In this second volume of memoirs, wistfully entitled Ticket to Ride, Robert Bowman again draws on events and experiences from his interesting international legal and commercial consultancy career, which has spanned the last four decades.

In so doing, he inexorably draws the reader into the highs and lows of working internationally at "the sharp end"--where nothing is quite what it seems and every day throws up new challenges. In this volume of Dispatches from the Coal Face of Life, the reader relives the poignancy of the early and sudden death of Beatle John Lennon in New York city, the raw excitement and deadly confusion of a live shoot-out in Downtown New Orleans, a visit to the distant River Kwai on the Thai/Burmese border before the days of package tours take the traveler there, and a desolate trip to the Delta region of Nigeria.

In this new splendidly entertaining volume, the reader climbs Diamond Head above Honolulu and travels on the famous Blue Train across the Karoo from Johannesburg to Cape Town and then goes across the sea to meet the ghost of Nelson Mandela on Robben Island before shooting the rapids and climbing a volcano in the southern Philippines, and then returning in triumph through the dramatic snowy scenery of Glacier National Park and the Rockies on Canadian Pacific 1090.

In this unique book, the reader gets to sample another unforgettable walk on the wild side of life. Grab it and taste it while you can, before it melts away into the distant blue yonder.