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May 28, 2018ProfessionalPilgrim rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
One of the best (of over 100) travel books I have read. Theroux explores much of Melanesia (including parts of Australia, which was 100% Melanesian until the 1770s), and most of the Polynesian Triangle (from New Zealand, to Easter Island, to Hawai'i). Often an intensely personal memoir, it was fascinating to get into the author's head, and become privy to his perspective on some 50 different islands, scattered all over the ocean. (I wish he had also gone to Micronesia: the Marianas, Carolines, and Marshalls, as well as Nauru and Tuvalu.) Readers should be aware that he was travelling in 1990, and much has changed since that time, some things for the worse; some for the better. For example, Port Moresby (capital of Papua New Guinea) and Honiara (capital of the Solomon Islands) are not as bad as he depicts them. Yes, there is danger and dirt in both places, but I was there in January, 2018, and, as long as you exercise a reasonable degree of caution, and pay close attention to local advice regarding safety, you will be safe.