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Allein durch die Wildnis: 1000 Tage zu Fuß von Sibirien nach Südaustralien
From National Geographic's Explorer of 2014, featured in The New York Times Magazine, Wild By Nature is the harrowing and nearly unbelievable story of Sarah Marquis' solo 10,000-mile hike across the remote Gobi desert from Siberia to Thailand, then transported by boat to complete her hike at her favorite tree in Australia.
Relying on hunting and her own wits, Sarah Marquis made it across six countries where she survived mafia, drug dealers, thieves on horseback who harassed her tent every night for weeks, temperatures from sub zero to scorching, life-threatening wildlife, a dengue fever delirium in the Laos jungle, tropic ringworm in northern Thailand, dehydration, and a life-threatening abscess.
Through an incredible journey Wild By Nature explores what it is to adventure as a woman in the most dangerous of circumstance, what it is to be truly alone in the wild and why someone would challenge themselves with an expedition others would call crazy. Originally a bestseller in France selling over 60,000 copies, Wild By Nature will appeal to fans of Cheryl Strayed's Wild.
Relying on hunting and her own wits, Sarah Marquis made it across six countries where she survived mafia, drug dealers, thieves on horseback who harassed her tent every night for weeks, temperatures from sub zero to scorching, life-threatening wildlife, a dengue fever delirium in the Laos jungle, tropic ringworm in northern Thailand, dehydration, and a life-threatening abscess.
Through an incredible journey Wild By Nature explores what it is to adventure as a woman in the most dangerous of circumstance, what it is to be truly alone in the wild and why someone would challenge themselves with an expedition others would call crazy. Originally a bestseller in France selling over 60,000 copies, Wild By Nature will appeal to fans of Cheryl Strayed's Wild.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 15, 2014
213 people are currently reading
3457 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Marquis
14 books63 followersSarah Marquis is a Swiss adventurer and explorer. From 2010 to 2013, she walked 20,000 kilometres (12,000 mi) alone from Siberia to the Gobi Desert, into China, Laos, Thailand, and then across Australia. In 2011, she gave a TED talk and in 2014 she was named one of National Geographic's Adventurers of the Year.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 328 reviews
April 23, 2019
I Missed My Calling
OMG. I can’t wait to finish this book before I write a review on it.. I just want you all to know this: if you love true adventure, this is the book to read.
I want this courageous woman’s life as a National Geographic Explorer. I want her courage as well. But before this book ends I might find that she was stupid to walk all these miles alone.
She is walking 8,000 miles or so, and right now she is goingg through Mongolia. At this moment, she has just dealt with two men on horsemen who came up to her and began causing problems. She finally scared their horses in order to get them to leave; it worked. She has to deal with men like this in their villages and at night when she is trying to sleep. Plus, the village women are not always friendly, and while she complains about them all at times, there seems to always be a hero that rides up on horseback or sees her in a predicament and comes to rescue her. She thinks of these men as “shinning men in armor,” so to speak.
Anyway, after the author’s incident with the two horsemen she stated this:
“Never give importance to people or animals whose attention you do not want to attract. To ignore is the best solution, to avoid provoking them, don’t look at them frankly, but also don’t give them a chance to look at you too long. It’s crucial to find a happy medium, a certain poise that gives off a certain calm. Being scared won’t serve you well under any circumstance, so you might as well as well strike this emotion from your list of options. This is not to be confused with real fear which we will encounter later.”
Later. I finished the book. I must say, I really admire this woman, Sarah. Often, in my own life, I have felt that to be able to do certain things, like walk 8,000 miles or walk the Amazon, or to even go to sea like Jack London had, you needed to be a man. I believe I felt this way because I know that I could have never done those things myself due to my own lack of strength and bravery. But I finally got it in my head that there are even men who are not brave enough or strong enough to do these things. And there are women who can.
When my friend Julie and I took off in a car to travel Mexico, her partner told her that we were crazy and that it was dangerous. We heard this a lot from men, men who would not even think of going to Mexico. Well, we had no problems, except when we walked 11k into the jungle, and maybe we were crazy to do that, but we made it. The author made it too, but she did it alone. I would have never had even gone to Mexico alone. Julie was my strength, because she seemed to know what to do.
As I listened to more of the Sarah’s adventures, especially her comments on nature, with my eyes closed, I saw everything she was experiencing. One day she was bathing in the river with only her head sticking out of the water, when she saw a buck crossing the river, swimming towards her. She didn’t move. He didn’t see her and ended up swimming right past her. I would have been swimming away as soon as he hit the water.
