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Desperate Deserts
Describe los desiertos del mundo, sus características, cómo se formaron, y las plantas, los animales, y las personas que han aprendido a sobrevivir allí.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
4 people are currently reading
149 people want to read
About the author
Anita Ganeri
1,692 books61 followersAnita Ganeri is a highly experienced author of children’s information books, specialising in religion, India/Asia, multiculturalism, geography, biography and natural history. She became a freelance writer after working at Walker Books (as foreign rights manager) and Usborne Publishing (as an editor). Since then, she has written over 300 titles, including the best-selling Horrible Geography series for Scholastic. The series won the Geographical Association Silver Award in 1999 and was cited as being ‘an innovation that all geographers will applaud’. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society where she conducts most of her research for the books.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 29, 2025
The general information Anita Ganeri provides in Desperate Deserts (and I have been reading the 2016 edition on Open Library which looks like it might have been updated), this seems to be (from what I personally have read and have also been taught regarding deserts both at school and equally so when I took a first year geography course at university) decently factually correct (but sometimes more history and culture themed than geographic or geological) and also nicely suitable for readers from about the ages of eight or nine onwards (albeit the lack of sources and no suggestions for further reading in Desperate Deserts and seemingly in all of the Horrible Geography books is definitely something I do find pretty hugely annoying and academically problematic, and that this also makes the Horrible History books not really all that useful for supplemental research), although the newer editions do list websites, which is good, but I for one want both book and online titles.
However (and yes, this is also a pretty big however), even though I like and majorly appreciate the solid facts Anita Ganeri provides in Desperate Deserts, well, aside from my issues with Ganeri not including bibliographical information (see above), I also have two further bones of textual contention which cause me to rate Desperate Deserts with only a three star rating, a rather high three stars to be sure, but not yet in any way sufficient for me to even remotely consider four stars. For one, first and foremost, I have found the humour Anita Ganeri uses in Desperate Deserts for the most part annoyingly crass, too artificial, often leaving me feeling majorly uncomfortable when this is juxtaposed with stories of desert related devastation and horror (not to mention that Ganeri's petty much constant denigrations of geography teachers and of teachers in general throughout Desperate Deserts truly does makes me rather cringe and be filled with more than a bit of anger). And for two, while Mike Phillips' black and white cartoons for Desperate Deserts are adept, personally speaking, I have found them much too silly and caricature-like for my aesthetic tastes and also too visually unorganised and occasionally even quite confusing (and that I also would definitely prefer colour illustrations and also for some both archival and current desert photographs to be included in Desperate Deserts).
So therefore, while Desperate Deserts is definitely nicely educational, I am indeed with regard to text and images a bit bah humbug and that especially what Anita Ganeri thinks is humorous and is meant to lighten Desperate Deserts for the most part just does not really work all that well for me (and actually not at all). But to be honest, for the right kind of audience and in particular for boys, the exaggerated humour and the parodistic artwork of Desperate Deserts will or should probably be a huge hit (even if this has not been the case for me, for in particular adult me but also to be honest, to be truthful here, more than somewhat for my inner child as well).
However (and yes, this is also a pretty big however), even though I like and majorly appreciate the solid facts Anita Ganeri provides in Desperate Deserts, well, aside from my issues with Ganeri not including bibliographical information (see above), I also have two further bones of textual contention which cause me to rate Desperate Deserts with only a three star rating, a rather high three stars to be sure, but not yet in any way sufficient for me to even remotely consider four stars. For one, first and foremost, I have found the humour Anita Ganeri uses in Desperate Deserts for the most part annoyingly crass, too artificial, often leaving me feeling majorly uncomfortable when this is juxtaposed with stories of desert related devastation and horror (not to mention that Ganeri's petty much constant denigrations of geography teachers and of teachers in general throughout Desperate Deserts truly does makes me rather cringe and be filled with more than a bit of anger). And for two, while Mike Phillips' black and white cartoons for Desperate Deserts are adept, personally speaking, I have found them much too silly and caricature-like for my aesthetic tastes and also too visually unorganised and occasionally even quite confusing (and that I also would definitely prefer colour illustrations and also for some both archival and current desert photographs to be included in Desperate Deserts).
