Pico Iyer’s Sun After Dark Takes You Around the World

Pico Ayer Sun After Dark

Pico Iyer is a travel writer who’s nearly always worth reading. He’s never going to tell you about mainstream tourism or souvenir hunting, but when you’re in the mood to get into the deep reality of what traveling actually does to us, then Iyer is a good bet.

In particular, Iyer’s Sun After Dark: Flights into the Foreign is an interesting collection of travel memorabilia. It’s a bit of a mixed bag of Iyer’s travel experiences in the last few years, ranging in location from Bolivia to India and Cambodia to Yemen.

Don’t let the beginning of the book put you off too much. The first two chapters, for some reason, don’t fit that well with the rest of the book’s theme. They’re stories about encounters with Leonard Cohen and the Dalai Lama and you might wonder where on earth the collection is going. It gets better.

My favorite spot is the story about jet lag called “Nightwalking”. For every traveler who has experienced the disorientation of jet lag, you’ll recognize some of your own experiences in this piece. Iyer’s poetic style also takes you on interesting journeys through Yemen and La Paz, where Iyer is almost mistaken for a terrorist. Pick the good bits out of Sun After Dark and you’ll enjoy it, just don’t be afraid to skip the parts that don’t excite you. It’s still worth reading.

Tags: Book | Book Review | Pico Iyer | travel | Travel Books