The Wonder Trail, Steve Hely
The Wonder Trail, Steve Hely
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The Wonder Trail
True Stories from Los Angeles to the End of the World

Author: Steve Hely

Narrator: Steve Hely

Unabridged: 7 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 06/14/2016


Synopsis

Steve Hely, writer for The Office and American Dad!, and recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, presents a travel book about his journey through Central and South America. Part travel book, part pop history, part comic memoir, Hely's writing will make readers want to reach for their backpack and hiking boots.
 
The Wonder Trail is the story of a trip from Los Angeles to the bottom of South America, presented in 102 short chapters. From Mexico City to Oaxaca; into ancient Mayan ruins; the jungles, coffee plantations, and remote beaches of Central America; across the Panama Canal; by sea to Colombia; to the wild Easter celebration of Popayán; to the Amazon rainforest; the Inca sites of Cuzco and Machu Picchu; to the Galápagos Islands; the Atacama Desert of Chile; and down to wind-worn Patagonia at the bottom of the Western Hemisphere; Steve traveled collecting stories, adventures, oddities, marvels, bits of history and biography, tales of weirdos, fun facts, and anything else interesting or illuminating.

Steve's plan was to discover the unusual, wonderful, and absurd in Central and South America, to seek and find the incredible, delightful people and experiences that came his way. And the book that resulted is just as fun. A blend of travel writing, history, and comic memoir, The Wonder Trail will inspire, inform, and delight.

About The Author

Steve Hely was a writer for 30 Rock, Late Show with David Letterman and the acclaimed animated comedy American Dad! He also wrote the Thurber-winning novel How I Became a Famous Novelist, and coauthored the comic travelogue The Ridiculous Race. He's cohost of The Great Debates podcast.


Reviews

Goodreads review by E. Ce

Steve Hely's THE WONDER TRAIL is like taking a road trip with your older brother (assuming your older brother is anything like my older brother)—even though you love him to death, the entire time he’s driving you slightly insane because he’s not taking anything seriously (even though you begrudgingl......more

Goodreads review by Bent

I am a little divided about how to feel about this book. Parts of it are quite funny in a self-ironic, Bill Bryson kind of way, while other parts are tremendously boring - especially when Steve Hely sets out to recount the history of whatever region or city he has landed in. Some of them work out ok......more

"The Wonder Trail: True Stories from Los Angeles" to the End of the World follows Steve Hely from his home in Los Angeles to the southernmost city in the world: Puetro Williams, in Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Chile. Hely, a television writer (The Office, Veep), follows up his literary de......more

Goodreads review by Pop

Pour Yourself an After Dinner Drink and Settle In I was drawn to this book because I very much enjoyed Steve Hely's "How I Became A Famous Novelist", the tongue in cheek tale of how a callow youngster sets out to write a best seller. I figured that the same cheerful, sneakily edgy, perceptive approac......more


Quotes

“Full of…anecdotes, local color and touches of the cheerfully bizarre…making [it] indispensable.”
--New York Times

The Wonder Trail may be my favorite travel book of all time. Steve Hely’s voice is casually insightful, refreshingly honest, and, most of all, amazingly funny.”
--B.J. Novak, author of One More Thing

“Fast-paced, informative, and funny…Hely’s hilarious descriptions of the stunning sights and quirky people he encounters along the way will delight experienced globetrotters and armchair travelers alike…Highly recommended.”
--Library Journal (starred review)

"A very funny book."
--Outside Magazine

“As informative as it is funny.” 
--Chicago Tribune

“Wryly observed essays…[find] insight and humor in unexpected encounters on the road."
--The Citizen-Times