Pros: Beautifully designed book full of sketches and information on just about everything.
Cons: The cover brags shamelessly, and info is packed onto pages.
The Bottom Line: This book is a fascinating trip through exquisite sketches, eclectic collections of information, poetry, mystery. It's worth its price in entertainment value alone, and contains much useful information as well.
tammykay's Full Review: Zeek - The Art of Shen Ku: The Ultimate Traveler's...
This book is fascinating. Just picking it up and reading the cover at the bookstore got me hooked. I just had to quickly thumb through the pages and look at the sketches, and then I knew I had to buy one. I'm a sucker for unusual, entertaining books, so I bought it for the entertainment value. But after getting it home and reading it, I've seen it has so much more.
It claims to be "The Ultimate Traveler's Guide of This Planet" and "The First Intergalactic Artform of the Entire Universe". And the bragging doesn't stop there -- it continues with "Simple Enough for a Child -- Too Complex for a Genius", "Devastatingly Personally Applicable -- in Perpetuity", "Governing All Conscious Progress In Any Species Anywhere", and "Transcending The Ultimate Barriers of Time and Space"! I mean, who IS this guy??
Well, his name's Steve Dolby, aka Zeek. He's sailed around the world in a homemade sailboat, and gathered little bits of wisdom from everywhere in Asia and his own traveling experiences. This is the most amazing collection of eclectic wisdom I've ever seen. It reminds me of the Whole Earth Catalog in style with content combined from The Bathroom Reader and an extensive Asian encyclopedia. And this description doesn't do it justice at all! The sketches overflow from every page, and some places he waxes poetic and mystical.
He breaks the book into four major sections, addressing the Traveler, the Physician, the Sailor, and the Martial Artist. And the book contains a 41-page index! Believe me, it needs it because of the extensive information packed into this book. Here's just a small sampling of the subjects addressed:
CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation
Clothing, packs, and basic necessities for the traveler
Disaster survival preparedness
Basic survival skills in the wild
How to beat depression
Reading your character through your handwriting
Numerology, Chinese astrology, and pendulums
Accupressure treatments for a wide variety of ailments
Vitamin and Mineral deficiency charts
Herbal therapy
Guides to alleviating sexual problems, maintaining sexuality while traveling, etc.
Food storage, dehydrating foods, and growing sprouts
A collection of whole food, vegetarian, and Oriental recipes
Tips for sailors on rigging, sail handling, navigation, docking, anchoring, etc.
A guide to knots and splicing
Tips for wind surfing
Lots of basic advice on how to deal with bullies and bandits
Asian health secrets
Macrobiotics, fasting, aromatherapy, yoga, and stretching
Exercise and body sculpture programs
Pages of info on martial arts: judy, aikido, kung fu, and different styles of combat
Breathing exercises
Whew! And this is just a brief overview! If any of this interests you, you've gotta get this book! It's like having a handy, useful, exotic and entertaining encyclopedia at hand all the time. (I wouldn't get this interested in an Encyclopedia Brittanica set, I'll tell you that!)
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