Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
There were parts of this book that I loved that really got me excited and inspired and there were some slow and detail heavy parts. I loved her descriptions of the Silk Road and her biking. It made me wish I was young and motivated and could ride on the Silk Road. Her fortitude was amazing. I think she is a great writer. The parts that were so long were when she is describing the politics of the areas and the history and honestly it was just too much. It felt like she was giving me a lesson but there was no way it could be properly explained in the paragraph or two given. That being said I wish I could hope on a bike and camp in the Himalayas - it sounds amazing.
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation
Minor: Animal death, Sexual harassment
adventurous
relaxing
slow-paced
I really liked this at the beginning, but it started to feel repetitive in the biking parts toward the back half. I guess that reflects a long haul biking journey. The historic parts were interesting, but everything started to feel like more of the same at the end so I struggled to finish.
informative
slow-paced
Kate Harris is an incredible woman, and the hardest thing about this book was trying to not compare myself to her. From her academic accomplishments to her unwavering spirit of adventure, this book showed me that somebody actually has lived the life of my restless daydreams. I enjoyed the musings on the meaning of exploration (and consequently life) that gave meat to this adventure. The gleanings of civilizations and worlds unknown to me. And the condemnation of the commercialisation and sterilisation that accompanies so much of modern science and exploration.
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road by Kate Harris
I flew through this book this past summer, dreaming of when and where I can travel again post COVID. This memoir follows Kate her and her friend bike the silk road from Turkey to Nepal and India for almost a year. An incredible feat accomplish this book gave gorgeous descriptions of the various landscapes while also provide history on the people and places they were passing through. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who is experiencing any wanderlust.
"As a teenager, Kate Harris realized that the career she craved—to be an explorer, equal parts swashbuckler and metaphysician—had gone extinct. From what she could tell of the world from small-town Ontario, the likes of Marco Polo and Magellan had mapped the whole earth; there was nothing left to be discovered. Looking beyond this planet, she decided to become a scientist and go to Mars.
In between studying at Oxford and MIT, Harris set off by bicycle down the fabled Silk Road with her childhood friend Mel. Pedaling mile upon mile in some of the remotest places on earth, she realized that an explorer, in any day and age, is the kind of person who refuses to live between the lines. Forget charting maps, naming peaks: what she yearned for was the feeling of soaring completely out of bounds. The farther she traveled, the closer she came to a world as wild as she felt within."
#travelgram
I flew through this book this past summer, dreaming of when and where I can travel again post COVID. This memoir follows Kate her and her friend bike the silk road from Turkey to Nepal and India for almost a year. An incredible feat accomplish this book gave gorgeous descriptions of the various landscapes while also provide history on the people and places they were passing through. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who is experiencing any wanderlust.
"As a teenager, Kate Harris realized that the career she craved—to be an explorer, equal parts swashbuckler and metaphysician—had gone extinct. From what she could tell of the world from small-town Ontario, the likes of Marco Polo and Magellan had mapped the whole earth; there was nothing left to be discovered. Looking beyond this planet, she decided to become a scientist and go to Mars.
In between studying at Oxford and MIT, Harris set off by bicycle down the fabled Silk Road with her childhood friend Mel. Pedaling mile upon mile in some of the remotest places on earth, she realized that an explorer, in any day and age, is the kind of person who refuses to live between the lines. Forget charting maps, naming peaks: what she yearned for was the feeling of soaring completely out of bounds. The farther she traveled, the closer she came to a world as wild as she felt within."
#travelgram