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| USA Best Books Awards 2011 Finalist Travel: Essay Category |
Driven by an innate sense of cultural curiosity as well as a desire to acquire modern Chinese art, Stan Biderman and contemporary art critic Kathryn Minette undertake an eleven-week sojourn in China and Tibet. The region's eclectic mix of the hypermodern and ancient, from the vibrant metropolises of Shanghai and Beijing to the vast rural outposts and grasslands of the Gobi Desert and Tibet fuel the vivid and unabashedly honest observations made whilst on their quest. The culinary journey alone is worth the price of the book!
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Santa Fe New Mexican June 17th 2011 In 2009, bookstore owner and Whole Foods' lawyer, Stan Biderman and his wife, photographer Kathryn Minette, spent about two months traveling the back roads and forbidden deserts of China and Tibet. They were in search of experiential and cultural treasure, and they got plenty of both, as is revealed in their travel diary Bullet Trains to Yaks: Glimpses into Art, Politics and Culture of China and Tibet. |
During their travels, the couple encountered headless terra-cotta soldiers, the tomb of the "Fragrant Concubine", lots of black sheep (animals and people), street thieves, peddlers, troubadours, and a restaurant called Modern Toilet, where the chairs are made of toilet bowls and food is served in bath tubs, wash basins and urinals. (An ad for the restaurant features a photo of chocolate yogurt served in a commode.)... In an eye-opening look into other cultures, written in a lively manner and without much pretense of revealing the politics of the two nations in depth. While noting that the book only scratches the tip of the elephant's trunk in relaying their experiences, Biderman notes, "Regardless of whether a country's totalitarianism springs from the power of one person or one party, the result seems to be the same: lack of freedom, suppressed expression, and homogeneity among its citizens. Plus, really bad TV." |
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The reader receives a colorful and, at times, sobering glimpse of the many contradictions in this complex part of the world. From rewap makers to baby pandas and five star hotels to the simplest accommodations, Bullet Trains to Yaks is also full of sumptuous photography by Kathryn. It makes the perfect Christmas gift book for the traveler on your list.
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Stan Biderman is an attorney and aficionado of Silk Road history. Author of Everything Changes: A Spiritual Journey and Bullet Trains To Yaks, he is also a cactus gardener and collector of contemporary art under the tutelage of his wife, Kathryn.
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