Edited by Sean O’Reilly, James O’Reilly, and Tim O’Reilly

“This very different kind of travel book is an inspiring and wise guide to the journeys of the soul.”
Body Mind Spirit Magazine

Whether you’re on a routine business trip to Akron, Ohio or participating in a trek to an unexplored region of Venezuela, traveling can alter your life in profound ways. The Road Within, a collection of worldwide essays by more than forty writers, explores how travel can affect people spiritually, change their views of the world, and even move them toward living their lives differently. Winner of the Independent Publishers Best Travel Book, The Road Within is a travel book unlike any other. From Cairo to Bosnia and from Mexico to Alabama, the writers in The Road Within collection traverse the world. One essayist has a near-death experience, another enjoys an unusual romantic shipboard encounter, yet another finds solace in a French vegetable garden. All discover that wondrous things can await you on a journey. Join these gifted writers as they step outside of their everyday lives and routines to try something different.

In The Road Within readers will:

  • Rescue a child in Barcelona and learn a lesson in love and forgiveness with Thom Elkjer
  • Have your internal spiritual measure taken while attending a Chinese banquet with Annie Dillard in Beijing
  • Join Scott Erickson as he leaves his corporate job to backpack around Lake Superior
  • Search across Asia for the Buddha of your dreams with Gladys Montgomery Jones
  • …and much more.

About the editors

Sean O’Reilly, editor-at-large and director of international sales at Travelers’ Tales, is an editor of many award-winning travel books, including The Ultimate Journey, Pilgrimage, and The Spiritual Gifts of Travel. He is also the author ofHow to Manage Your Dick: Redirect Sexual Energy and Discover Your More Enlightened Evolved Self. He lives with his family in Arizona.

James O’Reilly, president and publisher of Travelers’ Tales, wrote mystery serials before becoming a travel writer in the early 1980’s. He’s visited more than forty countries worked on virtually all of the Travelers’ Tales books, winning nineteen awards for excellence. James lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Tim O’Reilly, senior partner and co-owner of Travelers’ Tales, is the founder and CEO of O’Reilly and Associates, Inc., the most respected name in computer book publishing. He is an activist for open source software and Internet standards. Before founding his company, Tim taught with the late George Simon, a pioneering researcher in altered states of consciousness. Tim lives with his family in Northern California.

About Travelers’ Tales

Founded in 1993, Travelers’ Tales publishes the best in travel writing from world-famous authors and new and emerging writers. Our goal is to inspire and enlighten readers through true stories by travelers who have explored the depths of their experiences. The series includes: country and regional guides; books which explore the themes of women’s travel, spirituality, food, humor, and adventure; travel advice books; Footsteps: The Soul of Travel, a series of single-author travel narratives; and Travelers’ Tales Classics, a series which introduces out-of-print favorites of travel literature to a new audience. The Road Within is the latest Travelers’ Tales title to focus on spirituality.

The Road Within
True Stories of Transformation and the Soul
Edited by Sean O’Reilly, James O’Reilly, and Tim O’Reilly
Travelers’ Tales, October 2002
$18.95 Trade Paperback, 464 pages, 5 1/8″ x 8″
ISBN: 1-885211-84-8