Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81718 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 316 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent follow-up to Jupiter's Travels
Point to ponder: Ted Simon muses that "The interruptions ARE the journey". This book causes one to think about priorities in life and what drives them. Ted writes from a British perspective and humor and provides an insightful description of the real world as he passes through it. He describes his travel brilliantly as penetrating life's mysteries. He has been robbed, imprisoned, threatened and hospitalized. He has gone from ecstatic to despondent, but continued on, speaking to the therapeutic effects the motorcycle had on him (and his digestion). He showed keen insight into his fellow travelers as well as the indigenous peoples he observed in the many locales visited. I enjoyed his command of language and appreciated the level to which he writes. I scrambled for my lexicon and index of foreign phrases, for I enjoy the chase of literature. I was mindful of the BMW Anonymous tradition in which a rider can always find help due to his association with the marque. Ted created his own contact list as he moved along. It seems that we are really on a very small planet. I enjoyed the lessons in cultures such as the four Indian groups and an understanding of the caste system from which escape is impossible. Also, Ted provided valuable and interesting tidbits of history and cultural mores which some might find distasteful but are fascinating to me. This book fills in the gaps left by the first book "Jupiter's Travels. It continues to be an account of contradictions and inner struggles of wants and needs, both real and preceived as he marries and attempts to settle down in California. This is a real guy who suffers like the rest of us and shows us grit. I am envious of his experiences for I know that sharing them vicariously is as close as I will get. Read the book!

Squeezing a pint out of a quart
I am sorry. It did not do it for me. I read some of the earlier reviews and wanted more of 'Jupiter’s Travels'. They are wrong. Undoubtedly, ‘Jupiter’ is a fantastic and scintillating read. This book certainly allows you into Ted's life but it does not do what it purported to do. That is, it does not fill in the gaps from the first book. OK, it does a little bit in the beginning and very end - and that was interesting but... Whilst the first book was crisp and concise - it had to be, to fit in the level of detail – ‘Riding High’ is unnecessarily verbose. Why use one word when many will do?

I finished the book but it became a struggle as I longed for motorcycle adventures through a multitude of continents. As a motorcyclist and world traveller I had an empathy with Ted - I was there with him. I still travel with my work and I still bike (but only on dry days) and I have children too - but I will not bore you with it (yawn). I lost him in soft, comfortable, good ol' USA.

Buy and read Jupiter’s Travel twice is my advice.

An enjoyable and enlightening read.
"Jupiter's Travels" is a strongly remembered book to this reader, having added perspectives to the way I think of things, life. "Riding High" is a well placed completion of JT that I didn't even know I would want, until I had read it. I moved quickly and superficially through the parts concerning parenthood, but found the rest of the book most enlightening and enjoyable. Highly recommended.

~Troyce