UPDATE: 3/20/2014:
Revisited this book on a whim, saw the highly critical first place review and have a couple comments to make.
This book was indeed quite possibly the most life-changing book I've ever read. I ended up traveling to all 7 continents in one year as a direct result of reading this (including taking an expedition vessel to Antarctica), buying incredible gear on Tynan's recommendation which has held up unbelievably well (I count the Deuter Futura 28 and Mont-Bell ExLight Down Jacket as two of the best purchases I've ever made - both are still in incredibly good condition and I use them on an almost daily basis).
Another important note - I wasn't friends with Tynan at the time of my first review [I was 18 then -- 22 now], but I reached out to him shortly after I returned from my first trip to Africa where I climbed Kilimanjaro, we met over tea in San Francisco, and ended up traveling to Japan together last year, which was quite possibly one of the best trips I've ever taken. We then proceeded to buy an island together and now get free flights anywhere in the US for the next two years courtesy of the Southwest Companion Pass. In the works for this year: we'll be doing a transpacific cruise from Vancouver --> Russia --> Japan, and visiting Hong Kong to do the world's tallest bungee jump.
At the same time, I won a $100,000 Thiel Fellowship grant to pursue entrepreneurship (in no small part thanks to the fact that they were pretty impressed that I took time out of school to go climb Kilimanjaro -- because of this book), which culminated with me meeting my cofounder in Antarctica and us founding Sprayable Energy together, which had the second most funded crowdfunding campaign of all time in its category on Indiegogo and was featured recently in the New York Times/NPR/The Atlantic/Entrepreneur/Inc/ABC/FOX/etc.
In short, no, this book is *not* a gimmick, and if you're willing to actually commit to your dreams, the book will help you make it happen. If you don't believe anything I say, just google me - Ben Yu, Thiel Fellow, Cofounder of Sprayable Energy. Email me and I'll verify/confirm anything. Hopefully that's a little more trustworthy than taking the cynical perspective of 'someguy2004' at face value (check out his other reviews - this guy just hates on *everything* - more a reflection of himself than the book or any of the other products he criticizes I'm tempted to say).
Of course following your dreams and doing the unconventional isn't easy. No one said it was. But if you're willing to commit to it, it *is* 100% possible, and this book will help you make it happen.
Cheers!
--------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL POST 11/27/2010:
This book was both the final straw that tipped me over the edge as well as the huge bulldozer that pushed me to the edge in the first place. I've always wanted to travel, and admittedly Travels by Michael Crichton was what first led me decidedly down the path of doing rather than wanting. Unfortunately, it was still an abstract concept of the future - something to do after college, perhaps. I first read this book in one go until 6 AM on a school night senior year of high school, and that's when I started looking seriously into the idea of travelling as a near-future prospect.
I'm happy to announce that now, after one semester of college, I'm taking a leave of absence for the spring term to travel around the world entirely independently, with a 28L pack on my back. The benefits of this book are twofold - it's fantastic for convincing you to change your life, and it's invaluably helpful for getting you in practical terms to a point where you're able to accomplish that change. I revisited the book after making my decision to travel, and along with tynan.net (where Tynan's posted a fantastic gear post of things to bring abroad) this book has helped me more than any other piece of material I've ever come across.
Things I've learned from this book:
Anyone can travel. It's definitely true that it's far easier for college students (in fact, Harvard *encourages* us to go, and the entire leave-of-absence petition process took upwards of fifteen entire minutes), but I'm positive now that almost anyone can change their life in an instant and achieve greater even greater success than before, both financially and personally. I'll be working on an internet startup full-time while I'm abroad, for example - something that the constant pressures and commitments of Harvard simply wouldn't allow otherwise.
You can travel minimally. You can seriously fit everything you need into a small backpack.
Travel is safe. If you're respectful and open to the culture, chances are good that bad things won't happen to you as you imagine they will.
Travel is cheap. In fact, after reading other travel works after Tynan, I'm convinced that travel is even cheaper than the estimated $1500/month he figures - especially if you engage in long term travel, staying in a place for a couple to several months at a time to save on airfare and thoroughly immerse yourself in the local culture of a region.
Travel is now. Not only can anyone travel, but anyone can travel right now.
I hope this book helps you as much as it's helped me. Be open to it, and it will.
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Top reviews from other countries
Nick Pendrell
Good Sequel to Four Hour Work Week
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Tim Finlay
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