The 21 Balloons

“There are two kinds of travel. The usual way is to take the fastest imaginable conveyance along the shortest road. The other way is not to care particularly where you are going or how long it will take you, or whether you will get there or not.”

It’s one thing to get to a place efficiently; it’s quite another to journey without a destination. Such travel opens up the world to our inspection; it surprises and charms us with unexpected discoveries; it throws adventures our way; and it’s a journey beyond the comparisons and competition of daily life. This book takes readers not on a trip to a destination, but on a voyage of discovery.

“The best way of travel, however, if you aren’t in any hurry at all, if you don’t care where you are going, if you don’t like to use your legs, if you want to see everything quite clearly, if you don’t want to be annoyed at all by any choice of directions, is in a balloon. In a balloon you can decide only when to start, and usually when to stop. The rest is left entirely to nature.”

Balloons let people soar through the air, free as a bird. Balloons follow the breeze and provide a largely silent experience. They present the world from above, a novel way to observe life. They offer a sense of serene detachment from the world below. Balloons are the story’s chief method of travel; as such, they bespeak joy and adventure and become a form—literally—of high achievement.

“Half of this story is true and the other half might very well have happened.”

The author humorously describes the essence of historical fiction, especially when it contains scientific speculation, as in this tale. The book wonders what could have existed at a place that disappeared during a disaster. This gives the author plenty of room to make things up, since all the evidence is gone. It’s a perfect premise for a wonderful adventure filled with astonishing possibilities.