Bill Stoever hitchhiked 50,000 miles in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He was imprisoned by the secret police in communist East Germany, sailed on an Arab dhow to Zanzibar, impersonated a Russian journalist at Uganda's independence, was stranded on a hippo island in Uganda, hitchhiked the length of Africa, violated the apartheid laws in South Africa, rode (fell off ) an ostrich in South Africa, rode six hours through the Congolese jungle standing in the back of a truck, traded currencies on black markets in Congo and Egypt, celebrated an expatriate Christmas in Madagascar, and moved in with a Somali woman in Mogadishu. "Most travelers haven't taken the risks I took, living on three dollars a day and thumbing rides with strangers," says Stoever. "My story is different, stranger, wilder, and more adventurous than most travel books." A wild ride full of laugh-out-loud moments and harrowing predicaments, Hitchhike the World-Book I: America, Europe, Africa is a one-of-a-kind, captivating journey into the heart of a free spirit, a modern-day Marco Polo whose daring exploits remind us that life is to be lived. The author describes his experiences in a straightforward narrative with humorous asides that will appeal to fans of Paul Theroux or William Least-Heat Moon and to all readers interested in a good adventure tale.