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Tracks
A cult classic with an ever-growing audience, Tracks is the brilliantly written and frequently hilarious account of a young woman's odyssey through the deserts of Australia, with no one but her dog and four camels as companions. Davidson emerges as a heroine who combines extraordinary courage with exquisite sensitivity. 16 pages of photos.
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
April 1st 1980
by Pantheon Books
(first published 1980)
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Feb 04, 2013
José-contemplates-Saturn's Aurora
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
travelogue,
australian
“Tracks” is a phenomenal travelogue of a 2700 km voyage through the Australian desert; by Robyn Davidson and four camels. It’s the proof that a single (
Evidently, it was a t...more
3 likes · like · see review
view 2 comments
At the age of twenty-five, the author got the wild idea that she wanted to travel solo with camels across the Australian Outback. She moved from Brisbane to Alice Springs where she spent two years learning how to handle camels, figuring out how to obtain camels of her own, and otherwise preparing herself for the trip.
In 1977, she was finally ready, and spent about eight months making her way from Glen Helen Tourist Camp in the Northern Territory to Hamelin Pool on the Indian Ocean.
This was not...more
In 1977, she was finally ready, and spent about eight months making her way from Glen Helen Tourist Camp in the Northern Territory to Hamelin Pool on the Indian Ocean.
This was not...more
This is a book that I had to read for university and the first thing from the travel writing genre that I have ever read. I haven’t had the best luck with university books but it seems that my third year is going to be different as I have liked a lot of what I’ve read so far.
The first part of Tracks is spent getting to know Robyn and her desires for this trip. She starts out in a small place called Alice Springs where she learns everything she needs to know before setting out on her journey. It...more
The first part of Tracks is spent getting to know Robyn and her desires for this trip. She starts out in a small place called Alice Springs where she learns everything she needs to know before setting out on her journey. It...more
Read this in about 2 days. It was hard for me to put this one down. That’s an experience I don’t often have with a piece of non-fiction. Glad I chose to put this on my To Read List with my book rental club. Good choice.
Robyn Davidson, born and bred in Brisbane, Australia, specifically the Queensland area, made the decision to track across the infamous Australian Outback accompanied by four camels and a dog. 1700 miles across some of the most unforgiving landscape on the planet. At one point earl...more
Robyn Davidson, born and bred in Brisbane, Australia, specifically the Queensland area, made the decision to track across the infamous Australian Outback accompanied by four camels and a dog. 1700 miles across some of the most unforgiving landscape on the planet. At one point earl...more
Tracks has been sitting on my TBR mountain
for over a year; I finally decided to start
it yesterday when a book, From Alice to
Ocean: Alone Across the Outback, arrived
from the library. From Alice is composed
of pictures taken by National Geographic
photographer Rick Smolan accompanied by
exerpts from Davidson's book. The pictures
were awesome, but reading Tracks and trying
to keep my place in From Alice was difficult;
the writer and the photographer, though
together for most of the t...more
for over a year; I finally decided to start
it yesterday when a book, From Alice to
Ocean: Alone Across the Outback, arrived
from the library. From Alice is composed
of pictures taken by National Geographic
photographer Rick Smolan accompanied by
exerpts from Davidson's book. The pictures
were awesome, but reading Tracks and trying
to keep my place in From Alice was difficult;
the writer and the photographer, though
together for most of the t...more
More than a travelogue, more than memoirs. Even though this presents to being more about her than the Bill Bryson I've read & only somewhat about the places & people, and camels, it ends up being much more illuminating of the settings & context than his works which present as travelogues.
If you're not sure you want to read it, start at Chapter 10 (p. 193 in my edition) and read towards the end. I bet you'll want to get back to the beginning and find out more. One example of what got...more
If you're not sure you want to read it, start at Chapter 10 (p. 193 in my edition) and read towards the end. I bet you'll want to get back to the beginning and find out more. One example of what got...more
I've owned this book for 8 years, since a trip to Australia, and always put it off because it seemed uninteresting. What a mistake, but this hit me at a good time. So this Camel Lady walks across the Aussie desert barely knowing what she was doing.
I appreciate that day-to-day details of the trip don't bog down the story, but occasionally I wondered where she was. The author's private misanthropic nature dominates, and she focuses more on her experience of the present than the why. She never eve...more
I appreciate that day-to-day details of the trip don't bog down the story, but occasionally I wondered where she was. The author's private misanthropic nature dominates, and she focuses more on her experience of the present than the why. She never eve...more
The biggest question in my mind before, during, and after reading this book was, WHY? Why would she do this? (I equate it with people who climb Mt. Everest. Why?) We are plunked right down into the story with no explanation of why she undertook this journey. I think she learned a lot about herself and her capabilities along the way, but what would possess a woman to train some camels (she'd never even been exposed to a camel before) and head out into the hostile desert? I actually think there ar...more
1 like · like · see review
Jan 14, 2011
Dylan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Dylan by:
Mrs. Cyberhobo Kuhn
I'm not really fascinated by camels, but I am a sucker for stories of desert landscapes transforming human beings, and this book is a moving marriage of the two.
