What an amazing life Tor has lived, really enjoyed this book although it took me 2 months to read it I savoured every chapter. Tor is a photographer and covered many global historical events, along the way made friends in high places and 'stuff happens' the memoir covers the stuff really well. Every assignment is well described and you can get a real feel for the country it's culture, then when the opportunities present themselves he goes for it, wonderful insight into the photographic world and travelling. My dream job. Thank you #NetGalley for the copy to review.

This is a brilliant autobiography, I just loved every minute of it. The way it was wrote had me engrossed from the very start. The author has lived the most amazing and interesting life that I was on awe. I just loved and felt privileged to be able to read it and it made me feel so happy that I could escape with every page and just imagine being there with the author. Like I was living My life the same way. This is a fantastic escapism book. I felt so connected with the book. The brilliantly descriptions of the places travelled to along with the photograph took me on such an amazing journey. The words and pictures brought out emotional reactions. This book felt like the says a picture holds a thousand words was wrote just for this book. I just loved travelling across the world with the author . It was amazing reading about Tor's journey from leaving his home town at an early age to his eventually job with the fantastic magazine National Geographic. This book would be perfect for those who love travelling the world through a book. For those who love travel writings, photography , and those human and natural geography fans. And a perfect fit for those National Geographic readers. I loved every second and became easily engrossed in this page turning true live account.

I really can't recommend this book enough. 

So much praise goes out to this independent author and his publishing team for creating such a fascinating book. Filled to the brim with wonderful photographs and stories. I really can't wait to read more from this author. Please write more books maybe even just about each country you have visited. 

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/stuff-happens-by-tor-eigeland-brown-dog-books-4-5-stars either under my name or ladyreading365 or lady Reading365 or ladyc reading

Oh to be so brave as to leave home at a young age and travel the world confident that you will survive and have marvelous adventures! Why didn't I know that was a possibility?

Tor Eigeland didn't ask that question. He left home working on a freighter that traveled the world, enjoying the destinations and ports the ship visited. It wasn't always easy, but it was what he wanted to do. After seeing the world, he spent time living in different locations and photographing what he saw.

When he later became a paid photographer he traveled again to places he had never been, and into situations he had never seen in his future.

This is an amazing story written as it was lived and shared in a way that allows us non-wanderers to enjoy the world through Tor's eyes and words.

I am grateful to #Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this amazing book. As an avid traveler myself the title and the cover of this book caught my eye. I was interested to read about a photojournalist who traveled for a living, taking pictures and reporting. on the people he met, the customs they observed and the land they worked and lived on. It sounded like a dream job and I expected it to read like non fiction. The title, on the other hand, (Stuff Happens: The Far From Humdrum Life of a Photojournalist) suggested a more down to earth book with a story. What I got was an education and an adventure. Tor's life and future jobs were at times dangerous, at other times inspiring and at other times relaxing. From the time Tor (the author) signed on as a deckhand at a mere 16, in 1947 despite the threat of dangerous mines in the water and the perilous ports he would encounter as they traveled through the Mediterranean to Shanghai. to his trip through the Artic circle more than 60 years later I traveled with him. I lived with him. His writing read like a letter to a friend. As he traveled by plane, train , foot and mini bus he went to places that others often were not allowed. He photographed ceremonies that date back many years and are not widely known. His photography and writing earned him a reputation that opened up doors. He was fortunate to meet people that took him on journeys through conditions he never would have survived on his on so that he could share with us a part of the world that I had no idea existed.
His writing is descriptive without being longwinded.. I highly recommend this book to others that enjoy history, adventure, travel and learning about other ways of life.

Tor has lived an extraordinary life, no doubt about it, and while I enjoyed this book, I had very conflicting feelings while reading it. You know your friend that's the world traveler? The one who you go out with and all they talk about is their travels? It's super cool and interesting in the beginning and then after a while, it just sounds like they are droning on and on, and you couldn't care less if they next told you they had been invited to afternoon tea at Windsor with the Queen herself. I started feeling this way around 1990 in his career story.

What I liked:

1. He was able to visit very remote parts of the world and war zones, places few outsiders were allowed at that time.
2. He got to witness (and share with us!) ways of life and cultures that no longer exist.
3. The amount of famous people he has met is astounding, and I enjoyed the stories of those encounters.
4. Most memoirs do not include so many photos. It was great to get the visual representation too.
5. For someone who has lost so many photos, and not gotten credit for some of his work, he has a great attitude still. He expressed sadness/frustration but not to the level warranted. I guess when you’re 90, you look back and realize what really matters and what really doesn’t.
6. This book introduced me to some places I have never even heard of.

What I didn’t like:

1. He mentions that he writes in American English but this book seems to be a mix of American and British English, which comes across like a split writing personality.
2. He speaks somewhat negatively of tourism, but at least he admits that he may have contributed to the problem.
3. I wondered all through the book if he ever went home to Norway again. This is not answered until the end of the book, and there is no mention of any more interactions with his parents, which I find critical to his story, considering how he left things with his dad before sailing off for the first time.
4. Did he never have any prior romantic relationships or fun escapades? Maybe he didn’t want to mention them out of respect for his wife or maybe he truly did not meet someone before he was 60, although I find that incredibly hard to believe, even given the amount of travel he did.
5. There are no photos of his wedding or details of their courtship or raising their daughter together.
6. There is hardly any mention of friendships and no intimate details, aside from his friend who sadly passed.

Travel may have been the most exciting and adventurous parts of his life, but life is also what happens in between the adventures - the messy stuff, the sad stuff. What about all his time at his home bases? This book lacked character and soul. I was longing for photos of him in his surroundings all throughout the book, and they did not appear until the end.

I expected this to be a full on autobiography, but it’s more of a career highlights summary and would be more suitably titled: Stuff Happens: Behind the Scenes of a Photojournalist or Stuff Happens: A Far from Humdrum Photojournalism Career.

Thank you NetGalley and Brown Dog Books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed reading the adventures of the career of a photojournalist, which I had never heard of before. I even discussed with my husband the adventures that had been written. Even how the author took the stance of neutrality when discussing the many varied places and political climates photographed over his career. Imagine my disappointment, when in the closing pages, the author decided to insert his personal views concerning American politics. I encourage readers to take a grand adventure and journey through “Stuff Happens” with the author, just be prepared for the one instance at the end for Tor to not stay neutral.