Eye on the world

This is a lovely book. I recognise that sounds a bit lame, but it seems to be the best way for a five word summary. It is almost a summary of the life of Gavin Young.This book is his selected collection of photography, and with it his words describing in broad detail the travel behind his books, with the odd anecdote or side story. It was published in 1998, a couple of years before his death in 2001. It is great that he got the oportunity to publish it before he passed away.At one point a number of years ago, I took from my shelf Gavin Young's famous [b:Slow Boats to China 1755380 Slow Boats to China Gavin Young https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1203991305s/1755380.jpg 2832658], read around ten pages and decided the time wasn't right. Since that point, I have bought another five of his books, and read only the excellent [b:Return To The Marshes 7933884 Return To The Marshes Gavin Young https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336579716s/7933884.jpg 2344226], which must be read with the Thesiger and Gavin Maxwell books of the same era and topic. (The three were friends).It is fascinating to see him age, and grow, through this book. To see his compassion and understanding, to recognise him for a ‘people person'. His photography is great, and the explanation of his travels is, without being very in depth at all, an insight into his life and the basis of his writing. Gavin Young was, of course, not just a travel writer, but for a long time was a correspondent for The Observer, and for most of that time a war correspondent.The chapters give an indication of his extensive travel - the marshes of Iraq; Saudi Arabia; Tunisia; Central Africa (Zaire, Angola, Zambia); Nagaland (Indian border with Myanmar); Kurdish Iraq; Yemen, Zambia & Zimbabwe; Vietnam (for the war); Cambodia (again, the war); Iran; Slow boats - taking in a huge area of the Middle East, Indian subcontinent (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka), South East Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, The Philippines) Taiwan & Hong Kong; Slow Boats Home - taking in South East Asia again, Papua New Guinea, a load of Pacific Islands, Peru & Chile, a few spots in Africa and then back the UK; Borneo; Kenya; the Yukon; and then a return to Vietnam.There are even a few great anecdotes about Wilfred Thesiger for the Thesiger followers.The obituary from The Guardian gives a much better overview of Gavin Young's life than Wikipedia does, link here: Gavin Young ObituaryFour stars from me. I can't believe it has no reads on Goodreads. Go find it.