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In Search of King Solomon's Mines
 
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In Search of King Solomon's Mines (Paperback)

by Tahir Shah (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd; New edition edition (15 May 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0719563364
  • ISBN-13: 978-0719563362
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.2 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 620,747 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #31 in  Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Africa > Ethiopia & Djibouti

Product Description

Review
"A sublimely silly sub-Saharan yarn - a hybrid of Indiana Jones and Herodotus - that works very well." -- The Sunday Times "Jaw-droppingly, dreadfully funny." -- The Times "Freewheeling and uproarious." -- Justin Marozzi, The Spectator "An extraordinary adventure, vividly described." -- Wilfred Thesiger "Simple and elegant, subtly self-deprecating and often hilarious - worth its weight in gold." -- Time

The Times
"Jaw-droppingly, dreadfully funny."

See all Product Description

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In Search of King Solomon's Mines
81% buy the item featured on this page:
In Search of King Solomon's Mines 4.4 out of 5 stars (8)
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars "A journey is of no merit unless it has tested you.", 4 Sep 2003
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
Armed with books and papers he acquired in preparation for his trip, and a "treasure map" he purchased in Jerusalem, Tahir Shah sets out in search of King Solomon’s legendary gold mines. King Solomon built a lavishly appointed temple in Jerusalem three thousand years ago, using gold which the Queen of Sheba supposedly brought from Ophir, an unknown land. Various researchers claim that Ophir was in Zimbabwe, South Africa, or even Haiti or Peru.

A sacred Ethiopian text claims that the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon is the ancestor of the Ethiopian emperors, and since Ethiopia’s gold is also one of its richest resources, Shah accepts the idea that the legendary Ophir was probably in Ethiopia. Hiring a guide and translator, he begins his search, checking out mines where gold is so close to the surface that men, women, and children dig for it with their hands. Always, Shah seeks some connection to Ophir.

The author keeps the reader constantly intrigued with the fascinating characters he meets during his many side trips: Yusuf, the hyenaman, who handfeeds wild hyenas each night; a "miracle man," who performs four miracles; and Kefla Mohammed, leader of a salt caravan. Shah also includes wonderfully revealing photographs of these people and the artifacts he finds.

Occasionally, Shah, a member of Afghan royalty, betrays an insensitivity toward the people around him. He does not give his devoted interpreter a "sick day," he does not always share his supplies and equipment, and he offers no assistance at the site of a terrible road accident. His unflagging sense of adventure is admirable, however, and he brings fascinating and unique Ethiopian cultures and people to the attention of readers who would not otherwise be exposed to them. Mary Whipple

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Romantic Exploreration in the Modern World, 12 Mar 2004
By A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Although Shah starts his book in old Jerusalem, where he purchases a dubious treasure map off the wall of an even more dubious shop named Ali Baba's Bazaar, this is actually an excellent travel book about modern Ethiopia. Apparently Shah's grandfather and father both harbored obsessions about locating the source of the gold King Solomon used for his great temple in Jerusalem. This obsession was passed down to the intrepid Tahir, who embarks on his own quest to find the ancient gold mines. Shah is not hoping to cash in (he swears an oath not to harvest gold), rather, the trip is another of his retro-adventures (cf. The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Trail of Feathers) in the style of Victorian-era explorer/romantic adventurers like Richard Burton.

According to the ancient sources, Solomon's gold was brought to him by the Queen of Sheba from the land of Ophir. Shah briefly outlines a geographical and etymological case for Ophir being located in present day Ethiopia, and organizes himself to visit this country largely known in the West for its poverty and famines. Armed with a trunk of books and articles (and far too much equipment), he arrives and promptly hires his taxi driver Samson to be interpreter, guide, and all around fixer. Samson is an extremely devout Christian and a reluctant guide throughout the trip, but the money is a boon to his precarious existence. Together, they set out by train and bus to visit a a series of potential locations Tahir has marked out. After a great deal of hardship in getting to the first site, they return to Addis Ababa and hire a driver-even though Ethiopian roads sound as bad as any I've read about. This is Bahra, a qat-addicted Somali cardsharp who likes to break up the tedium with deliberate roadkill. One of my favorite moments in the book is when, near the end of the journey, he simply stops in the middle of nowhere and declares that his luck has run out and he won't drive any more.

