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Book Review
I enjoyed the original The Moment Collectors book produced by Sam Manicom so when this sequel was announced I grabbed it and what perfect timing as I could read this on my way to China for my own latest ride in Asia.
I again enjoyed reading this collection of short stories however I found myself sometimes flicking over the pages quickly to get to the next chapter as many of the stories are about riders roughing it in Central Asia which started to get slightly repetitive.
Personally I have limited interest in what overland riders seem to like doing. Sleeping rough, eating poorly, breakdowns, being underprepared for the weather, not having a GPS and relying heavily on the generosity of people along the way are things that feature in every overlander motorcycle travel story.
When I travel I am sort of the opposite to overlanders. I research the best roads, scenic places, plan my fuel stops and focus on good motorcycling rather than risky adventures. But I digress.
The book has far less about SE Asia than Central Asia. Some great riding destinations were not mentioned including Philippines, Malaysia, Borneo. Nothing about Indonesia other than Bali. Nothing from Sri Lanka, Taiwan or Thailand.
The chapter that mentions Japan is just some guy bashing the country and hating the food who never ventures far beyond a backpackers hostel in Kyoto.
Now if only there was a blogger who had ridden 110,000km around Japan … 🙄 but hey I didn’t crash and take photos of my bike on the ground and I don’t camp either, things that seem to be a prerequisite. 😀
While the book was pleasant way to pass the time in planes and airports none of the stories really grabbed me or inspired me like some of the chapters in the Motorcycle Messengers books which are in my opinion much better, but I’m still going to recommend this because it is reasonably priced as a ebook from Amazon and I am sure at least a few of the twenty stories will be of interest to any motorcycle traveler.
Good review (I haven’t the book; saw a post about it this morning and was wondering if it was more about South Asia / ‘stans / north). In general, SE Asia is not as big a focus as one would expect amongst the RTWers (ooops, cat out of bag).
Hi Sean, yeah looking at the RTW riders routes it seems their not interested in the best road riding regions and have a different agenda.
Hi Warren, first of all, I’ve just been enjoying your site. This is the first time I’ve found you. Good stuff!!!
I’m sorry you aren’t so impressed with ‘The Moment Collectors ASIA’, but I very much value you still suggesting it’s worth a read. And I’m delighted you enjoyed the first ‘The Moment Collectors’. Cheers.
With the 48 countries in Asia and with just 20 chapters to work with, I just couldn’t fit in stories from them all. We have covered 16 countries with brief mentions of several others such as Japan from 2 of the writers. India (Three different parts, with very different stories), Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, South Korea, Russia, Mongolia (one full on off-road and the other a real mix of conditions), Kyrgyzstan, China, Nepal, Iran, Vietnam, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan are in the book.
I hope you enjoyed that some of the writers were riding a big trip for the very first time. Plus all the different types of bikes. It was fun working with some authors who’d already been successfully published, right the way through to those who were writing for the first time (a new adventure for them). I’ve loved watching the thumbs up feedback on their chapters, in particular, coming in. I hope all the authors go on to write more.
Who knows, perhaps one day I might be able to make another Asia book happen. For sure I’ll be intending to cover some of the countries missed. That’d be wonderful. I had a chapter lined up from Indonesia by the way (I loved travelling there) but sadly the writer couldn’t meet the deadline – life got in the way. Too late for me to find someone else who could write well, to cover there. Part of the challenge of working with 20 authors, from 9 different countries around the world, and several of whom were and still are travelling. A fun juggle. A pretty inspirational bunch.
Thank you again for sharing the news that it’s out!!
If you fancy being involved with a Part 2 if it ever happens, would you like to get in touch?
Happy onwards travels to you. May you stay C free for ever! And thank you again.
Cheers,
Sam
Hi Sam,
Thanks for visiting my travel blog and thanks for explaining that it was not possible to include everything – I did not consider that properly.
Re-reading my review it sounds more negative than intended, I’m afraid my writing skills are poor.
I’d love to see a Moment Collectors Asia 2, (and a Moment Collectors rest of world 2) I enjoy reading other riders journeys which inspire me to do more travel.
I think my writing is poor compared to the authors in the Moment Collectors books but I have a wealth of experience about moto touring Japan which many readers have found helpful. If that is something that might be of interest to others then I’d be happy to share in any way.
My email is warren@motorcycleparadise.net
Thanks again for visiting Sam!
Hi Warren,
Great to hear back from you. And cheers!! Maying a book like this happen is a juggle. Fun, but a juggle. Cheers for the thumbs up on V2s! One day I’d love to. Writing skill? It’s horses and courses isn’t it. I love that you say what you think. It’s part of the fun of putting books together like The Moment Collectors. I deliberately choose very different writing styles, knowing that probably no one is going to like them all, but that everyone will like different chapters. It’s fun watching the feedback from readers.
‘Wealth of experience’? Too right you do. In fact I was thinking about sharing your page on riding in Japan. I hope that’s ok.
And cheers for your email address.