A review by purlewe
A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East by Tiziano Terzani

adventurous reflective medium-paced

4.25

A Fortune Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani. Back in the 70s a Chinese fortune teller told Terzani not to fly in 1993. That if he flew he would surely die. Being a journalist set in Asia he didn't think much about it until 1993 came looming up years later. He decided to talk with his publication and take a year to do his work without flying. He travelled by foot, boat, bus, car, and train. He was based in Thailand but visited Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Everywhere he went he consulted the local fortune tellers of that area. He got many different opinions. Some were obviously off track. Others were curiously tuned into something. It felt a bit weird at times to be reading about the politics and thoughts of a middle aged white man in Asia from 30 years ago. But I enjoyed this book. He did go home to Italy by train and then back to Thailand by cargo ship. He talked about books he read along the way. And lamented the modernity and globalization that were happening around him.

ETA: I forgot an amazing part. In March 1993 a journalist was sent to cover his absence on a helicopter flight in Cambodia. The helicopter crashed and the journalist was seriously hurt. Terzani took that to mean his seriousness of not flying for a year was important.