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Shadow of the Silk Road

by Colin Thubron

3.60 · rating details · 668 ratings · 168 reviews

"Shadow of the Silk Road" records a journey along the greatest land route on earth. Out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran and into Kurdish Turkey, Colin Thubron covers some seven thousand miles in eight months. Making his way by local bus, truck, car, donkey cart and camel, he travels fro

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Hardcover, 363 pages

Published July 1st 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers (first published 1989)

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Jan 02, 2012

Jim rated it

Shelves: nonfiction, travel

It would be a waste of time to recreate the reviews already posted here, all glowing and full of accolades, many deserved, though I was less enchanted with the book overall than some readers. I thought it was a solid work and an interesting travel piece, recounting some of his earlier travels, but I was not blown away. I enjoyed some of the historical information, especially tidbits such as that remnants of the Roman legion colony settled in China, but his focus seemed to consistently zero in on...more

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May 31, 2008

Dale rated it

Shelves: history, adventure, nonfiction, favorites, travel

Shadow of the Silk Road is a phenomenal book. The author, British travel writer Colin Thubron, traveled from Xian, an ancient capital of China, to Antioch in Turkey along the silk road, blending broad historical knowledge with acute observations of contemporary life.

Thubron speaks Mandarin and Russian, and as able therefore to speak directly with many of the people on his journey, at least until he arrived in Afghanistan. A theme throughout the book is the mix of peoples, with tribes...moreShadow of the Silk Road is a phenomenal book. The author, British travel writer Colin Thubron, traveled from Xian, an ancient capital of China, to Antioch in Turkey along the silk road, blending broad historical knowledge with acute observations of contemporary life.

Thubron speaks Mandarin and Russian, and as able therefore to speak directly with many of the people on his journey, at least until he arrived in Afghanistan. A theme throughout the book is the mix of peoples, with tribes and nations spanning the current political borders. Most of western China has been populated by Tibetans, Uighars, and other central Asian people for a very long time, and is only now being colonized by Chinese. The Chinese are hated by the native people because of the vast migrations that are underway. Native cultures are being subsumed by a Chinese industrial juggernaut. Old towns are being covered over by concrete and by soulless industrialization.

The silk road was never a single road, but a kind of nervous system with two heads: one in China, one on the Mediterranean. It has existed in some form for nearly 3000 years. Silk began to appear in the Mediterranean by at least 500 B.C.E., having been cultivated in China since 2000 B.C.E. And Greek and Roman images began appearing in China by about 300 B.C.E. No one person actually traveled the length of the silk road - in Thubron's words, no Chinese traders appeared on the Palatine to surprise native Romans. Instead, goods were transported by different traders via intermediaries along the route, enriching those intermediary cities in central Asia and Persia.

Today, as ever, the route is dangerous and often isolated. Thubron traveled by train, bus, truck, private car, on foot, horseback, camelback, and only once by plane, across the northern section of Afghanistan, where no driver would go, with or without him. He was quarantined for a time because of the SARS virus, and had a few close calls when crossing borders.

By the end of his long journey he was clearly ready to be done. He rushes through the last part of the trip, in southern Turkey, almost as an afterthought. After the long stretches of genuinely wild and dangerous travel, he seems not to have been aware of just how interesting a trip through Turkey would be for most of us.

This book gave me a much clearer view of the geography and people of Asia than I had before. I would never want to retrace Thubron's journey, so reading about it is as close as I will get to experiencing central Asia and the silk road. (less)

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Apr 18, 2008

Annie rated it

Shelves: 2008_books

It took me a long time to work through this, as it often does with non-fiction. I liked the blend of history, description, and people's stories. I didn't know much about a lot of the areas Thurbon traveled. My only complaint was that, while Thurbon was upfront about a lot of the current realities, there were obvious places where he glossed over things. The amount of latitude given to him to just wander around China was a little hard to credit, for example, and at key moments, rides just amazing...more

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Jan 14, 2009

Jane rated it

For Shadow of the Silk Road, Thubron traveled the entire length of the former Silk Road between China and the West, and as such, two-thirds of the book focus on locales outside of Central Asia. Nonetheless, it too was thoroughly engrossing, and I highly recommend it. However, since the space of time which Thubron spent in Central Asia in this book was much less than the time spent in this region for The Lost Heart of Asia, it isn’t as detailed or informative. If you can only read one of the two ...more

