WINNER OF THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL WRITING AWARD 2019
Financial Times Summer Book of 2018
"Atkins displays throughout a fine descriptive touch . Delightfully variegated...Gripping . An entertaining volume." ― Observer, Book of the Day
"A rich and refreshing travelogue ... A genius idea...Atkins reminds a world shrunken by Google Earth that true discovery remains not only possible, but exhilarating...he has achieved that very rare feat: to see the world in a grain of sand." ―Financial Times
"Unified and potent storytelling ... Intoxicating ... Suspenseful passages keep us gripped ... If the aim of modern travel writing is to teach readers something new of the world, then this book has richly succeeded." ―TLS
"A treat for desert lovers ... [Atkins] uncovers the many guises of the desert with much imagination, insight and wit." ―Spectator
"Gorgeous ... The tensions the book sets up between life and death, aridity and fertility, wet and dry, loved and lovelorn, begin to resolve." ―Guardian
"[A] subtle and quietly powerful book." ―Daily Telegraph
"The author becomes a kind of sensor in the wilderness, electrically gathering together these stories. The result is is a book in which to get lost and find another world: not an arid, blank waste, but a richer, more extraordinary place than we ever suspected." ― Philip Hoare
One third of the earth's land surface is desert, much of it desolate and inhospitable. What is it about this harsh environment that has captivated humankind throughout history?
Travelling to five continents over three years, William Atkins discovers a realm that is as much internal as physical. From the contested borderlands of the USA to Australia's nuclear test zones, via Nevada's riotous Burning Man festival and the ancient monasteries of Egypt, he illuminates the people, history, nature and symbolism of these remarkable but often volatile places.
