One Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-The-World Journey With Our Children

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Summary: Could've Dug Deeper...
Review: Cohen doesn't ever own up to his story or its meaning. While it was helpful to my husband & I to read before traipsing off to live an adventure in the English countryside with our five little ones, it left us with the feeling that we could certainly do better.

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Summary: An unusual travel book.
Review: Cohen is a good writer but this is pretty thin gruel. His picture books, the "Day in the Life" series, had more depth and were more empathetic to non-Americans and non-westerners. But this is good too.

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Summary: A great summer read!
Review: David Cohen did what I would never have the guts to do--take three kids on a trip around the world. His book describes all the highs and lows with lots of humor, warmth, wit and riveting detail. I'm glad I didn't make the trip myself, but I'm also glad I could read this thoroughly enjoyable account.

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Summary: Insufferable writing
Review: David Cohen seems incapable of looking at the world except as a pampered, racially superior American. He is the smuggest fellow I've come across in a book since many a Jane Austen character. No deep thinker and his book reflects his shallowness. He loves his wealth though.

Rating:
Summary: A Charming Original
Review: David Cohen's ONE YEAR OFF is a charming original. It is not so much an innovation on the standard form of travel literature as it is the honest product of one individual's unique perspective. Modest, philosophical, whimsical, and observant, when this perspective is focused simultaneously upon the macrocosm of the entire globe and the microcosm of his endearing family, the result is a swift and delightful and new kind of read. David Cohen's midlife quest is somehow representative of our contemporary good fortune: speaking of its goals, its optimism, its understanding, and its longing. I encourage you to share his experience through this book. As it must have seemed to the Cohen's, when you have finished ONE YEAR OFF, you will be surprised that it has all gone by so quickly.

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Summary: A Must Read for the Burned Out Entrepreneur
Review: David Cohen, his wife, their gaggle of kids (plus nanny) leave behind the bourgoise comforts of Mill Valley, California for the world he helped popularize in coffee table books (Cohen is the brillant creator of the "Day in the Life" series). His often hilarious tale of chutzpah, courage and kvetching while traveling around the world, is a must read for everyone ready to chuck it all and head to Bali. Bill Gates, take heed.

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Summary: One Year Off : Leaving It All Behind for a Round-The-World J
Review: For anyone that loves to travel, this book is for you. I agree with some of the other comments about this book, I would have preferred more details, they talk about being in Costa Rica but don't give you all the details, that you could follow them along their journey. I thought their account of South Africa was very interesting also. This is definitely a book for those that love to travel but can't do so currently, you are allowed to do it vicariously.

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Summary: On the Road Family-style
Review: Given the pressures on most American families these days, who hasn't thought about chucking it all -- the morning rush to get everyone out the door to school and work, the afternoon rush to get different kids to different activities, the evening rush through an "instant" dinner, homework, a little TV perhaps, then bed only to start the whole process all over again early the next morning? David Cohen has written an inspirational book. It is useful for those actually considering following him and his family's footsteps down the global pathway but it also teaches important lessons about the value of being together as a family. Even families who never travel farther than Disney World can come away from this book with a renewed appreciation of the essential value of overcoming hardships, facing up to challenges, finding ways to have fun and learn without a lot of "things" and just spending time together. After reading this book, one is tempted to get rid of the big mortgage, the SUV, the electronic toys, and all the other accumulated stuff that weighs us down and keeps us apart, and take off on a journey of discovering each other, even if that journey begins right in our own backyard. My only small criticism: It would have been nice to hear more from David's wife Devyani, who does, reading between the lines, seem to play an essential role keeping it all together, and the kids who must have made many wonderful kid-discoveries along the way as well. Hopefully, David Cohen will give us more of that in his next book, which we eagerly await.

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Summary: Great Book!!
Review: Having bought this book i simply could not put it down. I admire anybody who can sell their house and car to travel somewhere new, taking the bull by the horns and knowing they need to take a risk to experience life. I know, i've done it! However, this was a risk and a half. I read the book living the adventure through David Cohen and his family and didn't want it to end. I am truly inspired and saving for a journey of my own (though i am not sure i am quite brave enough to do what he did).

Rating:
Summary: Fantastically Inspiring
Review: Having bought this book i simply could not put it down. I admire anybody who can sell their house and car to travel somewhere new, taking the bull by the horns and knowing they need to take a risk to experience life. I know, i've done it! However, this was a risk and a half. I read the book living the adventure through David Cohen and his family and didn't want it to end. I am truly inspired and saving for a journey of my own (though i am not sure i am quite brave enough to do what he did).