The "Silk Road" must be the most romanticised route in the world. It conjures up pictures from all of our fairy tales, of castles and minarets and oriental folk in strange garb. For me personally it conjures a hard-paved road I once walked in the foothi ...
Advantages: Lots of info about countries I didn't know about Disadvantages: Poor section on Iran
This book is one that I had longed to read for ages and finally managed to get hold of in the summer. I have an interest in History and reading about the history of the silk road sounded like it would be really interesting. Also my wife is Iranian and as ...
Advantages: an interesting read Disadvantages: can be quite inaccessible
I thought this would be an interesting read after living in Spain for two years, and it was for the most part. The book is divided into thirteen chapters, each of which deals with a different aspect of Spanish culture, at least in theory. The first fe ...
Advantages: A brilliant take on British eccentricity and normality Disadvantages: I guess a shared sense of the absurd might be required in places
The best travel writing doesn't date. That's not to say it doesn't show its age – merely that it wears its age lightly. Like classic black and white movies, it is "of its time" but still readable decades later. Paul Theroux is one of my favourite t ...
Advantages: well written, individual perspective, very of its own time Disadvantages: biased & dated
...Paul Theroux undertook his journey round the coast of the United Kingdom over 25 years ago, in 1982. Even more than normally, his book is very slight on information, strong on description and dominated by the author's perceptions, feelings and judgements. ...
