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| Author: Thomas Kohnstamm
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 16075
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0307394654
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.4092
EAN: 9780307394651
ASIN: 0307394654
Publication Date: April 22, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 Thomas's Inferno June 27, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Author Thomas Kohnstamm must be one of those charming, but thoroughly irresponsible, ne'er-do-wells with whom my past is littered - he certainly has a glib way with words. How else can I explain why I was up all night reading this book, fascination mingled with disgust, as he describes in painful detail his Rabelaisian descent into an underworld of booze, drugs and cheap women while gathering research for the Lonely Planet Guidebook on Brazil.
Whether you are a seasoned traveller or an aficionado of the travel writing genre in all its extremes, you'll want to add this gutter's eye view of travel to your experience, albeit, from the safety of your armchair. But -- be warned - it's not for those of faint heart and queasy stomach. And yet the extreme physical privations Thomas subjects himself to in his quest for information, although perhaps viewed as immoral by many of us, are surely no worse than those endured by the great travellers of the past (Stanley, Scott, Peter Fleming, Eric Newby, Dervla Murphy) and for no better reason.
This book may contain a certain level of hyperbole (one hopes so); after all, hyperbole is the author's business, and he readily describes with an adman's skill how he translates seedy reality into picturesque prose for the guidebook's naive audience.
Do travel writers go to hell? I'd say Thomas has been there, but hell wouldn't have him.
I know I'll never look at a guidebook the same way again.
so much more than the whole Lonely Planet controversy/sensationalization June 11, 2008
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
To begin, I will disclaim with great pride that Thomas is one of my best friends. In fact he wrote the beginning of Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? while we were living together in southern chile (after he just wrote about patagonia for Lonely Planet,) with a full view of a snowcapped volcano; I was beginning my biography on Pablo Neruda (follow up to The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems) While some have called him a jerk and a cad here, the truth is he happens to be perhaps the most conscientious person I know.
Other reviews here already attest to his writing talent and the thrill and intrigue of the book's story, but what seems to be overlooked in all the Lonely Planet controversy/hype is one of the central themes of the book: The whole Lonely Planet thing was just part of the story, true circumstances which direct the book's plot. But what makes the book important is how he deals with the challenge so many young liberal art majors face, especially if they decide not to go to law school: the struggle between chasing financial stability vs. the often challenging path of following your passions.
That, plus all his great literary and historical allusions, plus the pure swashbuckling (Random House added that to the title, Thomas wouldn't have put that himself) of the Sex, Drugs, & Travel story, is what makes this book a true piece of literature.
 Doesn't quite deliver June 11, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I picked this book up hoping for an insight into the travel guidebook world. What better way than through the first-hand experiences of a Lonely Planet writer?
Ultimately it was disappointing. The main point, that the editors demand the impossible of their writers, who either try to deliver it (and burn out) or sell out (becoming successful guidebook writers).
At first it's easy to be sympathetic to the author, Kohnstamm, who didn't seem to know what he was getting into. But I gained more sympathy for his editors as the book unfolds. While covering much of Brazil in two months may be an impossible task, Kohnstamm seemed as much to blame as anyone. For example, he rents a room in a house (for nearly a month I think) rather than staying in the hostels and hotels that he complains there is no time to properly check out.
But no matter, the game is stacked against him, so the only honorable solution is to tell his editors that he can't in good conscience write a highly flawed guidebook- no, that didn't cross his mind; the only solution is to accept hotel and bar freebies to finance his trip.
Fair enough, I picked the book up because it looked like an honest account of a sometimes dishonest industry. I wasn't looking for an ethical how-to guide.
But what was infuriating was that even by the last page (and I'm not giving anything away here), he seems to truly believe he stayed mostly ethical. He says something like, "I will not give a restaurant a good review just because they gave me a free plate of pasta." But since he announces himself in advance to the staff of restaurants and hotels, it would be naive to think they didn't give him exceptional service, and naive to think the average traveler will get the same.
He did share some interesting tidbits about how the sausage is made, but the bulk of Do Travel Writers Go To Hell was sometimes-remarkable, often-ordinary travel experiences that give more insight into the 20-something male traveler rather than the travel writer. Admittedly, armchair travelers may find it enjoyable.
But I wondered, how much of the time that Kohnstamm could have been visiting hotels and restaurants was spent taking notes for the book he would write about how little time there was to visit enough hotels and restaurants?
And if he didn't take detailed notes for this book, is it even as accurate as his compromised guidebook?
 Fun book that brings back memories June 10, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I think anyone that has done some traveling in their 20s or 30s will have a good time reading about the author's travel stories. They definitely brought back some good memories of crazy times out on the road. I was ready to drive to the airport as soon as I was done.
I also think he does a great job of painting a picture of the places he visits. I felt like I was on the trip with him, until I finished and realized I was actually where he was a the beginning.
All in all, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to friends.
eye-opening June 9, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Well-written, fun read. I'd say it was Lonely Planet committing fraud, rather than the author, for paying their authors so little and yet claiming that their authors go everywhere and do everything they say they do. I've known a couple of LP writers and they have a very tough job. Once you tote up all the hours they travel, organise notes and write, the pay is peanuts.
Apparently in the company's 'good old days' - the 80s and 90s - authors were paid a decent wage, with some even earning a share of the profits.
Yes Thomas is a bit of a cad, but at least he's honest enough to confess all. Ultimately the book is the travel writer's version of Kitchen Confidential.
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