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Jan 24, 2012

Vicky rated it

· review of another edition

If you have been to China, are planning on going to China (or the Islamic republics of the former Soviet Union) or just like good travel writing, this book is for you. This is a fascinating acccount of the author's travels along the Silk Road from eastern China to Turkey (a part of the world I don't know much about) I could have given it 4 stars, but I did skip a few sections that seemed a bit slow going. Especially interesting are the descriptions of the many sacred sites and what is happening ...more

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Jan 17, 2012

Kevin rated it

· review of another edition

One of my favorite genres is the travel narrative--Paul Theroux, Tony Horwitz, Bill Bryson. And one of my favorite travel narrative locations is China--it’s vast, geographically, socially.. any way you look at it. I was looking forward to this book because it combined a couple of my favorite genres. But I’m under whelmed. It seems Thubron was on journey to work out some personal demons or issues. This would be fine, but combining it with a travel narrative is confusing--is it a travel book?...more

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Jan 08, 2012

LeeAnn rated it

“Shadows of the Silk Road” by Colin Thubron, 2007 Harper Collins Publishers
Review by LeeAnn Sharpe
“Shadow of the Silk Road” records 68-year-old Englishman Colin Thubron's journey along the greatest land route on earth, The Silk Road. In his 9th travel book Colin takes us along, without a camera, only his elegant prose to describe the land and people. From the heart of China, Xian, into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran and into Kurdish...more“Shadows of the Silk Road” by Colin Thubron, 2007 Harper Collins Publishers
Review by LeeAnn Sharpe
“Shadow of the Silk Road” records 68-year-old Englishman Colin Thubron's journey along the greatest land route on earth, The Silk Road. In his 9th travel book Colin takes us along, without a camera, only his elegant prose to describe the land and people. From the heart of China, Xian, into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran and into Kurdish Turkey, Colin Thubron travels for some seven thousand miles in eight months along routes he had been before many years ago.
“Making his way by local bus, truck, car, donkey cart and camel, he travels from the tomb of the Yellow Emperor, the mythic progenitor of the Chinese people, to the ancient port of Antioch in perhaps the most difficult and ambitious journey he has undertaken in forty years of travel,” reads the dust jacket. The contrast of then (his previous experiences) and now, examination of the ancient and current conditions, provide a glimpse of how history has treated this most ancient of lands and people.
Without a camera, Thubron must paint a picture for us to see what he sees and that is the beauty of his prose. You can see, hear, smell and taste all he experiences in explicit detail. And you hear the voices in his head as he senses danger and fear in this insanely dangerous part of the world. Language is seldom a barrier as his gift for talking to people and getting them to talk to him is intriguing. Speaking Mandarin, Russian or the mélange of the many tongues along the way, he always finds a translator and or driver willing to take the time with him to explore.
We learn through his discussions with the common people there has been good and bad in the changes they have seen. China, transformed since the Cultural Revolution, has cities with all of the trappings of Paris or Rome and other towns untouched by the modern world. It has people making it rich and others in extreme poverty. Religion all but extinguished in the past is resurging in unusual ways. It’s a society without a conscious as we know it in the west. All of the stereotypes of China are just that and totally out of step with the reality of China today. The internet has opened the world to China. A generation ready to abandon their own world for what they view as a better world are quick to jump aboard the consumer train. Change in China is at an extremely fast pace with markets opened to her commodities worldwide.
The former Soviet held countries are faced with false nationalisms and an identity crisis on so many fronts. Ethnically Chinese intermixed with races of multiple invasions though the centuries from Alexander’s armies to Tamerlane and Genghis Kahn. Since the Soviet withdraw, factories have closed and workers are unemployed. On some level people felt better off under Soviet occupation. They have found the cost of freedom leaves them hungry.
True boundaries are not political borders, but the frontiers of tribe, ethnicity, language and religion. “It is a magnificent and important account of an ancient world in modern ferment,” reads the book jacket. So true, as the people of this ancient world survive upheaval after upheaval and still manage to get up each morning and go about their lives. Few places are untouched by the prejudice of where their people came from, their religion, or their class.
“Shadow of the Silk Road “encounters Islamic countries in many forms. Some are seemingly hard line totally devout in public, yet speaking another line in private. The young are playing a waiting game until the old mullahs die off and they can effect real change. The extremists we hear about are a small minority in most Islamic countries. The majority of their “faithful” go through the motions, and follow the traditions not even knowing the words they pray.
The only shortcoming of Thubron’s book is the fate of women and children. They are absent for most part as is the case in most of the Islamic world. A strange man would not have access to women. We briefly encounter a few women of great strength and courage. But most are elusive.
Still this story was intriguing and insightful about a part of the world most of us will never experience. And as Thubron often found, is quickly fading, being erased by war, development, weather and time. It made me think how sad the world will be when we lose the uniqueness of all of the wonderful cultures of the past all being homonogized into a dull sameness. At least we will always have stories like these to remind us of the rich culture that once was the “Shadow of the Silk Road”.
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Sep 25, 2011

