Across the Empty Quarter (Penguin Great Journeys)

An engaging and exciting tale, well told but quite obviously an extract from a larger work (Arabian Sands); it ends on a cliffhanger and refers frequently to people, places and events that have obviously been expanded upon in earlier parts of the original. I only knew Thesiger from his brief, gruff and hilarious appearance at the end of Newby's Walk in the Hundu Kush, where he comes across as a potential hard-man travel-wanker but this short piece shows a more thoughtful and interesting character and I'm now keen to read the original in full.

Wilfred Thesiger is to be included in that select list of the 'great travellers' of the world. 'Across the Empty Quarter' tells in abridged form the journeys that he made across the Arabian Desert in the 1940's. You can feel the extreme heat and the desolation and also be fully aware of the dangers he endured during these travels. Another thing that is clear is the companionship and help given by the Bedouin who travelled with him.
This is another in the series of 'Penguin Great Journeys', which I cannot recommend enough.

Travelling across the uncharted sand dunes of Saudi Arabia/ Oman in 1947 in the company of a group of Bedu. Thesiger tells of the camels; the desperate shortages of food and water...and the dastardly Arabs, eager to kill enemy tribes..and infidels. It's certainly a Great Journey...(to me) not one of the most gripping of this series - no fault of the author, but maybe crossing the desert (there and back) becomes a tad monotonous for the reader as you get towards the end.

Restless, gripped by an overwhelming wish to make a name for himself in a world ever more hemmed in by progress and 'civilisation', Thesiger (1910-2003) embarked on his amazing journeys across Saudi Arabia's Empty Quarter to test himself and to show what could still be done. The result was a monument both to his resilience and to the Bedu who guided him and who emerge as the book's real heroes.