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View Winners → Book Review: ‘Around the World in 80 Years’ by Jack Nedell
Arcadia Weekly Oct 07, 2015
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Author Chronicles Long Life Spent Traversing the Globe
By Courtney Blackburn
Not to be confused with Around the World in 80 Years: The Oldest Man to Sail Alone Around the World – Twice! or several other ‘Around the World in 80 Years’ books, this self-published effort by former Proctor & Gamble executive and global traveler Jack Nedell aims to showcase his long life spent “travelling, living, and working globally.”
The book’s cover has some good design ideas—i.e., photos of different world locations inside the title font—but the execution could have benefitted from a professional graphic designer’s touch.
With a title inspired by Jules Verne’s classic adventure Around the World in 80 Days—which, apparently, is often used when involving travel and seniors—Nedell’s Around the World in 80 Years attempts to stand out by viewing these experiences through a business lens.
Though it is apparent that this is indeed a self-published—and seemingly, self-edited—book, it is of much higher quality than some homemade efforts. The writing is chronological and cogent, as befits a man of business. Though not the most entertaining of yarns for the casual reader, for any business historian or researcher interested in the foreign workings of Proctor & Gamble, this is a first-hand goldmine of information and detail, with resultant opinion and analysis. The last 60 pages of this book, after the author’s retirement, do seem to devolve into vacation photos, which may not be of interest to anyone outside the immediate circle of family and friends.
Overall, Around the World in 80 Years is an earnest and decent attempt to make a record of one man’s extensive work, life, and travel that will be cherished by the author’s children and grandchildren for generations.
Around the World in 80 Years is published by Xlibris, original printing 2012. It may be ordered through orders@Xlibris.com. The softcover book comes in at 368 pages with additional pages of vacation photos. Mr. Nedell has also written The Island: Memories of the Columbia River and P&G in Japan: A Case Study.
