Rating: 
Summary: Allah-u-akbar!
Review: Allah-u-akbar! A sensitive and witty exploration of part of the world few if any of us will ever experience. Hansen appreciates what the Yemeni with whom he comes into contact can give, and is thankfully not as judgemental as he probably could have been given some of the trials he went through. Well worth the ride
Rating: 
Summary: Motoring with Mohammed
Review: Autobiographical in nature, Eric Hansen takes us from a shipwreck on a desert island in the Red Sea in the late 1970s to a decade later in Yemen. Prior to the shipwreck, Hansen had spent a number of years traveling the globe and had kept journals of his travails and encounters around the world. He buries the journals on the island once rescue is imminent for fear of losing them to people who might destroy them. Ten years later, he decides that he needs to come back to grips with that parts of him life and returns to Yemen in the hopes of retrieving the journals. Hansen spends months in Yemen meeting anyone he thinks might be able to help him pull the right strings, and write the necessary permissions to allow him to return to the little island which is deep in militarily strategic waters. Although we hope he eventually does retrieve the journals, the stories, the smells, the tastes, the experiences and the wildly odd-ball people he encounters make for an extremely engaging tale in the meantime. He chews qat, he visits bathouses, he climbs mountains, he suffers in the oppressive heat of the deserts, he avoids being taken as a western hostage (a common practice among Yemeni tribes in their negotiation efforts with the government), and he makes some very unusual acquaintances. "...in a country where Allah was calling most of the shots, there was little sense in distinguishing between five hours and five weeks." ...we are left with very slight feelings of desolation for the lives of the Yemeni and the state of this country, fairly unknown to the Western world. To anyone who has traveling in the Middle East, or even those who have done the 'young single person in the world' trips in Asia, Africa, or Latin America, will enjoy the spots Hansen gets into and the spirit and resourcefulness he uses to get out of them.
Rating:
Summary: a pleasure and delight to read!!
Review: Eric is an intelligent author who describes his adventures and troubles in intimate detail. This is an interesting tale of adventure and the search for something that is within us all. I can't wait to visit Yemen and compare my experiences to that found in this book.
Rating:
Summary: motoring with mohammed
Review: great book. lived in yemen for a bit, and fell helplessly in love with the country. Reading Motoring with Mohammed was the closest thing to visiting that I've found yet...so until I go there again i'll be re-reading it...my strong recommendations for this book. Great description/adventure. The real thing.
Rating:
Summary: If this area of the world interests you...
Review: Hansen's STRANGER IN THE FOREST is one of my favorite travel adventure books of all time. I found ORCHID FEVER fascinating and funny, albeit too short, but MOTORING W/ M, his earliest tome is just not as well-written as the others. Sometimes the descriptions are lacking and sometimes the narrative isn't easy to follow, probably because Hansen doesn't know where his quest will take him. I found his adventures interesting, the lack of sanitation in Yemen, and his ability to deal with it, amazing... but I found myself wondering how he managed to eat in squalid "restaurants" and never become ill? Since he doesn't detail his health, but details the filth, it was an area I wanted to know about. His trek into the mountains, without a permit, and his run-ins with the Yemeni military were fascinating and frightening, but ultimately, I found his final journey to the island, where he'd buried his journals 8 years before, unsatisfying because he rushes through the final adventure and doesn't detail the actual dig for his journal. 200+ pages of Yemeni history, culture and adventure and then a few scant paragraphs on the finale of his 8 year quest left me wishing he'd written more about his experiences trying to find his buried journal on the island. This earlier work also made me realize how much he has improved as a travel writer... Hansen is still one of the best, but this earlier work is not the best example of his writing prowess.
Rating:
Summary: If this area of the world interests you...
Review: Hansen's STRANGER IN THE FOREST is one of my favorite travel adventure books of all time. I found ORCHID FEVER fascinating and funny, albeit too short, but MOTORING W/ M, his earliest tome is just not as well-written as the others. Sometimes the descriptions are lacking and sometimes the narrative isn't easy to follow, probably because Hansen doesn't know where his quest will take him. I found his adventures interesting, the lack of sanitation in Yemen, and his ability to deal with it, amazing... but I found myself wondering how he managed to eat in squalid "restaurants" and never become ill? Since he doesn't detail his health, but details the filth, it was an area I wanted to know about. His trek into the mountains, without a permit, and his run-ins with the Yemeni military were fascinating and frightening, but ultimately, I found his final journey to the island, where he'd buried his journals years before, unsatisfying because he rushes through the final adventure and doesn't detail the actual dig. 200+ pages of Yemeni history, culture and adventure and then a few scant paragraphs on the finale of his eight year quest left me feeling he'd written more about it and it also made me realize how much he's improved as a travel writer... Hansen is still one of the best.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful read
Review: I must say that I was impressed, by the temperament of the author, and his writing style. Mr. Hansen has written an entertaining book, with a simple style, but great insight. I loved reading it and then thinking about it, a sure sign of a great travelogue. I plan on going to Yemen, and Inshallah, one day I will, and Mr. Hansen' s account will give me a good starting point.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most engaging books I've ever read
Review: I read this book nearly at one sitting, literally sitting, up in bed one night when I should have been sleeping. Four or five times I awakened my husband, shaking the bed with my laughter, especially when Mohammed moved a sheep into the back seat of his taxi for the next five days, saying, "The sheep won't mind."
Eric Hansen has scored with this book, and I've recommended it to probably 40 people and given it as a gift to 5-6.
Read it and enjoy in - on many levels.
Rating:
Summary: Eric Hansen captures the flavor of Yemen.
Review: I read this book shortly after returning from my own trip to Yemen with my husband and children. Eric Hansen caught the spirit of the people and presents it to his readers without falling into that all-too-common trap of criticizing that which he may have found unpleasant. I learned much about Yemen by reading this book and asking my husband about it later. I still refer to chapters in his book when discussing world events with friends. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys exploring forgotten lands, and for anyone who is happy tagging along for an interesting cab ride around the beautiful land that was once part of the ancient Kingdom of Sheba. It's easy to become entranced by the people and their way of life, and Eric Hansen presents it well. Enjoy....
Rating:
Summary: A very insightful adventure
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Although I have no intention of traveling to the Middle East, it was very interesting to read of the author's experiences. The book is well written and very descriptive. The first 61 pages detailed the shipwreck. The remaining 175 pages described his experiences as he tried to recover his journals. The three maps helped me to visualize his journeys throughout Yemen. There were a number of funny parts. Even if you don't plan on traveling to the Middle East, you'll enjoy this book!
|
