Reviews (1)

Beautiful & Massive Documentation of Life on the Savannah.
Anup and Manoj Shah have distinguished themselves in the populous field of wildlife photography by producing expressive and beautiful portraits of wild animals thatdocument the individuals' lives while achieving impressive aesthetic grace. Many of the brothers' photographs are simply unforgettable works of art that I never tire of looking at. "The Circle of Life" is a massive book that contains 235 photographs of wildlife on the African Savannah. About 40 species of mammal are represented, as well as some birds and reptiles. In the most comprehensive photographic essay of wildlife that I have ever seen, the Shah brothers document the lives of the many animals who live and die in this vast African ecosystem that spans much of Kenya and Tanzania. The authors have organized this photographic odyssey by dividing the book into 20 chapters, each showcasing one aspect of life on the Savannah. The early chapters show us the basic elements that create and sustain life. Some example chapters are: "Driven by Wet andDry", "Light and Energy", and "Shaped by Fire and Elephants". The book then moves on to the subjects of birth and growing up on the Savannah. "Natural Selection", "Adaptation and Diversity", "Peaceful Coexistence", and "Mother and Offspring", for example. Then we see the lives of adult animals. Some examples are: "Herds and Social Groups", "Grazers and Browsers", and "The Hunters". And finally these animals die, returning to the earth, and the "circle of life" begins again: "Scavengers and Decomposers", "Land and Life". Each chapter begins with an essay written by Anup Shah that explains what that particular facet of life on the Savannah entails and how it fits into the greater life cycle.Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Grassland animals    3. Grassland ecology    4. Life Sciences - Zoology - General    5. Nature    6. Nature/Ecology    7. Photography    8. Pictorial works    9. Subjects & Themes - Plants & Animals    10. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Africa    11. Wildlife    12. Kenya    13. Nature / Wildlife    14. Photographs: collections    15. Places & peoples: general interest    16. Tanzania    17. Wild animals   

Reviews (5)

Missing coordinates
Yes, LPK is fine source. But there are lot of people (including me) using GPS. And we miss coordinates & waypoints.

Lonely Planet guide to Kenya
Lonely Planet giudes are in general great.The guide to Kenya is no exception.The guide not only gives you a great deal of information about where to go and what to see but also lets you learn about the country before you get there.They also describe the country in an interesting and easy to read style.A little knowledge goes a long way when traveling and this guide is filled with useful information.

This is THE travel guide for Kenya
I was simply stunned by the number of detailed maps in this book.The amount of information for each region of Kenya is outstanding and well done.If you need to know it - it's in this book.Hotels, restaurants,parks, reserves, tribes, Swahili it's all here.Very nicely organized. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Kenya    5. Travel & holiday guides   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (21)

The Best Autobiography I've ever read
I find most autobiographies to be masterbatory exercises in which the authors attempt to explain themselves.
There Is No Africa
Underlying Blixen's tale of early 20th century Africa is the presumption that there was such a place; that is, a people or nation of peoples existed to which she went and from which she was forced to depart by economic circumstances. This presumption a priori allows her to reminisce about Africa the way it was or was supposed by her to have been.
Here I am, where I ought to be.
I'm another reader who comes to Out of Africa by way of Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye; and it became recommended reading before I visited Kenya for myself in the early 90's.So, having just finished it and now half way through Shadows on the Grass, my overall impression is a pleasant one.I enjoyed Dinesen's writing style very much, and would agree with many readers that Out of Africa deserves a place among the classics in English literature.It's Karen Blixen's memoirs of her time in Kenya around WWI, living and working on her coffee plantation near Nairobi.Her descriptions of the Natives, her European friends, the land, the animals, flora and fauna are incredible.The chapters shift back and forth in time, some focused on specific events and individuals, some more whimsical and anecdotal.Reading Out of Africa transports the reader into early 20th Centrury colonial Kenya, and more concretely, onto Ms. Blixen's farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills.Years later she takes up her time in Africa again in Shadows on the Grass, talking more about her loyal Somali servant & right-hand man, Farah, taking a more philosophical tone regarding "masters & slaves", Native superstitions, manners, and so on.Shadows is inferior in many ways to Out of Africa, and it feels more like an "addendum" to the main work, which is poetry by comparison.By the time she writes it, she seems to have grown slightly more distant, and well, Colonist European.
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Subjects:  1. 1895-1963    2. 20th century    3. Authors, Danish    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Country life    9. Description and travel    10. General    11. Kenya    12. Literary    13. Social life and customs    14. Women    15. Biography & Autobiography / Women    16. Dinesen, Isak    17. Homes and haunts   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Kenya    6. Travel & holiday guides    7. Travel / Africa   

