Sahara: The Life of the Great Desert - Hardcover

Villiers, Marq De; Hirtle, Sheila

3.77

97 ratings by Goodreads

9780007148202: Sahara: The Life of the Great Desert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007148208 ISBN 13: 9780007148202

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2003

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This volume provides a rich biography of the world's largest desert - its history, peoples, traditions, climate, creatures, tastes, sights and sounds. In the parched and seemingly lifeless heart of the Sahara desert, the endless dune of literary imagination, earthworms find enough moisture to survive. Four major mountain ranges interrupt the flow of dunes and gravel plains, and at certain times waterfalls cascade from their peaks; massive dunes can appear almost overnight, and then move by hopping; it spawns vast underground reservoirs and blind fish; and sudden savage storms, leave behind sand as soft as talcum powder. We think we know the Sahara, the largest and most austere desert on Earth - yet it is full of surprises, as Marq de Villiers reveals in this biography of the land and its people. Woven through de Villiers's account is a chronicle of the desert's nations and peoples: the extraordinary nomads - the Moors, the gardening sand women of Arawan, and the Tuareg (the famous "blue men") - who call the desert home today. Illuminated by eloquent written testimonies of past travellers, "Sahara" attempts to convey the majesty, mystery, history and abundance of life in what the outside world thinks of as the Great Emptiness.

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Review:

‘A fascinating, revelatory view of what still remains one of the world’s least known and most misunderstood regions’ Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times

‘It is the writers’ experiences with the people of this wilderness, so well presented here, that inspire awe...Michael Palin may have sexed-up the Sahara in the tie-in to his TV programme, but this book is the more satisfying read.’ Danny McElhinney, Ireland on Sunday

‘A fascinating portrait of an extraordinary place.’ Michael Kerrigan, Scotsman

‘I felt a real affinity with de Villiers and Hirtle as I began their new biography of the desert...To do justice to a contemporary understand of this desert, its long history and complex geography, de Villiers and Hirtle have been thorough in their research. With...broad perspective, the authors weave together the ongoing life of a desert that is forever changing.’ Nigel Winser, New Scientist

About the Author:

Marq de Villiers is the author of seven books on exploration, history, politics and travel, including Water: Our Most Precious Resource (which won Canada's prestigious Governor-Generals' Award), Down the Volga and Into Africa: A Journey Through the Ancient Empire, written with Sheila Hirtle. De Villiers and Hirtle live in Nova Scotia.

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