5 comments about Trickster Travels: A Sixteenth-Century Muslim Between Worlds.

1. TRICKSTER TRAVELS: A SIXTEENTH-CENTURY MUSLIM BETWEEN WORLDS could also have been featured in our 'travel' section for its fascinating travelogue entries; but is reviewed here for its value to any studying 1500s history. Al-Wazzan trveled widely as an ambassador and merchant throughout Africa in the early 1500s, was captured by Spanish pirates and presented to Pope Leo X, where he converted to Christianity while explaining Islam to his puzzled audience. The charged politics and turmoil of his life and times brings history to life, with history professor Davis using manuscripts of the times - including some previously unknown - to explore fully al-Wazzan's image and importance. Unfamiliar with his name? Try 'Leo Africanus', author of the first geography of Africa.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. One star, there being no zero. While the wish to explore the subject is understandable, the outcome is confusing and boring. Read it if you want to find out how an interesting subject can become dull.



3. To read a really excellent book about Leo The African, I recommend the far superior "Leo Africanus" by Amin Maalouf, a winner of several literary awards and an amazing book.



4. This book isn't really history or biography for that matter. Its an in-between kind of book that wants to imagine a past into existance based on speculation rather than evidence or fact. The factual details of the life of Leo Africanus would make a chapter. And even the facts we do have about his life are colored by a particular point of view which has to be questioned.
   
   Natalie Davis does her best based on all sorts of other material to imagine a public and private life for the man. As speculative fiction, it works. The only problem being that ignorant readers will begin to take this book as if were fact rather than a created story. The fault I find is that the book doesn't draw enough distinction about what is being imagined versus the actual facts of his life.
   
   The book is very good, but its not history or biography and should not be read as history or biography.



5. This book starts out with the mention of "King Manuel I of Portugal presenting Pope Leo X with a white elephant from India". I know that Professor Zemon Davis (ZD) didn't intent this as irony but it is. Most of this book, a white elephant in itself, is based on heresy, guesses and flights of fantasy. The only parts of the book that she is truly able to document are the nine years that 'Leo Africanus: Giovanni Leone" spent in Europe, with seven of those being in Italy.
   
   While in Italy he is purported to have written "Description of Africa" which was considered one of the few books written in Europe in the sixteenth century to document the Geography and sociology of North Africa. The book was written in Italian by the slave "Yuhanna al-Asad" who was born in Granada (Spain), brought up in Fez (Morocco) and captured by Christian pirates and given as a gift to Pope Leo X. This is the extent of what is known about our hero.
   
   ZD spends over two hundred and seventy pages telling us this story that could be contained in a paragraph. The rest of the book are her musing on the Roman Catholic Church and the machinasation of the church curia over how to counter Martin Luther and to recapture North Africa and the Holy Land from the Moslems.
   
   If your interested in this book read the Intro and the Chapters on Italy and the Comparison between Islam and Christianity, and skip the rest. As an example of the 'wistfulness' of this book, ZD spends sixteen pages on his 'return' after telling us that nothing is known about what happened to him after he left Italy.

3 comments about Michelin Germany: Benelux, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic: Tourist and Motoring Atlas (Michelin Tourist and Motoring Atlas : Germany, Austria, Benelux, Switzerland, Czech Republic (Spiral)).

1. The maps are excellent. The only problem I have is that I was only interested in Switzerland. Therefore, I would have prefered being given the choice of only the country of my interest. I like the spiral format which allows it to lie flat and easily open 360 degrees.



