The fourth volume of Michael Palin's widely acclaimed diaries finds him embracing the first decade of a new century. In Travelling to Work, the third volume covering the years 1988-1998, Michael's career took an unexpected direction into travel after a decade of filming, writing and acting, and it is travel that would shape his working life for the next 25 years, with eight very successful television series including Around the World in 80 Days and Pole to Pole. The early years of the 21st century see Michael trekking around (around through) the world's largest desert in Sahara (2002) and travelling around some of the highest mountains in the world in Himalaya (2004), and for a complete change of scenery there was New Europe (2007), in which Michael travelled in the nations of Eastern Europe.

These latest Diaries show a man grasping every opportunity in a phenomenally varied life, and they deal candidly with the doubts and setbacks that accompany this prodigious work-rate. As ever, his family life is there to anchor him.