Rating: 
Summary: Worth the effort
Review: If you are interested in the genre of travel writing where it merges with history then this book is worth the effort that it takes to read it. It takes a chapter, or two, to get used to the style of writing. Unlike so many other books of this type the editor has permitted the author to keep the quirks of style that allow the reader to acknowledge the presence of the individual rather than the blandness found in so many other books. As a result you gain an insight into the worlds of the author and IB. The fact that Mackintosh-Smith speaks fluent Arabic gives a depth to the book that is rare in similar works.
I read this book slowly and with great interest. Having some knowledge of the history of the region does help but is not a prerequisite. The reader is taken on a slow journey into a region of the world that is all to often portrayed as bordering on permanent chaos. It is not a book for someone who wants to skim or is disinterested in the minutiae of traveling in the footsteps of a long gone traveler. The end result is a satisfying and enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: Evocative, erudite tale from, yes, an orientalist!
Review: Those lucky enough to have read Tim Mackintosh-Smith (or "Ahmad Kandash," according to some of his native Arab neighbors) on his adopted land of Yemen (I wish the American press had kept the British subtitle "Travels in Dictionary Land") will find the same strengths in this account. Outside of, say, an Omani snack of dried shark and Scotch or a jeep bounce, the report from the hinterlands is driven more by insight than ignition. In the manner of many such travellers' tales from more leisurely pens and patient eyes, not much happens in the way of thrills; a subtler, refined retelling of IB's adventure through his own retracing gives a filtered, reflective sheen to the book.I sense throughout an unease with his "masahi," or Christian status--with many he meets understandably amazed at his command of Arabic, Tim's constantly finding himself almost apologetic for his "infidel" status. I wonder if ensuing books (long life to the author so he can tell his journey's sequel--even if he's the same age as me--not that old!) will unfold not only the geographic and personal encounters he tells so well, but his own spiritual struggles. Foreshadowed perhaps in the transcendent dervish dance he witnesses. Anyone who can gracefully cite the apropos Edward Lear allusion, the culinary reference (some of which escaped me due to my parochial palate), or learned medieval reference and still keep a travelogue dynamic and unassumingly witty while avoiding cliche or pandering is an accomplished scholar and a skilled word-smith. His range of knowledge enters at the right moment, and then recedes; he largely does not show off what he knows. Instead, he sprinkles it into the text to flavor the immediate image or conversation he's narrating to us. Not an easy feat. But the world he enters can never be entirely plumbed by a Westerner; skilled as he may be, this author knows the power of the unresolved detail. I have no idea how he makes a living, what he does exactly in Yemen, the depth of his Christianity, or his sexual preferences! (Despite his Crimean guide Nina.) This rendering, skillfully, shifts the focus on and off the first-person narrator. Conjuring up the aura of differance, as the French critics opine, endures and makes his encounters memorable. For instance, I wonder if Habibah's "tambul promoting, er, cohabitation" [p. 238] worked? His "research assistant" never seems to have reported back, or else Tim proves once again how mystery trumps the mundane.
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