Just Crazy Enough to Work

How to Fail on the Silk Road

By: Stu Nugent

Narrated by: Stu Nugent

What happens when a journey goes wrong? What happens when a travel book doesn't have a happy ending?

Stu Nugent was never a good candidate for a round-the-world cycling trip. He was, and remains, a coward. In a flash of uncharacteristic daring, he attempted to cycle the Northern Silk Road, from Shanghai to Europe. He failed. He failed dramatically.

Against a backdrop of the world's most staggering, awe-inspiring landscapes, he was forced to smoke opium at gunpoint, attacked by a snake in a remote Kyrgyz river, robbed at gunpoint by the police, and eventually imprisoned in anonymous jail somewhere on the Kazakh steppe.

How did it all go so wrong?

©2022 Stuart Nugent (P)2022 Stuart Nugent

Stu’s voice really carries this amazing story along!

I really appreciated the sensitive descriptions of alcoholism and mental illness that occur during the journey.

RAPTURED!

Terrific read, I partcularly enjoyed listening over Audible and hated when the book ended. I'm familiar with some of Stu's adventurous content from his Bat Country YouTube channel, but this book reached further and told a bigger, more desciptive story, I felt transported to the time, space and geography reminiscent of the book Shantaram. Highly recommend, well done!

exciting and harrowing tale

a great and riveting story. as a fellow cyclist recovering from alcoholism it fit a very weird niche in my life. highly recommend

Unique perspective

I really enjoyed the candor and vulnerability. It didn’t have a happy ending, and yet it did.