2. According to Rick Stevens, tourist atlas needs be 1/300,000 or larger scale in order to be useful as driving guide on the road. This atlas has the right scale. I am glad I brought this atlas with me as a backup to my GPS navigator during my 2-week European driving trip in June 2008.
   I had a GPS Navigator (Tomtom GO 720), which worked perfectly for the majority of the time --- I almost thought the traditional atlas was no longer needed. But in two incidence, this traditional atlas proved its value.
   For the first instance, GPS suggested me to drive from Lauterbrunnen to Lugano in Switzerland via the scenic Sustenstrasse Pass. I followed the GPS for about 2 hours, then found out the Pass was closed midway. I had to back-track and rely on the atlas to reroute.
   For the second instance, I was on the motorway from Salzburg to Muchen. An accident occurred (probably a mile ahead) on the motorway. After all traffic stalled on the motorway for one hour, I decided to leave the motorway. This atlas was indispensible in guiding me step-by-step through the scenic country roads to my destination. The paper and printing of the atlas are in very good quality too. It's a worthwhile investment.



3. This atlas is a great value at $16.32, but it suffers from very bad design. Here are the design failures I've experienced:
   
   * This is actually five separate atlases jammed together into one book. Each of the five has its own scale, its own index, and--unfathomably--it's own LEGEND. The legend for Germany is different from the legend for Belgium. There are more than SIXTEEN PAGES of legends--eleven at the front, five scattered through the indexes, plus "special symbols" identified on pages XXII and XXIII.
   
   * The only broad-scale map showing all of the atlas's area doesn't show a single road. There is no all-encompassing map connecting the roads across the five independent maps. If you're driving from one country to another, you have to flip back and forth to get any sense of the shortest route.
   
   * There are no scales on individual pages (which is especially important as each country has its own scale). There's no way to see at a glance from the detailed page that one centimeter is equivalent to 3 kilometers in Germany or 4 kilometers in Switzerland. To make up for this, a great many road segments have a number indicating the distance in kilometers from one intersection to the next. The map is cluttered with thousands of small numbers (and perhaps crowded out the names and numbers to identify the roads).
   
   * There's a bizarre mish-mash of conflicting color codes. Maps of Germany have green page numbers, but legends written in German are orange. Blue designates both the English language and maps of the Netherlands.
   
   * Practically none of the secondary roads are labeled. Aside from freeways, the vast majority of the roads in the book don't have any identifying name or number!
   
   * Borders are very subtle compared to American maps. State and provincial borders are almost identical to national borders.
   
   * Consecutive map pages do not line up. If you drive off the right side of one page, you usually appear on the left side of the next page--but often several inches up or down.
   
   * The close-up maps of urban centers are inexplicably scattered throughout the index. There is no indication on the main map pages of which cities have close-up maps; you just have to constantly leaf through the index just to see whether they've created a more detailed map or not.
   
   * Many of the close-up urban maps cross the coil binding at the center of the book, even when the map itself is narrower than one page
   
   Given these shortcomings, this atlas isn't nearly as usable as the maps you get for free at American welcome centers and airports, and nowhere near as good as a typical American atlas. It takes a while to read and get used to this cumbersome presentation. You need to learn two conflicting color codes, how to find which of the legends applies to a given page, and you will be left completely uninformed about the identify of most roads. Plan ahead or get a GPS--do not get in a car with this atlas expecting to simply find your way!

5 comments about Munich & The Bavarian Alps (Eyewitness Travel Guides).

1. ...I can affirm the genuine worth of this book. The maps are convenient, easy to use, and marvelously clear. Furthermore, the organization of the guide is wonderfully helpful in assisting the traveler (or resident, as the case may be) in finding cultural destinations, culinary spots, that may have otherwise been missed.

   This guide is, like most all of the Dorling-Kindersley series, geared toward helping the traveler ascertain what things might be of particular sightworthiness. Unlike the Michelin guides, this isn't particularly into the business of rating destinations, and it certainly isn't going to provide the standard domestic AAA guide service of pointing the traveler toward "hot" restaurants. For a diverse, wonderfully cosmopolitan city, this guide provides a marvelous introduction, and though it neglects a few potential interests in outlying regions, does an admirable job of hitting all the highlights, and even including pictures of most.

   The material was current as of late spring 2003.




