Transit: Around the World in 1424 Days

Part travel journal, part scrapbook, this unique book traces the four-year, 250,000-km journey of photographer Uwe Ommer during the making of Taschen's "1000 Families". Called a "family album of planet earth," "1000 Families" is a vast collection of portraits taken by Ommer in over 130 countries in all corners of the world. Naturally, a voyage of such epic proportions bears its fair share of anecdotes, adventures, mishaps, and souvenirs, and "Transit" traces the experience via stories and images.

From closed borders and broken bridges to late rainy seasons, curious customs officers, thieves, coups d'?tat, raging fevers, and a far from "unbreakable" Land Rover, Ommer found truth in the maxim "just about everything that can go wrong, will." This amusing and original compilation paints a vivid picture of what it's like to travel to the most remote corners of the globe for four years, meeting countless people and observing the great cultural and social similarities and differences that mark the human race.