Review of "Jupiter's Travels" by Ted Simon

Abstract: Ted Simon was a journalist working for the Sunday Times newspaper in
England when he got the idea to travel round the world on a motorbike. The
journey lasts 4 years and carries him across every continent leading to
accidents, arrrests and his falling in love. He has his future accurately
foretold by an Indian wise man at a wedding who states that he is Jupiter (the
planet rather than the god), and hence the title. Naturally the journey becomes
a voyage of discovery, a metaphor and a personal philosophy. I found it very
different from "Zen and the art..." with which it will inevitably be compared,
more introspective and less overtly pedagogical and philosophical. Jupiter's
Travels is very much rooted inthe real world but requires a masive expansion of
that concept whereas Zen tends to lead the reader in Pirsig's own little world.
It is also a good travel story and has many amusing diversions. Well worth a
read.

Review proper: The journey is made on a factory standard Triumph 500 in the
early seventies and starts on the day the "oil wars" break out, inauspiciously.
He rides from England down through France and Italy in the first few pages.
These are areas and cultures he knows and so there is little room for discovery.
Soon, however, he is in Africa and confusion. Roads disappear under him, he is 
robbed and arrested, uncertain of whether borders will be open, greeted/treated
with great hospitality. Here he starts to show his adaptability and mettle,
replacing cylinders in a small town, riding over dirt/sand tracks with an
average speed of 4 miles a hour and slowly progressing south down the eastern
states. He picks his times fortunately, narrowly missing wars and revolutions.

His sailing from Cape Town to Rio is cancelled and he has to get a freight
ship. He decides to get off in the northern part of Brazil and runs into
enormous tangles where he is confused with a spy, arrested for photographing a
bridge and eventually freed after alternately freezing in prison and being
taken out to dinner by the consul. He presses on south to Argentina then back
up north having picked up a pair of travelling companions in a renault. After
splitting with them and heading into Latin America fatigue sets in and he heads
desperately for the North American border and 'civilisation'. The Lucas factory
in LA promises a hero's welcome. When he arrives he is at a loss to handle the
people and leaves in confusion. From there he moves to San Fransisco where he
meets some people on a ranch commune, has a brief love affair and then leaves
as the journey starts to take over his life. From here the descriptions become
much more hurried. He never really seems to settle into the feel of Australia,
is feverous in Thailand and the events there are only sketched. In India things
seem to pick up again. He finds a new culture and is well received, at peace.
Then his step-father dies. The flight back to England and return to India
destroy his peace and seem to ruin the journey. From here he begins to get
badly fatigued and only interested in getting home. He tours up through Nepal
and Pakistan and then dashes across Afghanist and and the Middle East to his
home in France, the last ten thousand mile taking only about ten pages.

The book has the detail about each country to satisfy passing curiosity and
enough technical info not to bore the innocent, but to let you know the
problems encountered. He concentrates on a sample of episodes which we must
consider representative and, to my pleasure, recounts his adventures mostly in
terms of the people he meets. Mostly his writing style is prosaic but not
journalistic. Occasionally he lapses into descriptive mode for particularly
poignant bits but he carries it off well. 

I enjoyed the book and will (at some point) pick up the sequel, Riding Home.

ken