2. If you're planning on spending just a few days in Munich, then this compact little guide will be indispensible in locating the famous beerhalls and tourist sights. The maps are more than adequate and the walking descriptions to each locale are precise and accurate. There is also corresponding material on how to use the U-Bahn in the city and which station to take for each particular site. There is a separate chapter on the beerhalls of the city with a brief ranking system for the nosiest places, the friendliest, the cheapest beer, etc.

   If you're planning a lengthy sojourn in Munich or if you already know the city well, then this book would not be as helpful. It is basically intended for the casual tourist and the information on the intriguing environs of Munich, including Bogenhausen, Haidhausen and areas of Schwabing, is not detailed. Many of the best sites are neglected because most tourists don't want to bother or simply don't have the time to stick around. The chapters on Berchtesgaden and Garmisch are excellent, however. So this is a thrifty guide you can stick in your pocket and consult when you need to find a restaurant, beer haunt or hotel. In short, if you're a first timer to Munich, enjoy the greatest city in Europe and be sure to tuck away this guide.




3. I used this book as my guide travelling around Munich and I can strongly recommended it to others. The layout of the book is clear and logical which makes choosing destinations and getting there easy. The maps in the book are all in full colour, as always in this series, showing roads as well as public transport routes. Countless illustrations enrich the reading - each carefully drawn so as to say more than a thousand words found in other guides. The choice of restaurants, hotels etc were all great picks. I managed to find a couple of real gems of restaurants in the recommended list here. I can assure that speaking from personal experience: you can use this book with complete confidence!
   
   If you are going to Munich or travelling around Bavaria then this is without doubt the finest guide that you will find. Have a great trip!



4. If you are planning a trip to southern Germany this book is a must. It covers Munich very well but the real impressive part is the Alps. No matter where you are going in the Alps this book will be helpful. The pictures are wonderful and it makes a great coffee table book when you get home. Highly recommend.



5. These guides have the best pictures! I don't take them with me though. Too heavy and not as practical as other guides like Rick Steve's. They are great for reading up on your future destination though. Amazon always has them at a good price(as they are not cheap brand new)and it doesn't matter if you buy a used one or one that is a few years old. There's no admission prices in them anyway.

1 comments about The Wild Places (Penguin Original).

1. I love books about travel, esp in Britain, and I love nature. So I thought this book might be the perfect match. I was not disappointed! First, the book is filled with detailed descriptions of what he is seeing, so that you are seeing it too. His writing reminds me much of Chet Raymo's. I was esp fascinated with the map he made of the wild areas he is exploring. Its a map that doesn't look like any you've ever seen. But it connects all of the places he is visiting, and shows how all of these places are indeed connected. The book isn't all nature - he weaves in local history, interesting people, and stories along the way. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in the topic. My only complaint is that the book is making me want to return to that land, and thats just not going to happen any time soon! But I took that trip vicariously thanks to his writting.

5 comments about Walking and Eating in Tuscany and Umbria: Revised Edition (Walking and Eating in Tuscany and Umbria).

