{"product_id":"9780865477414","title":"The Naked Tourist : In Search of Adventure and Beauty in the Age of the Airport Mall","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Naked Tourist\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Lawrence Osborne\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the theme resorts of Dubai to the jungles of Papua New Guinea, a disturbing but hilarious tour of the exotic east—and of the tour itself\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSick of producing the bromides of the professional travel writer, Lawrence Osborne decided to explore the psychological underpinnings of tourism itself. He took a six-month journey across the so-called Asian Highway—a swathe of Southeast Asia that, since the Victorian era, has seduced generations of tourists with its manufactured dreams of the exotic Orient. And like many a lost soul on this same route, he ended up in the harrowing forests of Papua, searching for a people who have never seen a tourist. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat, Osborne asks, are millions of affluent itinerants looking for in these endless resorts, hotels, cosmetic-surgery packages, spas, spiritual retreats, sex clubs, and \"back to nature\" trips? What does tourism, the world's single largest business, have to sell? A travelogue into that heart of darkness known as the Western\u003cbr\u003emind, \u003ci\u003eThe Naked Tourist \u003c\/i\u003eis the most mordant and ambitious work to date from the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Accidental Connoisseur\u003c\/i\u003e, praised by \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review \u003c\/i\u003eas \"smart, generous, perceptive, funny, sensible.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e“[Osborne] grabs the bull by the horns . . . Through the most surreal environments (the fabricated islands of Dubai, the medical resorts of Thailand) he is funny, intelligent, insightful and honest.” —\u003ci\u003eMax Watman, The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780865477414\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"North Point Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40673415299278,"sku":"9780865477414","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_cf7755b5-cf04-4522-b205-f0e3da17c00b.jpg?v=1639882906","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780865477414","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}