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I enjoyed this book a lot. Although I have traveled a lot, like others this was not an area of the world I was very familiar with. Both in terms of the geography of the Steppes and the people/history of land, I had a lot of learning to do. But beyond that I also really appreciated the attention paid to describing the needs of his animals and how any inattention to their needs could result in immediate precariousness.
I’m glad Tim made the journey because this is one of the few travel books I’ve read that left me with no desire to visit the places he went to. I feel no desire to experience the landscape he traversed or (and I am not one to usually feel this way) many of the people. The constant shadow of imminent threat to his animals and possessions, the many encounters with others perpetually impaired as they cope with how centuries-old ways of living have been destroyed and the way so many women are treated. It wore me out just reading about it. Like so many impositions that disrupt any people-group’s way of living, the results are always devastating. And if any responsibility is ever accepted on the part of those who destroy lifestyles they don’t understand, it’s way too late to matter.
Like others have indicated, I too was appreciative of some of the timely history provided regarding the Crimea. That has really helped to more fully grasp what is going on their now and how immoral this annexation really is. This is not the place to get too political, but Tim’s book provoked me to poke around a little further to gain some historical context to the current conflict and that too was helpful.
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