Clara’s Verdict
There is a category of travel book that transcends the genre entirely – books that begin as accounts of a journey and become, over the course of their telling, something closer to philosophy or autobiography. Ted Simon’s Jupiter’s Travels belongs to this category. Published originally in 1979, it has never gone out of print, and its influence on a generation of motorcyclists – including Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, who cite it as an inspiration for Long Way Round – attests to something genuine in its reach. This Naxos AudioBooks edition, narrated by Rupert Degas, brings one of the great post-war British travel narratives to a format it suits very well.
About the audiobook
On 6 October 1973, Ted Simon left London on a 500cc Triumph Tiger. He would not return for four years. Over that time, he rode 64,000 miles around the world, passing through countries in the grip of revolution, war, and political upheaval. He was treated as a spy in some places, welcomed as a curiosity in others, briefly imprisoned, and at one point part of a Californian commune. He experienced “utter despair and unimaginable joy” – not alternately, but sometimes simultaneously.
What makes Jupiter’s Travels more than an adventure yarn is Simon’s insistence on using the journey as a vehicle for reflection. He is a candid, occasionally ruthless self-examiner, and his account of the physical journey is inseparable from his account of the internal one. The world he was travelling through in 1973-77 was in many ways more varied and less homogenised than the world a motorcyclist would encounter today – border crossings that are now impossible, countries that no longer exist in the same form, a pre-internet opacity to foreign travel that forced genuine encounters rather than curated experiences.
The book covers Africa, South and North America, Australia, Malaysia, and India, among others, and moves between them with the unpredictable logic of a journey that refused to be planned in advance.
The narration
Rupert Degas is described by The Times as “the most versatile of narrators,” and his handling of this 16 hours and 51 minutes production confirms that reputation. Simon’s prose has a particular quality – observational, reflective, shot through with a dry humour and a genuine openness to being changed by what he encounters – and Degas captures it without imposing his own personality on the material. Published by Naxos AudioBooks in September 2015, this is a production that does justice to a classic.
What readers say
The audiobook holds a rating of 4.6, and the reviews from UK listeners are warmly appreciative. Reviewer Sarugumo, writing after an evidently close reading of the text, praised Simon’s “completely engaging” writing style and his candour: “He is refreshingly candid about his experiences.” A listener called Cal, writing more recently, offered the most direct recommendation possible: “What an amazing storyteller and what an adventure!! Couldn’t put it down.” G.R. Matthews noted that some more recent editing has been applied to the text, suggesting the book has been lightly updated while retaining its original character. A more measured review from AK, comparing it to Long Way Round, noted that the book has “a pioneering spirit” appropriate to its era while also exposing some of the frictions of an earlier, less connected world.
Who should listen?
The obvious audience is motorcyclists and adventure travellers, and for them this is essential reading – a founding text of the modern overland motorcycle journey genre. But the book’s appeal extends far beyond that community. Anyone who is interested in travel writing, in the experience of genuine encounter with an unfamiliar world, or in the kind of sustained solitude that produces self-knowledge, will find Jupiter’s Travels richly rewarding. At 16 hours and 51 minutes, it is a substantial commitment – but a solo circumnavigation of the earth takes four years, so a proportion of that seems fair.
Listen to Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon on Audible UK – get it here.
