THEN AND NOW In 1971, as an undergraduate student at Loyola University of Chicago, I often sat on the steps of the Chicago Water Tower during class breaks. I watched the traffic flowing north and south along Michigan Avenues bustling Magnificent Mile. As a kid who hailed from the housing projects on the west side of Chicago, I marveled at the late model cars, beautifully tailored pedestrians and the expensive boutiques that lined the street. I often wondered, How do you get there from here? In 1994, I arrived in Bentonville, Arkansas to assume my new post as the Senior Vice-President of the People Division for Wal-Mart Stores (Sam Waltons term for human resources). Soon to become the worlds largest retailer and private employer, a Fortune #1 company and among the Fortune 100 Best Companies To Work For. I had experienced an exciting and satisfying journey. Today, residing on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina I enjoy my role as consultant and corporate board member for several public companies. Over the years, I have shared my thoughts on getting there from here in many places around the world. Why not finally put them in a book? Good question. This book is my answer. Enjoy.

The cover drawing, a depiction of a pomegranate tree that grows on the premises of the Garden Tomb in the old city of Jerusalem, was created by the author. According to J. E. Cirlot’s A Dictionary of Symbols, pomegranates, by nature of their shape and internal structure, symbolize the reconciliation of the multiple and diverse within apparent unity, and in the Bible appear as a symbol of the Oneness of the universe. Pomegranates were also embroidered on the hems of the Jewish priestly vestments prior to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. And in the Hebrew scriptures, pomegranates were figured as tokens of fruitfulness even to the extent of being the Tree of Life itself and symbolic of the restoration of God’s favor.

In How Do You Get There? children guess the means of transportation to be used.

This is a book of essays. They are about the journey we all take through life. All of us are heading toward a real goal - home. We will each know our own home when we get there. When these essays started coming out of my computer, I did not know they were going to be essays. I was totally astonished when "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" showed up, fully formed, needing only slight tweaking to assume its final shape. I looked it over. This was an essay. It could not be anything else. Carrying on with my writing, I saw essay after essay appear on the screen of my computer. Some came out of my brain and heart almost as fully formed as the first. Some required much work. I believe the work was worthwhile. I believe the book is worthwhile. I stand proudly behind every idea in this book. I do not stand behind every word. Every major idea here is transformational and liberating. I do not know how many major liberating transformational ideas there are in the world, but as I write this, I can think of maybe 20 or 30 - no more. On the other hand, there are more than a half a million words in the three books. You may find words with which you disagree. I hope you do. But it would be a step in the wrong direction for you to disagree with the ideas. If you are completely satisfied with your current ideas about life - if you know all you want to know about leading a joy-filled life full of spirituality but devoid of empty religiosity - if you are happy with your relationships with all the people who mean something to you - if you have not thought about these things in many years, and really don't care to think about them now. If all this is true for you, please close this book and stop reading immediately. The Way Home is really three books in one cover. Each of the three is a complete unit, but each book gains strength from the other two. There are forty one essays in The Way Home, and each essay is complete in itself, but is also part of a unified whole. Book One provides an overview for the special person who will want to read a serious book of essays about how to lead life. Book Two is for those who might want to know more about the author and how he became the person he is. Book Three is for those who understand the first two. These fortunate few will already be conscious citizens of the new world already emerging from the ashes of the complete failure of western civilization. They know where they are going and how to get there. They will have gained a sense of direction for everything they do, and they will know how to regain balanced movement if they are ever threatened. Most of them will be able to do this because of a new religion they have adopted. It may be called by the same name as the religion they have always had, but it will be a new and intensely personal view of that religion. This personal religion will use some of the language of the religion into which the person was born - that is, Christians may use mostly the words of Jesus, Jews will not use Jesus' words at all, the different sects of the Moslem world will find different sections of the Koran to emphasize, and Indians will quote the Upanishads. Remarkably, there will be no disagreement, although each religion will be unique to one person alone.

Buckle up for the next installment in our 'Epic' series and the follow-up to Epic Bike Rides of the World. Epic Drives of the World, a beautiful hardback, showcases 50 of the greatest road trips on Earth, from classic routes in America, Australia and Europe, to incredible adventures in Asia and Africa. Organised by continent, each route features a first-hand account, awe-inspiring photographs, illustrated maps and practical advice on when to go, how to get there, where to stay and what to eat. From Hawaii's Hana Highway and Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Road, to Utah's National Park Circuit and Germany's Black Forest High Road, Epic Drives of the World will inspire any motorist to hit the open road. African and Middle East drives include: The self-drive Safari (Zambia) Crossing the Kalahari (Botswana) Passing over the Panorama Route (South Africa) Marrakesh to Taroudannt (Morocco) Cruising Clarence Drive (South Africa) The Americas drives include: The Highway to Hana in Hawaii (USA) The Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia) The Pacific Coast Highway (USA) Crossing the Carretera Austral (Chile) Canada's Icefields Parkway Asia drives include: On the trail of Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) Crossing the Kathmandu Loop (Nepal) Hightailing from Thimphu to Gangtey (Bhutan) South Korea: From top to toe The road from Srinagar to Manali (India) Europe drives include: Black Forest High Road (Germany) The Wilds of Abruzzo (Italy) Croatia's Adriatic coast Norway's west coast The Magic Circle (Iceland) Oceania drives include: Southern Alps explorer (New Zealand) The Great Ocean Road (Australia) Northland & the Bay of Islands (New Zealand) Following the Captain Cook Highway (Australia) Alice Springs to Darwin (Australia) About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and phrasebooks for 120 languages, and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more, enabling you to explore every day. Lonely Planet enables the curious to experience the world fully and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves, near or far from home. TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia) Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.