Book Review: The Cycle of Kindness by Nathaniel Allen
by Karen Pearlman | May 13, 2026 6:41 pm
Reviewed by Pennell Paugh
May 13, 2026 (San Diego) — The Cycle of Kindness, written by San Diego author Nathaniel Allenby, is the first of a what the author hopes will be a series of memoirs about his travels across the globe.
Book 1 covers Allenby’s bike adventures across Europe.
His best friend, Dan, inspires their trip. The two begin traveling in Denmark. After biking extensively, a female joins them who pairs up with Dan. Allenby tires of being left shut out most of the time, and decides to travel on his own. During the entire trip, Allenby travels without funds. He survives by hunting through trash bins near restaurants.
Most days they cycle a hundred miles, so they need a lot of calories. When times become desperate, they knock on doors and plead for help using a card to translate their request. Sometimes people are generous, sometimes not.
For a while they travel with protesters who picket dirty electric plants. Allenby helps to take over a warehouse to create a place for parties for the group. Soon, Dan and Allenby decide to continue their travels.
From time to time, they stay at counter-culture communities where they work in return for food and lodgings. These experiences uplift the author and give him a sense of purpose.
Dan is informed that his mother is very ill. He returns to the States to find his mom is healthy. She tricked him to coming home. For a while, the female companion pairs up with the author. They seem to be in love, but she leaves for home too.
Allenby travels alone up steep climbs and endures freezing weather at night. At times, he finds places to stay, mostly in urban areas, where he finds couch-surfing opportunities online. In the end, he finds traveling too lonely. His father sends him a one-way ticket home. Over the journey, Allenby changes from being an immature, live-in-the-moment, distrusting young man, to a leader who does acts of kindness, and fights for a cleaner, healthier planet.
Below is a brief excerpt from the book:
“Without the money or desire to return home, I had been traveling alone for more than a month, feeling abandoned by Dan, my best friend and the catalyst for this chosen path. He had enrolled me in his vision, with goals of seeing the Pyramids of Giza, swimming in the Mediterranean, and living this unique lifestyle off the grid together. All of our other travel companions had gone their own way too, yet I refused to quit.
“Before this trip, I had doubts about what I was doing with my life and questioned my meaning and purpose. Because of Dan’s belief in me and the experiences of the last nine months, I felt convicted in my capabilities and it drove me to achieve something greater than I had allowed myself to dream before. My unwillingness to allow others to tell me when enough was enough and the desire to prove to myself how far I could go strongly motivated me to continue.
“I wanted to spread positivity through acts of service, benefitting and uplifting people around the world and supporting humanitarian causes and charities throughout my travels. I was determined to pay forward the generosity I had received and to give others the same faith and hope in mankind that had restored in me. This total transformation of my way of being became a new ethos — a cycle of kindness.”
At the end of Book 1, Allenby has returned to the United States, disheartened that he had not traveled as far as he had originally planned. I’m glad to hear he, over the years, continued to take trips throughout the United States, as well as to Peru, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and Zimbabweland.
I look forward to reading about his other adventures.
Nathaniel Allenby is a visual artist, travel photographer, circus entertainer, and author. Born on a farm in Aurora, Oregon, he embarked on a life-changing journey in 2006, cycling 28,000 miles across ten countries and thirty U.S. states. Allenby’s art and photography reflect his global journey, featuring geometric designs, ancient symbols, and stunning nature scenes captured from unique perspectives.
As the founder of Cirque Quirk, he inspires audiences through educational performances, blending skillful juggling, stilt walking, and motivational storytelling.
He channels his extraordinary experiences into art and entertainment, sharing a message of resilience, creativity, and the enduring power of kindness.
Source URL: https://eastcountymagazine.org/book-review-the-cycle-of-kindness-by-nathaniel-allen/