The Idiot And The Odyssey: Walking The Mediterranean

"The best guide to the Mediterranean since 'The Odyssey."

Author: Joel Stratte-McClure
Length: 364 page(s)
Written: Oct 2010
Sales Rank: -
Views: 200

When inquisitive American journalist Joel Stratte-McClure decides to walk around the Mediterranean Sea, we’re in for an exhilarating adventure. As a 30-year expatriate in France, he explores the coast, countryside and regional cultures – as well as his own mind – with compulsive vigor. Armed with a copy of Homer’s The Odyssey,” he re-opens this great book for us as he ponders life, divorce, Buddhism, alcoholism, the art of trekking and a vast collection of weird, wicked, wonderful people along the way. This is a trip to get into!


Some Praise For “The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean”

“From the turquoise-tinted water and zillion dollar yachts of Saint-Tropez to the intrigue of the Kasbah in Tangier, Joel Stratte-McClure takes the reader on a delightful spiritual journey around the Mediterranean that is filled with nudists and Buddhists, the obscenely chic and the exotic.” -- Craig Unger, “Vanity Fair” contributing editor and author of “The Fall of the House of Bush”

“Reading ‘The Idiot and the Odyssey’ provides a hugely entertaining perspective of the world’s oldest and greatest journey, conjured millennia ago by Homer. The book is a reminder that the Mediterranean, even today, is a wild and fascinating place.” -- Tony Perrottet, author of “Route 66 AD: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists”

“Stratte-McClure introduces people and places as stereotypical, fantastic and ridiculous as could only be true in the Mediterranean. From one audacious adventurer to another, I compliment him on his stable stride in an unstable but captivating region.” -- Ethan Gelber, “Lonely Planet” author and president of BikeAbout the Mediterranean

“Homer and Lao Tsu may be the author’s go-to guys, but as I read this enchanting book I was reminded of Cervantes. The humorous adventures, the piquant observations, the dreamlike buoyancy of memories jostled by travel - Joel Stratte-McClure is Don Quixote with his head screwed on right.” -- Jeff Wheelwright, Author of “The Irritable Heart: The Medical Mystery of the Gulf War”

About the Author

Joel Stratte-McClure
Member since: Oct 2010
Publications on XinXii:  1

Joel Stratte-McClure, an American journalist/adventurer who lived in France for over three decades, has been writing about his global trekking and hiking adventures since the 1970s. His work has taken him to over 100 countries and his articles on a variety of subjects have appeared “The International Herald Tribune,” “Time Magazine,” “The London Times,” “People Magazine,” “Who Weekly,” “Fast Thinking” and numerous other publications. Stratte-McClure is currently continuing his trek around the Mediterranean Sea and gathering kilometers and anecdotes for the sequel to "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean" for publication in 2012.

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