Sarah has such a love for nature and had an enlightening experience of feeling at one with it. I imagine it caused her to lack common sense a few times, especially when she walked right up to a 11 foot boa that was crossing the road. And the boa lifted its head to see her better. I would have been walking the other way and that at a fast pace, if not at a dead run. I just don’t think that feeling one with nature means that you have to experience it up close or that you are safe in the presence of wildlife. Not that she thought these things.
And this was only the beginning of her trip. When I finished the book I realized that, so far, it is my favorite book of the year, and so whether it proves to be or not, this was a ten star read that I will read again some day.
I
OMG. I can’t wait to finish this book before I write a review on it.. I just want you all to know this: if you love true adventure, this is the book to read.
I want this courageous woman’s life as a National Geographic Explorer. I want her courage as well. But before this book ends I might find that she was stupid to walk all these miles alone.
She is walking 8,000 miles or so, and right now she is goingg through Mongolia. At this moment, she has just dealt with two men on horsemen who came up to her and began causing problems. She finally scared their horses in order to get them to leave; it worked. She has to deal with men like this in their villages and at night when she is trying to sleep. Plus, the village women are not always friendly, and while she complains about them all at times, there seems to always be a hero that rides up on horseback or sees her in a predicament and comes to rescue her. She thinks of these men as “shinning men in armor,” so to speak.
Anyway, after the author’s incident with the two horsemen she stated this:
“Never give importance to people or animals whose attention you do not want to attract. To ignore is the best solution, to avoid provoking them, don’t look at them frankly, but also don’t give them a chance to look at you too long. It’s crucial to find a happy medium, a certain poise that gives off a certain calm. Being scared won’t serve you well under any circumstance, so you might as well as well strike this emotion from your list of options. This is not to be confused with real fear which we will encounter later.”
Later. I finished the book. I must say, I really admire this woman, Sarah. Often, in my own life, I have felt that to be able to do certain things, like walk 8,000 miles or walk the Amazon, or to even go to sea like Jack London had, you needed to be a man. I believe I felt this way because I know that I could have never done those things myself due to my own lack of strength and bravery. But I finally got it in my head that there are even men who are not brave enough or strong enough to do these things. And there are women who can.
When my friend Julie and I took off in a car to travel Mexico, her partner told her that we were crazy and that it was dangerous. We heard this a lot from men, men who would not even think of going to Mexico. Well, we had no problems, except when we walked 11k into the jungle, and maybe we were crazy to do that, but we made it. The author made it too, but she did it alone. I would have never had even gone to Mexico alone. Julie was my strength, because she seemed to know what to do.
As I listened to more of the Sarah’s adventures, especially her comments on nature, with my eyes closed, I saw everything she was experiencing. One day she was bathing in the river with only her head sticking out of the water, when she saw a buck crossing the river, swimming towards her. She didn’t move. He didn’t see her and ended up swimming right past her. I would have been swimming away as soon as he hit the water.
Sarah has such a love for nature and had an enlightening experience of feeling at one with it. I imagine it caused her to lack common sense a few times, especially when she walked right up to a 11 foot boa that was crossing the road. And the boa lifted its head to see her better. I would have been walking the other way and that at a fast pace, if not at a dead run. I just don’t think that feeling one with nature means that you have to experience it up close or that you are safe in the presence of wildlife. Not that she thought these things.
And this was only the beginning of her trip. When I finished the book I realized that, so far, it is my favorite book of the year, and so whether it proves to be or not, this was a ten star read that I will read again some day.
I
Read
November 3, 2015Let me start by saying that I'm a self confessed armchair adventurer. With the likes of Ed Viesturs I've gone up K2. With George Grinnell I've witnessed travesty unfold on the barrens of Canada, and with Tabor I've descended amazingly deep within the bowels of the earth.
I've also walked with woman hikers. Jennifer Pharr Davis in CALLED AGAIN and Patricia Herr in PEAK BAGGING, and Cheryl Strayed's WILD, just to name a few.
And I mention all these titles for two reasons. One to let you know what literature is out there if you are just getting started with your own armchair adventuring; and two, to show that I have a fairly good grasp of what the literature looks like. Which is to say that I almost know what I'm talking about.
So WILD BY NATURE...
The first thing I noticed was that you can tell that an American didn't write this book. The author is Swiss I believe and speaks French. Certainly her sentence structure and thought processes seem European to me. So that was not lost in converting this book to English. Her world view though is different and that took some getting used to.
