Ilya Varlamov is a remarkable blogger (and now also a vlogger). For many years I enjoyed reading his journal — his notes about many countries were quite informative and always accompanied by wonderful photographs. More recently, I’ve also found him likable as a person because of his civic stance.
In 2014, the publishing house “MIF” decided to release his travel notes as a separate book. This edition caught my eye, and I decided to read in one place everything I had previously skimmed through in his journal.
However, the book turned out to be a huge disappointment. I don’t know who initiated the “paper” version, but it was done in a completely senseless way and with no clear idea of who it was for.
In his blog, Ilya always shared detailed information about everything he managed to learn and see in the countries he visited, and he was never afraid to “dive to the very bottom,” making reports about rather dangerous places I personally would never have gone.
In the published book Travel Notes, the stories about countries were grouped into sections by continent. But that is the only — and not exactly huge — plus of the book. Because the book includes only a very small number of countries, and for each one there is just a tiny bit of information. Literally a couple of paragraphs about a country, fewer than ten photographs, and… that’s it. On to the next. A refined edition about nothing.
From such a presentation you don’t learn anything about the country at all. It’s not even clear where it is located (if you did poorly in school), let alone anything about its customs and traditions, everyday life, or other interesting details.
I realized that the book looks like an advertising campaign. As if to say: here are a couple of photos, and the rest — for extra money somewhere else. But while this might still work with an online resource, in a printed book it raises a lot of questions.
That is why I said I completely fail to understand why the book was even released in this form. It doesn’t even make sense to read it for free (let alone in a purchased version), because you can read Ilya’s far more detailed posts on his platforms without paying anything — and also watch his video notes on his YouTube channel.
My rating: 1.5/5
