The Jolly Pilgrim - Softcover

Peter Baker

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1906316856 ISBN 13: 9781906316853

Publisher: Sra Books, 2011

Synopsis

The Jolly Pilgrim' is a travel-philosophy memoir, made up of the 100+ emails written during the round-the-world-adventure, combined with the author's reflections of that journey, which set out a profoundly optimistic world view based on history, prehistory, anthropology and environmental science.It is 440 pages long, including four full-page, black and white maps, eight pages of pictures, printed on glossy, photo-quality paper, contents tables, appendices, technical notes and a bibliography. It is divided into 10 chapters and 182 subchapters. The NASA-approved front cover has a matt finish, with the sunrise image picked out in shiny spot-UV.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

There's never been a better time to live on this planet. London - the Jolly Pilgrim sets off on a bicycle ride to Istanbul, planning a rendezvous with the girl he wants to marry. Eighteen months later and halfway around the world, following hospitalisations, financial meltdown, torment and heartbreak, he goes to live as a hermit in South America, to explore a bunch of ideas about humanity's place in the universe. He swims the Bosporus and works in a drag club, hitchhikes across Australia and dances salsa in an Ecuadorian prison, experiences rapture and revelation amidst talismanic historical and religious sites, endures love, voyeurism, bees, ants, sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll and in response, conceives a message of hope for civilisation. Part adventure story, part reflection on the state of our species, this profoundly uplifting, real-life odyssey ends with a call-to-arms for the human race to be more honest about itself. It's time to think bigger. Welcome to Enlightenment 2.0.

About the Author:

Peter Baker grew up in East Anglia and read physics at Durham University. After graduating he moved to Asia, working as a science teacher in India and (briefly) as a club singer in Bangkok. On his return to the UK he became a writer for a global insurance consultancy in the West End, while exploring London's intellectual and cultural scene, pursuing interests in evolutionary psychology, economics and history, and beginning the development of his thesis regarding the shape and character of the human adventure. In 2005, he embarked upon the journey recorded in this book, during which his ideas concerning the context of contemporary civilisation became fully formed. Following his return home, he spent a year living in a one-room wooden cabin at the bottom of an apple orchard, while writing and caring for his dying mother. He then moved back to London, took a job in the City and spent two years polishing the manuscript. The Jolly Pilgrim is his first book.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sra Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1906316856
• ISBN 13: 9781906316853
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480