Reviews (5)

SureShot
Lana Wong has done a great job of putting together a remarkable collection of some of the best adolescent photography the world has seen. Not only are the photos an accurate portrayal of the desperate lives thesechildren and thier families lead, but they are full of expression. The MYSA Shootback project has helped these children find talemts they never expected they had, or never had the opportuniy to nurture. Lana Wong has done a beautiful thing for so many people, if you are interested in africa and photography, this book is a must.

SureShot
Lana Wong has done a great job of putting together a remarkable collection of some of the best adolescent photography the world has seen. Not only are the photos an accurate portrayal of the desperate lives thesechildren and thier families lead, but they are full of expression. The MYSA Shootback project has helped these children find talemts they never expected they had, or never had the opportuniy to nurture. Lana Wong has done a beautiful thing for so many people, if you are interested in africa and photography, this book is a must.

good pictures, not the same as going there
This book is a great collection of pictures from Mathare, but it is no replacement for going there.I just returned from spending the last five weeks in Mathare and neighboring Eastleigh, where some of the worst povertyin the world exists.The book portrays graphic images and does a wonderfuljob of trying to capture the stark reality of the plight of these kids. Read more

Subjects:  1. Kenya    2. Nairobi    3. Photo Essays    4. Photoessays & Documentaries    5. Photography    6. Photojournalism    7. Pictorial works    8. Poverty    9. Slums    10. Squatter settlements    11. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Africa    12. Youth    13. Photographic reportage    14. Photography / General    15. The Arts: General Issues   

Features

• Audiobook

Reviews (38)

He phoned this one in.
Deeply disappointing in quality and quantity for this Bryson fan. I order his titles automatically, but would have passed on this had I read the reviews first and realized it was a CARE puff piece .

An easy-to-read introduction to Africa
This is a good-humored and entertaining record of Bryson's visit to Kenya.It's a short book about a short trip, and so it would make a good read for someone just beginning to get interested in Africa.

Bill Bryson's African Diary
Though short, the sad realities don't necessitate a longer one.As usual, Bryson's writing is very enjoyable. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Travel    2. Kenya    3. Travel writing   

Reviews (8)

Very informative
Having gone through the preparation to climb Kili, I found this book to be very informative ... especially the sections on traveling through Tanzania and Kenya.Much thanks to the other reviewers for warnings on the use of Diamox and the need for conditioning.

An essential guide!
Cameron Burns has filled a void with the publication of this climbing and trekking guide for Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. While much is probably written about Kili, there is very little practical literature about Mount Kenya. The introductory pages are full of useful hints for traveling in Kenya that, from my recent experience there, all ring true. The route descriptions on Mount Kenya, while lacking in some detail, certainly convey the necessary information for a successful climb. It is already time for a new edition, however, since some of the features have changed. Kami Camp, for instance, no longer exists.

Agree with Keith Kendall - Caution advised
As others have noted Mr. Burn's book is well written, and informative. But as Keith D. Kendall correctly observes in a review elsewhere on this page, the notion that a trek to the summit of a 19,000 foot peak may be accomplished without achieving a high level of cardiovascular fitness is not only misleading and potentially dangerous, but frankly absurd. Ditto for Mr. Burn's comments on the use of Diamox, which he either doesn't understand(his comments in the book indicate little experience with its correct use), or again, dismisses out of hand as he has never had to use it. You may. The information in the book is valuable, but as with everything else, it is only a single point of view. I liked the book a great deal, but take some pause when obvious misinformation is attributed to an `expert' source. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Guidebooks    3. Hiking    4. Kenya    5. Kenya, Mount    6. Kilimanjaro, Mount    7. Mountaineering    8. Sports    9. Sports & Recreation    10. Tanzania    11. Travel    12. Climbing & mountaineering   

Reviews (14)

