- Paperback: 260 pages
- Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; Reprint edition (July 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0641779720
- ISBN-13: 978-0641779725
- ASIN: 0312305435
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 363 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,212,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Michael Palin's personality is a combination of some very disparate elements, many of them displayed at their most attractive in Sahara. There's the friendly, avuncular manner; the easy-going charm that women find so attractive; and that vein of surrealistic, sardonic humour that is the legacy of his Monty Python days. All these characteristics combined to create the perfect host for the ambitious travel programmes with which he's latterly been associated. The shows (and the handsome companion books that invariably accompany them) avoid the sometimes over-serious approach of other presenters and show us some very exotic parts of the world filtered through Palin's very idiosyncratic vision. Audiences and readers can't get enough.
Sahara gives us the latest of his epic voyages, and this one possibly represents the most arduous challenge of his career: across the massive and unforgiving Sahara desert. In this beautifully produced volume (studded with some eye-catching colour photographs), we are taken on a unique journey, as Palin reveals the Sahara to us as something considerably more than endless sand dunes. Facet by facet, Michael Palin uncovers a colourful and eccentric panoply of cultures, with chequered histories that stretch back to the dawn of time. Beginning (and ending) in Gibraltar, we are taken from the fabled realms of the ancient Egyptians to the Islamic republics of the present day, as Palin conjures up a journey that alternates between gallows humour and often considerable discomfort. Most of us will never experience the teeming nightlife of Dakar or travel down the river Niger to the fabled city of Timbuktu. But Palin has done it for us, and this book (with or without the accompanying TV series) is a highly enjoyable way to relive that journey with him. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Fifty years after he was given his first book, Tales from the Arabian Nights, consummate traveler and Monty Python founding member Palin trekked to Francophone Africa, believing that the Sahara embodies "the thin line between survival and destruction, the power to take life or to transform it." Fortunately for his readers, the Sahara seems to have transformed Palin (Around the World in 80 Days, Full Circle). This tie-in to the Bravo series airing in April consists of Palin's journal entries, full of his trademark self-deprecating humor (writing about the far-removed city of Djenne, which a British tour group nonetheless infiltrated, Palin confesses that "I know I shouldn't feel this way, but when I'm asked if I've ever been to Stoke-on-Trent all my romantic illusions of desert travel begin to wilt"). But Palin is also a piquant political observer (he notes that African women may be "by nature more direct, more open, more honest and considerably less submissive than their menfolk expect them to be"), and the Sahara's exoticism frequently inspires him to craft beautiful descriptions (the bizarre "battleship-grey" baobab trees "look like some prehistorical arboreal throwback, gnarled and twisted like old prize-fighters"). Readers looking for engaging, detailed insight to the Sahara will hit paydirt here, although newcomers to Palin's work may find themselves dismayed by his ubiquitous appearance in the photographs that dot nearly every page of this book. 175 color and b&w photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
This Book Deserves to be More Popular,
By
This review is from: Sahara (Hardcover)
I checked this book and to my dismay it has a ranking of about 80,000. on the Amazon.com sales list. Frankly I do not understand why it is so low since it is such a good book.It has three things going for the book. It is by Palin, so it is witty and funny and just an all round good read. It is broken down like a diary and explains his trip day by day, where he goes, who he meets, what the area and the people are like. It gives a good picture of this vast desert region. When you read this book you appreciate that there are too many good books and unfortunately that you cannot read them all. If you have time make room in your schedule to read this book. It covers his journey across northern Africa in a very personal way, and goes to places that are not in the news and probably you will never visit. He mixes with the natives and it is all very illuminating. Finally he has three sets of beautiful photographs in bright and excellent color that transmit a nice feel for what he sees on the trip. All in all I think it is a good book worth three or four stars. Jack in Toronto
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another excellent travel book from Mr Palin,
By Kelly_bakker (Toronto) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sahara (Hardcover)
Michael Palin provides another illuminating travel book, this time dealing with his journeys in the Sahara. He travels more around the outskirts of the Sahara than through it but he still visits some very interesting places that most people don't know about. The book contains many humorous anecdotes and is told in Mr. Palin's warm, witty and engaging style. Great pictures also.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews) 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than expected,
By Smallchief - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Sahara (Hardcover)
I had low expectations on reading this book and was surprised that it turned out to be so good. The photos are excellent; Palin is amusing and informative. He is self effacing and likeable rather than being a movie star on tour.Palin and a film crew spent 99 days -- in several trips -- to travel nearly 10,000 miles in the Sahara. Their trip starts in Gibraltar and continues in a big circle through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Libya, Algeria, and back to Morocco. The Sahara countries they missed are Egypt, Chad, and Sudan. The book is in the form of a daily diary and Palin reports hilariously on the status of his bowels as well as the more touristic daily events. Ninety-nine days of travel in an area as large as the United States doesn't permit profound insights -- and Palin doesn't overreach. Examples of the highlights of the book include a section on Niger where for a few days Palin and his crew live in the desert by taking a camel caravan into the formidable Tenere region. In Algeria he travels to the mountain refuge of a French missionary in the Hoggar, about where one would say is the exact center of the Sahara, and follows it with a visit to an oil field and its modern technology, green lawns, and technicians, Arab and foreign. He gives a good description of obscure and unknown Western Sahara where reigns a tense cease fire between Morocco and the Polisario. His attitude throughout is good-natured. If you would like a quick tour of the Sahara, including the landscape, the people, the problems, the politics, and the economy, this is a good book. The high-quality color photos enhance the text. Smallchief 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A few comments,
By magellan - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Sahara (Hardcover)
I just had a few miscelleneous comments on this book.Not being familiar with Palin's previous travel adventures I had no expectations about this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. If it's possible to write a witty, funny, and entertaining travelogue about perhaps the most forbidding and unforgiving place on the planet, Palin does it here in this very well done book. Palin's descriptions of the Sahara are interesting, informative, and sometimes funny as well. The photos are superb and really complement the text. Being a biologist by education, I knew that the Sahara wasn't a single unremitting expanse of sand waiting to trap hapless travellers or anyone foolish enough to try to cross it unaided, but I was surprised at the diversity of habitats, plants, and animals that can be be found there, not to mention the many tribes and cultures who live in and around the Sahara itself. Palin also gives you a feel for some of these cultures and their history and I enjoyed that too. Also I enjoy architecture and the photos of the mosque at Djenna are really stunning, truly an architectural flower of the desert if there ever was one. Overall, a fine book on this vast but still misunderstood area of the world. 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not his usual great stuff,
By Martin Mulcahey - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Sahara (Hardcover)
It really pains me not to give a Palin travelogue 5 stars, I just find this to be the weakest of an otherwise excellent lot. So the rating is more because Sahara suffers by comparison, buy the others first and save this one for last. Perhaps because in this travel Palin is a bit more confined in the range of personalities and cultures he meets? Still good stuff, but not great.
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Travel > Africa
- Books > Outdoors & Nature > Travel > Adventure
- Books > Travel > Africa
- Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Essays & Travelogues
- Books > Travel > Specialty Travel > Adventure
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
