Nicolas Bouvier reveals to us the life stories of the Swiss "world pilgrims," of whom he himself is a member. He depicts the fate of nameless emigrants and the lives of personalities who, like him, suffered from alpine claustrophobia—Thomas Platter, Paracelsus, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for example. With the enthusiasm and keen insight of the tireless "collector of images," he paints the portrait of famous individuals driven by wanderlust, who traveled across the seas, of Oriental storytellers, and of fellow writers. A few years before his death, Nicolas Bouvier recounts his encounters on the road, reflects on the authors who shaped him, and shares with us his "experience of the world.".