So therefore, while Desperate Deserts is definitely nicely educational, I am indeed with regard to text and images a bit bah humbug and that especially what Anita Ganeri thinks is humorous and is meant to lighten Desperate Deserts for the most part just does not really work all that well for me (and actually not at all). But to be honest, for the right kind of audience and in particular for boys, the exaggerated humour and the parodistic artwork of Desperate Deserts will or should probably be a huge hit (even if this has not been the case for me, for in particular adult me but also to be honest, to be truthful here, more than somewhat for my inner child as well).
September 2, 2012
This book taught me much more than what my geography teacher would have. I am looking forward to reading other installment of Horrible Geography series.
October 6, 2017
Largely just general waffle and history, actual contains very little geography and when it does it is massively dumbed down and referred to as ‘boring’ the author should be ashamed - where’s the inspiration for young people?
Good bits on desert dialects and the sand dune stuff (though basic) is sound.
Good bits on desert dialects and the sand dune stuff (though basic) is sound.
November 23, 2025
I think it is suppose to be horrible HISTORIES not geography anyway I liked it because it is mostly about the Sahara desert (wich is in Egypt)so I got to learn about things about geography in a fun way that is why I like horrible geography (it is suppose to be horrible HISTORIES not geography ) so yeah I learned that and also they gave me survival tips if I was in the desert like how to be hydrated how to know if you are dehydrated I also LOVE the illustrations so shout-out to Mike Phillip (the illustrater)because I am OBSESSED with the AMAZING illustrations and I am telling him continue with the good work and I really don't know if this book is a copy of horrible histories but maybe it is another version of horrible histories but anyways I got to go so bye bye.
August 14, 2017
that was Quite a horrible styory to me.
real rating: 4.48
art: 4.06
real rating: 4.48
art: 4.06
November 24, 2022
This was pretty good, if a little dry. My 8-year-old academically inclined child loved it.
September 20, 2023
Dit is een leerzaam boek en super grappig 😀 😂
March 28, 2024
Cute book for upper elementary.
November 10, 2025
Hi! I’m Beehaya, a cartoonist. I mostly read this book because of the illustrations and drawings it contains. I highly recommend getting it for your children, it’s a wonderful and educational read!
February 14, 2017
I think it deserves 3 stars out of the 5, mostly just because, while educational, it tries really hard to be funny to avoid anything negative and it kind of just makes you feel a little guilty for laughing.
Desperate Deserts is clearly aimed at a younger generation than me, at age 25, but it's still a pretty cute book. It's a book about deserts. Obviously there are going to be stories about people dying because they weren't prepared to go on expeditions into the various deserts across the globe. But they sort of make light of it through comics and comments throughout the book. It just really weirded me out.
Factually, obviously, the book is probably a little old so all of the techniques mentioned for various things may not actually still be practiced. Science has changed by leaps and bounds on a yearly basis. Still, most of the information is still pretty relevant. They don't actually talk much about Antarctica, but I suppose they probably have a different Horrible Geography book for that.
Desperate Deserts is clearly aimed at a younger generation than me, at age 25, but it's still a pretty cute book. It's a book about deserts. Obviously there are going to be stories about people dying because they weren't prepared to go on expeditions into the various deserts across the globe. But they sort of make light of it through comics and comments throughout the book. It just really weirded me out.
Factually, obviously, the book is probably a little old so all of the techniques mentioned for various things may not actually still be practiced. Science has changed by leaps and bounds on a yearly basis. Still, most of the information is still pretty relevant. They don't actually talk much about Antarctica, but I suppose they probably have a different Horrible Geography book for that.
December 17, 2015
Deserts have more disasters than other places. High winds might blow up a sandstorm, but in a city (make sure it's not in a desert), it can only blow off some roofs (and blow the things in the house around. Ha ha. This will probably not happen.). Deserts always encounter droughts and then a heavy downpour. In a city, this will not happen.
July 31, 2011
No, český překlad tomu dal opravdu na frak. Mimo jiné se dozvídáme, že Sahara je rovníková poušť. Zřejmě se jedná o chybu překladatele, ale i tak...nevím, nevím.
Na velbloudu v tropickém dešťném pralese, to by byl teprve zážitek ;-)
Na velbloudu v tropickém dešťném pralese, to by byl teprve zážitek ;-)
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June 19, 2010worst of horrible geography series . Very boring , not reccommended.
October 4, 2012
A fun and entertaining read. A very enjoyable way to learn about this topic.
November 25, 2013
This book gets one-hundred-fifty-five stars, one for each page. This is a really funny book without wordplay, which is weird because all funny books have wordplay.
May 6, 2016
348 - 2016
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews