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This was a terrific book, really almost a perfect amalgamation of depth, breadth and incident. It is a fascinating account of lands and history of which I'm lamentably ignorant and one of the best books I've read this year.
I don't have anything to add to the positive comments above with which I'm in entire agreement, so I'll mention my only quibble, that occasionally when Cope's personal life intruded, especially with the death of his father, I thought the loss of momentum was unfortunate even though it was intrinsic to his story. I've always liked travel narratives but I deplore the current trend where navel gazing is central to the account and the trip is almost incidental. I know I'm not being fair to Cope who wasn't guilty of this overall, and the death of a parent is both huge and clearly creates logistical issues. Just the same, I would have appreciated editing that section down and getting back to his journey in fewer pages.
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