PLACES IN BETWEEN
In January 2002 Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan--surviving by his wits, his knowledge of Persian dialects and Muslim customs, and the kindness of strangers. By day he passed through mountains covered in nine feet of snow, hamlets burned and emptied by the Taliban, and communities thriving amid the remains of medieval civilizations. By night he slept on villagers' floors, shared their meals, and listened to their stories of the recent and ancient past. Along the way he met heroes and rogues, tribal elders and teenage soldiers, Taliban commanders and foreign-aid workers. He was also adopted by an unexpected companion--a retired fighting mastiff he named Babur in honor of Afghanistan's first Mughal emperor, in whose footsteps the pair was following. Through these encounters--by turns touching, confounding, surprising, and funny--Stewart makes tangible the forces of tradition, ideology, and allegiance that shape life in the map's countless places in between.--From publisher description.
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What Hacker News says
- Imperial by William T. Vollmann
It is an almost stream-of-consciousness dissection of the social, cultural, geographic, and hydrologic history of an area that most would write-off as desert wasteland. It gave me a portal into the complexity of an ordinary place and how it is viewed through the lens of a genius.
The Places In Between - Rory Stewart
An introduction to how radically different and complex societies outside-the-fold of the Western world can be, and how ancient many of their traditions and way of life are. It also reminded me that real adventure necessitates risk.
The Great War for Civilisation - Robert Fisk
Taught me that whatever I know about foreign conflict, I know nothing about foreign conflict.
The Best and the Brightest - David Halberstam
Provides a template for how the US government embarks upon adventures abroad. Taught me how stupid tremendously smart people can be when you get them all together in one room.
- Yes, Rory Stewart's book "The Places In Between" is a great read. His recounting, for example, of visiting the impossibly remote Minaret of Jam (built in the 12th century!) is fascinating.
- I highly suggest reading `The Places in Between` (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/95643.The_Places_in_Betw...) about something similar.
