Description
Full Circle could be subtitled Palin’s Book of
Wonders. ·As he and his television crew undertake
what may be the first-ever circumnavigation of the
Pacific Rim, they prove that there is an awful lot of
the world Palin hasn’t seen. In this, the third and
most ambitious of Michael Palin’s adventures, he
travels for almost a year through the eighteen
countries that border the world’s largest ocean. It
is a voyage of epic proportions, longer and more
demanding than anything he’s taken on before.
The Pacific Rim is one of the most volatile
areas in the world. Not only are economies
expanding faster than anywhere else on earth,
but the earth itself is in a constant state of flux.
Volcanoes mark Palin’s journey like stepping
stones. He climbs one which has freshly erupted
and is still smoking. He is forced to negotiate
mountains and plunging gorges, cross glaciers and
dodge icebergs. He follows great rivers like the
Yangtze and the Amazon to some of the most
remote places on earth, and he confronts the
notorious Cape Horn and the windswept beaches
of western Alaska.
The people Palin meets provide a constant
supply of surprises, pleasures and lessons in life.
He visits a Gulag camp in Siberia with one of its
few remaining survivors, talks to head-hunters in
Borneo, eats maggots in Mexico and rustles
camels in the deserts of Australia. He’s stood up
on a date in Adelaide, taken short on the banks
of the Amazon, allowed to land a plane at
Seattle and sing with the Pacific Fleet choir
in Vladivostok.
Full Circle is the record of a journey of several
lifetimes and of the often colourful, sometimes
disgusting, frequently hair-raising, once or twice
hysterical but almost always beautiful world that
stretches around the Pacific Ocean. Photographer
Basil Pao’s dazzling colour photographs reflect the
staggering diversity of the people and the
landscape. Whether you prefer your travel in an
armchair or a war canoe Full Circle will delight
the senses, stretch the imagination and spark oH a
thousand holiday arguments. And you won’t have
to take malaria tablets.
MICHAEL PALIN established his reputation
with Monty Python’s Flying Circus and
Ripping Yarns. His work also includes
several films with Monty Python as well as
The Missionary, A Private Function, an
award-winning performance as the hapless
Ken in A Fish Called Wanda, and more
recently American Friends and Fierce
Creatures. He has also written many books,
notably Around the World in 80 Days, Pole
to Pole and a number of children’s stories.
His television credits include two films for
the BBC’s Great Railway Journeys series and
GBH. He is also the author of the play The
Weekend and the novel Hemingway’s Chair.
Hardcover
In excellent preloved condition — as new.
320 pages
Orig sold for $59.95
Hard to find first edition copy