Trying to get back into the habit sharing of reading notes. This will only be for Kindle items as I don’t highlight physical books. Generally, that’ll mean a heavier dose of fiction than what I’m collectively really reading because I’ve read that helps me fall asleep and I use only my Kindle in bed. Yeah, this one happens to be non-fiction.

This was the second book in a two-parter describing a cross-country cycling journey. I didn’t love the first, but did like the second a touch more. I’m not sure why, but it may have to do with my familiarity with the East versus the West? Or a different time in life where I find myself appreciating more philosophical writing?

I do one day aspire to make a journey like this. The author is 60 and it took him 34 days. He didn’t camp, which makes things a good bit easier (less to carry, warm bed, no time required to find and setup camp, shower every night), but also a lot more expensive. I’ll worry about those details when I have a month in which to shelve life.

I’d recommend this one to my cycling friends who have read everything there is about cycling (it’s a finite subject). It’s a worthy read you can often get for free on your Kindle.

Highlights:

  • “Traveling leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” — Ibn Battuta
  • “I’ve had decades to perfect my imperfections”
  • “Listen to the wind, it talks. Listen to the silence, it speaks. Listen to your heart, it knows.” — Native American proverb
  • “I think most of us have a place that we call home. Our hearts put roots deeply into the substance of the place, linking us to it forever. Whenever we get close to our home—either in body, mind, or spirit—the place sings to us, calling us to reach out and feel the connection.”
  • “We usually need a point B—a place to be going to.”
  • “A privileged class, an aristocracy, is but a band of slaveholders under another name.”
  • “When we never feel the darkness around us, does brilliance fade into the mundane?”
  • “The lust for comfort murders the passions of the soul.” — Khalil Gibran
  • “Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.” — Ernest Hemingway
  • “Wisdom is oft-times nearer when we stoop Than when we soar.” — William Wordsworth
  • “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness…” — Mark Twain
  • “The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief.” — William Shakespeare
  • “Every fragment of life I spend on wishing for a moment other than the one I’m in is a fragment of life I miss.”
  • “We give our lives to become who we are, and at some point we need to ask whether we’re worth what we paid.”