Jenkins takes us through his travels, in which he is open and honest. Taking us on his adventure throughout , whilst challenging his thoughts on himself and the world as he goes. Would highly recommend!!

This is a perfect travel book at a time when we’re all desperate to escape to a faraway place. We follow Jedidah on a journey of discovery that is packed full of moments of pure joy. I really enjoyed this, and I’ll be recommended it to all the travellers in my life. This was a real joy to read!

To Shake The Sleeping Self, Jedidiah Jenkins

As he turned thirty Jedidiah Jenkins quit his job and left his life to embark on a sixteen month journey cycling from Oregon to Patagonia. He chronicled his trip online and during the journey he came to one question; what makes life worth living?

I was already aware of Jedidiah having followed him on Instagram and I knew bits and piece of the journey so i was intrigued to go inside the story.

I didn’t expect what i found, firstly Jedidah seems to go on a real journey into his faith here and by the end i’m not sure if he has quite found the answers he is looking for. In fact i think the is true of the one big question, what makes life living?
He meets countless strangers, encounters act after act of kindness, ponders the life he left behind and his childhood but does he ever quite reach the answer?
I don’t think he does no.

However he goes on quite a journey trying to get there and changes what was before an incredibly closed mindset. Genuinely the journey itself, the length of the ride and the miles covered, the amount of time given and the tenacity it takes is fascinating and deserves applause. It really lights the fire of adventure within.

This is an interesting read, an impressive journey but I don’t think it answers all the questions he hoped it would.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #EburyPublishing #RandomHouseUK for my copy.

I really enjoyed this book and at times I felt like I was right beside Jedidiah, there were cringeworthy moments, moments of pure joy, moments of friendship around the world, and moments of sadness.
I enjoyed the description of the places that he visited, the scenery, the officials that he had to deal with, and the descriptions of bureaucracy.
I loved the parts of the book when his family and friends join him on the various legs of the journey.

A real feel-good book, a page-turner, a book that I couldn't put down.

To Shake the Sleeping Self

Not your ordinary travel blog. This book is most certainly not the travel agent spiel, boasting and bragging, trying to make you feel jealous and willing you to rush out and do the same journey. That is not to say however, that you don’t want to rush out and tackle something...
To Shake the Sleeping Self actually steals your mind and absorbs you into a diary, a personal insight. Jedidiah’s honest and open style means you feel the same emotions he was, or maybe you don’t, maybe you feel your own emotions – or at least the ones you think you would.
This is a fabulous travel book. There is delightful description of places you might have visited, or if you haven’t, you will almost certainly have dreamed of visiting. But it is more than that. Often I dislike travel books that take the focus away from the people and the places and authors who wrap themselves up in internal inspection but Jed does it in such a way that it weaves seamlessly into the passage of time and movement and is so engaging that I was hooked.
It isn’t an outpouring of positivity and banal superlatives that ‘life changing journeys’ often become. It is positive and negative, up and down. He visits subjects just as challenging as the areas he is cycling through, the harshness of the landscape reflects the toughness of the reflection on his soul, his faith, his sexuality. I cared about the questions he was asking and even asked some of them of myself as I was reading.
The book is full of delicious quotes that grabbed me, I actually wrote notes in the margin- the first time I’ve been moved to do that since studying literature at school! Everyone will have their own experience of this book and I strongly recommend that you do.