Writers’ Road Maps to Reach Nirvana

THE ROAD WITHIN: True Stories of Transformation edited by Sean O’Reilly, James O’Reilly and Tim O’Reilly (Travelers’ Tales, $17.95 paper)

The problem with “within” is that there’s no there there. So reading about so-called spiritual growth is usually about as interesting as watching a Zen master engage in a meditation marathon.

What’s different about many of the 45 stories in this book is the vivid, sensual connection to place and other people they convey.

Mike McIntyre takes off across the country penniless, determined to accept nothing but food and shelter from anyone, and lands his first free meal in a Humboldt County Italian-Mexican joint, with his food paid for by the small town’s “only transsexual firefighter.” James Hall proves his mettle by vomiting goat blood in a Swaziland purification ritual as the village folk cheer him on. Marianne Dresser marches, mouth closed, through swarms of buzzing insects in the Burmese village of Bodh Gaya. Claudia Carey-Astrakhan writes of learning to surf at Zuma Beach. And Tim Ward tries to meditate his way past all earthly desire in Varanasi, India, and winds up rapturously entangled with an Indian woman who is far more interested in his body than his metaphysical blather.

“What gives value to travel is fear . . .” says Albert Camus, in one of the many quotes and aphorisms interspersed throughout “The Road Within.” “At that moment,” Camus says, “we are feverish but also porous, so that the slightest touch makes us quiver to the depths of our being. We come across a cascade of light, and there is eternity. This is why we should not say that we travel for pleasure.”

But Suzuki Roshi is also quoted on the matter of over-analyzing our purpose in life: “It’s like putting a horse on top of a horse and then climbing on and trying to ride. Riding a horse by itself is hard enough. Why add another horse? Then it’s impossible.”

Indeed, “The Road Within” would be more powerful if so many of its authors didn’t strain so hard for nirvana. Most great travel stories are about transformation, but they reveal interior landscapes indirectly. Some of the writers gathered here try to take the reader “within,” which only awakens us from the illusion of a shared journey.

Still, enough of these writers simply tell great yarns that the book is entertaining--and that trumps pseudo-enlightenment any time.

Quick trips

UNDERWEAR BY THE ROADSIDE by Glen Hanket (CAK Publishing, $12.95, paper). This sort of travel book can be tedious or addictive, depending on one’s state of mind. For me, life is rather frenetic at the moment. So I luxuriated in this step-by-step story of a couple’s trek across America. How blissful to simply put one foot in front of the other from Maine to Oregon. How un-L.A. to have long, unhurried conversations with strangers met along the way. The gimmick for these hikers is to pick up roadside trash along the way. The author’s straightforward prose and heartfelt appreciation of life’s simple joys separate this tome from the weaker examples of this genre that litter bookshelves.

CYBERCAFES: A Worldwide Guide for Travelers by cyberkath@traveltales.com (The Wandering Traveler Inc., $9.95, paper). OK, you’re wandering through Zimbabwe when you suddenly feel the urge to check your e-mail. What to do? Pull out this pocket-size guide and head to a joint in Harare called ic@fe.co.zw, one of 530 cafes in 65 countries that offer computer Internet access for a fee.

CALIFORNIA’S SPANISH PLACE-NAMES: What They Mean and How They Got There by Barbara and Rudy Marinacci (Gulf Publishing, $16.95 paper). Sure, this Golden State has its Russian River, French Gulch, Portuguese Bend and Dutch Flat. But most of California’s towns and cities have origins in the Spanish language. This guide offers history and travel tips on everything from the sites of the 21 original Franciscan missions to the Californios’ grand ranchos.

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Sipchen is a writer for the Times’ Life & Style section. Books to Go appears the second and fourth week of every month.