THE ART OF TRAVEL

Don't count on de Botton for handy tour tips, but rather for insights on how we approach and experience travel. We anticipate being in some glamorous spot, then, once there, are distracted by trivialities and fail to capture the essence of the place. As examples of attempts in this direction, we're treated to Flaubert's impressions of Cairo, Van Gogh's Provence, and de Maistre's "Journey Around My Bedroom," among others. Steven Crossley's cultured British voice deftly delivers the book's elegant prose at a pace that helps us digest its wealth of material. You'll have no trouble believing it's the author talking to you. You may never take a snapshot, buy a souvenir, or look at a cypress tree again without remembering this treatise. J.B.G. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 03]