“Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles” by Simon Winchester

Read as part of the Around the World in 12 Books Challenge 2014.

Couple of years ago I read and loved “The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary ” and so it was due to the author, not due to the topic that I picked the book about Korea when browsing the library shelves. And it seems, comparing my impressions with the reviews of other readers of this book on Amazon, that by setting out with expectation to read what Simon Winchester had to say and NOT with expectation to learn a lot about Korea, was the best way to enjoy the book.

May-be, as I did enjoy the book, I did not feel like one of the disappointed readers, that the author had not liked the country and the people. But the other complaints – that while one could find some fascinating titbits in the book (for example, about the haenyo diving women of Chenju, about Chindo-kae dogs or about the history of the hangul writing ), still too many of the encounters are with foreigners in Korea and , of course, as nearly 30 years have gone by from that walk thorough Korea, it is more of an history book than a travel book by now.