I love travel adventure books, so I was excited when I saw one written by a prominent author while I was wandering about a local bookstore. I bought it and started reading it immediately over lunch. I quickly realized that it’s a lot more than just a travelogue. It has essentially three main focuses: his training at medical school, his travels, and his spirituality.

The book begins with his medical school horror stories and then moves on to his quirky travel adventures. Both topics were fantastic to read about, but what really surprised me were the tales of his meddling with the supernatural. Whether you believe in any of it or not, it’s interesting to read such sincere and unapologetic accounts of spiritual experimentation from a well educated and well known man. He doesn’t hold anything back when he tells stories of trying to speak with his spiritual guide, a disfigured old cactus, or having an exorcism performed on himself.

He had an interest in psychic phenomenon at a young age, decided to investigate it further as a skeptic, and eventually became a believer. I think it takes guts to write this honestly about a topic that could very easily label you as a complete kook.

He manages to get himself into some great situations while traveling, and his excellent writing makes it easy to imagine yourself there alongside him. I haven’t read anything else by him, but I really enjoyed this book, so I may try some of his novels soon. I definitely recommend picking this up.

Besides, any non-fiction book that begins with “It is not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw” is worth a read.