Memoir set around the world

16th November 2022

From Utmost East to Utmost West by John Blashford-Snell, memoir set around the world (Africa, Americas, Asia/Pacifica).

This is the memoir of a traditional, old-school adventurer, who founded Operation Raleigh (a youth expedition organisation in the UK) and The Scientific Exploration Society. The stories he has to tell are colourful and informative, riddled at times with danger, and a swashbuckling dimension to add an extra frisson of tension.

The book opens on the Blue Nile in Africa and already there are tales of a sturdy “leviathan of a crocodile” heading for the party of travellers, shots are fired and pith helmets are an actual thing. There are subsequent encounters with further very large Nile crocodiles, causing much consternation. Brigands and bandits, rogues and ruffians hamper their progress, stretchers have to be made from handy components, and wildlife in all its terrifying glory assails the party.

Delightful detail threads its way through the book. Who knew of the existence of Osgood’s Swamp rat? (The group was tasked to track it down by The Natural History Museum). A small desert tortoise saves a life and thus the adventures unfold.

The stories he has to tell then go on the Americas, where he alights on archaeological projects and historical exploration and he introduces his readers to Xingu, the double nosed tiger hound. The chapters set in the countries of the Americas form the bulk of the narrative. The final chapters move to Asia / Pacifica.

There is wonderful attention to detail and much learning to be had. There is precision and a real sense of the different cultures and terrains that he and his party encounter.

At the end of some chapters there are QR codes that take you to You Tube videos for an extra dimension and in the text there are occasionally small maps to aid comprehension of routes taken.

The author has quite a formal way of writing, a sense of order, derived perhaps from his army experience. I think the publishers will know exactly who their target audience is and the book cover will appeal to that cohort – it would seem to be a photo depicting the author and his team, clearly setting it in the second half of the 20th Century: I suspect that the cover will not encourage younger readers to pick up the book, as it has a bit of an old fashioned vibe about it. It is a book that is very much of its era and hopefully appealing to a new generation of readers.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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