1. My wife and I just returned from a two-week trip to Tuscany and Umbria where we had planned to do several walks in this book. Although the book does not even pretend to address tourists traveling by car, we assumed that would not be a problem, and we were wrong. For example, we set out from Lucca to do #13, a walk in the Garfagnana. Naive American drivers need to know that the road to the trailhead, while beautiful, is a heavy industrial corridor with a large number of trucks as well as cars driving to defy death at high speed on a road that is often only wide enough for one vehicle, usually with no shoulder, often skirting sharply around mountain switch-backs with steep drop-offs. Traffic frequently stops as truck and bus drivers try to figure out who is going to back up, and how, to let the other go by. If you have a car, absolutely only consider doing this walk on the weekend. Also, we attempted #2, the Lamole ring walk. On a typical mid-October day, overcast and drizzling, there was absolutely no place to leave the car, which was very disappointing considering the effort to get there. The one walk we did do, #23, the Monteriggioni ring walk, was ok, but a very long stretch of it, from just after Abbadia a Isola to C. Giubileo, is continuously up a steep grade on a gravel road, mostly with minimal views, and gets to be a real drag. Also, and possibly not the authors' fault, the directions fail near the presumptive end when you encounter CAI signs with different numbers than the authors indicate, and trail options that don't quite fit the description. We got lost and went much further southeast than we should have, adding a pleasant enough but unplanned hour to the trip. Also, the Montauto spur access is completely overgrown now with thick, high thorn bushes at least 20 to 30 feet deep behind the well near the beginning. In sum, I was left wondering how big the target audience for this book is. Although we had a car, we were told that bus schedules are not particularly reliable outside the larger cities. After spending two weeks in the Tuscan and Umbrian countryside, it appears to me that, with the amount of time typical travelers have, the hassle and waste of time taking (and waiting for) busses to and from trailheads away from the major centers would just eat up too much precious time. Although there is a lot of good information in this book and it's obviously an earnest effort, we did not find it very useful. If you want to hike or, per the authors' distinction, walk, in Tuscany and Umbria, and have a car, this can be one source of many to help you out, but you need other resources. We got some good info at an information center at the base of Orvieto that led to the best hike of our trip, but note that information centers seem to be closed for unknown reasons frequently. Next time, we plan to do more research, learn a little more Italian, learn more about the CAI system in general, and buy more maps and resources before we go.



2. I first discovered this book on a trip to Italy in 1999, and after my first walk I was hooked. The walk (Lamole Ring walk) took me to a place I never would have found on my own, and the experience of visiting this lovely off-the-beaten-track hamlet and its beautiful surrounding countryside on foot turned out to be the highlight of my vacation. The restaurant recommended (the only one in Lamole) was also one of the best I've ever eaten in, and was at the same time friendly and not terribly expensive.
   I used the book extensively when I returned in 2003, doing seven more of the walks (mostly in the "Southern Tuscany" section) and they have all been splendid. However, I encountered several changes (more on the restaurant side than the actual walking side, though there were also some of those), and was hoping the authors would do a new edition by the time I was next lucky enough to be going to Italy. I think I was probably one of the first people to use the new edition when I went this September (2004) and I am happy to report it was excellent! I drove first to Lamole (where - in spite of another reviewer here who must have been looking for an American-style parking garage - there is no problem whatsoever in parking your car: it's just a tiny hamlet and you can park anywhere you like) and found the restaurant to be still at the top of its form, still friendly and unpretentious. The walk has been improved in that formerly there was a stretch on the road (admittedly untrafficked, but road nonetheless) which has now been replaced with a shortcut through the woods. After my walk I drove up to hotel/hostel/restaurant on top of San Michele, and spent the night there, amidst the sighing evergreens there at the top of the mountain. Sublime!
   One further observation: Don't buy the old edition! Amazon only shows the old edition unless you type "2005 edition" into your search!!!



3. We used this book for a trip to Umbria with our children ages 9 and 12 this September and thought it was great, both for the walking and the eating. We have been to Tuscany several times and wanted to branch out to Umbria on this last trip, and can only say we wish we had done so sooner. We stayed in the lovely town of Norcia, and did the "san Eutizio" walk: an amazing adventure with children! Norcia was an easy place to be with kids, the hotel recommended in the book was extremely friendly, the town had such a safe feeling and enough of interest (particularly the gelato bar) to the kids to keep them busy. The walk - one of the longer ones in the book - was an ambitious one for kids, but gave them an exceptional feeling of accomplishment at the end, and they loved the beautiful abbey at San Eutizio, especially enjoyable on our visit because as we ate dinner at the tiny restaurant next door (the only building in the immediate environs) there was a wedding going on, which spilled into the outdoors. While my husband and I lingered over our "vino," the kids went inside the abbey and mingled with the wedding party stragglers, a few of whom - along with our kids of course - crawled through an ancient tunnel behind the altar, an action that is supposed to cure all ills.
   We also went up to Castelluccio, the mountain village about 15 miles from Norcia, which was stunningly beautiful, remote, and virtually deserted. There is a small restaurant there which was fabulous, and the sunset behind the austere Sibillini mountains was a stunning backdrop to our outdoor meal. Next time we would plan to stay in this tiny village overnight.
   Note: we had the 2005 edition, and the friend who recommended this book says the san eutizio walk wasn't in the original.



