Rating: 
Summary: The romance of history
Review: First, let me congratulate the publisher for reprinting this book. Until now it has been a collector's item. In this book, young Richard Halliburton realizes his dreams by traveling around the world with very little money. I can't summarize here all the places he goes nor all the adventures he sees, but the book is a page-turner from start to finish. Halliburton climbs the Matterhorn, bums train rides in Spain, gets thrown into jail in Gibraltar, replenishes his empty wallet in Monte Carlo, narrowly escapes incineration on the Indian Ocean, comes face to face with a poisonous snake on the Malay Peninsula, and determines to climb Mount Fuji in winter despite the fact that "it couldn't be done" . . . and, in the end, comes home to Memphis and his mom and dad. One of the previous reviewers raised troubling questions about Halliburton's place in the twenty-first century. It's true that the author loves India, and every page in which he describe his travels through that country reflects that love. It's also true that he didn't respect individual Indians in the way which we all ought to respect each other today. This is a disturbing question, but my appeal to everyone who reads this review is that people who want a period piece, a description of what it was like for a young man to travel around the world in the 1920s, read this book as a whole and decide whether or not they like it on this basis. Halliburton wrote about India as a whole. If we read what he wrote about as a whole, Calcutta and Udaipur and Agra and everything else, we will realize that whatever his faults, he loved the country. Furthermore, I think that if you read this book as a book of history, a description of a world that no longer exists, you will like it or love it for what it is.
Rating:
Summary: The romance of history
Review: First, let me congratulate the publisher for reprinting this book. Until now it has been a collector's item. In this book, young Richard Halliburton realizes his dreams by traveling around the world with very little money. I can't summarize here all the places he goes nor all the adventures he sees, but the book is a page-turner from start to finish. Halliburton climbs the Matterhorn, bums train rides in Spain, gets thrown into jail in Gibraltar, replenishes his empty wallet in Monte Carlo, narrowly escapes incineration on the Indian Ocean, comes face to face with a poisonous snake on the Malay Peninsula, and determines to climb Mount Fuji in winter despite the fact that "it couldn't be done" . . . and, in the end, comes home to Memphis and his mom and dad. One of the previous reviewers raised troubling questions about Halliburton's place in the twenty-first century. It's true that the author loves India, and every page in which he describe his travels through that country reflects that love. It's also true that he didn't respect individual Indians in the way which we all ought to respect each other today. This is a disturbing question, but my appeal to everyone who reads this review is that people who want a period piece, a description of what it was like for a young man to travel around the world in the 1920s, read this book as a whole and decide whether or not they like it on this basis. Halliburton wrote about India as a whole. If we read what he wrote about as a whole, Calcutta and Udaipur and Agra and everything else, we will realize that whatever his faults, he loved the country. Furthermore, I think that if you read this book as a book of history, a description of a world that no longer exists, you will like it or love it for what it is.
Rating:
Summary: a little too American
Review: Halliburton's adventures make wonderful reading. The guy sure had alot more fun traveling the world the way he did instead of taking the deluxe tour that his parents offered. But he kept the same perspective that he would have had on the deluxe tour -- that of a priviledged young American, slightly condesending toward natives. I don't see that he changed at all, or learned anything of consequence. He left a cocksure, grab-life-by-the-balls young buck, and he came back just the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Halliburton changed my life!
Review: Halliburton's Royal Road to Romance had the same kind of effect on me that the movie "Dead Poet's Society" did, but moreso. Reading about his adventures, his willingness to take risks, and his undying faith that everything would work out (treacherous mountain crossings, dangerous sea voyages and all) helped at least one young Mississippi boy to decide that he wanted his life to be an adventure, that he wanted to follow the royal road to romance
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Read
Review: I am nearing the end of the book and Loving it!
I purchased the book after hearing aobut Richard Halliburton on "Writer's Almanac" on NPR. This is such a wonderful and witty book that I am looking forward to sharing it with my friends and family so we can discuss it.
I recommend it to anyone that wants to get a feeling of what it was really like to travel the world as a vagabond prior to WWII.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Read
Review: I am nearing the end of the book and Loving it!
I purchased the book after hearing aobut Richard Halliburton on "Writer's Almanac" on NPR. This is such a wonderful and witty book that I am looking forward to sharing it with my friends and family so we can discuss it.
I recommend it to anyone that wants to get a feeling of what it was really like to travel the world as a vagabond prior to WWII.
Rating:
Summary: Must be Read in the Context of Its Time
Review: I first read Richard Halliburton's works in Junior High School after one of my history teachers recommended him to me. I had never been exposed to some of the places that he visited and wrote about and found him to be fascinating. Reading him instilled a love of travel that has not diminished some 25 years later. I reread this book over the Christmas Holidays. I agree that the prose is overblown and at times difficult to get through. Many of his ideas are quite antiquidated. However, this work must be read in the context of the time in which it was written and not through our so-called "enlightened views" as to what is or is not politically correct in the early 21st century.I find in infuriating when reviewers judge works written 30-40 years ago against today's concept of political and social correctness. This book must be read in the context of the era in which it was written.