I found the portrayal of the way immersion in a landscape like the Australian outback can affect a person really powerful. This idea is extended from the author, who is changed by her journey, to the aboriginal people as being truly formed by the land. I've experienced just enough of this to be transformed a little myself in reading it,...more
I found the portrayal of the way immersion in a landscape like the Australian outback can affect a person really powerful. This idea is extended from the author, who is changed by her journey, to the aboriginal people as being truly formed by the land. I've experienced just enough of this to be transformed a little myself in reading it,...more
You know what? I'm not a huge fan of travel tales. I'm not a huge fan of biographies of any kind. I'm not a huge fan of Australia, despite the fact I live there. And yet this book came along and made me fall in love with all those places I've heard about but never been, stirring something like pride in me for the fact that I live here, while simultaneously driving me to shame because of the conditions the Aborigines live in.
It's a book with great insights into the way things are. Or were, consi...more
It's a book with great insights into the way things are. Or were, consi...more
Tracks is about a young woman named Robyn Davidson (the author) who set out to cross the outback of Australia accompanied only by three camels and a dog. A life threatening self challenge of a trip. A life altering journey.
I enjoyed the beginnning of this book. It was an introduction to a world that I knew very little about. For example, I had no idea that there were feral camels in Australia. It turns out that two men - an Afghan and another man from India imported camels in order to carry supp...more
I enjoyed the beginnning of this book. It was an introduction to a world that I knew very little about. For example, I had no idea that there were feral camels in Australia. It turns out that two men - an Afghan and another man from India imported camels in order to carry supp...more
What an odd book, one that felt curiously dated. Her humor doesn't come through until about 3/4 of the way through the book, which had to be a result of the change in herself as a result of her journey. I LOVE it when she addresses what she does about her period when she's marching across the desert stark naked (by choice), but there is so much that she doesn't address. How glorious would it be to have this written about you: "She travelled to London and wrote Tracks while living with Doris Less...more
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I have three more chapters in this book, which means I'll be finished by morning. I've read so many reviews of this book complaining about her complaining about being romanticized, etc. But I like it. And I don't romanticize her. In fact, I loathe her at certain points in the book. But I think I understand to some extent what she was trying to do, her idealism and such. Trying to get away from society with all it's rules and idiosyncrasies. And yes, you learn a lot about camels...it's a story ab...more
I read this book a month or so ago and what lingers in my mind is her love for her camels and her crazy couple of years she had to go through to finally be able to make the trek. I can't imagine going through with all she did. one of my very favorite parts is when she (which is a few times) walks naked and joins her camels in a dust bath. In a way it made me jealous. I would like to live somewhere for a season and be naked. she is so very bold and brave even though she doesn't always feel that w...more
Tracks by Robyn Davidson
It took me a couple of tries at this book to finish it. I found the chaoticness of the first section very annoying. It starts off rather benignly: our hero arrives at the jumping off place with a dream and six dollars. She sets about learning how to make the cash and the skills she will need to fulfill her dream. All well and good except that as she works her way through the various adventures to learn these lessons, time becomes very distorted. The story line appears to...more
It took me a couple of tries at this book to finish it. I found the chaoticness of the first section very annoying. It starts off rather benignly: our hero arrives at the jumping off place with a dream and six dollars. She sets about learning how to make the cash and the skills she will need to fulfill her dream. All well and good except that as she works her way through the various adventures to learn these lessons, time becomes very distorted. The story line appears to...more
Jun 16, 2013
Judy
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Around-the-world-ers
A must-read for adventure memoir junkies like myself. Robyn Davidson treks across the Australian Outback with her dog, Diggity, and four camels, beginning near Alice Springs and ending at the West Coast South of Carnarvon. The walk serves as a catharsis for her. In her own words, I had dredged up things that I had no idea existed. People, faces, names, places, feelings, bits of knowledge, all waiting for inspection. It was a giant cleansing of all the garbage and muck that had accumulated in my...more
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Really liked it (four stars), but two things keep me from giving it the full four:
1. camel beatings
2. my own priggishness about the conservation of stars. [I.e. a book probably won't be a five star book until I am certain it has had an enormous effect on me and short-circuited and rewired something, conjured something, become necessary. A four star book is usually a slightly-less-important-but-still-brilliant book by a favorite author. Four stars still means basically flawless. Which means thre...more
1. camel beatings
2. my own priggishness about the conservation of stars. [I.e. a book probably won't be a five star book until I am certain it has had an enormous effect on me and short-circuited and rewired something, conjured something, become necessary. A four star book is usually a slightly-less-important-but-still-brilliant book by a favorite author. Four stars still means basically flawless. Which means thre...more
Robyn Davidson's Tracks is everything I could hope for in a book about a female adventurer. She isn't fluffy or dismissive of her own life and work, but rather hits as hard as male authors in the genre. Funny, wise, and full of humility, Robyn is a warts-and-all gal, a real woman, and she doesn't shy away from a good joke or a good adventure.
She undertook her journey at age 25, training camels with the help of a local in Alice Springs, where she started her journey across Australia.