4. The original edition of this book, written nearly ten years ago, needed
   updating, so we went back to Italy, this time with two young children.
   We've updated the original walks and restaurant reviews and added some new
   walks and locations. If you are thinking of buying the book, make sure you
   have the newer edition (both editions are available on Amazon, and the newer
   one is also cheaper). To order the new edition type "walking and eating
   2005" (without the quotation marks) into Amazon's search box.
   
   If you have any questions about the book, please feel free to email me at:
   walkingandeating@aol.com. Over the years we have had so many letters from
   people about the book, saying what a difference it made to their holiday. We
   hope you enjoy it.



5. The walks in this book are great!
   With this guide, you can truly get off the main tourist routes and into the Tuscan back country for a very different experience of Tuscany.
   In mid May 2007, we did the walk from Greve in Chianti to Radda, and a walk from Pienza to Montepulciano. On the Greve to Radda walk, we hiked in the woods, saw wild boars, and spent a most enjoyable two days in Volpaia, a little town of 50 people, some hundreds of years old, surrounded by vineyards in the Tuscan hills.
   The walk from Pienza to Montepulciano was beautiful. The classic Tuscan views of hills, cypress, winding country roads.
   If you enjoy walking and want a non tourist view of beautiful Tuscany, I do strongly recommend this book!

No comments about Michelin Red Guide 2008 Main Cities of Europe: 3000 Hotels & Restaurants (Michelin Red Guide: Europe, Main Cities).

1 comments about Fodor's Germany 2008 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. Wherever I go I use Fodors guides. I just got back from Europe and Fodors found unique places, great restaurants and comfortable hotels all at reasonable (for Europe) prices. Follow the orange or black stars, you can't go wrong.

5 comments about Budapest (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. Like all the Eyewitness Travel Guides this one is excellent.
   Filled with maps,glorious pictures,practical information,historical background, and great tips as to what-to-do and what-to see; it is a complete guide to the fascinating and beautiul cities of Buda and Pest. I would never travel to new cities without taking along one of these well researched and well written/edited guides.



2. Pretty good travel book, and is a good general guide to the city and surrounding areas. The gaps, however, could be a problem for someone who is not confident enough to piece it out with the locals with hand gestures and sometimes limited english. That said, it provides enough info about the big sites to give you a good walking tour of them.
   
   The restaurant suggestions were 100% on with the ones we tried. However, due to slightly unusual Hungarian street and business naming conventions, the addresses were sometimes a little off or confusing. Also, the dictionary in the back lacked some fairly obvious terms, and this is important in Budapest as many seemingly important signs aren't translated into English (or any other language, for that matter).
   
   All-in-all, a pretty good guide, and up to the typical DK experience.



3. As always DK travel guides are EXCELLENT complete, well written and easy to use, also make very interesting reading to get to know a city with out travelling or prior to getting there.



4. Great organization, eye-catching photography, well written narrative and superb cartography! DK Eyewitness Travel guides have got it all but, for me, it's the photography that really separates them from the competition. And "Budapest" covers it all - restaurants, music, beer halls, walks, art galleries, museums, spas, architecture, palaces, hotels, cafés, theatres and churches. And all of the information is organized by neighbourhood in the city so I can make the most effective use of my time once I'm in a certain area.
   
