Books non-fiction

NEW: Rail Away Europe

Between 2008 and 2011 Hans Bouman and photographer Martin Kers traveled extensively through Europe by train. The result is Rail Away Europe, a widely illustrated book in which they bring together 22 of their favourite European train journeys. Subjects vary from the Snowdon Mountain Railway in Wales to the Friendship Express between Greece and Turkey, and from the Norwegian Flamsbana tot the Linksrheinische Bahn in Germany.
Van Wijnen; 224 pages; € 39,50.
ISBN 978 90 519 4425 9.

Take a look at the contents:


The World’s Finest Railway Journeys

Designed and photographed by Martin Kers, this unique book brings to life the world’s twenty greatest train journeys. From the Rocky Mountaineer to the Zambezi Special and from the Royal Scotsman to the Jinpeng China Orient Express. Written in collaboration with Henk Bouwman.
Terra Lannoo, 224 pag., € 39,90.


Een dag van 48 uur
(The 48-Hour Day. Travels Through Four Continents)

In this book Bouman explores the double perspective of the reading traveller. His journeys take him to the Indonesian archipelago of Joseph Conrad, the Yukon Territory of Jack Londen, the Main Street America of the ‘Dirty Realists’, the Egypt of Naguib Mahfouz and many other places. The basis assumption of the book: if you travel in both a real and a literary landscape, you are rewarded with a double journey: a 48-hour day.


Verboden bestemming
(Forbidden Destination. In Search of Herman Melville and the South Seas)

Ever since they were first discovered, Tahiti its surrounding islands in the South Seas have been a mythical area. The beauty of their landscape, inhabitants and climate created the vision of an earthly paradise. But there were also stories of witchcraft and cannibalism. Herman Melville (1819-1891) experienced both aspects of South Sea reality. In search of the myth of paradise, he lived among cannibals, acquired a local beauty and took part in a mutiny. Besides his fictional masterpiece Moby-Dick, Melville also wrote two romanticised travelogues: Typee and Omoo, both of which deal with the question whether the South Seas are, indeed, a paradise. In the centenary of Melvilles death, Bouman travelled to Tahiti and the remote Marquesas Islands, to find what time had done to a world so fascinatingly described by one of the greatest writers of all time.

Forthcoming publications:

Railaway Europe
The Greatest Rail Journeys Through Europe In collaboration with Martin Kers