The Immeasurable World Paperback by William Atkins

Product Details

• Publisher: Signal (2019-06-04)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 352 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780771007705
• Item Weight: 453.6 grams
• Dimensions: 9.0 x 6.0 x 1.0 cm

In the classic literary tradition of Bruce Chatwin and Geoff Dyer, and for readers of Ryszard Kapuscinski and Rory Stewart, a rich and exquisitely written account of travels in eight deserts on five continents that evokes the timeless allure of these remote and forbidding places and their inhabitants.

One-third of the earth's land surface is classified as desert. Restless, unhappy in love, and intrigued by the Desert Fathers who forged Christian monasticism in the Egyptian desert, William Atkins decided to travel in six of the world's driest, hottest places: the Empty Quarter of Oman, the Gobi and Taklamakan Desert of northwest China, the Great Victoria Desert of Australia, the man-made desert of the Aral Sea in Kazkahstan, and the Black Rock and Sonoran Deserts of the American Southwest, and Egypt's Eastern Desert. Each of his travel narratives effortlessly weaves aspects of natural history, historical background, and present-day reportage into a compelling tapestry that reveals the human appeal of these often inhuman landscapes.

About the Author

WILLIAM ATKINS is the former Editorial Director of Pan Macmillan U.K. He is the author of The Moor, which was a finalis for the Thwaites Wainwright Prize. He works as an editor and his journalism has appeared in the Guardian and Granta. In 2016 he was a recipient of the British Library Eccles Prize. When not trekking across desert wastes on far-flung continents he lives in London.