A World Without Books : The Sheltering Desert.

Today's post is in conjunction with the Blog-A-Licious Blog Tour - a fantastic blog hop that brings together bloggers of all genres, backgrounds and locations. A heap of blog authors that I read frequently and a whole pile that I have just got to know about because of this bloghop. In today's hop, the blog featured before  http://holesinmysoles.blogspot.com/ is http://jlbcreatives.blogspot.com/

The blog featured after http://holesinmysoles.blogspot.com/ is the captivating http://bookorbust.blogspot.com/

Spend some time getting around, reading, commenting and spreading the love via twitter, stumble, facebook digg etc. You'll find my 'Share' buttons at the end of this and every post. Use it please and thanks.
And say hello plus some of us are having giveaways and contests. Enjoy!
 
 
Books have always been part of our lives. My wife Kay is a great reader and we're both often down the local library stocking up. I'm toying with the idea of buying her a Kindle or E-book reader. But she says "I can't turn the pages! I want to be able to feel the book in my hands with the rustle of pages when I read!"
Old school you know. Just isn't keeping up with technology. Hasn't even got a Facebook page....gee.
She's still going to be given one though. We travel a lot, and while on my recent trip through Namibia and Botswana, I've seen others using them and they seem so practical for that purpose. Imagine being able to take a whole heap of books, a small library with you wherever you travel without them weighing tons in your travel bag! Isn't the purpose of books to be able to read? Not just to hold a book, but to learn, to absorb new ideas, new theories, new adventures? So does the medium matter?

 

I think it's like modern music recording. Nowadays you just download it and plug in. But I confess I still love CDs. And a deeper confession here- I still have all my LP collection from the 70-80's! Stored in 5 huge cartons along with a stereo record player.
Somehow I-pods, I-Pads etc just don't do it for me when it comes to music. We've lost the soul of it- being able to read the cover notes, check out who engineered it, produced it, or all the backing musicians and their history. Kind of draws me into the music more than just listening to it on earplugs..
 
But Kay is still going to get an E-book reader!
 
On to a book I've found I'm referencing and re-reading-
The Sheltering Desert. By Henno Martin.

Set in the early WW2 years in Namibia, German nationals Herman and Henno, and Otto their dog, escape to the Namib Desert to avoid internment as enemy aliens in the then South West Africa, the former German colony under South African Protectorate. Henno records their life as carnivores in the Kuiseb area, sheltering in the desert, surviving day to day, and living off what they can. Their acute observations on life in the harsh environment, during the changing seasons and animal migration patterns are referred to to this day. This is not just a book about survival, but a book that underscores understanding about the desert environment, and of conservation measures there today. The huge herds of wildlife they observed in their 2 years desert living were all but wiped out subsequently by over avaricious hunters, and farmers out to protect their grazing land. A little of that wonderful life of zebra, cheetah, springbok, kudu and oryx is making a belated comeback today. Their journals are invaluable observations of abundant life in an environment most of us would look at and consider devoid of life.

Namibia calls me back...and this book I largely blame for that.
 
Blog hoppers here-
 

1. Dora - http://peacefrompieces.blogspot.com/


2. Kriti - http://kriti-howaboutthis.blogspot.com/

3. Sonia Rumzi - http://soniarumzi.com/

4. Paula - http://hardlineselfhelp.com/

5. Kate & Ashley - http://backofthebookreviews.com/

6. Roy - http://royd-spiltmilk.blogspot.com/

7. Shaeeza - http://shaeeza.blogspot.com/

8. Anna - http://annalwalls.blogspot.com/

9. Lisa - http://misclisa.blogspot.com/

10. Jessica - http://findingonesway.com/

11. Corinne - http://www.everydaygyaan.com/

12. Nicole - http://riverarunsthroughit.blogspot.com/

13. Tosh - http://totsymae.com/

14. Desiree - http://www.desireeholttellsall.com/

15. Shelley - http://bookfare.blogspot.com/

16. Tessa - http://tessadick.blogspot.com/


17. DK Levick - http://dklevick.wordpress.com/

18. La Vonya - http://www.battered-not-broken.blogspot.com/

19. Janet - http://jlbcreatives.blogspot.com/

20. Jim - http://holesinmysoles.blogspot.com/

21. Linda - http://bookorbust.blogspot.com/

22. Sibylla - http://divaluscious.com/category/mad-moms-manifesto/

23. Amber - http://wosushi.wordpress.com/

24. Lori - http://www.girlparker.typepad.com/

25. Neil - http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com/

26. Tina - http://tinahoggatt.wordpress.com/

27. Babz - http://lovebabz.blogspot.com/

28. John - http://jmountswritteninblood.com/

29. Violet - http://rhiannonpaille.blogspot.com/

30. Dora - http://blogaliciousblogs.blogspot.com/

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A World Without Books : The Sheltering Desert.

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