This was an airport pickup for me, it was interesting and finished at the beach in about 2 1/2 days.  So quick interesting read.  There were some laugh-out-loud moments, some tear-inducing moments, and some moments when the clarity of thought and word selection is just amazing. "Perhaps I was just as guilty as the Chinese, willing these doll-like people to live in the past in some sort of colonial quest to find authenticity that no longer existed."  I also loved the writer's idea and writing around the 'feel' of each train system, like the 'feel' and 'tone' of a city, almost its personality.  Each is different, unique, and beautiful in its own way.  The Japanese trains chapter really did this well.  However, after spending 7 months traveling around the globe on 80 trains, I was constantly left wanting more, more descriptions of the land and people the cultures, what was happening in these ever-changing landscapes not really the verbatim dialogues from the bad experience tipping a rude waiter, etc.  I think I thought it would be more special and less mundane, and maybe that is the takeaway that the magic of trains and travel is fading due to globalization, the differences and cultures that make us different reducing in the face of progress/development/capitalism.