Ste J rated it

Shelves: travel

I wanted this book for ages and having read a fair few travel writers, it was nice to pick up a book where the reviews didn’t harp on about the hilarity of the words contained within, Perhaps it’s just me but travel books are about the people and places visited and not all about the author and his or her humourous misadventures.

Nevertheless when reviewers use phrases like ”erudition metamorphose into exquisite prose (The Economist) and ‘haunting, elegiac, melancholy [and] magical’ (Fi...moreI wanted this book for ages and having read a fair few travel writers, it was nice to pick up a book where the reviews didn’t harp on about the hilarity of the words contained within, Perhaps it’s just me but travel books are about the people and places visited and not all about the author and his or her humourous misadventures.

Nevertheless when reviewers use phrases like ”erudition metamorphose into exquisite prose (The Economist) and ‘haunting, elegiac, melancholy [and] magical’ (Financial Times), you have to hope you are onto a good thing and not something really pretentious and self loving.

Colin Thubron travels along the first great trade route out of and subsequently into the heart of China. A journey of 7000 miles encompassing many well known countries such as modern Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan as well as trouble hotspots Afghanistan and Iran.

The Silk Road was for thousands of years the most important trade route in the world, linking Asia to Europe, and to travel it is to take in not only an evolution of culture that inspired empires but also to see of the roots of the many turmoils of today in these regions. This book then becomes equal parts travel book and history book. Showing the spreads of religions, scientific discoveries, architecture, spices and fashions, amongst others along the Silk Road that changed and inspired cultures, a bit like a sandy internet if you will.

Starting in China, an interesting contrast soon begins to appear. Thubron revisits people whom he met in a previous book (entitled Behind the Wall) and shows how the new wealth and materialism of China is affecting them, (for better or worse) and their way of life. This is a theme repeated throughout the book evoking an air of melancholy, a yearning for the past from people in transition, yet tinged with hope from the younger generations.

I don’t say this often, if ever, with a travel book, but the way this book is written impresses from the first page and the quality exudes throughout the rest of the book. Thubron is a serious travel writer with a rich and diverse vocabulary. Each person is portrayed with care and attention and in short he makes you wish you knew the people he meets and afterwards wonder what they are upto now. If you only pick up one travel book this year then go for this.
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Feb 10, 2009

Lyn Maccorkle rated it

Style detracted from content.

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Jul 31, 2008

Allisonperkel rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, travel

there are parts of this book that are amazing (Xian comes to mind and several of the strangers he meets on his journey) but sadly the author's writing style is very much one that I don't like - overly descriptive almost as if he was being paid by the word. If you like old British travelogues - where the flowery prose is more important than the tale - this may be the book for you. On the other hand, if you are looking for something more - its still here - but its buried.

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Jan 21, 2010

Tony Taylor rated it

Shadow of the Silk Road records a journey along the greatest land route on earth. Out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran and into Kurdish Turkey, Colin Thubron covers some seven thousand miles in eight months. Making his way by local bus, truck, car, donkey cart and camel, he travels from the tomb of the Yellow Emperor, the mythic progenitor of the Chinese people, to the ancient port of Antioch—in perhaps the most difficul...more

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Jun 03, 2010

Maggie Dijkstra rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, travel

in the shadow of (the scam from) "a million little pieces" i wondered about a third of the way into this book if it could be trusted: could this one man truly have traveled 7000 miles on his own? are the stories he relates so fantastic to be believed or has he invented them? how many languages DOES he know in order to successfully get through this journey?

half way through the book i decided to give mr. thubron the benefit of the doubt not least because i looked him up on t...more

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Oct 02, 2009

Cliff rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I am interested in doing some travel on the Silk Road so when I saw this book in a bookstore I bought it, hoping it would help me decide whether I should travel there or not.

