Jacob Szymanski

But that didn't just extend to works of nonfiction and accounts.

It went into fiction.

And a really good example of this is Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Vernesse, who it was pretty explicitly just a travel book that really enthralled, you know, the Victorian era, like the rich people of the time.

The plot of that book is essentially that a guy takes a bet that he could circumnavigate the globe in 80 days and through the process goes through all of these countries, including India, which...

Imagine if you're in England in 1850, what India is as a concept.

It's across the world and all you have to go on it are like these murky reports.

It's basically rumors.

You're probably never going to talk to an Indian in your life.

What a mysterious place the world must have been at that time.

You have to understand the mystique of these sorts of books, right?

If a man can circumnavigate the globe by himself, then I can go down the street and have a coffee with my friend.

A little bit of inspiration.

But, you know, in his case, it seems the way he phrased it, it seemed like it was an exercise in self-reflection and meditation.

That, in other words, is an adventure.

An adventure is the unknown things to come.

He didn't know what he was going to get out of it.

But we need to put ourselves in adventures to grow as people.

And I'm sure James Cook grew as a person.

Maybe not for the best throughout his experience.

One more book I want to shout out.