Around the World in 50 Years: My Adventure to Every Country on Earth

Written by Albert Podell

Narrated by Tom Perkins

This is the inspiring story of an ordinary guy who achieved two great goals that others had told him were impossible. First, he set a record for the longest automobile journey ever made around the world, during the course of which he blasted his way out of minefields, survived a breakdown atop the Peak of Death, came within seconds of being lynched in Pakistan, and lost three of the five men who started with him, two to disease, one to the Vietcong.




After that—although it took him forty-seven more years—Albert Podell set another record by going to every country on Earth. He achieved this by surviving riots, civil wars, trigger-happy child soldiers, voodoo priests, robbers, corrupt cops, and Cape buffalo. He went around, under, or through every kind of natural disaster. He ate everything from old camel meat and rats to dung beetles and the brain of a live monkey. And he overcame attacks by crocodiles, hippos, anacondas, giant leeches, flying crabs—and several beautiful girlfriends who insisted that he stop this nonsense and marry them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781494582159

Albert Podell

ALBERT PODELL has been an editor at Playboy and three national outdoor magazines and written more than 250 freelance articles. He was co-leader of the Trans-World Record Expedition and co-author of Who Needs A Road, an adventure classic still in print after nearly five decades. He holds a B.A. in government from Cornell, was the graduate fellow of the Committee on International Relations at the University of Chicago, and received a law degree from New York University. He lives in New York and is an all-around outdoorsman – skier, boarder, mountaineer, climber, camper, hiker, biker, archer, angler, surfer, kayaker, scuba diver, windsurfer, long-distance swimmer, and vegetable gardener.

Reviews for Around the World in 50 Years

[smits_52 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Story of Albert Podell, an American who sets a record for the longest car journey ever made around the world. After that he sets a record by going to every recognized country on earth.
It is an understatement to say he had a few adventures. !! He had a ton and the book is filled with scary, stressful, terrifying and hilarious recounts of countries. He encounters extremes of life. He is witness to way too much poverty in Africa (TIA:This is Africa). Way too much political uneasiness and religious persecusion in Middle East. He seems to spend a lot of the book talking about these places rather than the cafes in Paris. This bookl is a great learning experience.

[zmagic69 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This should have been a great book, but it wasn't. It really is a 2.5 star book. The first five chapters are from the 1960's and the rest are spread out since then. It is very sexist but not in a funny way almost in a parody of the guy writing it. He is clearly a product of the Playboy Magazine/ Mad Men/ hip and swinging 60's, but the stories are almost just fun facts and highlights of places he has been. The book closes with where things are around the world but by this point I didn't really care what his opinions were anymore.

[briandrewz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An engaging book about the travels of Albert Podell to every contry on Earth. Al tells us all about his extensive travels. From A to Z, he's been to each country. In the book he describes the hardships of actually entering various countries, some of the food, however grotesque and unappealing, he ate, and all about the adventures which made his life's work so worthwhile.

A good airport/airplane read!