The Ideal Afternoon: About Travel, Also About Wandering

Shu Guozhi’s The Ideal Afternoon writes about his travel impressions in various places and his feelings and realizations in life. Though it looks like a thick book, there’s actually not much text—you can easily finish it in two or three afternoons, as enjoyable as a travel guide.

But this book isn’t a travel guide. It’s an essay collection, more like a novel. Shu Guozhi is Dean from On the Road—he goes when he wants to go, stays when he wants to stay, relaxed and carefree, without any burden. His daily life is also extremely simple—no pursuit of brands, no pursuit of honors, not even a mobile phone, not overly bound by the outside world. This lifestyle is very rare among modern people. It’s something I yearn for, yet something I fear.

There’s not much to comment on about such a travel essay collection itself. I admire how Liang Wendao, the king of book jacket blurbs, could write such a long-winded preface for this book. As long as it pleases the heart, there’s no need for clichés.