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A review by thatdecembergirl
Nala's World: One Man, His Rescue Cat, and a Bike Ride around the Globe by Dean Nicholson, Garry Jenkins
4.0
ATTENTION: This is NOT your usual traveling book.
If you start "Nala's World" expecting the stuff you usually get from traveling journals/books, most likely you're gonna be disappointed. This book does NOT contain any introduction to towns or the country's cultures or what places to visit in what countries. Dean is trying to cycle around this world, often camping out, so what he sees and comes across differ greatly from those who travel using planes or trains or bus and stay in 'normal' accommodation like hotels and such.
This book is more like a traveling diary, in which Dean (or Nala's dad) pours out his thoughts and experiences during his cycling into words. Apparently, he's assisted by an actual writer—makes sense, because there's a limit to what one can do alone. If you follow, or at least are familiar with, his and Nala's Instagram page, @1bike1world, this book also serves as 'behind the scene' of all the pictures he had put up on Instagram.
What I enjoy the most about this book is the honesty. Dean unapologetically wrote down his perspective about everything that happened to him during the journey, from the early parting with his initial cycling mate to how he felt when facing lockdown in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sometimes it's apparent how he acts exactly like who he is, a man (presumably cishet, too) from the global North with his Western values and everything, but I can appreciate how he's open to the idea that sometimes, people are just different. And it doesn't mean one is better or worse than the other.
The photo section at the end of the book is nice, too!
Nala sure is one photogenic cat.
If you start "Nala's World" expecting the stuff you usually get from traveling journals/books, most likely you're gonna be disappointed. This book does NOT contain any introduction to towns or the country's cultures or what places to visit in what countries. Dean is trying to cycle around this world, often camping out, so what he sees and comes across differ greatly from those who travel using planes or trains or bus and stay in 'normal' accommodation like hotels and such.
This book is more like a traveling diary, in which Dean (or Nala's dad) pours out his thoughts and experiences during his cycling into words. Apparently, he's assisted by an actual writer—makes sense, because there's a limit to what one can do alone. If you follow, or at least are familiar with, his and Nala's Instagram page, @1bike1world, this book also serves as 'behind the scene' of all the pictures he had put up on Instagram.
What I enjoy the most about this book is the honesty. Dean unapologetically wrote down his perspective about everything that happened to him during the journey, from the early parting with his initial cycling mate to how he felt when facing lockdown in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sometimes it's apparent how he acts exactly like who he is, a man (presumably cishet, too) from the global North with his Western values and everything, but I can appreciate how he's open to the idea that sometimes, people are just different. And it doesn't mean one is better or worse than the other.
The photo section at the end of the book is nice, too!
Nala sure is one photogenic cat.