Arabian Sands (Penguin Classics)
by Wilfred Thesiger
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Book Summary Information
Author: Wilfred ThesigerIntroduction: Rory Stewart
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-01-02
ISBN: 0141442077
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of Arabian Sands (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: Kahunas. Of. Solid. Rock
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Summary of Arabian Sands (Penguin Classics)
Arabian Sands is Wilfred Thesiger's record of his extraordinary journey through the parched "Empty Quarter" of Arabia. Educated at Eton and Oxford, Thesiger was repulsed by the softness and rigidity of Western life-"the machines, the calling cards, the meticulously aligned streets." In the spirit of T. E. Lawrence, he set out to explore the deserts of Arabia, traveling among peoples who had never seen a European and considered it their duty to kill Christian infidels. His now-classic account is invaluable to understanding the modern Middle East.
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