Equator: A Journey

by Thurston Clarke

Provides a firsthand account of the author's three-year trek along the equator and his encounters with diverse and colorful people and cultures and ways of life both exotic and familiar

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Africa, Adventure

463 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Thurston Clarke has written eleven widely acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction, including three New York Times Notable Books. His 'Pearl Harbor Ghosts' was the basis for a CBS documentary, and his bestselling 'Lost Hero', a biography of Raoul Wallenberg, was made into an award-winning NBC miniseries.

Clarke's articles have appeared in Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many other publications. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and other awards, he lives with his wife and three daughters in upstate New York.

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a work of travel fiction at its best. Fascinating, educational, entertaining and fairly unbiased. Clarke started his journey around the equator 30 years ago and it too a few years to complete, taking him to some of the world's most remote, poverty ridden, exotic (for the adventurous) or unknown (for geographically challenged) locales and their economically/socially depressed/underdeveloped nations. Locations I personally would never want to visit, which makes it all the more interesting to read about. Clarke is a cynic, an American who doesn't appear to be in any way enamored by the tropical island dreams or prone to romanticizing poverty (unlike for example J Maarten Troost, whose approach to exploring such locations is much more lighthearted). Clarke portrays the places he visits with an unflinching honesty, often times to horrifying effects, occasionally to heart warming ones. He seems less taken in by flora and fauna and more by the human beings, although does a splendid job of describing both. Sure in 2014 this book is somewhat dated, particularly certain things like portrayal of pre 1994 genocide Rwanda. But on the other hand some things are frighteningly contemporary like certain tropical pacific island nations, also written about more recently by the aforementioned Troost. There is much food for thought here about the devastating (or not depending on the reader's point of view) effects of colonization, war and exploitation, whether might makes right and a civilization is a linear progress and is directly related to conformity. All in all an absolutely excellent book for any armchair traveler, global thinker or anyone looking to expand their horizons. Highly recommended.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this because it was recomended in Outside's Best Of issue. It's about the guy who decided he wanted to travel around the world on the equator. Mind you, that is impossible so he flew to countries that were on the equator and then traveled to the equator to see how their equators compared to the equators of other countries. This will all make sense when you write the book. Naturally, most of the countries on the equator are backwards and highly entertaining, and Clarke's sarcastic wit was wonderfully comedic throughout it all.

[Jrobertus · Rating 4 out of 5]

travels around globe at the equator. excellent commentary by an american writer. [close] travels around globe at the equator. excellent commentary by an american writer.

[Mitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thurston (we are not on a first name basis, but how often do you get to use that name?) is a decent writer BUT...he went to some of the most miserable places and suffered through some of the most miserable bureaucratic nightmares involving border crossings that I've ever read. He also endured extreme physical misery due to food poisoning and was repeatedly accosted by miserable begging children and was finally pickpocketed in a CHURCH, for heaven's sake...

All this so he could follow the equator, in some zig-zagging fashion, around the world. I'm all in favor of interesting travel themes, but his trip sounded pretty awful.

He did meet a few interesting people, but most of the places he went...I would never want to go. Most of the book concerns those places, hence the book's two-star rating. Thurston (got to use it again!) just didn't have great stuff to work with, I figure. I further figure you should read other travel books that involve less overall misery.

[Joseph Gendron · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a privilege to join Thurston Clarke on his journey along the equator. I learned so much geography about our world and got to know cultures and people from numerous tribes and places, obscure and wonderful, that I will likely never travel to. Mr. Clarke has a wonderful way of describing his experiences that are highly entertaining and full of profound insight. Now I know something about Cayenne - French Guiana, Macapa - Brazil where COVID is currently raging, Gabon, Zaire, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya -with it magnificent mountains, the Minangkabau people around Bukittinggi, Sumatra - devout Muslims but with the largest and healthiest matrilineal society in the world, Borneo, the Kiribati islands in the Pacific -strategic during WWII but remaining wonderfully isolated from the rest of the world and which includes Christmas Island - once the site of nuclear tests where residents finish sentences with giggles and anticipate the arrival of occasional shipments of canned goods to supplement their diet of fish and coconuts and finally Ecuador with the 17,000 foot Cayambe volcano - the highest point on the Equator. What an interesting and intriguing journey, indeed!

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thurston Clarke is a keen observer of people in various communities around the globe who live on or near the equator. He describes the challenges they face in living in what are sometimes very remote or impoverished places. He also relates the trouble he has in getting to some of these places.

I liked the way Clarke used visiting places along the equator as an organizing theme for his travels. Even though he would nip home between continents, the stories tie together well. His wry humor makes this a particularly good travelogue.

While this book was published in 1988, that is part of its appeal. I was frequently reminded that his observations were from about 30 years ago, because the pages of my used paperback were in danger of separating from the binding as I turned them.

[Stephy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a plan! To to travel around the world as much as possible AT the Equator, sounded too much like a grand plan to take a pass. It does not disappoint. This is serious adventure traveling. Talk about going to the backwaters of the world! The bugs and heat did not deter this author from completing his journey. While all the stories are not wonderful, they are all amazing!

[Seasweetie]

While I was excited to read this book, because the concept is so intriguing, I was saddened to see how poverty-riden the equatorial areas that Clarke visited were. Slightly disillusioning. But I really enjoyed Clarke's writing. His paints his experiences and characters so vividly.

[Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was reminded of this book when I read a friend's review. I read this book when it first came out and was traveling a lot in sub Sahara Africa and Asia. I was intrigued by his stories and many resonated with me. It would be fun to read again at some point.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A travel book unusual in the fact that all the travel was on the equator, so covered some unusual places or out of the way places.

[Ercilia Delancer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the author's anecdotes about his efforts to visit most places around the equator regardless of how much discomfort or danger it entailed. I couldn't help but notice how many comments from the local population at many of his destinations addressed issues we now identify as being related to global warming. Droughts, floods, unusual weather patterns, the drying of rivers, the increased dust and its concomitant health issues are all mentioned in this volume originally written in 1988. If only more people had listened to the impending disasters now facing humanity, perhaps something could have been done sooner.

[Brad Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clarke travelled along the equator around the world over a period of three years in the mid-80’s and describes his often funny and harrowing trip in this fantastic book. I was moved by his descriptions of the awful squalor and poverty in many of these countries due to over population, greed and war. To think that population has doubled—even tripled—in some of these countries and that the same wars are being fought 35-40 years later makes me sick. People, we need to do something about over-population—and I mean in the United States too—or we’ll all be in the same boat.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, it's nothing new - very much the white man exploring the world and meeting the charming natives. On the other hand, I like that stuff and Clarke does it pretty well. It does get a big saggy in the middle, but an enjoyable read

[Maud]

Verhaal over landen, mensen, belevenissen,... langs de evenaar. Veel leeswerk, soms interessant, soms langdradig.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating! True story of Mr. Clarke's adventures traveling literally around the equator. (And we thought Washington was hot in August!) I'm reading it as I get back to it beween other more pressing reading, but everytime I pick it up, I a) learn something or many things, actually... and b) enjoy his way of recounting his "adventures."

[Tori]

2010- This book may now be outdated (it was published in the late 1980s) but it was still an interesting account of a man trying to ""visit"" an invisible place. The people he meets along the way seem both charmed and baffled by his quest to try to ""travel"" the equator. It was a good travel book, even if it was at times a bit meandering.

[Charles Berman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A grand journey written up with knowledge and wisdom. Many funny, stunning, or fascinating moments, but slow-going in other parts.

[Marty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good way to imagine traveling the equator.

[Miriam]

Read this years ago and very much enjoyed it.