A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East by Tiziano Terzani Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
Book Review: Great !
Summary: 5 Stars
Being of German and Chinese parentage and having lived and travelled throughout Asia all my life, I have finally found my thoughts about this vast continent and its spirituality on paper.As Terzani himself states in this book "It sometimes takes a Westerner to make sense of Asia" and I too have found this to be true. Unlike some misguided reviews that I have read about this book, Terzani is absolutely spot on in his anlysis and interpretations of Asia and its status quo.
"A fortune teller told me" is great travel literature, great socio-political commentary and food for the soul all at once. Here is a man in search of truth, travelling through the continent with the richest and oldest history, needlesly reinventing and destroying itself, its identity and its spirituality in order to catch up with the youngest and most money-orientated civilizations.
The West looks to the East for Answers and the East looks to the West for answers in this amazing book.
Two thumbs up!
Book Review: How does he do it?
Summary: 1 Stars
He's as deep as a puddle, as sharp as a bowl, and a horrid little cypto- colonialist. And yet people have swallowed up this book. How does he do it? Is it the bad, I mean, TERRIBLE writing? The unbearable arrogance of a man who lives in a house featured by Architectural Digest telling us how awful modernization is? The bigotry of a Westerner insisting that Asians live in the 17th century? The preposterous affinity for communism and the total blindness to its devastation in Asia? Whatever it is, I didn't catch it, and I found this book tremendously frustrating. If he weren't such a terrible, terrible, absurdly bad writer, his arrogance, condecension, and shallowness might have been bearable.Book Review: Many levels
Summary: 5 Stars
This book works on so many levels--as a travel story, as historical and political lessons on SE Asia, as commentary on many of the world's religions, and as introspection on life's meaning and the pace and avarice of modern life. I learned an incredible amount about places I will probably never see, but enjoyed experiencing through Terzani's eyes. An absolute pleasure, highly recommended.Book Review: Excellent adventure tale
Summary: 4 Stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. I admired Mr. Terzani's stick-to-it-iveness and found each chapter a gem. I think if he had provided maps, I would have enjoyed it more but that certainly does not take away from the sense of adventure of this story. Recommend it for anyone travelling to the Far East.Book Review: What a fortune!
Summary: 5 Stars
When a fortuneteller warns seasoned journalist Tiziano Terzani that he should avoid any kind of air flight travel for one whole year, it is not the kind of thing one wants to hear as a traveler in this modern day and age. It is less of a warning that a traveling journalist wants to take notice of.Should he scoff at the divination or should he take it seriously?
Terzani decides to follow the advice the way many people in that Chinese culture would do. Instead of taking the advice in a negative manner, the writer decides to turn the warning around for his own good. His decision makes a life changing turn for the better.
Terzani rediscovers the pleasures of traveling the "old fashioned" way - by trains, foot, bus, cars, across mountains and oversea. The reporter meets interesting people he would never otherwise have met at an airport or on an airplane.
During his travels through Asia that year, the writer makes a few observations along the way - The effects of modernity are changing the culture and mindset of the countries he visited. This is something about which the writer laments frequently.
Terzani's travelogue and partial memoir gives the reader a different and interesting view of South East Asia that many don't consider. Instead of the glossy tourist package, the reader gets a view that one rarely knows or thinks about.
Terzani also takes the reader into the world of the fortune-tellers. All very interesting characters - some are on the mark, a number are half wrong, others totally erroneous. A few are very serious sounding, others comical... (Like one teller who insisted that Terzani had a mark on his foot, when there wasn't one, and started looking for it.) They all gave interesting advice.
Do I want my fortune read for me? I'm not certain? But one thing's for sure, I enjoyed reading "A Fortune Teller Told Me" and living vicariously through Terzani's experience. The book may inspire you to find other modes of travel apart from air flight.
Fafa Demasio