   Here's my "best practices" strategy. Read "Top 10 Budapest" first. Make some basic choices, get your mind wrapped around Budapest's geography and begin to localize your choices to certain areas. Fine tune your choice and plan your attack day by day by reading "Budapest". Familiarize yourself with some of the local customes by reading the basic country information in the back of the larger "Budapest" guide - currency, communications, etiquette, food, beer and wine, local transportation and specialized hints like local tipping practices.
   
   Why not five stars? Frankly, with the internet now providing so much current information, I can't see the value in attempting to include lengthy (and probably outdated) lists of hotels and restaurants in densely packed small print index lists at the back of a book like this.
   
   Highly recommended.
   
   Paul Weiss



5. The eyewitness guides are a pleasure to read .Many great pictures and plenty of detail but not as heavy as some guides .I am as pleased with this one as the others I already own .These guides are books you actually pick up and read again after you have completed your trip.

5 comments about Arabian Sands (Penguin Classics).

1. While waiting for my inter-library loan of Arabian Sands to show up I pulled THE LAST NOMAD (same author) off my librarys shelf. Turns out they are the same book! Same tho only in text. The Last Nomad is a big 20" x 20" book filled with BIG beautiful black and white photos Some full page and a few even two page spreads. Tho they do suffer from being black and white imho, Wilfred Thesiger is an excellent photographer. The "portraits" of the people are wonderful.
   
   So FORGET ARABIAN SANDS. Arabian Sands is a small 7.8 x 5.1 book with small dark pictures. And not all the pictures to boot.
   
   My favorite part was the Iraq Marshes (1950-'58). The stunning "buildings" the Marsh Arabs made solely from the TWENTY foot tall reeds that grew there. WOW.
   This is the area where the rivers Tigris and Euphrates join, and is thought by some to be the original site of the Garden of Eden.
   
   "The 5,000-year-old way of life of the Marsh Arabs, celebrated by Wilfred Thesiger among others, has long been under threat. Its final disappearance is documented in The Iraqi Marshlands edited by Emma Nicholson and Peter Clark. Saddam Hussein's aggressive drainage programme in the 1990s, in pursute of rebels hiding in the waterways, turned much of the marshland into desert, depopulating the area. Some 200,000 of the inhabitants fled, many of them to refugee camps in Iran. The damage is probably irretrievable."
   
   Dams in Turkey, Syria and Iran have further reduce the amount of water flowing down the Tigris and Euphrates. All the bird and wildlife is lost. Latest satellite images show that less than 7% of the Mesopotamian marshes now remain intact.
   
   What confuses me is the contrast between the various "modern" tribes and the stunningly huge, beautiful and complex brick buildings built thousands of years ago by their ancestors. I can't seem to connect the two. What happened to them? How is it possible to regress so?



2. I had heard this was the definitive work on the desert country but never had gotten around to reading it. I now have and it is terrific - every thing it's cracked up to be. I had read Michael Asher's biography; I had been in Ethiopia, Oman and Yemen; I traveled in the Hadhramaut -- all of this over fifty years later but still there is the flavor of Thesiger's days. His writing of crossing the Empty Quarter was a precursor of Asher's more recent writings about desert travels. He writes well and keeps the reader completely caught up with his trek. There is a sadness, on Thesiger's part (and mine), that as progress has affected the Bedu life, the stability of the old days is no more. But for a loving report on life as it used to be with the Bedu tribes, I whole heartedly recommend Arabian Sands. (I should not Rory Stewart's introduction was worth the price of the book)



3. The Rub Al Khali, the Empty Quarter, or as the Arabs called it, The Sands, is one of the most inhospitable places on earth, and one of the least populated as a result. Like Mt. Everest, or the South Pole, each of which became the obsession of some men, sometimes costing them their lives, the Empty Quarter became an obsession of Wilfred Thesiger. He was not the first Westerner to cross it, Bertrand Thomas was, in the `30's, and then Harry (Abdullah) St. John Philby after him, but Thesiger is deservedly the most famous, due to this wonderful account that is difficult to put down. His birth and childhood in Abyssinia, in 1910, the son of the first British Ambassador, seems to have marked him for the "path less traveled." To fully appreciate "Arabian Sands,' it helps to have read "The Life of My Choice," his autobiography.
   
