Arabian Sands
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- ISBN13: 9780141442075
- Condition: New
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Product Description
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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I like this book very much, but the style was very dry so I had to drink a lot of Hawaiian Punch to get through it.
Regularly it made me very nervous, so I smoked a lot of Camels.
I reflect after reading it I will be a more appealing person and maybe get a lot of dates.
Thank you for your encouragement.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Agreed, this is a top notch book if you want to know what “the “Bedu” life was like sixty years ago in what is now Saudi Arabia. In that respect, I’m in perfect consensus with the additional glowing reviews. But, as another reviewer has brought up, there’s something missing here: Thesiger. Having read this book, I feel I know much more about camels, Bedu culture and desert travel. I even feel I know and like Thesiger’s Bedu companions very well. But Thesiger himself? A bit of a mystery.
Yes, Thesiger mentions his dislike of machines and modern society. But, I don’t really get a “feel” for what he’s all about here. I suppose his perspective as open here could best be denominated Stoic (although another reviewer speculates masochism may play a part). But, even then, Thesiger is no Marcus Aurelius, and any meditations or introspection are scant as the desert brush. -Can any reader imagine Thesiger meditating like M.A. on such questions as, “What is life but a warfare and a weirder’s sojourn?” - Reflections, or at least the disclosing of them, are simply not his gulp of brackish well water.
Others are obviously reasonably content with a narrator about whose inner life they know next to nothing. But I was left after reading this book with a listless, arid feeling, with any sense of “INNER cosmography” (to borrow from Thoreau) remaining unmapped.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
I give it 3 stars for being appealing, for being exotic enough to draw me in for 100 pages, and for the leader’s clear descriptive writing. It would get more stars if it had developed any kind of a plot in persons 100 pages — I did not go further.
I did, though, learn how to make a camel lower it’s milk. That small lesson alone was worth the time (I won’t be doing THAT any time soon… I won’t say how this feat is accomplished, but let me say that a Bedu who does this must want that milk terribly).
Really, it is like a travelog in that it takes you along with him on desert journeys. Not too much adventure here, though, in the first 100 pp.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
An brilliant travel adventure through the Arabian deserts in the early part of the 20th century. For anyone who wants to know the Arab mind/viewpoint or who just likes tales of far away places and exotic locales this book will make an brilliant read.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I live most of the year in Saudi Arabia and saw this book at a local bookstore. I was attracted by the take in, reviews, inside photography, and the leader’s opening comments. I bought it hoping I would get a greater understanding of the world I live in before the influence of Western luxuries/conveniences. I also thought it would be an enjoyable right-life adventure tale.
Thesiger was drawn to the bedu setting from of his disdain for the attack of technological progression which has been infiltrating every confront of the planet. And no doubt, I benefited from the book with learning more about the bedu culture/mentality as well as their relationship with each additional and additional Arabs and the degree of attention that they gave to Islam (or “cultural” Islam, not to be confused with Islam as it truly is). But make no mistake, persons fascinating points are very SPARSELY scattered throughout the text.
Since the book contained rich descriptions and I did learn a few appealing things from it, it would be unfair of me to give only 1 or 2 stars. But why didn’t I give it 4 or 5 stars? Of 287 pages, it seemed that nearly all of it consisted of traveling in the sands, occasionally visiting a town to get permission from a Shaykh to travel therein, and then OCCASIONALLY noting appealing observations from his traveling companions. That’s what it was, from beginning to end. There was small to no plot, just the leader’s like for basking in asceticism. But, even THAT is missing because there is very small personal reflection of life from the leader in the midst of his surroundings. We don’t have a page where he looks up into the sky and ponders the creation of the universe or anything of that scenery. Reasonably simply, the book is a narrative of dealing with camels, searching for water, and getting dinner invitations. A few times throughout the book he mentioned some vital past points about Islamic history (it’s spread and how it propelled Muslims to be the most advanced civilization of their time) and he concludes that this is because of the bedu participation/influence–yet even these observations, if brought together, could not take in a single page. Although the journey was a right-life “adventure” — there was danger from thirst, lack of food-source, etc — and sometimes it seemed that the leader, as a Christian, would be in a tough bind, yet none of persons scenarios ever momentously escalated, which of course is excellent for the leader(!) but dull for the reader.
For persons of you who do choose to buy/read Arabian Sands, my advice is simple: find a cozy spot where you can read it lacking any distractions or any impending time engagements. If you don’t, the pleasant writing style will slip by unappreciated and your enjoyment will be even less.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5