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The Long Way Round - Bob Pickett reviews the book of the hugely successful TV series

Click here for more info or to order this book By now, we all know that Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman travelled from London to New York, via the old Eastern Bloc and along the notorious "Road of Bones", so lets get straight to the book, without getting into the tale too much.

(If you have been living in a cave and really don't know what I am on about, click here for the review of the DVD of the original series)

When the book of 'The Long Way Round' first came out, it got mixed reviews from the critics. Obviously, those in love with Ewan McGregor praised it up to the heavens. But from other titles, there were complaints - "It is nothing more than a diary" being a fairly common one.

But these reviews were written before the series aired on television. And I read the book after watching the series on the small screen.

And that way round (pun intended), it works and makes sense.

Trying to cram 115 days and 20,000 miles into a short series is not an easy task - you have to lose a lot of detail to make it fit into the allotted screen time. And this is where the book comes in.

Having seen the series, you have the mental imagery in place to allow you to "see" what they are writing about. The swapping from Ewan to Charley and back again - possibly confusing if you don't know what is going on - in the narrative makes sense when you know about the video diaries and how they slotted into the show.

The book is also able to spend more time on subjects that had to be held to perhaps ten minutes in the relevant episode. A prime example is when they stayed with the 'Is he or isn't he mafia' type, who was waving guns about and playing guitars (obviously not at the same time). In the series, this was, if not glossed over, held down to a very short time-span. The book is able to provide a lot more detail as to what really happened.

This only helps to embellish the show.

The book has a strong selection of images from the trip, which if you go the TV series/book route, are useful reminders and will get you going "Oh, I remember that, that was when…"

Lets not forget that UNICEF benefit from this trip and any ongoing sales - and the book is able to explain in more detail about their good works.

Verdict: My recommendation is to buy the DVD of the original series , watch that, be inspired, go for a long ride of your own… and when you get back, settle down to the book, learn more and quite possibly be inspired all over again.

Interested? Then click here for more info or to order this book

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