   The first part of "Arabian Sands" covers his youth in Africa, and his initial desert trips in Dhaufar, and in the Danakil country. The end of the book involves his travels in then "forbidden" Oman. The heart of his story though, is his two epic crossing of The Sands. Unlike other Westerner explorers, he was unsupported in his efforts, by other Westerners, save for the financial support of the British Anti-Locust Board. He had to live by his wits, establishing firm and trusting relationships with his beloved Bedouin (Bedu) who were the essential element in his success. In so doing, he developed an understanding of the conditions of their very harsh life, and enthusiastically emulated them. In addition to coming to terms with the "ship of the desert," the camel, and adapting to the rhythms of desert travel with such transport, he also had to stay one step ahead of central authorities, and deal with the tribal politics, which invariably meant that some tribes would be hostile to both him, and his traveling companions solely for tribal reasons. Furthermore, since he was not a Muslim, he had to deal with those individuals and tribes who were hostile due solely to his non-adherence to their religion and beliefs, but Thesiger was wise enough to realize that much of the hostility resulted from the fact that all the other Westerners who were exploring were looking for oil, and the natives feared a loss of their land - it was hard for them, or even most Westerners to understand his motives of doing it solely "because it was there." After his second crossing he was arrested in the town of Sulaiyil by adherents of the Ikhwan, the fundamentalist brotherhood that very well may have made an "example" of him, "to encourage the others", and executed him. It was only the direct intervention of his friend, Philby, with the Saudi king, Abdul Aziz, which secured his release.
   
   The book contains numerous excellent maps, which outline his trips, as well as the tribal areas. It also includes some excellent black and white photographs, many of them of his traveling companions. On a personal note, he inspired a passion to visit Yabrin, on the northern edge of the Empty Quarter, and I was able to see it develop into a significant town, over a 23 year period, a far cry from the absolute absence of people at this oasis when he passed through in 1948.
   
   I couldn't give the book a 5-star however. As one other reviewer indicated, it would help if we looked a bit at the man himself, and his reference frame. The book was written around 12 years after the events, and he admits to not maintaining accurate notes, so how much was changed in his memory? Certainly he experienced "comradeship," like men do in war, but does that mean we should have wars for this experience? It seemed that he unduly romanticized the hardship, and bemoaned that the bedu would loose their remarkable way of life with the coming impact of the modern world. And there is no question that there are only a few real bedu left on the Arabian peninsula, as they have enthusiastically embraced the conveniences of the modern world in the subsequent 60 years. It should be noted that Thesiger carefully picked the timings of his travels, to do so only in the winter. If he had spent a couple of summers with the bedu, I strongly suspect that much of his romanticism would have evaporated, and the hum of an air-conditioner would be much appreciated. Also, there may have been more than an aversion to the modern material world behind his passion for the remote areas of yore - throughout his life, including his days in Kenya at the end, there was always a youthful companion with him.
   
   Setting aside these caveats, and realizing that the prism may be distorted, his achievements are remarkable, and we are fortunate to have an enthralling narrative of this vanished way of life.



4. After you read this, you'll never think the same of the "Empty Quarter" which encompasses much of the south of the Arabian Peninsula. First of all, you'll find it's not so empty, with the nomadic Bedu plying the dunes and oases of the region as they have for centuries. In fact, this story is primarily about the Bedu who are incredibly tough but also incredibly principled. Their moral code could teach us a lot. Their love for their camels, who literally enable them to live in their hostile geography, and for their fellow man is humbling. The author, an intrepid explorer of these desert sands, does an outstanding job of bringing the Bedu culture to us. If you want to more fully understand the nomadic Arab mind, you could do much worse than to read this outstanding book.



