An offering of personal travel pieces republished from a variety ofjournals and newspapers, spanning the period from 1957-1983. Wilson,English novelist, critic, playwright, and biographer, gives us hisinsights into the characters of the peoples he visits, which can be bothengrossing and cutting. Here is no common tourist. Every episode is amoment to ponder the human condition. Wilson works in a long traditionof English travel writing, a distinctive literary form of its own.Thereis humor here, but it is always used to garner a glimpse into aculture's soul. Cruising for a parking space in Arizona, Wilson's carwas stopped by a policeman, who inquired of its purpose. Wilson's driveranswered, ""I'm looking for a vacant space,"" to which the policemanrejoined, ""Well, why don't you use your head?"" Wilson adds, ""He wasso pleased with his quip that he fired off a couple of rounds from hisgun.""In that short episode, Wilson captures the essence of the OldWest that still pervades some of our Western states. There are nostalgiclooks at Brighton, reflections of a zoo-lover, a peek at Khrushchev onholiday at the Black Sea, reports on Tokyo, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.The book suffers only from a slight feeling of being dated (some piecesare three decades old); somehow, we just know that we are reading ofthings that no longer exist in our raucous, dangerous world. Otherwise,there are many delights here. A good book for light vacation reading.