The Journey is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon

When I stumbled on to Dan Eldon's diaries, I was eighteen and relatively directionless. I had lots of good ideas, but a mixture of laziness and fear was keeping me from acting on my adventuresome and compassionate impulses. The story of Dan's passionate, brief and fearless existance inspired and obliterated me, sending me into a little crying crisis the night I took it in, cover to cover. I couldn't believe, or any longer tolerate, my own complacency. The book's dual storytelling, of seeing Dan's dreamlike, haunting, amusing and intrieguing images, and reading his mother's words about the specifics of those times in his life, was devestatingly effective. He was a boy my age and after my own heart, but in his short life he had seen the world, recorded and contributed to it, and embraced it and its peoples and challenges with daring that I had never seen before. The medium of his journal created a lens through which I could see the world as he had seen it. This glimpse gave me the courage to follow my own heart and this courage took me across Europe this summer, and into a major in sociology. I have read hundreds of books, but no single book has ever influenced or affected me more than "The Journals of Dan Eldon." Ever since, I have shared it, one by one, with my friends who I thought could understand and appreciate it, and every one of them has had the same reaction. I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially anyone who has big dreams, but does not believe in his or her own potential. Through the sincerity and artistry of its cryptic and moving images, Dan's soul is shared with every reader, and there is nothing more inspiring than being blessed with an intesely personal glimpse at the soul of a truly human hero. I emphatically and respectfully recommend this book.

This is the most beautiful book I have ever read, and it hardly contains any words that weren't torn from a magazine or cut from a food container. I absolutely recommend it for anyone who is touched by lives led for adventure, for journalists and photojournalists alike, for diary-keepers and journalers, for artists and photographers and collagists and secret writers of poetry... Anyone who has a speck of compassion in them and an eye for color and beauty will treasure this. What a life lived!

I bought this book upon it's release in 1997. I can remember allowing the contents of this memoir to captivate me for hours on end. I lent my copy to a friend shortly thereafter and subsequently forgot about it. I recently ordered a replacement and I must say, this book is even more compelling than I ever remembered. Dan Eldon was a profound visionary, an articulate statesman and a devoted caretaker. As a Reuters photo-journalist, he traveled the world and served as a dipomatic embassador to many, yet his life was taken prematurely in a stoning riot in Somalia. He experienced more in his brief 21 years than most of us will over an entire lifetime. A MUST HAVE.

This book will put you in a trance and change your life. It reinforces what is real and important, and pulses with the brilliant existence of Dan Eldon, who lived to his maximum potential, passionately, fearlessly free.

We all have the ability to minimize our flaws and enhance our strengths. Dan reminds us of this. We have the ability to see beyond the ordinary to glimpse the majestic miracle of being alive. This book is filled with the dreams and reflections of a true romantic hero, a war correspondent willing to put his own life on the line to deliver the truth. It is a book of light and shadow, and rather than telling people what to think, Dan offered his own perspective.

This is a book for people of all ages because it removes the linearity from time, from age and development, and proves that the length of a life, in this case, twenty-two years, is a cross section of eternity. My perspectives on life and death have changed because the images in this book are so powerful.

You will find something new every time you open this book, if you look. You will be amazed, and grateful that Dan took the time to record so much. You might get the fever to start doing this on your own. This book spans the gamut of human emotion, and there is something in it for everyone.

The Journey is the Destination: the Journals of Dan Eldon is a fabulous work. After my art teacher showed me this book, I went out and got it for myself. It shows the life and thoughts of a person who did great things during his short time on earth. The art is amazing, humerous, and thought provoking. It interested me and also made me want to do something to help those who need my help in other places such as Africa. The journals of Dan Eldon made me want to explore, help, create, and live my life to its fullest. If you would like a look at a very talented person who helped others while living a very interesting and entertaining life, this is a great book.