Moods Of Future Joys, Alastair Humphreys (2007)
A young man sets off in search of adventure and brings back an enjoyable book
Eye Books 978-1903070567 paperback 250pp £7.99
Only a tiny proportion of young men feel the need to encircle the globe on their bicycles. Of those who do, nearly all – or so it seems – are persuaded that their experiences will ‘make a great book’. For the most part they are wrong, alas. Brave, athletic and resourceful as they have been on their ‘life changing’ ride, it is generally not an experience that lends itself to engaging narrative.
Alastair Humphreys, happily, is one of the exceptions. Setting off, post-university in 2001, Humphreys rode across Europe, through the middle east and then down the length of Africa to Cape Town.
There is little by way of reporting in his book that you won’t find in, say, Mark Beaumont’s first book, or that by Bernard Magnouloux. Nor does Humphreys have an especially lyrical turn of phrase nor an exceptional eye for detail. He has, however, written the book in the hope that it will be an enjoyable read, rather than an exhaustive document of his journey – and at this he has succeeded.
His success rests on the following pillars. He was not in much of a hurry and he spares us much of the details of his stops. He punctuates his Odyssey with a humane and intelligent reflection on the meaning of what he is doing. And he is happy to leave on the cutting room floor that which detracts from his tale. (The most impressive of his acknowledgements is thanks to ‘Chris’ who he edited out of the story’).
Here he is struggling across Sudan.
“For two punishing weeks we dragged and pushed our bikes in 45 degree hear. The dawns and dusks were a refreshing relief from the punching power of the daytime sun. Unable to wash, we were permanently grimed with sweat and sand, and I was smiling wildly. Rivulets of sweat ran white streipes down our dirty faces, and our clothes were crusty and ringed with salt. It was physically gruelling, but I was in my element at last. Teaching biology in Oxgform seemed a wonderfully long way away. This was what I had left home for.
“At night a hot wind blew, shaking the scraps of vegetation that hugged the small waterholes where camels roared their strangled, bubbling cries and we slept. I lay on my back in the sand, my blistered lips cracked into a smile. The stars looked more exotic though the mosquito net hanging down over me from my bicycle, and for the first time on my journey I saw the Southern Cross, my favourite constellation.”
Many accounts of global circulations grind through their final third when thoughts of ending what has become an ordeal to an end cloud out all else. Humphyreys avoids this all together by getting only to the mid-point of his journey in this book. The result is an upbeat and enjoyable read that actually left me looking forward to part two.
TD Dec 11
This was the first book that I ever read on a computer (an iPad running the Kindle app, in this case). It was an impressive and persuasive experience. A book of which I had meant to pick up a copy for ages, was deposited in my device on the touch of my keypad. And reading on an illuminated screen was a delight.
My only criticisms are these. At £5.48 the Kindle book seems expensive. I am all for authors and publishers being reasonably remunerated, but I would expect the savings on production, distribution and retailing to knock more off the price. I would have liked page numbers, so that I could gauge were I was in the ‘book’. And the edition that I read was depressingly full of textural errors, particularly missing spaces after commas – perhaps this is some technical glitch.