Your current reading list

[rickshaw92]

Last time they said 'train will take 24hours' it was 37 so who knows.

I hate it when the little 3rd worlders pull that shit.

[flipflop]

"The Races of Afghanistan: Being a brief account of the principal nations inhabiting that country" - Surgeon-General H.W. Bellew (1880)

be a dear and tell me what those are like when you're done

Great book, you can find it and more at http://www.kessinger.net/

It's only 117 pages of narrative then indices/appendices. The book is so rare that the copy they've re-published still has marks, underscores and marginalia in it, probably written in pen by some student or young subaltern many moons ago. What a find, I'm thrilled.

Here's a few snippets:

[The Afghans] owe their origin to the diversity of race and the antagonism of tribal interests among a heterogeneous and barbarous people, who have been only broght together as a nationality by the accident of position and the bond of a common religion.

...

The only common bond of union among them is that of religion, and to this their devotion is of a fanatic kind, owing to the blindness of their ignorance and the general barbarism of their social condition.

Doesn't pull his punches does the honourable Surgeon-General. I'll post a few more snippets as I go through it, but that rare book site looks like a real gem for obscure texts by eccentric and/or long forgotten writers.

Cheers

[vagabond]

Thanks for the link.

[redharen]

In the vein of what FF has been describing, I've been reading Edward A. Robinson's account of his 1838 expedition through Palestine in which he rode around with a couple of compasses and measuring tapes and singlehandedly started the systematic scientific research of Palestine's archaeology and geography. He'd never been to the Middle East before, so he had an Arabic-speaking missionary friend travel with him. In three months he correctly identified over 100 biblical sites -- the high point being 8 in one day. A lot of the excavated sites you'll visit in Israel today were found by Robinson back when they were still buried under tons of dirt and rock, with very little to suggest that they were what they were. The book is Biblical Researches in Palestine and it's a fun read for anyone who's traveled the Holy Land and is familiar with the locations.

Another great one I just finished is Shelters, Shacks and Shanties by Dan Beard. It was published in the 1910s and shows how to build all kinds of buildings with an ax, a crosscut saw, and a couple of other hand tools. There's a great chapter on building stone fireplaces that explains why the fairer sex is unable and never will be able to build or maintain a fire properly. Beard was one of the founders of the Boy Scouts and I once camped in a site at Philmont named after him. Ironically, it had no shelters, shacks, or shanties, and being situated on a steep hillside, it was actually a terrible place to camp. Hard book to find, I think, but a great read.

[flipflop]

In the vein of what FF has been describing, I've been reading Edward A. Robinson's account of his 1838 expedition through Palestine in which he rode around with a couple of compasses and measuring tapes and singlehandedly started the systematic scientific research of Palestine's archaeology and geography. He'd never been to the Middle East before, so he had an Arabic-speaking missionary friend travel with him. In three months he correctly identified over 100 biblical sites -- the high point being 8 in one day.

They don't make 'em like that anymore, evolution has gone gay



Cheers

[vagabond]

All (or most) of Burton's stuff is up for free at this site: http://burtoniana.org/

[flipflop]

Done all his bios, need to do his own stuff = way too much stuff to read at the minute. Need to wade through another nine philosophy tomes for preliminary reading before I start my masters degree proper in January. No chance, need to prioritise them.

Cheers

[vagabond]

It's there whenever you have the chance. I've only read the Brody and Lovell bios since they were the most recent.

This was also a decent read: A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler by Jason Roberts

[flipflop]

Roger. I've heard of that one, I'll add it to my bulging amazon wish list

Cheers

[Q]

Three Cups of Tea

http://www.threecupsoftea.com/

And an all time fave, Walter the Farting Dog.

[Penta]

For those interested in Af-Pak (as it seems we have to call the area now) Dervla Murphy's book about walking in the Karakoram with her 5-year-old daughter in the middle of winter might give a different perspective:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Indus-Sti ... 78&sr=1-30

It's 30 years since I read it, but it's mentioned in Three Cups of Tea, which reminded me.

[flipflop]

For those interested in Af-Pak (as it seems we have to call the area now).

I must have missed that executive order, my amazon orders still arrive marked "Kabul, Afghanistan". I'd better email them sharpish and get my address changed, don't want to lose any books in the post.

BTW, this isn't a pissing contest, as in "my femi-nazi book trumps your Imperialist boys-and-their-toys-bullshit". Every thread is like the Olympic 100 metre final to you, isn't it?

Any beee-yatch that takes a 5-year-old kid hiking in the Karakorums in winter should be reported to social workers for child abuse.

Cheers

[vagabond]

I think you might actually like (or at least respect) Dervla Murphy. She still gets around at 77.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dervla_Murphy

In 2002, aged 71, Murphy planned to cycle in the Ussuriland region of eastern Russia. She broke her knee while on the Baikal Amur Mainline railway, then tore a calf while recuperating at Lake Baikal and her plans changed to a journey around Siberia by train, boat and bus, documented in Through Siberia by Accident. She revisited Siberia and wrote a companion book, Silverland.

[Royal]

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[el3so]

episode 333 of order of the stick