Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road

There are few nonfiction books that can totally transport me, but The Land of Lost Borders took me to places I am totally unfamiliar with, both in the past and the present. Reading her account about traveling through Tibet and the former U.S.S.R countries of Central Asia, I realized how truly ignorant I am about many countries around the world. I found her descriptions about disputed borders and regions fascinating–how what we fought over in the past is not that different from what we fight over now. The author skillfully braided her own story with the history and current state of the countries she travels through. I found the descriptions of cycling to be repetitive, but I am not an avid cyclist. I enjoyed this book very much–it took me out of my comfort zone for a much-needed bracing ride. In these current conflicted, troubling present times, I found it heartening how she was able to travel through many difficult areas and encounter kindness and generosity as the rule, not the exception.