Shadow of the Silk Road
£4.16
A fabulous book - I read this whilst travelling along the silk road through Uzbekistan. Thubron writes beautifully and with real emotion about the people and the places he visits, and evokes a real sense of what it s like to be there. I loved it - it made my journey so much more enjoyable and helped me understand the history, geography and culture of the place. Since returning from Uzbekistan, I ve read a few books about Central Asia - but it s Thubron s book I remember. I m about to embark on exploring some of his other titles, albeit from the comfort of my own home. Thanks Colin!
Picture of the former Silk Road Route - The London based author, Colin Thubron, travelled through China, Central Asia, northern Afghanistan, Western Asia, and reached the capital of Silk Road, Antakya (Anoioch) in 8 months. He travelled with donkey, camels, third-class trains, buses, and jeep. He describes an abundance of fascinating accounts in relation to those countries history, politics, commerce, industry, and the history of the Silk Road. Having visited many relatively unknown parts of these countries and discovered a series of the factual events, he conveys a number of untold stories of kings, aristocrats, and landowners. The descriptions include the dramatic change of Xian between the beginning of the 1980s and 2000, a number of half-constructed or largely decayed villages, displaced communities following the pollution and disasters throughout China. Colin Thubron clearly gives the local people s feelings, emotions, and struggles, that have been caused by the corrupt governments and totally disorganised bureaucracies. It is wonderfully written description of the Silk Road route in modern time.
wonderful hypnotic book - Colin Thubron is such an evocative writer. This is a fascinating read about a fascinating journey.
Travels in an unknown region - I enjoyed Mr Thubron s latest addition to his collection of travel books. The region visits in this book is relatively unknown in the West, even the bigger countries such as Kazakhstan do not feature regularly in the media. The author certainly gives those of us who know little of the region a very interesting taste of what life is like for the people s of central Asia and western China.I enjoyed most the history of the places the author visited and equally enjoyable were the author s stories of discussions he had with people he met along the way as this gave an insight into their daily lives. Towards the end of the book her travel across Iran and this is arguably the best part of the book. Iran was never somewhere I d have considered visiting before reading this book but having read it, Iran sounds like a fascinating place with friendly people. I found some of the descriptive passages (especially of places/locations) a bit long-winded but that aside, the book is well worth reading.
An experience by proxi - At the time of this review, I am about 70% through the book, which may mean that my views are unimportant compared with the three people reporting before me. However, I think that anyone who reads this book is likely to experience the feelings that I express here. Firstly an immense admiration for the stamina and bravery of Colin Thubron for undertaking such a demanding journey, at a time of life when most people are taking care to not over-extend themselves. Secondly, a feeling of inadequacy, faced with Thubron s immense command of the history of the regions he visits, the upside of this, on the other hand, is my own vastly increased knowledge by following up the information in the book - for example the life and times of Tamerlane. Finally, and slightly critically, I feel that Thubron s much admired writing does suffer from simile overload when describing the environment. Overall though it is a pleasure to read a travel book which concentrates on revealing the peoples and countries through which the author passes rather than revealing himself.