"Curious, delightful . Neuman is hot property in contemporary Latin American literary circles. A former winner of Spain's prestigious Alfaguara Prize and the National Critics Prize, he is tipped (by Roberto Bolaño, no less) to be one of a select 'handful' to take up where the 'boom' generation of Márquez, Cortázar, Fuentes and Borges left off . This is not a conventional travel book by any means . So forget the lyricism of Patrick Leigh Fermor, the historic sweeps of V.S. Naipaul or the episodic comedy of Bill Bryson. How to Travel Without Seeing is , in essence, a collection of journal jottings: the author's notebooks transcribed in a rush; fragments of thought; overheard conversations; advertisement slogans; television snippets; stray lines of poetry.

An honest reflection of most contemporary travel experiences, in other words . Yet the book works. This is partly thanks to Neuman's eye for the absurd and ironic--Colombia's Televisión Española, for example, 'scrupulously selects' the very worst of Spanish TV to disseminate abroad. More important still is his gift for the succinct. Places and people are captured in a single, spot-on phrase. Lima is the 'club among clubs'; the estuary bay of San Juan flows gently to the sea 'like someone falling asleep before drowning'. Aphorism, a literary device now hijacked by the Twitterati, is used to powerful effect here . Despite the miles he covers, he relishes remaining still, because his great passion is reading.

He wolfs down books with an enthusiasm that most tourists reserve for sangria and sun-scorched sex. The result reads like the very best kind of bibliophile TripAdvisor." --Oliver Balch,  The Spectator.