Marq de Villiers

For many around the world, the mention of Timbuktu conjures images of a far-off land so remote that very few have even been there. Even the well-traveled have never been there. Many still consider it a mythical place. But for the 54,000 people who still live there, in a town mainly constructed from mud bricks, the city holds a rich place in the history of West Africa and Mali in particular. It was a part of the great Saharan trade routes, visited by the medieval explorers Leo Africanus and show more Shabeni, and ruled by the wondrous Mansa Musa during the 14th century. Marq de Villiers’s and Sheila Hirtle’s Timbuktu is a rich journey into this long-forgotten place.

No one really knows exactly how Timbuktu came to be or how it was named. Some say it is a Songhai construction meaning the “Wall of Butu.” Others propose it derives from the Berber timbouctou, meaning “a place covered by small dunes.” Others still point to a Zenaga phrase meaning “a hidden place.” In any case, the town of Timbuktu occupies a central place in the Malian countryside, having been a part of the Malian Empire since the early 1300s with the coronation of Musa I. Since then, with each new regime or leader, Timbuktu has absorbed a new culture and identity. Under Musa I, it became a center of learning and attracted many medieval scholars. Each one brought tales of the city to their homelands, and thus, the mystique of Timbuktu grew.

I read this one while on vacation and it was like a vacation in a vacation. De Villiers’s and Hirtle’s text is rich, expansive, beautiful, and a little sad all at the same time. While the city may not be much to look at today, they make it seem like the only place on Earth worth visiting. Their travels take them across Mali to learn and trade stories with other scholars. Each one offers a new and exciting piece of the puzzle of Timbuktu’s history and current place in the African landscape. While the luster of the city may have dimmed over the years, the stories have not. Any lover of medieval or African history will find this book thoroughly enjoyable. show less

This is what happens when you tell the North Atlantic Ocean to go pound sand.


Sable Island is the narrow 30-mile long exposed part of an large sandbank, sticking out of the ocean about 110 miles east of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is the home of a couple of Canadian coastguards, about 100 semiwild horses, a couple of enzooic insects, a few pods of seals, some hardy plant life, and whatever the wind blows in or the waves wash up. This last includes over 500 shipwrecks, which eerily disappear and show more reappear into the dunes. The authors attempt to explain the geology, history, flora, fauna and politics of the island; they do an adequate job, but that’s it. The book feels like a magazine a article treated with growth hormone; enough to be interesting but never quite enough of what you want to know.


One section that raised some mental flags was the description of two shells found on the island beaches; a scallop Argopecten irradians and an oyster Crassostrea virginica. The authors make the point that both species are locally extinct, but that they “...thrived in Sable’s lagoons and surrounding waters when temperatures rose after the Ice Age receded.” What bothers me here is while scallops can swim (sort of) and thus have a chance to avoid burial by shifting sands, oysters permanently attach to something and are thus really unlikely to find in an environment like the Sable Island sand bank. Were the shells carried in by currents from elsewhere? Was there a lot more hard ground and less sand in the area? I’ll have to check that out.


Good for an afternoon’s read, not for deep study. show less

I enjoyed the chapters about the physical nature of the Sahara much more than the chapters about the peoples of the Sahara. I think that it came down to an impossible task, which was to summarize the histories of dozens of different tribes, invaders, and cities all in a single section of a single book. By necessity the coverage of each group/city had to be brief, and this gave very little feeling for what they were really like. The nature chapters, however, were outstanding.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! If you ever wanted a detailed glimpse of the mess that the Soviet Union created within it's own borders, this is a book that will help. The overwhelming focus is on Russians due to the geography covered in the book, but there are some other ethnic groups mentioned as well. The fact that the author has a pretty good sense of humor made the read a lot easier. At times I was laughing hysterically. For example, the search for the source of the Volga is quite show more comical. Attempts to eat at various restaurants had me rolling as well.

At the end though, you end up feeling sorry for the people who have been economically ruined through poor government policies. Some people in the book believe the lies that communism put forth. Others know it's all a lie but accept life as it is in Russia. There are also some who are attempting to transition to a free market economy from an overly regulated inefficient government controlled market.

Some important questions are asked and some important ideas are discussed. In the end, not all of them have answers. I expected a book centered around geography. It ended up being much more than that. History, current events, humor, sadness, etc. Overall a thoroughly good read. I recommend this to anyone who has an interest in the Russian people and the disaster that communism was for them. show less