An Attentiveness That's Admirable
How she does it I don't know. She's incredible, seeing beauty in everything, painting vivid pictures for all to delight in. Presuming it to be only remnants from her perfect book I Dreamed of Africa, I doubted the caliber of this work. I was skeptical but willing - but Gallmann has proved that everything she touches illuminates in melodious detail. Whether it is the amplification of a salmon pink sky, silhouettes at dusk, a tree that appears imbued with knowledge, or a night sky saturated with the sounds that are Africa, Kuki's awareness and ensuing stories are exceptional - encroaching inspirational. There is something in every story that appeals to heart and soul. I almost wanted to frame each story separately as if it were a sapphire or quartz rarity, explicit, precious and real. I'm so impressed by her writing and the lighted manner in which she takes in Africa. It's wonderful.
Life on a pedestal of African oppression
I was quite offended by this white settler's life of endless parties, adventures, gourmet foods and travel around the world and throughout the stunning countryside of Kenya. Based on the colonial legacy of British, one of the many brutal European powers that profited from the domination of Africa, Gallmann was able to purchase 100,000 acres of land, stolen through the colonial system. All of Africa is in fact the birthright of the African people themselves. Gallmann's book is full of idealized and romanticized stories in which she is the central star. For a more realistic view of Kenya where nearly 60 percent of the people still live on less than $2 a day with a life expectancy of only 45 years, see, for example, Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya by Caroline Elkins. This is the story of the British slaughter of the Kikuyu people of Kenya in the 1950s who were put by the millions in concentration camps and murdered when they were rightfully struggling for the liberation of their homeland.

Avoid This Book
If there is such a thing as "the ugly American abroad," then this book is proof that there is also an "ugly Italian abroad."The book is poorly written and the author has no cultural sensitivity whatsoever.I grew up in Africa, and can't imagine that there is a reason for anyone to read this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Description And Travel    6. Ethnic Cultures - General    7. Gallmann, Kuki    8. General    9. Historical - General    10. Kenya    11. Laikipia District (Kenya)    12. Social life and customs    13. Women    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (2)

Deeply fascinating or just Deeply disturbed?
Peter Beard has not gotten wiser in his old age. He has given into his vices and chosen the superficial payoffs over any morals. He has found no escape from his aimlessness, no direction from his chaotic meanderings. Where has this man ever really gone? Why has he become so tragic? This book reveals the illusion of greatness, the anticipation of accomplishment. But sadly, decades later, we see how withered and little this man has become. One wonders, was he ever even exceptional? He seemed fearless and passionate. Now, he just seems fatally emphatic and senseless. He is like a machine grinding to a halt.

A fabulous biography on Peter Beard
"The Adventures and Misadventures of Peter Beard in Africa" is a spectacular look at the life of this well-known photagrapher and author. The writing is vivid and fascinating. The book is also illustrated throughout with Mr.Beard's excellent photographs. This book is a history lesson, ecology lesson, and art lesson all rolled up in one book, and is well worth reading. A real gem, about an amazing personality! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. (Peter Hill),    2. 1938-    3. Beard, Peter H    4. Biography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. General    8. Individual Photographers And Their Work    9. Kenya    10. Photographers    11. Pictorial works    12. Soil degradation    13. Travel    14. Travel - World/Africa    15. United States    16. Wildlife depredation    17. Biography: general    18. Photography & Photographs    19. The Environment   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Kenya    6. Tanzania    7. Travel & holiday guides    8. Travel / Africa   

Reviews (1)

An Eyeful of African Beauty!
This book is packed with stunning shots of aerial views of the countryside, the wildlife parks, the mountains, (e.g. the Mt Longonot crater) and the lakes & islands. Even for one like me who was bornand bred in Kenya, the clarity, angle and panoramic view of the shots issimply stunning and taught me that there is amazing beauty all aroundme...I'm just not tall enough to see it all! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Photo Techniques    2. Africa    3. Kenya    4. Photographs: collections    5. TRAVEL & HOLIDAY   

Editorial Review

One of the most beautifully crafted books I have ever read, with some of the most poetic prose passages I could imagine, such as the following, resonating with a stately and timeless quality so absent in our modern life: Read more

Reviews (97)

FEMALE AFRICAN BUSH PILOT IN THE 30's GIVES INSIDE VIEW
Beryl Markham's book West with the Night is a true story of how she lived and worked in Africa as a push pilot back in the 1930's -- almost amazing for a woman...what an experience alone-- what an adventure-- but her writing -- ahhh that's something amazing in itself....from dealing with the Blackwater Die to the lion who almost ate her to search for a Libyan port and a fallen colleague-- a beautiful book...each chapter is written almost like a true short story....she's a beautiful writer and to think this is a piece of our women's past that is here to still cherish-- belongs on the shelf of every women's studies office...great for a young woman to read....especially great gift to a chick going off to college.

