I want to give this book 4 stars and 3 stars, depending on the reader's interests. If you want to know deep details of life all around the world before WWII and its changes, this is easily four stars.
If you want the charm and philosophical reflection of his later books, that's not here... It's a unique and encompassing travelogue, not a memoir.
I was a bit taken aback, after a thousand pages of general good-nature to all, to see many references comparing African natives to American "darkies", until I realized that Fairchild was using the less pejorative term of his day and people. He's a rather colorblind fellow, until 1920s political correctness gets in the way of communication!