With THE WORLD UP CLOSE, bicyclist Kameel Nasr has created a fascinating and personal introduction to the world's people, sharing diverse episodes from his 40,000 mile bicycle journey through 70 countries. Nasr offers his readers a vicarious view across the handlebars as he tackles the Appalachians, the Anders, the Himalayas...crosses Sinai in the summer...shares the ever-present fears of Central Americans...explores Morocco's Hashish Trail. Nasr's book will certainly be taken by fellow cyclists as an inviting challenge to take to the road as he has, but you don't have to be a bicycle buff to proclaim this book your reading adventure of the year. Nasr has made this much more a book of people than of places. In high festival or the despair of abject poverty, here are the world's people--very close up yet presented with breathtaking perspective.