5. Not only a magnificent travelogue chronicling travels in in a harsh, surreal landscape, here we see the age-old yearning of the explorer to discover the things which cannot be found among the comforts and conveniences of civilization,chief of which is a knowledge of what kind of man he will prove to be when tested to his utmost. Though Thesiger never promotes his undertakings as spiritual experiences,it becomes evident that surely they have as much right to be called so as any other avowedly represented accounts. His fascination with the ascetic lives of his Bedu companions with their fierce nobility and many customs of traditional Arab culture shows the desire of a searcher for meaning transcending the materialism of the modern West. It is a tribute to his integrity that, despite his admiration, he also realizes he is bound to his own heritage and could never be truly one of them. His descriptive powers are outstanding,both of people and places. This is the best adventure/travel book I have read to date.

5 comments about Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris.

1. The French are a fascinating people, their culture sometimes mysterious, sometimes frustrating. Having lived in France for a while myself, I was very drawn to this story of a young woman living and loving in Paris and other parts of the country. Having first gone to Paris on a whim (since she was in Europe anyway, and the young man who invited her was so attractive, why not?), she then decides to stay. It does seem remarkable that someone would do that in these days of madmen and terrorists.
   
   Her story starts out somewhat disjointed and jerky and parts of it continue that way. There are gaps in time that aren't quite transitioned. And some events are incomplete. For instance, when her friend Sue comes to visit from London, the reader expects a life changing or confirming event. The build up to it certainly leads one to think that this is a big part of the entire experience. However, Sue comes, leaves, and that's that. We're given no reaction on her part to Frederic, the French lover, no discussion between the two on Sarah's decision to stay in Paris, nothing.
   
   Sarah's visits with Frederic and some of his friends are, of course, awkward. Unless one has experienced the same thing, it is difficult to believe how important things are in social intercourse, but how no one ever thinks to explain them ahead of time. Being Australian, Sarah had certain expectations when it came to dinner and parties, but the French people she met had different expectations. It always seemed that she was expected to conform to their expectations, but whether that was only her perception is not clear. Perhaps she should have learned from the first and following experiences to ask more questions each succeeding time.
   
   The edition of the book that I read is the 2002 edition, published either in Australia or Great Britain and I do not know if the 2004 edition was edited differently. I'd hoped to enjoy this book and to learn how to enjoy living in another country. The most important lesson seems to be to try to not have expectations.



2. This is not a book I would have picked up on my own; and I only grudgingly ordered it from amazon.com because it was the selection for out next Book Club meeting. I'm loving it! I'm only a tiny way into it and am enjoying the chuckles that are ellicted throughout; well, so far, anyway. Turnbull writes very well, she has a marvelous sense of humor, and she is able to laugh at her own foibles. Can't wait to finish the book, can't wait for our meeting.



3. I really enjoyed this book. The author gives the reader
   a taste of what it is to live in Paris. I highly recommend
   this book for anyone who is interested in France, Paris,
   culture, or people.



4. Our family lived in France from 1992-1995. Though it has been a few years now, all the memories of trying to adjust, fit in, make sense of France and the French, came flowing back through my mind as I read Sarah's book. Very well written, easy and enjoyable to read, she nails the frustrations, the puzzlements, and the occasional delights of living in this special European country.



5. I loved it, simply because Sarah Turnbull captivates the reality of so many people who end up living in another country and even though they start a new life, with new people and new meaning around them, is never quite the same... You find yourself in the new place wishing you were somewhere else, and when you return to your country you wish you were back in the other one. It explains the struggle of culture integration and the differences that may seem to drive you crazy, but in the end those things become part of your every day life. The book inspired me to make the best out of my personal situation, I felt so identified with her and so encouraged to embrace who I am and at the same time embrace my new life in another country. I loved it!