Far and Away: A Prize Every Time

Far and Away: A Prize Every Time by Neil Peart

This is similar to Neil Peart's other "travel books". He is primarily travelling around on his motorcycle with a friend between concert tour stops. Most of the experience is in US and Canada. He primarily takes small roads when possible. Sometimes he runs into roads blocked by snow (even in June!) He had other experiences with heavy thunderstorms and other extreme weather.

He did also travel in South America between tour stops. This added the risk of border crossings and less developed environments. He intentionally stayed out of the more urban areas to ride around in rural areas. This had its own challenges. The GPS was not super accurate and the areas were not well labelled. They ended up way over-shooting a bridge that would get them into Uruguay. Luckily they found a remote ferry that eventually helped to get them around.

He takes time to comment on society and conditions. He likes compact mountain towns and prefers small mom-and-pop stores. (Logan Utah seemed to be a good one.) There is various commentary on the history that he observed. He also sought to take on many national parks. (Yellowstone was one of the last ones he covered.) In all these voyages, he still managed to make it to his concerts in time.

Far and Near: On Days Like These

Far and Near: On Days Like These by Neil Peart

Neil Peart rode his motorcycle between venues while touring with Rush. He planned out trips to visit national parks as well as explore various parts of the world. He would seek out the back roads as much as possible. (Sometimes he would even luck out and get people to open gated off logging roads.) GPS may or may not help him. He would always travel with riding buddies and had trucks to carry the bikes in as part of the tour. (He needed to make sure he made it to the concerts.) He had various experiences, both good and bad. Some people recognized him as the drummer for Rush, while many did not. He rarely brought it up on his own. (Though one case where many people bonded together to help, he did go out and offer them tickets.) 

This book primarily has essays regarding his motorcycle tours, though there are a few from other travels and experiences (such as with cars). He uses it to detail his philosophy which sometimes appears directly as some of his songs. The philosophy may not always be externally consistent. (He criticizes the attempts by southern Christians to limit other's rights by limiting abortion, while also criticizing them for not limiting rights by not mandating helmets.) Despite disagreeing with some viewpoints, he takes an open view to the people and situations that occur. He is much more interested in the experience. He loves the streets that nobody goes down unless they live there. He enjoys the small towns and the unique experiences that differ from cookie cutter suburban life. It would be fun to be able to explore areas the way he did. He had both the freedom to go anywhere along with the support to make sure it happened, yet also had time and location constraints that forced moving on. I wonder if somebody has consolidated the locations and roads mentioned for a tour book.

Traveling Music: The Soundtrack to My Life and Times

Traveling Music: The Soundtrack to My Life and Times by Neil Peart

Peart motorcycles out to Big Bend National Park from LA. On the way, he reminisces about his life and music that he found interesting. It is a fairly eclectic mix with modern bands like Tragically Hip and Vertical Horizon, Coldplay and Linkin Park and older ones like Frank Sinatra and Buddy Rich. He covers some of his early music experiences and life. He went to some 60s festivals but missed others. He worked in London for a bit. He read books, joined a band and rode his motorcycle and bicycle around. His became a bit different as his band became more popular. He seemed to be fairly introverted, yet public.

The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa

The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa by Neil Peart

Rush drummer Neil Peart went on an "adventure cycling" tour of Cameroon. There were just a small handful of people cycling with him in the rout. One woman lacked the enthusiasm and would cycle very slowly, much to chagrin of the guide. One of the party was a black man from California. Many of the Africans would be amazed that there were black people in America. (At one time, the fact that he was black helped bail them out of trouble with a drunken police officer.) The time in Africa involved many encounters with officials and pseudo-officials, along with regular people. Peart had only rudimentary French, so had challenges communicating. He also observed a difference between poverty and happiness. Many people did not have much, yet there were few homeless or other vagrants you commonly see in western cities. The families seem to help care for them. Infrastructure was a different story. Water or electricity may be cut off at any time if they do exist. There are huge number of "checkpoints". Some actually serve purposes. Others are manned by illiterate officials. And some are "popups" by regular folks trying to extort a few dollars. He also has time to muse on religion, life, happiness and other things. A bike tour through Africa is much different than that through the developed world.

Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road

Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road by Neil Peart

Neil Peart's only daughter died in a single-car crash while driving to college. This stressed his relationship with his common-law wife. Shortly after, she was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. Neil tried to recover from this by getting on his motorcycle and riding. Sometimes he would go fast. Other times it was slow. He would explore remote northern areas in Canada and Alaska, and continued down in the United States and Mexico. The book is primarily epistolary, with journal entries and letters. He is trying to come to terms with his life, while also exploring different areas. He travels "under cover" so he cannot be identified as a famous musician. (And he is not feeling up to making music at the time.) In the narrative, he quotes various lyrics that he wrote for Rush songs that tie together. He is not keen on religion, but seems open to spirituality and various ways of exploring. Eventually he explores other relationships and finally makes it back to his drums.

