A luminous and absorbing book, and one that is good to think with

Caroline Eden, Financial Times

Nothing less than a guided tour of the human soul. Filled with hope, wisdom, and extraordinary tenderness, this is a book not only for the ages, but for our very specific, very troubled age. A masterpiece.

Elizabeth Gilbert

In elegant and ecstatic prose, Pico Iyer uncovers our wonderful capacity for hope, wearing his erudition so lightly. I was revitalised by this book

Katherine May

Iyer shares Graham Greene's gift for the enthralling sentence, and can be a charming and perceptive companion . . . He reminds us that the key to good travel writing lies in the discrepancy between what you expect of a country and what you get. And at an even more primal level, he makes you want to go to the countries themselves

Hugh Thomson, Spectator

To step into The Half Known Life feels both a privilege and a necessity . . . Iyer is more than a guide or a compatriot in an unfamiliar land: in the inward journey to lucidity he is a companion of our own searching minds

Yiyun Li

I defy anyone to read this profound travelogue and not immediately start reading it again. If there is a "paradise of words", this is it

John Keay