Around The World In 1,460 Days - On Foot

August 27, 1989|By ROBERT I. ALOTTA Book Reviewer

Steven Newman stepped off the front porch of his family's home in Bethel, Ohio, on April Fools' Day 1983 to walk around the world - alone. In fact, he was to be the first - and only - person to make such a trip, and he's so recognized in the "1988 Guinness Book of World Records."

Without a great deal of money, Newman took four years to complete his journey across five continents, 20 countries, over 15,000 miles. How did he do it? Why did he do it?

How he did it was the simple part: he walked, and he walked, and where he couldn't walk he took the least expensive, local type of transportation. His only constant companion was his backpack (he named it "Clinger") that contained his meager rations, clothing, medical supplies, etc.

Why he did it is a different story. Newman wanted to find out if the headlines he'd read in American newspapers were accurate: Were all the peoples of the world what journalism made them out to be. He wanted to prove to himself that he could do something by himself.

Newman was 28 when he started his trek, and he seems so much younger when you read "Worldwalk." He called himself a journalist, but he did very little research on the lands he expected to visit, other than some cursory study in his local library. Many of the surprises he received when he went abroad would have been minimized by a little more preparation.

He lived, it seemed, off the generosity of people - and peanut butter sandwiches. Whenever he could, he washed himself in lakes and streams. He slept in fields, in abandoned houses, in farmer's barns, under bridges, in flophouses. To him the entire trip was a great adventure, an adventure which he wrote up for Cappers and the Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch, and then turned the articles and his journal into this book.

Some of those adventures are humorous. He set off a false bomb scare in Northern Ireland when he left his dirty laundry outside a mayor's office - the plastic drawstring hanging from the bag was thought to be a bomb fuse!

Along the way he met a number of friendly people, and some not so, although he doesn't devote much space to the nasty ones.

In reading "Worldwalk," this reviewer has to wonder how many smarts this young man had to embark on such an excursion without proper preparation. And, we wonder what effect his appearance had on our friends abroad. From his descriptions he must have looked like one of the thousands of homeless in major American cities. It almost frightens me to think of him as a representative of the United States. Newman was lucky to get back alive.

- Robert I. Alotta is associate professor of communication at James Madison University.

* WORLDWALK by Steven M. Newman

Morrow. 527 pages. $19.95

Daily Press Articles