While writing his celebrated Frugal Traveler column for the New York Times, Matt Gross began to feel hemmed in by its focus on what he thought of as “traveling on the cheap at all costs.” When his editor offered him the opportunity to do something less structured, the Getting Lost series was born, and Gross began a more immersive form of travel that allowed him to “lose his way all over the globe”—from developing-world megalopolises to venerable European capitals, from American sprawl to Asian archipelagos. And that's what the never-before-published material in The Turk Who Loved Apples is all about: breaking free of the constraints of modern travel and letting the place itself guide you. It's a variety of travel you'll love to experience vicariously through Matt Gross—and maybe even be inspired to try for yourself.

Matt Gross' profile page

Matt Gross has written nearly 200 articles for the New York Times Travel section. He lives in Brooklyn.

Praise for The Turk Who Loved Apples

New York Times Books Review

"A joyful meditation on the spontaneity and unpredictability of the traveling life."

Anthony Bourdain, New York Times bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential

"The Turk Who Loved Apples is exactly the kind of travel book you should read while traveling. Filled with the moments of absurdity, sadness, madness, wisdom, beauty, realization, and Weltschmerz familiar to the chronic, lifelong traveler."

Andrew Zimmern, James Beard Award-winning host of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern

"A book with lasting relevance for all travelers—about how to access the mystery and awe of our first travels...and perhaps most brilliantly about how one comes home."

Eric Weiner, author of the New York Times bestseller The Geography of Bliss

“Matt Gross is the perfect travel companion: smart, funny, and game for (almost) anything. Plus he knows all the best places to eat. As in all great travel books, the real terrain covered in The Turk who Loved Apples can't be found on any map.”

Andrew McCarthy, actor and author of the New York Times bestseller The Longest Way Home

"Matt Gross seems to have been everywhere. Any man with the audacity to be bored by the Taj Mahal is the kind of independent-thinking traveler I want to spend time with. This book made me want to get out and go—to just about anywhere!"

Tom Bissell, author of Chasing the Sea

“Matt Gross is one of the most intrepid, curious, good-hearted, and absolutely fearless travelers around. You'll see some of the world's most striking places in this book and meet some of its most endearing (and, sometimes, tragic) people. I, for one, would follow Mr. Gross, on any budget, at any time, anywhere.”

Rolf Potts, author of Vagabonding

"Gross's far-flung coming-of-age memoir celebrates the joy of travel, but it also tweaks the easy conclusions and clichés we attach to our journeys. Honest, insightful, and surprising, this book explores the moments—good, bad, ambivalent—that make life on the road meaningful."

ForeWord, Spring 2013

“A behind-the-scenes glance at the world of travel writing.... If you're the kind of person who enjoys random conversations in dive bars, casually delving into your taxi-driver's tangled home life, or swapping philosophy at a bus stop, then this book is for you.... It surely was an absorbing journey.”

Kirkus Reviews, 4/15/13