Tracks (1980)

A 27 year old Australian woman decides to train camels and walk across Australia's interior with them. ( )

I don't often read factual books, but this account of a woman trekking across Australia on foot was fascinating. It is funny and sad by turns - from accounts of the author shovelling poo in the early chapters, to the no nonsense way she deals with 'running out of meds', to the incident with the dog, this is constantly interesting and surprising. As I suspect I will never trek across Australia with a camel for company, this book was the next best thing. ( )

Tracks has been sitting on my TBR mountain for over a year; I finally decided to start it yesterday when a book, From Alice to Ocean: Alone Across the Outback, arrived from the library. From Alice is composed of pictures taken by National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan accompanied by exerpts from Davidson's book. The pictures were awesome, but reading Tracks and trying to keep my place in From Alice was difficult; the writer and the photographer, though together for most of the trip, seemed to be miles apart in recording aspects of the trip that were intriguing. My favorite part of Tracks was the leg of the trip in which Davidson traveled with Aborigine elder Eddie. Davidson appeared to change dramatically during the time she spent with Eddie, becoming a more substantive person. Overall, I would say that I found Glamour's assessment of the book ("the women's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance") exaggerated, but the book, for me, provided a fascinating (and safe) look at a perilous part of the world. ( )

A young woman learns how to handle camels, then sets off across the Australian deserts ( )