In Search of King Solomon's Mines

Tahir Shah is one of the best travel writers ever. Period. I want desperately want to travel with him. No, scratch that, I want to BE him. I want to get paid to go on grand adventures with the threat of death and disease in foreign countries in pursuit of impossible goals. Is this so much to ask?
Shah’s first two books take place in India and Peru respectively. In this book, Shah finally writes about a continent near and dear to my heart – Africa. While on vacation in Isreal, Shah finds an “old map” in Ali Baba’s shop in one of the many touristy sections of town. It claims to be a map to King Solomon’s gold mines in Ophir. The location of Ophir is something of great debate between religious scholars, but Shah decides to go show more with the ones that advocate Ethiopia as being the mystical land of Ophir. And so, he goes in search of King Solomon’s gold mines in various regions of Ethiopia, including Gondar, Lalibela, and eventually into the mountains on the border between Ethiopia and Somalia. As in his other adventures, he finds a guide somewhat arbitrarily. In this case, he meets Samson, a taxi driver who used to be a gold miner. He happily employs Samson and takes off in search of gold. On the way, he experiences what I would consider to be hellish circumstances, but he always manages to relay these in a humorous and self-deprecating manner.
Shah is one of the most underrated travel writers ever. WHY AREN’T YOU ALL READING HIS BOOKS? And that’s all I have to say about that. show less

I didn't know what to think of this book when I first started reading it. It was recommended to me by a friend who I think knows the gist of what I like to read and she definitely got it right.

It is a lot travelogue, some history, a lot of adventure, some politics, a bit of religion and, at times, very funny. Shah is a good writer and he has the kind of sense of humor that I like...somewhat inappropriate and not interested in being overly politically or religiously correct. He also like to poke fun of ridiculous people and situations and is somewhat self-deprecating.

Ethiopia is one of those countries that I know through stamp collecting. Of the African countries, Ethiopia is one of the more popular collecting areas, especially the show more earlier stamps which are colorful, exotic and somewhat elusive. As it turns out, it also seems to be a beautiful country, at least as described by Shah in this book. And it also turns out it is a dangerous country to live in...crime, political strife and poor living conditions are rampant in parts of the country and, my guess is if it were anyone else but Tahir Shah making this same trip, they would not have survived.

I am not going to go into the substance of the book because that is what everyone else seems to do and there is already a brief overview in the Goodreads synopsis. I will say that it had me going to Wikipedia and Google maps to look at the various sites and locations he visits in his search for King Solomon's Mines and there were times his encounters with various people along the way were genuinely odd and funny.

I don't think a non-Muslim could have made a similar trip and survived, especially in the years after this trip was made and the book was written. Shah's travels and forms of transportation are hair-raising and some of the tribesmen and situations he gets himself into are just plain dangerous.

In the end I really like the book which is why I gave it 4 stars and I especially like when I get excited about something...I wanted to learn more about Ethiopia so I used google images, maps and wikipedia to look at and learn more about the places Shah visited. It was interesting going to the State Department's webpage and looking at what they had to say about visiting various areas of the country. The border areas with Eritrea, Somalia and Kenya are places to avoid. I also did a search of current archaeological digs/sites in Ethiopia...like Kenya, many of the earliest human ancestors have been found there.

What's more, Shah is funny and I appreciated the humor and it made me smile. I have said before that many supposedly funny books leave me wondering where the humor is...not this one. Trust me, Tahir Shah had to have a good sense of humor to put up with some of the circumstances he found himself in. show less

A fun book by a writer whose style is unobtrusive and light-hearted. This one takes the reader to Ethiopia and on an adventure to discover the fabled gold mines of Biblical times.

After finding an intrigueing map in a tourist shop in Old Jerusalem Shah became obsessed with finding the legendary King Solomon's Mines.

He traveled extensively through Ethiopia in search of the source of King Solomon's celebrated wealth, and this is his account of those travels.

The destinations that he visited were so remote and rugged that this book might well have been written in the 19th Century, but it was written just a few years ago.

I'm a confirmed arm-chair adventurer. I adore reading about a time when the world was so much bigger, when there was so much left to discover. In Search of King Solomon's Mines both satisfied and inflamed my appetite for travel/adventure writing.

I must read more of Shah's travel writing, not to show more mention H. Rider Haggard's famous novel of a similar title. show less

Makes me want to go to Ethiopia (visit Lalibela's rock-cut churches and stay in the Jerusalem guesthouse). But it's not as good as Shah's best, The Sorceror's Apprentice - the narrative here is less coherent and more rushed.

A keen observer of culture and place, Shah sets off on a quest through largely undeveloped landscape. He hires a nominally-Christian cab driver to take him via roads often more than ruts and bare ground. I really enjoyed (?) this adventure -- one I'll never have the courage nor opportunity to take.

Do it.
The Indiana Jones of travel writing takes you on yet another riotous ride in his quest to find the source of King Solomon's gold in Ethiopa, the land of the Queen of Sheba.
Do it.
Loved his previous book The Sorcerer's Apprentice, where he becomes an initiate and isciple to Indian fakirs and miracle workers....wonderful!
Edgy, strong, hallucinogenic writing.
Do it.

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