What emerges from Shah's trip is a land far more naturally varied and lush than the typical perception of Ethiopia-though desperately poor. Although there are numerous places where gold is so near the surface that impromptu (and illegal) mining communities spring up to pan for gold and dig tiny tunnels to extract it, the avenues for selling it are such that wealth-as in much of the third world-is highly concentrated at the top. The depiction of one such camp, where even the suspicion that one has found a nugget of gold and swallowed can result in your throat getting slit and your entrails opened up for inspection, is terrifying. Of course, the only thing more desirable than gold is getting to America, and at one point Shah is called upon to give a seminar to several hundred miners on the best way to cross the American border.

Although the focus is obviously on the gold, Shah always has his eyes open for a good story. He visits ancient churches hewn from the rock, hangs out with a "hyena" man whose designated task is to feed hyenas at night so they don't steal children from the town (hyenas are said to be the guardians of Solomon's secret mines), consults with the guru of a Rastafarian sect, travels across desert with a salt caravan, debunks a traveling miracle worker, and sit in many a seedy roadside bar with the ubiquitous prostitutes. Shah details everything with crisp writing and many a well-turned phrase (one of my favorites is "To most Ethiopians, the idea of a hotel without prostitutes is a bad joke.") that act as nice counterpoints to the hardship and struggle he witnesses. The book is bound together with a spirit of adventure rare in modern travel books, and despite a rather rushed and unsatisfactory end, is valuable reading for anyone interested in modern Africa.

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Gold!, 8 May 2002
By A Customer
A word of warning: Do not open this book out of idle curiosity – it is utterly addictive and will make you cackle maniacally! And I speak from personal experience.
Following in the worthy footsteps of his father, the formidable writer Sayed Idries Shah, and his grandfather, the savant Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, Tahir Shah goes in pursuit of the legend of King Solomon’s mines in a country known only in the west for famine and disease – the ancient land of Ethiopia. Here we receive a wholly different and extremely welcome, not to mention long overdue, insight.
We traverse the length and breadth of the country in cars long past their drive-by date and in ramshackle buses known as matatus; through torrential rain, lush vegetation and magical landscapes we pass, alighting at the occasional sleepy village and the inevitable seedy joint, encounter strange and exotic characters full of natural wisdom, and admix myth with reality. We visit ancient monuments on strange mountains, enter long extinct mines and eavesdrop on extraordinary conversations. We witness human drama at its most basic level, as it were, with ordinary people demonstrating an extraordinary resilience. And we learn all about the historical search for gold in a land long suspected to be the origin of the legend of the Queen of Sheba. This is a land where time itself has no discernible measure.
A rollicking adventure this book certainly is, but Shah also manages to give us an incredible insight into the culture of the country and its remarkable people - impoverished yet proud and generous. You will reel at the sheer panoply of events, humorous anecdotes and historical asides. Shah breathes life into long forgotten legends like no other travel writer.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting...but mixes and matches facts and dates
I bought this book to give me a taste of Ethiopia before going out to visit some friends.

Now I am not doubting for a minute that the author actually went there and that most... Read more

Published on 21 May 2005 by millie1512

5.0 out of 5 stars In Search Of King Solomon's Mines
I will not go into the detail of the other reviews, but more state my feelings on the book. Its truely left me with the urge to travel more, a cousin purchased me the title and... Read more
Published on 8 May 2005

5.0 out of 5 stars if u like travel boos its a must by
The book I have chosen to review is a non fiction called 'In Search of King Solomon's Mines', it is written by Tahir Shah. Read more
Published on 6 Jul 2004 by atpong6

4.0 out of 5 stars Sudden death
I enjoyed this book a lot but it did have what I considered a very unsatisfactory end. That said, its a fascinating book that gives historic and cultural insights in to Ethiopia... Read more
Published on 11 May 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping and Hillarious search for Biblical Goldmines......!
In Tahir Shah's latest book we join him back on the treasure trail again. Readers of his first book BEYOND THE DEVIL'S TEETH will have witnessed a hillarious quest (amoung many... Read more
Published on 6 May 2002 by J. Stack

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