Thubron undertook most of the travel, from central China to the Mediterranean, in 2003, repeating a journey he had made 20 years earlier. It is essentially a chronicle of his thoughts and feelings during the journey. There are maps showing the route he took but he uses words, not photographs or drawings, to des...more

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

Colin Thubron has spent a lifetime exploring Asia, and he displays his significant regional knowledge and experience in Shadow of the Silk Road. Universally acknowledged as one of our best living travel writers, Thubron brings to this book the astute perception for which he is known and the beautiful prose style he has honed for more than 40 years; what is even more impressive, however, is the incredible sense of enthusiasm he brings both to his journey and to his writing. As Jonathan Yardley wr

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Jan 18, 2012

Tamar rated it

There is a lot to be said for this unusual travel narrative. It's lyrical and brings to life corners of the world that even armchair geographers like me have only dim images of. I've long been fascinated by the Silk Road so naturally I enjoyed reading about its modern-day incarnation. As much as I enjoyed it, though, the writing felt a little restrained to me, as though riddled with sins of omission. It's not unpleasant to be spared the practical details of long-term travel, but on the other han...more

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Feb 21, 2011

Mary Ann rated it

In this book, Colin Thubron details his seven thousand mile trip along the ancient silk road. Through his eyes, I traveled the well-traveled paths through areas which are uncomfortably familiar from the nightly news updates. In Shadow of the Silk Road, I was transported back and forth between the ancient and the present. Thubron introduces us to residents who are blond or red-haired with blue or green eyes, evidence of those ancient visitors from the west. We experience his frustration with the ...more

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Sep 01, 2010

John rated it

British travel writer Colin Thubron follows, more or less, the path of the Silk Road, the ancient trade route connecting the East with the West. I'm not entirely sure what year this was; 2005, I think. A portion of the journey took place a year later because of war in Afghanistan.
But we know that there is always war in Afghanistan. His journey covered western China, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. I'm glad Thubron took this journey and wrote about it, because it's not a journey I...more

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Sep 03, 2010

Gabriela rated it

Shelves: travelogues

Colin Thubron is not only "the pre-eminent travel writer of his generation" as The SUNDAY TELEGRAPH says about him...he is much, much more than that and his latest book is his legacy for this genre.
Delving into the milleniums of history while going along what used to be the Silk Road, from Xian to Antioch, he diggs out stories on people, temples,tombs,cities-that-have-been, abandoned citadels, forgotten villages, disappeared civilizations.... and tells them with such a melancholi...more

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Nov 24, 2010

Scott rated it

This book follows the author as he journeys along the Silk Road from Xian to Antioch, documenting his modern-day experiences and tracing the complex, violent history of the region. Having traveled in the Silk Road region of Western China this summer, I thoroughly enjoyed the first-third of the book focused on that region. The descriptions of the constantly changing cities, increasingly capitalism-focused people, and the isolation of the desert countryside resonated with my own experiences. Th...more

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May 15, 2011

Emma K. rated it

this book was unlike any travel book I have ever read. It describes the landscape in a grey, ethereal, ghostly way. The way the author experiences the lands he passes through is fascinating- both in what he observes and what he leaves out. I It made me want to travel to China - somewhere I had never really considered going before. A must read if you are interested in the East, although it follows the silk road's path, it doesn't discuss that type of history very well. Instead it looks at the mod...more

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Feb 10, 2010

Lorraine rated it

· review of another edition

Considered the best of British travel writers, Colin Thubron chronicles his 7,000-mile journey in 2003 and 2004 (begun when he was about to turn 64) from Xian, China, to the Turkish coastal city of Antioch.

