Quiet for a Tuesday: Solo in the Algerian Sahara [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

So whats a novice doing reading this type of book? Well I was amazed by the pictures and beauty of the desert that was conveyed within this book. But this is definitely not a picture book but the quest of one man to enjoy the natural beauty he obviously loves so much and to share his experience with others. Yes it is a bit "Techie" with way points maps and azimuth's ( a glossarry of terms might be useful ?) It has humour, bureaucracy, endeavour, sheer determination and that overwhelming feeling of awe at the task and the risks involved which make exciting reading.
This trip is interspersed with detail of other trips which can get you lost on the way ( as did the writer! ) but you get back on track , forgive the pun. Of delight was that when the text led you to a picture page as you read the text the picture was there almost as if part of the sentance.

An Excellent and inspiring read Thank you Mr Sheppard

Tom Sheppard is much admired, especially among a certain kind of Landrover owner, for his technical manuals on overlanding. This book is what his many fans have been waiting for, the background to acquiring that know-how over a series of desert trips spanning more than 40 years, mostly in Algeria, mostly in 4WDs and almost alone.
`QFAT' is based around a 2006 trip to Algeria, a place which many widely travelled Saharans agree is `the fillet mignon of the Sahara'. Here the author managed - though probably for the last time - to dodge the mandatory escort requirement which was imposed in the south following a mass kidnapping of self-drive tourists in 2003. Inevitably he gets pulled over at one of the many checkpoints on the Trans-Sahara Highway (TSH) and the absent escort leads to questions in nearby In Salah. Here, his previous visits are regarded with suspicion and his large-scale maps, carefully annotated over many years, are confiscated.
Shocked by this setback but undeterred, he slips into the desert unnoticed with just a country map, waypoints from earlier visits and a lifetime's navigational skills learned the hard way. Determined, daring but above all cautious (as his Air Force background suggests), he clearly revels in the mathematical, technical and even geometric challenges while engaging in- and recording this sort of travel.
He revisits old haunts such as the diminutive Adrar Kra dune field which, one suspects from the title page, means a lot to him and may even be the basis for his Desert Winds Publishing logo. As tension builds about the trouble he may be landing himself in, he reminisces over his many previous trips in the Sahara by Landrover and motorcycle, as well as his now prized but still fallible Mercedes G-Wagen. These asides are used skillfully to string out the denouement of the main 2006 trip. An ill-timed test of a rescue beacon in Libya a few years earlier saw him banned from that country; now in Algeria in 2006 it looks like it may happen again...
At one point, recognising this could be his swansong, he acknowledges with raw candour, "... these [solo desert] trips are my life ...". You can believe it. From page to page his boyish wonder for, and deep love of the desert's grandeur and awe - from the tiniest plant to a lens-filling vista - are evoked with unshakeable passion, dry humour and some original turns of phrase. "Can the eyes gasp?" he asks. They can out here.
On other occasions he seems to be oddly out of touch. He belittles the motives which begat the escort rule and which ended the party for independent tourists in Algeria. He posits that being in his sixties and in a G-Wagen makes him a low priority target for abduction. It may just be `Black Flag Café' bravado, but after six months in captivity those survivors of 2003 who matched his age and non-Landrover/Toyota vehicle profile may not have seen it the same way.
Along with a plea to the right-wing broadsheets, he asks for the British embassy's help in recovering his confiscated `property', even though such detailed, colonial-era mapping is commonly restricted in such countries. Instead the embassy passes on a communiqué from an Algerian ministry: he `must be removed from the country'. He continues to insist to the reader that it's all due to the `misunderstanding' over his maps, rather than admit it's more likely his continued flouting of the `escort' regs. After all, the previous year he'd been led back north out of the Algerian desert by the military.
Elsewhere, the confidently asserted knowledge leads to some embarrassing gaffes. A picture of an unusually weathered lip of granite is mistakenly explained as being a double extrusion of lava. Earlier, the author mocks a passing guide for not knowing the location or origin of a nearby arrangement of stones as being "...a huge French military insignia...". The adjacent photo is actually a pre-Islamic `keyhole' tomb, possibly several thousand years old. Knowing this, his following priapic quip is all the more mortifying. The idea that he assumes these ancient tombs to be the recent work of bored colonial conscripts is baffling, because elsewhere he proves to be rightly awe-struck by the vivid evidence of Saharan pre-history.
Self-publishing can often mean low production standards but, like Tom Sheppard's other titles, `QFAT' compares well with any 'coffee table' travelogue. Be in no doubt you're getting £20 of lush paper, thoughtful design, and plentiful photos. Some of these brilliant images (bigger would have been nice) are what readers unfamiliar with the region will most readily relate to. But the apparent lack of an editor sometimes makes for convoluted descriptions; sentences of nearly 80 words require breathing apparatus. I'm familiar with many of the locations and journeys being described, but other reviewers and readers have also admitted difficulty in keeping track of time and place. "Life is in the details" is his frequently repeated mantra, but at times you can't see the sand for the grains.
A desert blogger once wrote: "... the desert is a place that can only be appreciated alone. Only then do you see it for what it really is." Solo, the wilderness experience is intensified. The frequent peaks and troughs of genuine adventure travel become moments of dizzy elation or gnawing despair. Having the strength, steady nerves and hard-won experience to deal with this acute range of clawing emotions is what sets desert travellers like Tom Sheppard apart.
`QFAT' is a poignant if flawed eulogy to a lifetime's desert travel, a homage to the breathtaking Algerian Sahara. It's not for everyone, but you get the feeling the author quite likes it that way (locations and place names are often disguised). As the man himself says: "being a perfectionist is not an instant recipe for popularity, but you've got to be who you are".

Yes, there are some passages in the text that could do with tightening, yes there is some technical detail that lay people may not understand or not be interested in, but in essence this book really captures the feeling of being out in the desert, through both narrative and images.

Like one of the other reviewers I am a 'novice' but I once had the privilege of being able to join an oil exploration expedition in the Sahara for a couple of weeks. Since then I understand the special feeling of being in the desert, and this book captures it perfectly.

I enjoyed the author's dry humour and straightforward admiration of the landscape, people, plants and animals. Whilst one cannot fully condone his behaviour in evading local custom and authority to enjoy the desert on his own, it does add a bit of drama and suspense, and reads like the account of a naughty little schoolboy skipping classes. To his credit, he does try to make some constructive suggestions at the end of the book on how all interests in the desert could be served, although I doubt Algerians will want to be told by outsiders how to run their own country.

Best of all, the pictures in the book are beautiful without being overly processed or 'artistic' - just real.

I can recommend the book to anyone you would like to recapture the feeling of being in the desert, or anyone who would simply like to endulge in some escapism from crowded everyday life.