Man Mission: Four Men, Fifteen Years, One Epic Journey

Man Mission by Eytan Uliel is a tradition set up by four Australian men: every year, go on a week-long vacation to a new foreign country. The trip must be worthy of macho men i.e., tough, involving adventure, danger, and activities that push you to the limits of your physical and mental endurance (like bicycling or kayaking over interminable distances). Three of them are close friends from grammar school days. Sam, the fourth, gets added in adult life. They bond together tightly, like an enormous family, in which their families are the parts. They are like the famous four in Alexandre Dumas’ novel, The Three Musketeers—minus royalty, knights, and fights.

Written 15 years after Man Mission came into existence, the group of four has behind them plenty of exciting adventure-filled stories from great places in South Korea, South Africa, USA, Thailand, Fiji Islands, New Zealand, Spain, Japan, Australia and so on. These stories let you glimpse interesting trivia like “Kairo”, the mind-blowing Japanese “hot-pack”, and “Melona bars” of South Korea. (Note: Kairo keeps the body warm in winter for up to 12 hours. It aids in the healing of muscular ailments like sprains and ligament tears. Melona bars are irresistible ice-cream like confections made in S. Korea.)

This book has an air of youthfulness about it. The author is at the center of most of its humor by taking the role of the least manly in the group. He is not too assertive and lacks stamina and endurance, unlike his mates, who consequently treat him as a pansy. He is continually making excuses for not being manly enough or putting the blame on someone or something else for his failures! His friends can make out and expose him each time with lots of barbs and joshing.

Man Mission is a book that seeks to entertain and provide a humorous diversion from the pressures of life. The young are its intended audience. It’s light-hearted and written in the language used by young people—which means off-color words frequently appear in it. While they are harmless, you may not like this book if the loose language of young people offends you. I recommend this book to all who love light reads and are young at heart.