Introduction: Study for figures in a landscape -- My drug tour: searching for ayahuasca -- Thoreau in the wilderness -- Liz in Neverland -- Greeneland -- Hunter in the kingdom of fear -- Conrad at sea -- Simenon's world -- Dr. Sacks, the healer -- Nurse Wolf, the hurter -- Robin Williams: "Who's he when he's at home?" -- Tea with Muriel Spark -- Mrs. Robinson revisited -- Talismans for our dreams -- The rock star's burden -- Living with geese -- Trespassing in Africa -- The seizures in Zimbabwe -- Stanley: the ultimate African explorer -- Paul Bowles: not a tourist -- Maugham: up and down in Asia -- English hours: nothing personal -- Traveling beyond Google -- Hawaii: islands upon islands -- Mockingbird in Monroeville -- Benton's America -- My life as a reader -- The real me: a memory -- Life and the magazine -- Dear old dad: memories of my father -- The trouble with autobiography.