Although China closed itself off from the West in the mid 15th century. their inventions still made their way west: printing, the crossbow, gunpowder, lock-gates and drive-belts, the mechanical clock, the spinning wheel, iron-chain suspension bridges, equine harnesses and deep-dri...more

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Nov 04, 2009

Anita rated it

My Museum book group read Colin Thubron's book to learn about the Silk Road.
Much of the writing was beautifully description, but it was too detailed description, so became a slog. Everyone agreed that it was a chore to wade through pages of detail about the difficult travels through former silk routes, and left a depressing view of life there today. He moves from Xian, China to eastern Turkey, through mountains and deserts of the "-stans," describing the complex cultures and gene...more

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Feb 02, 2010

SK rated it

Thubron is a travel writer and, according to some reviewers, is well-respected. This book details his return journey along the Silk Road starting in China and going west through regions that have seen much political, cultural and military upheaval. He travels without credentials trying to attract as little attention as possible. His descriptions of the terrain, art, housing, food, people, religious and conveyance are extremely detailed--too much for me. For those who have a background in art...more

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Nov 11, 2009

Nancy rated it

I love Colin Thubron's prose and eagerly await each new book. But, prose aside, this was not as enjoyable a read as previous books. It seemed like the author was depressed and there was a lot of dreariness, which I suppose might be expected for the locale, but the charm of his interactions with the variety people he generally would meet on a journey was lacking and even the history did not come alive as it usually does. I cannot say why the book has such saddened tone, the hope of youth that ...more

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Apr 21, 2010

Jean Doolittle marked it as to-read

Shelves: from-page-a-day-calendar

At the age of 63, Colin Thubron began his 7,000-mile trek from Xi’an, China, to Antioch, Turkey, along the trade routes known as the Silk Road. He had traveled these parts before, and this book is rich with his memories and his knowledge of the road’s ancient history, which he uses to frame his sharp observations of its teeming, changing present. The writing is sometimes comic, sometimes poetic, always stimulating. “An exhausting journey and a marvelous book,” says Harper’s Magazine.
SHADO...more

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Jun 26, 2011

Juha rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: people interested in cultural history, especially along the Silk Road.

Shelves: asia, central-asia, china, history, politics, travel

This book records the eight-month journey that the author took through what is probably the most fascinating part of the world, traveling west from China through Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, ending in Turkey. He writes amazingly beautiful prose and his observations are deep and heartfelt, often containing intricate details about the landscapes, cultures, people he encounters. He talks to a wide variety of people and, importantly, gets them to talk to him. A famous British travel writer, he h...moreThis book records the eight-month journey that the author took through what is probably the most fascinating part of the world, traveling west from China through Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, ending in Turkey. He writes amazingly beautiful prose and his observations are deep and heartfelt, often containing intricate details about the landscapes, cultures, people he encounters. He talks to a wide variety of people and, importantly, gets them to talk to him. A famous British travel writer, he has visited these places three decades earlier, but his historical commentary stretches far before that to the ancient times. He tells stories of times when peoples and cultures were on the move, emperors and conquerors shifted, goods and ideas moved along the Silk Road. Colin Thubron knows his history.

The journey starts in Xian in central China from where Thubron travels west, the early part of his trip somewhat hampered by the SARS epidemic in the country. This first part of the book is perhaps the most tedious. There are lots of cultural sites that Thubron visits and which lead to ponderings about history and mixing of people along the Silk Road. He harbors an animosity towards the Communist China and the Cultural Revolution (which obviously was sheer madness and one of the most destructive passages of modern history), as well as the Han Chinese domination of the ethnic minorities in the western parts of the country. The anger about the loss of culture simmers just beneath the surface.

Most of the trip, starting in western China, travels through Islamic lands, which serves to demonstrate the enormous variety in the practice of that religion. The voyage continues through Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which exist as countries only after Stalin’s Soviet Union annexed and created them as such. Even their history and myths were created. The true identity lies with ethnicity, clan and religion. The Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek and Turkmen—even the Chinese in the east—mix in a patchwork which doesn’t respect national boundaries. Thubron observes and discusses with people the post-Soviet world (many long for the stability of the Soviet Union), the revival of Islam (which has been limited to small minorities and hardly has a bright future in Central Asia), and the future, revealing much uncertainty and confusion.

He crosses into Afghanistan and arrives in Mazar-i-Sharif witnessing the aftermath of the war in which numerous, often ethnic-based militias have been vying for control of territory, resources and people’s lives since long before the emergence of the Taliban and US-led invasion. But the Taliban were the craziest—uneducated, ignorant, fanatical , brutal. Lawlessness is widespread and local warlords in control, but people are also tired of fighting and just hoping to get along with their lives. In the land ravaged by war and drought, opium cultivation is the only viable option for many villagers.

From Afghanistan the trip takes him to Iran and finally to the final destination in Turkey. Traveling through Kurdistan Colin Thubron again explores one of the main themes of the book (and in the process gets a rough but effective root canal done to himself), that political borders seldom coincide with those boundaries that really matter to people, namely those based on ethnicity, language, religion.

