Ranulph Fiennes

Having sat by Bedu tribesmen under the shade of a twisted desert tree in southern Jordan in 2017 and listened to them recite poems and sing songs as we sipped tea from a smouldering fire, I have had a small taste of the world of the wandering Arab nomad. It is a world of grandeur and grime, majesty in their robes and mountains, and harshness in their lack of material creature comforts normally found in settled societies. The author of this new biography of Thomas Lawrence has done much more - he had lead Omani tribesmen through arid hills and into battle against invading Soviets in 1967 as an military leader. In writing this biography of Lawrence Fiennes, a celebrated English explorer, occasionally interrupts the narrative of Lawrence's journey north through Arabia to draw comparisons with his own experiences in the desert. Fiennes is not a superb prose stylist. However his orientation towards action in the world leads him to have written a biography which reads like an exciting narrative, succinct and light footed. It does not try to be an exhaustive biographical work, but rather zooms in on Lawrence's time gathering Bedu tribes in the desert to the cause of fighting the Ottoman Turks during the first world war. The figure that emerges from this book is truly a special man, a deeply learned and open minded Englishman, who was not content with office-bound normality, and whose life became bound up in one of the great episodes in twentieth century history. Jordan and the traditional people of that region are the the major subject of this book, outside of it being just a biography, and for me give the work added significance.… (mere)

A friend bought me this book following a period of illness. The narrative is good and the inspiration helped me get over a number of hurdles on my way to recovering.
I don’t plan climbing Everest soon, or running 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents, but Ranulph Fiennes shows what you can accomplish when things look darkest!
The man himself tells a good story of his life and love in his book and it’s a great insight into the mind of a focused and driven individual.
Worth the time to read.
Interesting insights.
Couple of good concepts to reflect on.… (mere)