Sahara is the book that Michael Palin wrote to accompany the BBC television documentary series Sahara with Michael Palin.

 

This book, like the other books that Palin wrote following each of his seven trips for the BBC, consists both of his text and of many photographs to illustrate the trip. All of the pictures in this book were taken by Basil Pao, the stills photographer who was part of the team who did the trip (Basil Pao also produced a book, Inside Sahara, containing many more of his pictures).

 

This trip involved traveling all around and through the Sahara Desert, starting and ending at Gibraltar. The book contains 13 chapters: Gibraltar, Morocco, Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Gibraltar. The reason Algeria is featured three times is that the trip first cut through part of western Algeria, then later up through south, central and eastern Algeria, and finally on the return trip followed the Mediterranean coast of northern Algeria. Some of these countries are huge; for example, Algeria is four times the size of France or three times the size of Texas. The Sahara Desert is roughly the same size as the United States, and the trip covered 10,000 miles (16,000 km.) and took three months.

 

 

Twenty-First Century Novels: The First Decade examines some of the most important fictional works published from 2000 to 2009. In order to help both students and casual readers develop a deeper understanding of these works, each title is covered in an entry that discusses style, characters, critical reception, and cultural and historical contexts, and provides recommendations of related materials and resources. With the participation of U.S. and international advisors, the list of titles has been developed to ensure broad coverage of world literatures, making Twenty-First Century Novels an excellent resource for multiethnic and multicultural curricula and communities.

Don’t look up

It won’t help. You can’t get out of the way, you can’t dig a hole deep enough to hide. The end is coming, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

So why read this book?
Because you can’t look away when not just the religious fanatics are saying we’re all going to be destroyed but the scientists are in on the act too. Here’s what they’re saying:

Ghostly legends abound wherever history has made its mark-from battlefields to monuments, prisons to inns. If these places have existed for centuries or more, and if they are where history-especially tragic history-was made, ghost stories will inevitably follow. The World's Most Haunted Places: From the Secret Files of Ghostvillage.com explores the history, folklore, and ghostly legends behind some of the world's most fascinating points of interest. Objective, educational, and entertaining, Ghostvillage.com's founder, Jeff Belanger, speaks with witnesses, psychics, and ghost hunters who tell their stories and share their research on haunted places around the globe. Take a world tour of history, the supernatural, and the macabre. You will explore libraries, museums, restaurants, inns, and landmarks from North America, South America, Europe, and Australia. But be careful: The World's Most Haunted Places may make you a believer!