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apechild 's review for:
Across the Empty Quarter
by Wilfred Thesiger
My 2010 bookcrossing review:
Another excerpt from another book. This one is from the 1940s and is about an Englishman travelling about in the Arabian desert with a group of guides. It's never really made clear why they are doing this, although there are occasional hints to photographs and mapping, so maybe it's something to do with this? And maybe the lack of clarity is because this is just a collection of excerpts from a larger book. Compared to the other ones from this series I have read, this one seemed to be badly chosen excerpts, because it ends in a really random place, with Thesiger and his friends waiting to find out if they're in big trouble for travelling around in the desert and waiting to hear what the king has to say. And it just suddenly stops....
It's an interesting enough read, and there's certainly a lot about camels, including a random bit of advice on what to do if a camel is refussing to drop her milk for you and other bits of information should you ever become lost in a desert with a camel to hand. I'd actually like to ride a camel one day, so it was fun to read about the camel trekking. But it never feels as though this is a world that is accessible to women.
It's very tribal in this book, and all the tribes hate each other, so they're all trying to avoid each other in the desert to avoid the fighting, either that or trying to creep up on each other to stab each other in the ribs.
So, all interesting enough, but I felt like there was something lacking, and I don't know whether it's the fault of the writer or the excerpt factor.
Another excerpt from another book. This one is from the 1940s and is about an Englishman travelling about in the Arabian desert with a group of guides. It's never really made clear why they are doing this, although there are occasional hints to photographs and mapping, so maybe it's something to do with this? And maybe the lack of clarity is because this is just a collection of excerpts from a larger book. Compared to the other ones from this series I have read, this one seemed to be badly chosen excerpts, because it ends in a really random place, with Thesiger and his friends waiting to find out if they're in big trouble for travelling around in the desert and waiting to hear what the king has to say. And it just suddenly stops....
It's an interesting enough read, and there's certainly a lot about camels, including a random bit of advice on what to do if a camel is refussing to drop her milk for you and other bits of information should you ever become lost in a desert with a camel to hand. I'd actually like to ride a camel one day, so it was fun to read about the camel trekking. But it never feels as though this is a world that is accessible to women.
It's very tribal in this book, and all the tribes hate each other, so they're all trying to avoid each other in the desert to avoid the fighting, either that or trying to creep up on each other to stab each other in the ribs.
So, all interesting enough, but I felt like there was something lacking, and I don't know whether it's the fault of the writer or the excerpt factor.