Wilfred Thesiger, this century's greatest living explorer, recalls his travels among the mountain ranges of Asia. Eventful, interesting and remarkable achievements in their own right, the Asian journeys - among the Hindu Kush, the Karakorams and the Pamirs - have inspired many of the finest photographs Thesiger has ever taken and contribute significantly to his standing as a great traveller and explorer. Spanning a period of over 30 years (1951-1983) this book draws on Thesiger's original diaries of his various journeys and his vivid memories of them, and includes some 80 or so previously unpublished photographs of the stunning mountain scenery he saw and the people he encountered.
There's a lot to really enjoy in this book. Join Wilfred Thesiger as he embarks on epic journeys which take him into some of the planet's harshest and remote places. Struggling over mountain passes, sleeping in the snow and seeing sights that few Europeans had ever seen, Thesiger delights in the challenges of surviving in the unforgiving wilderness.
Despite the beautiful pictures, and the vivid descriptions of everything ranging from incredible mountains and clouds to small flowers and fish, this isn't Thesiger's best work. There isn't the same intimacy in the writing in part because Thesiger wrote it years later relying on his diaries and also because he relied on interpreters on his journeys. He's just not able to establish the same bond with his companions.
The places Thesiger explored remain remote, perhaps inaccessible to most of us but books like this are a portal on a vanished world. Despite the faults with the book, it's a world worth discovering if you're interested in exploration.
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