Clockwork Destiny

Clockwork Destiny by Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart

The final book in the Clockwork Angels series was clearly influenced by the music of Rush and the lyrics of Neil Peart. By Tor the Snow Dog plays a key role. There is the Dreamline campus, freewill and many parts related to Rush songs that move along the plot. Anderson and Peart had been working through ideas for the book before Peart passed away. Anderson then finished it after Peart's death.

In this book, a group is going on a quest to find the magic substance that would restore vitality to the Watchmaker and order to the universe. They find it, but instead of giving it to the Watchmaker they give it to Grandfather. The watchmaker does not seem disappointed.

In the quest, they meet many people in the clockwork world. It is a steampunk world with carnivals and power. The watchmaker has organized everything and made detailed plans. They run into people that had known they would be coming for years - however, they did not know complete details. For example, when the party talks to an outfitter for their quest to the cold realms, the outfitter knew they would be coming and stayed open for that, even without much other business. The quest involves finding more about the anarchists and getting the potion that can help restore order. The anarchists are trying to spread disorder in the world. University students are especially drawn to anarchy without knowing truly what it is. Some of the anarchy was first spread by the Watchmaker himself, but later revivals have spread out of hand. There are also stories that can be told by a prick of blood. However, some of the stories end up being super simple. Many people are interested in continuing their bureaucratic life, even when the underpinning structure is under risk.

This book was well written, though I wish I could find a premade playlist of all the Rush songs mentioned.

Clockwork Lives

Clockwork Lives by Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart

The second book in the Clockwork series is a collection of short stories framed in the story of a woman gathering stories. She can get a drop of blood to help get the "true" story from people. She travels around to hear the stories of others. Some are of important people. While, others are of ordinary or those low in status. There is the story of the pickpocket who didn't want to murder like his father. There is the explorer who eventually stopped exploring and instead became a storyteller.

The Watchmaker does not want to share his stories. His "autobiography" is the primary book available in most book stores. It is regularly updated with his details. After she tries to get his true story, he chases her out and gives her the book. She tosses it in the sea and goes to collect more stories.

The stories provide a variety of different looks at the life of people. Many could live in any "normal" world, while some are tightly tied to the Steam Punk world of the book.

Clockwork Angels: The Novel

Clockwork Angels: The Novel by Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart

In a steam punk work, everything is in order due to the work of the clockmaster. One boy has a nice life at home and a potential future marriage with a girl he likes. He rebels a bit and decides to go meet her outside at midnight. She doesn't show up. Since he is out, he decides to check out the nightly steemer. Somebody offers to pull him aboard and thus begins his adventures. He hangs out with carnies, and travels all around. He tries to see places that he has seen before, but they are different. He learns there are different versions of worlds. He later learns that he is an integral player in a battle between the Clockmaster and the Anarchast. He chooses not to decide between the two and goes on his own way.

The book feels very much like a Rush album. Various song titles and lyrics are "name dropped" in a way that flows well. Bits from dreamline and Freewill jumped out. I am sure there are many others that I missed. Beyond the use of bits from songs, the book exposes Neil's philosophy, which is in turn influenced by Ayn Rand. Now I need to listen to the album it was based on.

Far and Wide: Bring That Horizon to Me

The late Neil Peart was not your typical rock star. He eschewed the glamour of the fame and prefers to be by himself. Despite being one of the best drummers around, he took lessons from others to improve his playing. Far and Wide is a book about his experience on Rush's 40th anniversary tour. However, the concerts and music play only a minimal role. His bandmates hardly appear in the narrative. Instead, the focus is on his journey on remote roads and interactions with the sites there.

Peart took advantage of the concert tour to ride his motorcycle from venue to venue. He would ride with a few close friends and tried to avoid the main roads. He preferred to create his route with paper maps and would seek the small and unpaved roads while avoiding interstates. Along the way he explored the small towns and their people. He enjoyed being a random motorcyclists rather than a famous drummer. At times, they would duck under blocking bars or go down single tracks. 

On the trip, they visited many national parks. They also stayed at a motel that was part of a drive in movie theater. The book discusses some history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as he explores historic sites in New York and Missouri. (He fumbles a bit with some of the details, but gets the big picture.) He does wipe out once and gets a flat. He marvels at the kindness of people. Somebody drives him and his bike back after he can't fix a flat. Some a saddlebag is returned to him 10 years later. (The finder had tried to call him immediately, but he accidentally deleted the message.) He freely gives money to beggars. He does not like to pose for pictures with random strangers.  However, he made an exception for a Japanese bicyclists that they befriended. (Peart has also done a large amount of bicycling.)

Though book has just enough Rush information to appeal to fans, it is primarily a story of a journey across America that would appeal to all. I'm not sure that I'd like to tour like he did, but had a great time reading about it.