Beautifully Written
West With the night is Beryl Markham's memoir of life as a bush pilot in 1930s Africa. The beautifully written prose paints evocative pictures of the Serengeti in the reader's brain, and each paragraph is dense and satisfying. A wonderful read, especially for fans of Out of Africa - and some of the same people are mentioned in this book.
Probably the most beautifully written book I have ever read.
The exceptional wordcrafting in West With The Night brings Africa alive and makes it almost a personal experience. Beryl Markham was a most interesting individual and her life growing up in Africa is the beautiful background for this book. I have only reread one book in my sixty-some years and this is it. I enjoyed it at least as much the second time around.
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Subjects:  1. Africa - Kenya    2. Africa, East    3. Biography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Description And Travel    7. Historical    8. Horse breeders    9. Markham, Beryl Clutterbuck    10. Women    11. Women air pilots   

Reviews (3)

Wonderful Journey
This book was more than I had hoped for.The moments captured are extrordinary, some of the best photos of African Wildlife I have ever seen.I haven't read the text yet, but the captions by the photos are very informative and contain little interesting tidbits I didn't know.I have a lot of coffee table books and this is definitely a favorite.

The most beautiful book ever published
Having been to this area of Africa three times, twice in the Masi Mara and once to the Serengeti this book brings me back over and over again to this heaven on earth. The combination of drawings, photographs, and writing of Jonathan and Angela Scott are outstanding. This is my all time favorite book. The love these authors feel for this area and the animals and people who live there comes through on every page. For anyone who has the slightest interest in wild animals, ecology, photography, art, travel or Africa this book is a must have. Awesome!

Beyond the Photo Safari!
Mara-Serengeti captures the essence of living in the Mara-Serengeti region in a way that you would not experience in a dozen safaris to Africa.The images of predators, prey, wildlife migrations, and the Masai bring you close up during moments of blazing color in the sky and dramatic action in the grasslands.The images are improved by thoughtful essays that draw on the photographers' many years of experience with these subjects.Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa - Central    2. Masai Mara National Reserve (Kenya)    3. Photo Techniques    4. Photoessays & Documentaries    5. Photography    6. Pictorial works    7. Serengeti National Park (Tanzania)    8. Subjects & Themes - Travel - General    9. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Africa    10. Africa    11. Photographs: collections    12. Wild animals   

Reviews (2)

Horrible
Whatever you do- DONT buy this worthless book. Unless you just want to stay in 5 star lodges and do and see NOTHING ELSE. I had the Lonely Planet Kenya that I dragged with me backpacking in Kenya- It was wonderful. The East Africa Lonely Planet is great too. Save your money!

Not for Tanzania
The coverage of Tanzania in this book is quite sparse. I did not find it to be useful at all, and a great disappointment. I then went out and bought Lonely Planet's book on Tanzania, and was very pleased with the depth of information it offered, including such things as maps of towns with locations of ATM's, hotels, etc and color photographs. This is a much more useful book if you are going to Tanzania. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Kenya    6. Tanzania    7. Travel & holiday guides    8. Travel / Africa   

Reviews (13)

An interesting work
The author tags along on a couple of scientific studies and reports what actually goes on. Very entertaining and enlightening but the theory that proved most promising is discounted in a similar study so we still don't have the answer to why the lions are maneless. But, that's nature...

The blend of science and adventure here makes for a riveting read
Philip Caputo's Ghosts Of Tsavo: Stalking The Mystery Lions Of East Africa blends travelogue with nature in telling of the author's journey to Kenya's Tsavo National Park on foot with his guides, then in companionship with two scientists who seek close encounters with the big cats. Are the maneless lions found in Tsavo a subspecies of African lion, and a missing link? These lions are especially fierce, and the blend of science and adventure here makes for a riveting read.

