Year of Reading 7: "Yemen: The Unknown Arabia"

I have been thinking of going to Yemen for some time. I bought this book about two summers ago, but finally starting reading it in earnest recently. The author has started writing a series of books on Ibn Battuta, one of the world's greatest travellers. I might read the second of that series this summer. His book on Yemen is a more personal fair, though, since that is where he has been living for some time. This work is quite fascinating. Mackintosh-Smith is a new type of travel writer. He doesn't tell you as much about where he is going as what you learn from where you go. This book has an amazing series of fables and histories about the land that he has come to love.

One of the stories I particularly liked was about a race of one legged, one armed men, who the people in Yemen ate. This race of people wasn't particularly smart, and were easy to catch. One day three of them are hopping along and one of them gets caught by a Yemeni man. The man starts to cook the one legged man and his two friends watch him die. One of them calls out to the other: "At least they didn't catch me." Since he is so dumb he has revealed his position and is quickly caught. The third one watches his second friend being cooked and says stupidly "I'm glad they didn't look over here." The book is full of little amazing stories like that. Quite enjoyable. Makes one want to learn the language so I can enjoy these types of tales.

Reading it will hopefully enhance my trip to this land. I can't believe I leave in only six days. It used to be weeks. Now mere hours. Must say, I am getting a little nervous. I look forward to the experience though.