Shadow of the Silk Road

By Colin Thubron,

Book cover of Shadow of the Silk Road

Book description

Colin Thurbon's beautiful prose unfolds along the Silk Road, unearthing a richly layered past on his most ambitious journey.

On buses, donkey carts, trains, jeeps and camels, Colin Thubron traces the drifts of the first great trade route out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Shadow of the Silk Road as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Again, a writer I love, more serious than the likes of Bill Bryson but no less readable.

This book records a journey from China along the historic Silk Road and across the world to the mountains of Central Asia, encompassing time in places such as Afghanistan, which was a difficult place then and one where circumstances deteriorated subsequently.

It is writing that makes you dwell on the history and want to follow every step—and every page.

From Patrick's list on feeding your lust for travel.

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Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

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Interested in the Silk Road, Afghanistan, and Central Asia?

The Silk Road 17 books
Afghanistan 94 books
Central Asia 31 books