Rating:
Summary: Made me yearn to see the world
Review: I first read this book as a child about 25 years ago. It was pure luck that I found "The Royal Road..." at a furniture store's going-out-of-business sale. The store was selling off books they used to decorate furniture displays. Although I'm not sure what prompted me to buy this book as a child, I am grateful to have found it. It gave me a sense of wonder about the world and a love for exotic places and peoples. Growing up in the 70s with the war and demonstrations and Watergate, I think I felt jaded about the world from an early age. The world seemed kind of a seedy, drab and dingey place to me at the time. Every great accomplishment had already been done and every once-wonderous place on the planet had long ago been explored, commercialized...used up. Royal Road to Romance changed my world view and made me really hunger to see the wonderous, beautiful places Halliburton describes. I think there are probably many kids in this generation with similar feelings who might really benefit from this book. Most of Halliburton's stories are happy-go-lucky tales about traveling with friends, meeting interesting and charming people, and generally making life into an adventure. They make you wish you could have been there with him. Or at least follow in his footsteps. At the beginning of the book, Halliburton talks very eloquently about the choice he made to travel and see the wonders of the world instead of pursuing a traditional career after college. How he rebelled against what was expected of him and decided to Live and Enjoy Life while he was young. I think most people have felt the desire to run off at some point in their life -- to abandon the mundane life they are expected to lead and go where the wind leads. I know that I have felt that often, and many times, I have thought of Richard Halliburton and his thoughts and life. Although, yes, the book is dated in attitudes and much has changed in the world, I believe that people who read it can find a sense of fun and wonder they never knew they were missing.
Rating:
Summary: Made me yearn to see the world
Review: I first read this book as a child about 25 years ago. It was pure luck that I found "The Royal Road..." at a furniture store's going-out-of-business sale. The store was selling off books they used to decorate furniture displays. Although I'm not sure what prompted me to buy this book as a child, I am grateful to have found it. It gave me a sense of wonder about the world and a love for exotic places and peoples. Growing up in the 70s with the war and demonstrations and Watergate, I think I felt jaded about the world from an early age. The world seemed kind of a seedy, drab and dingey place to me at the time. Every great accomplishment had already been done and every once-wonderous place on the planet had long ago been explored, commercialized...used up. Royal Road to Romance changed my world view and made me really hunger to see the wonderous, beautiful places Halliburton describes. I think there are probably many kids in this generation with similar feelings who might really benefit from this book. Most of Halliburton's stories are happy-go-lucky tales about traveling with friends, meeting interesting and charming people, and generally making life into an adventure. They make you wish you could have been there with him. Or at least follow in his footsteps. At the beginning of the book, Halliburton talks very eloquently about the choice he made to travel and see the wonders of the world instead of pursuing a traditional career after college. How he rebelled against what was expected of him and decided to Live and Enjoy Life while he was young. I think most people have felt the desire to run off at some point in their life -- to abandon the mundane life they are expected to lead and go where the wind leads. I know that I have felt that often, and many times, I have thought of Richard Halliburton and his thoughts and life. Although, yes, the book is dated in attitudes and much has changed in the world, I believe that people who read it can find a sense of fun and wonder they never knew they were missing.
Rating:
Summary: Made me yearn to see the world
Review: I first read this book as a child about 25 years ago. It was pure luck that I found "The Royal Road..." at a furniture store's going-out-of-business sale. The store was selling off books they used to decorate furniture displays. Although I'm not sure what prompted me to buy this book as a child, I am grateful to have found it. It gave me a sense of wonder about the world and a love for exotic places and peoples. Growing up in the 70s with the war and demonstrations and Watergate, I think I felt jaded about the world from an early age. The world seemed kind of a seedy, drab and dingey place to me at the time. Every great accomplishment had already been done and every once-wonderous place on the planet had long ago been explored, commercialized...used up. Royal Road to Romance changed my world view and made me really hunger to see the wonderous, beautiful places Halliburton describes. I think there are probably many kids in this generation with similar feelings who might really benefit from this book. Most of Halliburton's stories are happy-go-lucky tales about traveling with friends, meeting interesting and charming people, and generally making life into an adventure. They make you wish you could have been there with him. Or at least follow in his footsteps. At the beginning of the book, Halliburton talks very eloquently about the choice he made to travel and see the wonders of the world instead of pursuing a traditional career after college. How he rebelled against what was expected of him and decided to Live and Enjoy Life while he was young. I think most people have felt the desire to run off at some point in their life -- to abandon the mundane life they are expected to lead and go where the wind leads. I know that I have felt that often, and many times, I have thought of Richard Halliburton and his thoughts and life. Although, yes, the book is dated in attitudes and much has changed in the world, I believe that people who read it can find a sense of fun and wonder they never knew they were missing.
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