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6 Burnside Travel Writing- General

Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-Tourist

by Daniel Kalder

Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-Tourist Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Daniel Kalder belongs to a unique group: the anti-tourists. Sworn to uphold the mysterious tenets of The Shymkent Declarations, the anti-tourist seeks out the dark, lost zones of our planet, eschewing comfort, embracing hunger and hallucinations, and always traveling at the wrong time of year. In Lost Cosmonaut, Kalder visits locations that most of us don't even know exist — Tatarstan, Kalmykia, Mari El, and Udmurtia. He loves these places because no one else does, because everyone else passes them by.

A tale of adventure, conversation, boredom, and observation — occasionally enhanced by an overactive imagination — Kalder reveals a world of hidden cities, lost rites, mail-order brides, machine guns, mutants, and cold, cold emptiness. In the desert wastelands of Kalmykia, he stumbles upon New Vasyuki, the only city in the world dedicated to chess. In Mari El, home to Europe's last pagan nation, he meets the chief Druid and participates in an ancient rite; while in the bleak industrial badlands of Udmurtia, Kalder searches for Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47, and inadvertently becomes a TV star. An unorthodox mix of extraordinary stories woven together with fascinating history, peculiar places, and even stranger people, Lost Cosmonaut is poetic and profane, hilarious and yet oddly heartwarming, bizarre and even educational. In short, it's the perfect guide to the most alien planet in our cosmos: Earth.

Review:

"For armchair sightseers who take their travel books with a grain of salt." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"Kalder challenges us to see the beauty in obliteration, to find the potential for creation in absolute destruction." Los Angeles Times

Review:

"[C]ool, wry, lively, and fun." Booklist

Review:

"Imagine a Bill Bryson with Tourette's, and you'll have some of the flavour of this spasmodic, deliberately crass, strangely wonderful book." Evening Standard (London)

Synopsis:

In a tale of adventure, boredom, conversation, and observation, Kalder reveals a world of hidden cities, bizarre suicidal customs, lost rites, and insanely inventive serial killers in the former Soviet Union.

Synopsis:

Daniel Kalder belongs to a unique group: the anti-tourists. Sworn to uphold the mysterious tenets of The Shymkent Declarations, the anti-tourist seeks out the dark, lost zones of our planet, eschewing comfort, embracing hunger and hallucinations, and always traveling at the wrong time of year. In Lost Cosmonaut, Kalder visits locations that most of us don't even know exist — Tatarstan, Kalmykia, Mari El, and Udmurtia. He loves these places because no one else does, because everyone else passes them by.

A tale of adventure, conversation, boredom, and observation — occasionally enhanced by an overactive imagination — Kalder reveals a world of hidden cities, lost rites, mail-order brides, machine guns, mutants, and cold, cold emptiness. In the desert wastelands of Kalmykia, he stumbles upon New Vasyuki, the only city in the world dedicated to chess. In Mari El, home to Europe's last pagan nation, he meets the chief Druid and participates in an ancient rite; while in the bleak industrial badlands of Udmurtia, Kalder searches for Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK-47, and inadvertently becomes a TV star. An unorthodox mix of extraordinary stories woven together with fascinating history, peculiar places, and even stranger people, Lost Cosmonaut is poetic and profane, hilarious and yet oddly heartwarming, bizarre and even educational. In short, it's the perfect guide to the most alien planet in our cosmos: Earth.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
dhumphd, August 12, 2006 (view all comments by dhumphd)
Did you know there was a Buddhist republic in Europe? And a desert for that matter? Or a pagan republic? Russia stretches from Eastern Europe to Alaska and contains many semi-autonomous republics - they have their own presidents, their own TV stations, their own heroes and legends and, of course, their own corruption, brutality, and cities dedicated to chess. They just don't have tourists.

Kalder sets out as an 'anti-tourist' visiting these undesirable places and casting a realistic eye over them and their prospects; yet the same eye also contains a deep empathy towards these people and their invisible countries. Kalder's black humour carries the book from history to personal encounter (or non-encounter) with ease, and his revelations broaden out the view well beyond four republics you've never heard of.

Kalder states at the beginning that 'travel rarely broadens the mind', and travel books even more rarely do so. But this one does, brilliantly.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780743289948
Subtitle:
Observations of an Anti-Tourist
Author:
Kalder, Daniel
Publisher:
Scribner Book Company
Subject:
Description and travel
Subject:
Anthropology - Cultural
Subject:
Essays & Travelogues
Subject:
Former Soviet republics
Subject:
Russia
Subject:
Russia, Southern
Subject:
Travel
Subject:
Russia, Southern Description and travel.
Subject:
Kalder, Daniel - Travel - Russia (Federation)
Copyright:
Edition Description:
B102
Publication Date:
August 2006
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
275
Dimensions:
8.38x5.62x.72 in. .59 lbs.

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