She undertook her journey at age 25, training camels with the help of a local in Alice Springs, where she started her journey across Australia.
Dec 05, 2010
Mrs. Cyberhobo Kuhn
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Mrs. Cyberhobo by:
Paula Constant
Recommended to me by Paula Constant, this is the story of a woman who inspired Paula. An excellent adventure, a well written story. My only criticism is that for some reason I could never connect with where her drive came from, what inspired her; it seems lacking, and yet it seems an important piece to understanding the story. On the other hand, Ms Davidson seemed to learn things so quickly and organically that I just throw up my hands in despair of ever relating to her at all. Oh well.
I'm a big fan of Robyn Davidson - her Quarterly Essay on nomadism was one of the finest short pieces I've ever read; I had high hopes for 'Tracks'.
But, overall, I was disappointed. I know it was first published in 1980, but I'm not sure if that excuses the cultural chauvinism that colours Robyn's observations, particularly of the Indigenous people she meets.
Her sympathy for the Indigenous rights cause is explicit. But her constant reference to 'blacks', 'Aborigines', 'part-Aboriginal', 'their'...more
But, overall, I was disappointed. I know it was first published in 1980, but I'm not sure if that excuses the cultural chauvinism that colours Robyn's observations, particularly of the Indigenous people she meets.
Her sympathy for the Indigenous rights cause is explicit. But her constant reference to 'blacks', 'Aborigines', 'part-Aboriginal', 'their'...more
In the late 1970s, a young Australian woman named Robyn Davidson decided to cross the Outback on camels, and documented the journey in her memoir, Tracks. Her experience in the Outback is so interesting and moving, and I loved reading about a strong woman pursuing, all on her own, a goal that everyone said was too difficult and dangerous. I wish I could bottle the way that reading this book made me feel and carry it around with me.
This is actually my second time reading this book. I'm sure that others wouldn't find this book as fascinating as me, but I love it. About one woman's solo trek across the Austrailian Outback w/ her dog and 4 camels. Even if you don't like the outdoors, I think she writes really well - it reads almost like a novel. Its a nice escape for me, considering I would have to drive for days to see some real wilderness (if that even exists in the US?)
Robyn Davidson decided, at the age of 27, to travel across the Australian Outback by camel, accompanied by her dog. Knowing nothing about camels, she first has to find someone willing to take her seriously as a woman, and an explorer. The first half of the book is taken up with these problems, so that by the time she has set off, I kind of lost interest. Probably the rest of the book was more interesting.
A lovely travelogue about a crazy journey across Australia with camels. The author, age 27 at the time, decided that her life was going nowhere and wouldn't it be fun to get some camels (about which she knew nothing) and travel with them across the Australian outback (mostly to places she'd never seen). At heart, the author seems to have wanted to prove something to herself about her willpower and ability to follow through with a difficult and crazy plan. She also was hoping for some spiritual g...more
I don't often read factual books, but this account of a woman trekking across Australia on foot was fascinating. It is funny and sad by turns - from accounts of the author shovelling poo in the early chapters, to the no nonsense way she deals with 'running out of meds', to the incident with the dog, this is constantly interesting and surprising. As I suspect I will never trek across Australia with a camel for company, this book was the next best thing.
A long-ago read that struck me to my core, abouta woman who takes a camel trek across Austrailia. I bought copies and copies of this book to give to my girl-friends because Robyn Davidson is such a strong and determined woman. Davidson's odyssey bears reading again for the strength and ultimate wisdom of her grueling, exasperating and sometimes hilarious trip.
I just reread this which I rarely do because there are so many new books to read. The author is bold and daring and I really admire her. It felt like I was walking across Australia with her. If you want to meet a courageous (maybe a bit crazy) woman who double dares to do anything this is the book to read. She is what I would call a true adventurer!
My book club rated this everywhere from a 4 to a 1/2 star. I couldn't believe someone would give it a 1/2 star. Having visited Australia and spent 3 weeks trucking all over the place North to South then to the center then camping outside Darwin in the outback I felt I had plenty of culture. I found the Australians to be fearless. From the very young to the old. Maybe that's the old penal colony influence along with the harshness of the land. No one hesitated to talk about the aboriginal or nativ...more
A little slow-but laced with beautiful writing. I wanted to see more of those desert scenes in my mind's eye, feel more of the terror when the wild bull camels appeared. When the author had to shoot her dog, I cried. I wanted to yell at those horrible people who tried to make a mockery of her and her adventure. The power of the human spirit comes through in places, when the author stripped and danced I wanted to dance with her, that kind of freedom is priceless. Enjoyed!
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“I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there's no going back.”
—
2 people liked it
“So I had made a decision which carried with it things that I could not articulate at the time. I had made the choice instinctively, and only later had given it meaning. The trip had never been billed in my mind as an adventure in the sense of something to be proved. And it struck me then that the most difficult things has been the decision to act, the rest had been merely tenacity -- and the fears were paper tigers. One really could do anything one had decided to do whether it were changing a job, moving to a new place, divorcing a husband or whatever,m one really cold act to change and control one's life;and the procedure, the process, was its own reward.”
—
2 people liked it
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