bourdains' show and books.
I highly recommend this book!
Rating: really liked it
Just skimmed this. Quite a disappointment in that just a few sentences per page are truly the words of Anthony Bourdain. It is such a shallow take on many countries of the world. It’s a terrible travel guide unless you’re going to skip around the world spending a few days in each country. It doesn’t draw you a rich enough picture of any country to make you want to go. The highlight was the essay by the woman who was the guide around South Korea. Her story was all I will remember about this cash grab of a book.
Rating: really liked it
Reviews for this book have been polarizing. Bourdain was a memoirist and storyteller, so people expected (understandably) that this would be another memoir style book, full of stories and compelling prose, about Tony's travels. It very much is not that, and many people are disappointed. Apparently Tony was supposed to supplement the book with essays, but he died before he wrote them. There are lots of personal reflections, and some fantastic quotes, but still nothing resembling storytelling.
So what is it? It's a travel guide. That's really it. Like a Lonely Planet travel guide, but far less helpful because it has no pictures and much less practical information. And yet, it's far more compelling because it still contains Tony's thoughts and quips about various places, and the book is far more artful than a typical travel guide. This is especially true of the American edition, whose cover captures Tony's essence perfectly and is much better than the boring cover on the European English edition.
I will say, like many, I was hoping for a very different book. At the same time, I do not want to rate the book based upon my own hopes for what it would be, but rather on what it is, and what it is is a very stylish and artfully rendered compendium of Tony's favorite places to visit in Tony's favorite cities, and I think there is real value there. It also should be recognized that Woolever did a fantastic job organizing the material. This is not the book most people wanted it to be, but when we think about what it is, we should be glad that it exists. I'll use it fruitfully.
Rating: really liked it
A mishmash of quotes from his shows, and dry facts compiled by his assistant. Reads like a random travel guide complete with how much a taxi to the airport costs.
Best consumed in small doses as it is not cohesive at all. My expectations were way too high.
Rating: really liked it
Well, what a piece of crap! Not by Bourdain but kinda stitched together from tv programs, hearsay and post-it notes and narrated by his assistant who in each city takes a break to let his brother or someone narrate with a lot of "F*ck this!, F*ck that! and other oh so with it curse words to (I guess) make us think he's channeling AB and trying to justify the "Irreverent" in the title. I agonized through Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Sydney, and Vienna and found out how much a cab ride from the airport into each city costs or used to cost. I also got a brief overview of his favorite restaurant in each city, that's assuming they haven't moved/sold the restaurant/raised the prices. I decided to forego learning cab fares in other world cities and DNF'd at that point. Got to be the worst ripoff of 2021 and I didn't pay for it!
Rating: really liked it
I did not finish this book. The advertising for the book was completely misleading and I regret having purchased it. Anthony Bourdain had nothing to do with the writing of this book. There had been a one hour discussion prior to his death of the possibility of creating a travel guide based on his favorite places. It never got beyond that one hour conversation . Instead, this is a compilation of quotes from Bourdain‘s shows. You would be far better off catching those reruns and hear Bourdain’s voice rather than reading this book. In addition, a travel guide like this serves no purpose if there is never going to be any follow up with updated editions. It’s hard to know whether any of these restaurants or shops or hotels remain in existence. Again, this book should never have been published.
Rating: really liked it
As a big fan of the late and great Anthony Bourdain, this book was a great way to reminisce about his favorite locations and plan new travels. Sadly, it was not the book it was initially intended to be due to his death. Most of his words are from other sources. But it's great to see them compiled and his recommendations all in one spot. The added bonus of essays by people who knew him well is a great tribute to him and shares stories of his travels behind-the-scenes. I recommend this book to anyone who loved Anthony Bourdain or enjoys travel writing.
