Arabian Sands: Revised Edition (Travel Library) | Wilfred Thesiger

Arabian Sands: Revised Edition (Travel Library) | Wilfred Thesiger | Kahunas. Of. Solid. Rock

books:

Brian Asawa - more... Cirque du Soleil -... Magellan RoadMate ... Horn Arabian Sands: Rev...

	Arabian Sands: Revised Edition (Travel Library) Wilfred Thesiger Penguin (Non-Classics), 1985 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 46 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

The author recounts his travels in the Empty Quarter of Arabia between 1945 and 1950, and describes the vanishing way of life of the Bedouins.

A remarkable work by a remarkable man

Arabian Sands is an intriguing, extremely well written work that chronicles a journey across the Arabian desert with the Bedu (Bedouin) tribes who inhabit it. Wilfred Thesiger describes in fascinating detail his arduous journeys into and across the Empty Quarter - a parched and for the most part lifeless area of the desert. As the reader travels with him he describes the interactions amongst the Bedu, their culture, habits and beliefs with intimate knowledge and honesty. He crossed the desert at a time when Saudi Arabia was literally on the brink of drilling for oil and deplores the inevitable loss of the traditional way of life in the name of greed. Anyone remotely interested in the Arabian world, the Bedu, or the trials and tribulations overcome by a man whose sole passion was to conquer the Empty Quarter will find this book compelling.

for more information click here

Kahunas. Of. Solid. Rock

This book, correctly available in the Penguin classics range is a non scientific, not overly academic telling of one British chaps journeys with local Arabic people in the `Empty Quarter' of the Arabian Peninsula. Ostensibly financed to increase biological and scientific knowledge of the area these journeys seem to have been undertaken by Thesiger for vastly different reasons. And it's these cross purposes that inform much of the conversational style of this dry yet at the same time engaging display of man against nature and the rich and varied experiences Thesiger converys.

And indeed it must be said that Thesiger is a keen albeit haphazard chronicler. One minute he is imparting explanations of local attitudes and throwing in anecdotes to illustrate them and the next he is giving precise information regarding some feature of the local flora and fauna. While he is busy describing the grinding nature of the journey he is to be found digressing to present some moment of idle whimsy. And all at the same time he is actual giving you a chronological description of his time `mucking in' with the locals, getting involved in their everyday lives and sparing himself no hardship - in fact he seems to court it like it's a beast to be fought at the most base level. This guy seriously missed his time, he should have been born a couple of thousand years ago in Sparta. I came away not so much beguiled by the writing style or even the physical part of the world this journal portrays but for the all consuming experience the author quite obviously had. Not to mention his stoic and inspiring indestructibility both physical and mental and the reader is forced to consider their own fortitude in the face of descriptions of soul sapping hunger, endless deserts, infinite hardships and debilitating remoteness.

Wilfred Thesiger was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, went through Eton etc and is in many respects an anachronistic throwback to a very different time, as are his attitudes to a great many things. But it's important to remember that being born in 1910 he IS from a very different time. And it would be churlish of the reader to expect his writings of over half a century ago to conform to our ideas of political correctness. Not to mention that when it comes to attitude/anecdotes and his conclusions derived therefrom he is perfectly entitled to his opinion, informed as it is by direct experience rather than a preconceived philosophical standpoint.

for more information click here

a marvelous read

I have read many book on Arabian travel, and this is the best. (Bertram Thomas' account iS #2.) A wonderful read about travelling though the Arabian desert by a man who lived like a native for several years. Extremely well written.

Desert Life

Excellent travelogue by Thesiger. Thesiger was one of those 'desert-loving English' guys. He traveled across the Empty Quarter (southern Saudi Arabia, northern Yemen, Oman) with members of several different Beduoin tribes. You get a great feel for how the Bedu lived and survived in such a harch environment, and you'll have a different perspective on the origins of today's conflicts with extreme muslim fundamentalists when you're through. Thesiger wasn't out for glory; he loved the Bedu way of life and the desert, and it shines clearly through in his writing. Interesting from beginning to end.

for more information click here

A great trip

What can I say that hasn't been said by others here? This is a terrific read, detailing Mr. Thesiger's trips through one of the most notoriously desolate places on Earth. It's a great adventure and one that should have killed him. Remarkably, the combined forces of heat, dehydration, bandits, hostile imans, hostile tribes, snakes, quicksand, starvation, and King Ibn Saud himself didn't manage to do it. Fortunetely for us, we're left with a wonderful, illuminating account of the Bedu people and their landscape - that while harsh and hostile - begins to take on an intoxicating beauty when seen through Mr. Thesiger's eyes.

You'll be glad you read this one.

for more information click here