Glory in a Camel's Eye: A Perilous Trek Through the Greatest African Desert by Jeffrey Tayler BOOK REVIEW FIVE STARS

 

BOOK REVIEW - FIVE STARS

Glory in a Camel's Eye: A Perilous Trek Through the Greatest African Desert by Jeffrey Tayler

Trekking through Morocco's southern desert.

The author, Jeffrey Taylor, is an extremely talented writer who exquisitely paints pictures with words. His talents have made all of his memorable books classics. I am thoroughly impressed and await his next book.

When it comes to out of the ordinary outlandish adventures Jeffrey Tayler has set a standard uniquely his own.

I am thoroughly impressed after enjoying three of his high adventure escapades.

Excerpts;

During the Middle Ages Arabic became a language of science and literature and, by way of Medieval Latin, contributed to English a wealth of now common words, among them “alcohol,” “algebra,” “syrup,” and “coffee.” From the eastern realms of their empire, the Arabs brought back Hindi (“Indian,” later called “Arabic”) numerals and passed them on to Europe;

The Indian concept of zero permitted the birth of modern mathematics and science. The Arabs kept alive the ancient Greek notion that the earth was round and, through a work in Latin, delivered it to Columbus, thus aiding his discovery of the Americas.

“Come, let us show you how to pray!” Another: “Embrace Islam! If you speak Arabic you must embrace Islam!” They meant to express goodwill toward me by urging me to convert. I smiled and tried to think of a way to answer without causing offense. Noureddine came over and stood next to me. “I’m going to teach him all about Islam.” Ali said, “God will send him faith when He chooses.” “God willing!” all said. That put an end to the conversation, and we moved on. It was a tactful way to evade the question, and I would remember it.

Faith was a personal matter, and that we accepted it as such made it possible for us to become good friends.

I wanted to relax as they had, but now, with this talk of floods, I found I couldn’t. “Wait a second,” I said. “We’re camped right in the middle of this wadi and you’re telling me we could be swept away by a wall of water in the middle of the night?”

I asked Hassan what the Qur’an suggest Ruhhal use to wash themselves after sex when they were in the desert, away from water. (Bathing after intercourse is obligatory in Islam.) Did they apply the same thorn-spiked sand they used before praying?

THE SUN that had warmed us back to life at dawn in February now exhausted us by nine A.M. with its fiery April resplendence.

Life is too short to hold grudges; and we must do good to others. Bad deeds always come back to us.

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