This should be one of my favorite books; and on some levels it is. Thubron’s erudite prose is very informative and humane, but also rather slow and at times heavy. The reader gets to visit many monuments and tombs of historical figures and receives lots of arcane details about the lives and the variations in the religious beliefs of people. Consequently, it took me a long time to get through the beautiful book. This is likely to be more of a judgment of the reader than the author. In today’s world, there is too little patience for reflection.
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Oct 12, 2011

Suzanne rated it

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction, travel

“Yet to follow the Silk Road is to follow a ghost. It flows through the heart of Asia, but it has officially vanished, leaving behind it the pattern of its restlessness: counterfeit borders, unmapped peoples. The road forks and wanders wherever you are. It is not a single way, but many: a web of choices. Mine stretches more than seven thousand miles, and is occasionally dangerous.”

In Shadow of the Silk Road Colin Thubron takes the reader on a journey beginning in China, and end...more “Yet to follow the Silk Road is to follow a ghost. It flows through the heart of Asia, but it has officially vanished, leaving behind it the pattern of its restlessness: counterfeit borders, unmapped peoples. The road forks and wanders wherever you are. It is not a single way, but many: a web of choices. Mine stretches more than seven thousand miles, and is occasionally dangerous.”

In Shadow of the Silk Road Colin Thubron takes the reader on a journey beginning in China, and ending up at the shores of the Mediterraean Sea in Turkey. In a mix of modern day encounters, history lessons and beautiful prose, this one of those lovely books that invites you to travel and learn along the way.

Three things stood out to me as I read this book. First, as Thubron heads deeper into the remote areas of China, you realize that China as a nation is divided due to the indigenous peoples in the different regions. They are not always treated as equals, and poverty is a way of life. There is serious poverty there, not the so-called poorness that political spin-doctors claim exists in the United States. This leads to the second thing that stood out: the reclaiming of faith by the people. At one point in the book, a woman tells Thubron:

“God is what my people have. They are very poor. I am not surprised we have turned back to God. I think that is happening, even among people in the cities. Our life is too hard. And the Party offers us nothing beyond.”

The last impression I received from Thubron’s travels is a sense of hope. Despite the fact that there is much misinformation and propoganda spread about the West, people in this part of the world still believe in our humanity. In Iran, everyone seems to have access to satellite dishes, the internet and cellphones. Our world is becoming smaller and we are learning more about each other every day. It will be more difficult to mislead people, and this sharing, like in the days of the well-travelled silk road, could lead to a kind of peace through the intermingling of our lives and cultures.(less)

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Jan 17, 2010

Rdonn rated it

This was a fascinating book, full of history, archeology, etc. as the author traveled a dangerous, always the hardest route, path/road along the silk road. For me the most memorable were the people he met, whom he brings to life with such a deft hand. His descriptions and observations of people are masterful. I, unfortunately, have not got much background on the area, and became almost numb with the references to people, places, and historical events I know nothing about. It would take a sec...more

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Jul 29, 2009

Emily Millay rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: globalism, history

It takes a lot for me to stop reading a book -- my compulsion to get to the end, to give the author the benefit of the doubt, is often too strong to let me walk away early. However, I only got through the first two chapters of this book before deciding to put it down. Thubron's understanding of Buddhism was so facile that it made his remarks about the Chinese and Tibetan people deeply suspect to me. And as he was about to leave China on his journey West retracing the paths of the Silk Road, I re...more

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Oct 08, 2009

Kyote4me rated it

09/12/09-Am finally enjoying this book. The first 60-70 pages are very slow (plodding! Maybe I have just gotten used to the writer's style. Thubron trys to hard to impress the reader with his Eton English vocabulary and made-up words.

I do like his place and people descriptions-I feel like I am traveling with him exploring long forgotten places, peoples and times. I was hooked after reading his "spot-on" description of Xian and the noodle restaurant by the Ming dynasty ...more

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About Colin Thubron

From Wikipedia: Colin Gerald Dryden Thubron, CBE is a British travel writer and novelist.
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Behind the Wall: A Journey Through China

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/701596.Shadow_of_the_Silk_Road?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177409819m/701596.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/701596.Shadow_of_the_Silk_Road?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron[/url]

Shadow of the Silk Road

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