Having grown up in Paris, traveled the Middle East a number of times, and even lived in Taipei for a year, I’d like to think that I’m a fairly well-rounded worldly person — an “interesting man” as the book title suggests.
While I haven’t absorbed a large mass of new information, I’m have been thoroughly entertained by the knowledge and illustrations, and and who doesn’t enjoy that extra validation, confirming that, yes, you are indeed “an interesting man”?
Not to say that I’m truly a know-it-all. I absorbed a few new tidbits here and there thanks to the late-20something author, Gareth May. I now know some of the worlds top nude beaches and resorts (Germany has always had a very liberal view towards nudity), how to make the most of a mile high club experience (and not get caught, or lines to use in case you do), and enjoyed rough instructions on how to eat fatty camel hump. Probably the most interesting chapter to catch my attention is a four page instructional on Fijian kava rituals. I’ve tried kava before but forgot that it was part of Pacific Islander tradition.
This is the perfect book to bring on a road trip, or a busy environment where you might be interrupted frequently like, the crapper, or working as an extra on film sets, if that’s your bag. It’s easy to flip through pages and discover new information at every glance.
I love that there are still publishers out there like Ulysses Press printing these kinds of books. Despite the overwhelming amount of information available online in endless listicles, the sad matter is that they don’t often enough see the eyes of a skilled editor, (or writer for that matter).
How to Drink Snake Blood in Vietnam: And 101 Other Things Every Interesting Man Should Know is essentially a travel guide chock filled with tasty tidbits of information that you will not get in the Lonely Planets books or any other. If you’re planning an around the world tour and are still unsure on how to navigate certain regions of the globe or just love filling your brain with useful useless factoids then I highly recommend it.
