Storied traveler Pico Iyer returns with a search for paradise. Our story begins with Iyer in Iran; a devout cab driver takes him to religious sites. His devotion to his family, Iroan, and his father is very moving. It starts his journey of the mind, spirit, and place of Paradise. How do we find it? Can it be a place? With Iyer's travels, his extensive knowledge takes him all over the globe. Naturally, he would go to pilgrimage sites. It would seem obvious to find paradise there, yet he finds the opposite. Scars of war, military checkpoints, and disputed territory. This is not paradise. Iyer has an epiphany later in the narrative. It is finding the place that gives you peace within. As with the debut cab driver, it could be Jerusalem, Tibet, or Iran. For Iyer, it would seem the search is paradise.

"I felt like lying down by the side o the trail and remembered it all. The woods do that to you; they always look familiar, long lost, like the face of long-dead relatives, like an old dream, like a piece of forgotten song drifting across the water, most of all like golden eternities of past childhood or past manhood and all the living and the dying and the heartbreak that went on a million years ago and the clouds as they pass overhead seem to testify by their own lonesome familiarity to their feeling. --The Dharma Bums

One absolutely cannot go wrong with Pico Iyer. Ever since his TedTalk, I've been a fan. This title is lovely and on my list to give. Superb!

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Group- Riverhead for an advanced copy of this travel collection and memoir by Pico Iyer.

People tend to believe that where the live is the best place to live in the whole wide world. Young people are the exception to this, but most people will swear that the patch of earth they are on is the best place to be. Sure this place might have this, and another place that, but we, we right here have this, that and another, so that beats them all. Family is one reason, faith might be another, fear of the outside, that should be factored in. Their own bit of paradise. For some that might be as close as they get, for others it is a start to a wonderful afterlife. But what I paradise? Why is it a destination or an end result to a life sometimes kept small? In The Half Known Life, Pico Iyer, essayist, writer and world traveller attempts to figure out what paradise means to people, to himself and if anyone can ever find it.

Pico Iyer has been travelling and writing for almost fifty years. Iyer's many works focus on not only the places that he has gone to but the effect that travellers have had on the people and culture, and the effects the inhabitants have had on him. The idea of paradise has occurred to him quite a few times over the years, seeing things that few others have, visiting religious sites and taking in the ceremonies and ideas of the culture around him. What is paradise and why do people want to not only live in it, but spend their afterlife there also. Is paradise a state of mind, an attainable goal, or just a dream fed to the populous by religion and or governments to keep people in line, and not wanting more. Iyer describes his travels to Iran, North Korea, Japan and other places, meeting with people who defy their stereotypes, or unfortunately match what Iyer was warned about. As he travels Iyer contemplates what he has learned, and always ready for the next experience.

A book that is both a memoir, a travel collection and series of essays on where we are now, and where we might be going. I have been reading Iyer for quite a long time, starting with his book on Katmandu almost, wow thirty years ago. Watching Iyer's progression as writer, a thinker and a person who has been influenced by his experiences is wonderful to watch. The book is full of small scenes with people, especially the ones who show random acts of kindness, or don't practice what they preach, which happens quite a few times. Iyer has a real gift for describing both odd situations, the history of where he travels, the bureaucracy he deals with and the beauty of the land and area. The idea of paradise is one that is very strong in many religions, and in many ways of thought. Iver does a good job of explaining different theories, and can expand on them and tie them into things he has seen or felt. The book does take a few pages to get going, but is well worth the trip.

Recommended for readers who like travel books with a lot more discussion than restaurants and sights to see. Iyer is a wonderful writer and any trip with him is well worth the experience. A good read for the cold months about the world that exists outside the walls we have put up around our paradises.

Where truly does paradise lie? What does it even mean? Part travelog, part rumination, Iyer visits the most spiritual places in the world – the high plains of Ladakh, Varanasi, in India, Iran, Jerusalem, Sri Lanka, the holy Japanese mountain, Koyasan – to unearth the meaning of paradise. “Paradise could seem the cruelest notion of all if it meant pretending that the real world didn’t exist,” says Iyer in his deeply affecting book. With his signature searching and soothing voice, Iyer proves to be a trusted companion, brilliantly balancing nuggets of philosophy against descriptions of breathtaking and memorable places the world over.

This is a lyric, beautifully told book. I love books that can take you on a journey and this one was soulful and interesting. I would definitely recommend this title.

This one took me a little bit to get into, but once I did I really enjoyed it! Most certainly a thought provoking novel an one that took me a while to digest. I liked Iyer's writing style and his tone. Definitely one to read if you are looking for a novel that is insightful and thought provoking.