The Outlaw Lions
"Tsavo" means "place of slaughter" - the lions there are abnormally large, have maneless males, and are historically known as man-eaters. In 1898 two rogue lions terrorized a railway construction project; these lions were called "Ghost" and "Darkness" and inspired a 1996 film about this event. The Tsavo district is in south Kenya adjacent to Tanzania. This pair of lions would sneak into the construction camp at night, snatch up men from their tents and consume them within hearing distance. The engineer in charge, Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson, was an experienced tiger hunter but was often outwitted by these beasts. The contract laborers from India came to regard them as body-snatching demons. Eventually Patterson shot one lion from a platform. He trailed the second after wounding it (pp.7-8). A century later another man-eating lion appeared (pp.9-21). Note how this implies another form of colonial oppression: the people cannot keep and bear arms. A dozen 12 gauge shotguns could eliminate these wild beasts.Read more

Subjects:  1. Animal attacks    2. Animals    3. Description And Travel    4. Individual Species Of Mammals    5. Kenya    6. Lion attacks    7. Lions    8. Mammals    9. Nature    10. Nature/Ecology    11. Tsavo National Park    12. Wildlife    13. Africa    14. East Africa    15. Nature / Animals    16. Photographs: collections    17. Travel writing    18. Wild animals   

Subjects:  1. Travel    2. Sport, Travel and Leisure Interests    3. TRAVEL & HOLIDAY    4. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (9)

Naipaul's glance at post-Colonial Africa
Shiva Naipaul's _North of South: An African Journey_ is the most cynical book I've ever read.It is a travelogue of the author's visit to three postcolonial African countries in the 1970s: Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.Naipaul is a Hindu, born in Trinidad, and he pays attention to the role (and plight) of South Asians (Hindus, Pakistanis, Sikhs, Parsees, etc) in East Africa.He also focuses on the black-white relations in Africa as well.Naipaul gives Africa and everyone involved in its affairs (whites, blacks and Asians) no credit whatsoever.Declining European colonial powers gave their African colonies political independence in the 1960s and a variety of demagogues like and Julius Nyerre in Tanzania who took power spouting third world varieties of socialism and Marxism.Despite claims of social and economic progress, Africa remains as backward as ever. Naipaul freely writes of his disgust with the countries and its deceived leadership from the first page of the book until the last.This book, like another reviewer noted below, certainly is not going to make it into a black studies program anytime soon.It is a relief from portraits of Africa that classify it as a tropical paradise, a land of innocents exploited by evil Europeans, or conversely an AIDS infested human disaster.Naipaul's cynicism shows Africa the way it really is-struggling, corrupt, deceived, but at the same time Afroca is chugging along optimistically in some areas, with idealism and occasional realism, and attempting to do as well as it can to develop itself.No dry textbook prose here; the book is short, easy to read, engaging and very well written.

Sadly neglected and misunderstood masterpiece
This is a wonderfully written book; Naipaul's proses flows effortlessly across the page, the connexion between thought and word is seemless.The comparatively small body of work Naipaul produced before his tragic early death has been neglected in favour of that of his less talented, but longer lived, brother (a Nobel Prizewinner).However in this one work, Naipaul's prosody surpasses anything produced either by his brother, or by other twentieth century travel writers like Thoreau.That said, some of the other reviews here are ludicrously jaundiced and do a disservice to the book itself.This is no crude work of 'anti-pc' nonsense (an American political term that the archly European Naipaul would have shuddered at).The prose is not illiberal (in the American sense of the term) but rather aristocratic, in the best tradition of Evelyn Waugh (the writer Naipaul most resembles).Like Waugh, Naipaul's caustic observations rip into the heart of human weakness and frailty, exposing the hypocrisy and cant from all sides.The pretensions of ghastly businessmen disgust him as much as the crudity of the black 'socialists'.Those who seek to defend either Marxism or any form of business enterprise system face Naipaul's perfectly expressed derision.I personally found Naipaul's lack of human feeling at the extent of Africa's poverty a little shocking but it is a rapturous pleasure to be so shocked.

Tragic, funny account of the Way We Were ....
North of South describes Shiva Naipaul's journey through Eastern Africa as it emerged from colonialism several decades ago. Optimism and energy prevailed alongside a blind faith in imported philosophies which pundits failed to translate meaningfully to the impoverished, illiterate masses around them.
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Subjects:  1. 20th Century Description And Travel    2. Africa    3. Description and travel    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. Kenya    6. Naipaul, Shiva,    7. Social Situations And Conditions    8. Tanzania    9. Travel    10. Travel - General    11. Zambia    12. Development studies    13. Journeys    14. Mozambique    15. Naipaul, Shiva    16. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    17. Travel / Essays & Travelogues    18. Travel writing    19. Uganda   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Guidebooks    3. Kenya    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Travel & holiday guides    7. Travel / Africa   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Kenya    5. Travel & holiday guides    6. Travel / Africa