false 2135393 2 <B>A funny and revealing travelogue of Kazakhstan, a country rich with wild tulips, oil, nomads who hunt with golden eagles, and a disappearing landlocked sea.</B><BR><BR>Closed to foreigners under Tsar and Soviet rule, Kazakhstan has remained largely hidden from the world, a remarkable feat for a country the size of Western Europe. Few would guess that Kazakhstan&#151;a blank in Westerners' collective geography&#151;turns out to be diverse, tolerant, and surprisingly modern, the country that gave the world apples, trousers, and even, perhaps, King Arthur.<BR><BR>Christopher Robbins enjoyed unprecedented access to the Kazakh president while crafting this travelogue, and he relates a story by turns hilarious and grim. He finds Eminem-worship by a shrinking Aral Sea, hears the Kazakh John Lennon play in a dusty desert town, joins nomads hunting eagles, eats boiled sheep's head (a delicacy), and explores some of the most beautiful, unspoiled places on earth. Observant and culturally attuned, Robbins is a master stylist in the tradition of travel writing as literature, a companion to V. S. Naipaul and Paul Theroux. 2140878 2007 Apples Are from Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared total:83|5:20|4:43|3:17|2:3|1:0| 83 329 152 25 4 3 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jan 06 18:18:58 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 06 20:00:28 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 3 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 28 11:37:06 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 28 11:42:34 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Sep 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 17 19:12:04 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 23 17:18:47 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 04 21:55:28 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 20 22:34:35 -0700 2008
That sentence hooked Robbins. It hoo...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 22 05:56:52 -0700 2008 Thu May 22 13:24:22 -0700 2008
This book is a lovingly-written, extensively researched ode to a little-known and much-mocked nation. The author, aside from traveling to the remotest parts of this already remote country, also makes a thorough study of the Kazakh president and political h...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Aug 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 08:58:10 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 09:12:45 -0700 2008
My favorite part of the book is the description of how Kazakhstan got its own ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 02 15:32:06 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 24 16:20:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 09:30:54 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 09:33:37 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Mar 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 14 08:23:36 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 19:48:28 -0700 2009
During a flight from London to Moscow, the author of this book met a man who told him, "Apples are from ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jul 08 07:48:10 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 08 07:52:40 -0700 2008 I enjoyed Robbins' writing style and how he chose to introduce the range of material.
I would recommend this book to anyone.]]> 4 1 false false Wed May 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed May 28 19:05:35 -0700 2008 Wed May 28 19:08:16 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Mon Nov 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Aug 03 13:13:37 -0700 2008 Mon Nov 24 14:58:52 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 25 16:02:44 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 25 16:10:36 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Wed Sep 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 15:22:38 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 16:10:13 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun May 31 13:48:53 -0700 2009 Sun May 31 13:49:51 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 14 17:57:21 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 14 17:58:44 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed May 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 21 19:12:14 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 18:45:41 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Jun 22 12:56:20 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 12:56:38 -0700 2009 ]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 18 00:48:03 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 15:28:24 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 00:48:03 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 13 06:42:08 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 13 06:49:46 -0700 2008
However, it's no...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2135393