Travels with Herodotus

By: Ryszard Kapuscinski

Narrated by: Nicolas Coster

Herodotus, the fifth-century chronicler, scarcely figured in the curriculum when famed Polish writer and traveler Ryszard Kapuscinski attended university in the 1950s. After he finished college, Ryszard became a foreign correspondent who hoped to go abroad, perhaps to Czechoslovakia. Instead, he was sent to India—the first stop on a decades-long tour of the world that took him from Iran to El Salvador, from Angola to Armenia.

His only companion on his travels was a volume of Herodotus, a gift from his first boss. In his journey across continents, Kapuscinski discovers his life's work: to understand and describe the non-Western world in its remotest reaches, in all its variety, through his still-virginal Western eyes. Throughout his travels, the journalist tests and emulates Herodotus' methods—to wander, look, talk, and listen—so that he can later recount what he saw and learned.

©2007 Ryszard Kapuscinski (P)2007 Phoenix Books, Inc.

Storytelling

To know this story of HERODOTUS tells the story of Kapuscinski which is to know the story of all Wanderers in quest of knowing what it is to live as a Human Being in search of knowledge of other People, Places, and tbeir Story.

The Writing is Beautiful and Enlightening!

This is literature. This is art. This is one of the most enjoyable and enlightening books I've ever encountered about history and civilization.

Life’s parallels

While I do not agree with everything the author believes, nor Herodotus for that matter, the flow of tales and weaving of lives is captivating. Never have I been so enthralled at listening to history, but then when it is real and live, it has more soul. Ryzard takes you into his world… which at times is also Herodotus’.

three great things: The narrator’s voice, Herodotus’ tales, and Ryszard’s thoughts.

The narrator is amazing. Then the stories are hooking and make you curious. But what’s important are the reflections of what it means to be a reporter, a good one.

Riveting details of ancient tales and repeated follies

This fascinating book provides a primer and commentary on an ancient Greek historian by a Polish foreign correspondent during the Cold War. The author recalls his reading of Persian and Greek history and shocking tales while traveling from Poland to Italy to India to China and across Africa, The digressions and questions about the stories provoke readers to wonder and reflect. How foolish, vain, and cruel can humans be?