The second thing I noticed, and which is of a lot more importance is that the book is not written like a diary or a reconstruction of a story based on a diary. It's more remote, like she had no written record to call upon, and maybe that's why I never felt like I was there with her. When I climbed with Viesturs I felt the cold and the lack of oxygen. I didn't feel the 104 degree heat of Mongolia.
And what is more distressing than the lack of immediacy is that the author has edited out thoughts and actions. A perfect example of this is the scary night visits she experienced when in Mongolia. For some reason men on horseback would show in the middle of the night at her camps no matter how hard she had tried to stay hidden.
We are told about these strange and frightening occurrences but only in the vaguest terms. Not what the men said or did or how she reacted to them. When did they go away? What did they want? She doesn't tell us. Which I'm afraid is a cheat and not the way to go about writing this sort of thing up, imho. If there's something you don't want to address then for heaven's sake don't bring it up. It's not like we'll know the difference.
Which brings my third and final point to the fore. There's some jumpiness in the telling. I'm used to reading the diaries of settlers so I'm comfortable with jumps in time in that format. But as I said this isn't a diary so the jumps are a little strange and unwelcome.
And perhaps this ties into some of the continuity problems. One example is where she tells us her personal philosophy is to never stay in one spot for more than one night unless it is an absolute emergency. Then a couple of pages later she stops for 3 days and has a nice rest with a tour guide.
She then tells us that she plans to ask him why the Mongolians are behaving in such an unexplained fashion -- women taking off their tops when in her presence and the men appearing in the middle of the night. She and the tour guide have a good laugh over these questions but we aren't let in on the answers.
WHAT DO I REALLY THINK ::: I think this book has features of interest but that it's going to frustrate quite a few reviewers. One should definitely read a sample chapter before purchasing.
I've also walked with woman hikers. Jennifer Pharr Davis in CALLED AGAIN and Patricia Herr in PEAK BAGGING, and Cheryl Strayed's WILD, just to name a few.
And I mention all these titles for two reasons. One to let you know what literature is out there if you are just getting started with your own armchair adventuring; and two, to show that I have a fairly good grasp of what the literature looks like. Which is to say that I almost know what I'm talking about.
So WILD BY NATURE...
The first thing I noticed was that you can tell that an American didn't write this book. The author is Swiss I believe and speaks French. Certainly her sentence structure and thought processes seem European to me. So that was not lost in converting this book to English. Her world view though is different and that took some getting used to.
The second thing I noticed, and which is of a lot more importance is that the book is not written like a diary or a reconstruction of a story based on a diary. It's more remote, like she had no written record to call upon, and maybe that's why I never felt like I was there with her. When I climbed with Viesturs I felt the cold and the lack of oxygen. I didn't feel the 104 degree heat of Mongolia.
And what is more distressing than the lack of immediacy is that the author has edited out thoughts and actions. A perfect example of this is the scary night visits she experienced when in Mongolia. For some reason men on horseback would show in the middle of the night at her camps no matter how hard she had tried to stay hidden.
We are told about these strange and frightening occurrences but only in the vaguest terms. Not what the men said or did or how she reacted to them. When did they go away? What did they want? She doesn't tell us. Which I'm afraid is a cheat and not the way to go about writing this sort of thing up, imho. If there's something you don't want to address then for heaven's sake don't bring it up. It's not like we'll know the difference.
Which brings my third and final point to the fore. There's some jumpiness in the telling. I'm used to reading the diaries of settlers so I'm comfortable with jumps in time in that format. But as I said this isn't a diary so the jumps are a little strange and unwelcome.
And perhaps this ties into some of the continuity problems. One example is where she tells us her personal philosophy is to never stay in one spot for more than one night unless it is an absolute emergency. Then a couple of pages later she stops for 3 days and has a nice rest with a tour guide.
She then tells us that she plans to ask him why the Mongolians are behaving in such an unexplained fashion -- women taking off their tops when in her presence and the men appearing in the middle of the night. She and the tour guide have a good laugh over these questions but we aren't let in on the answers.
WHAT DO I REALLY THINK ::: I think this book has features of interest but that it's going to frustrate quite a few reviewers. One should definitely read a sample chapter before purchasing.
April 18, 2016
I think any review of this book needs to start with acknowledging and celebrating that Sarah Marquis is an absolutely phenomenal woman; a force of nature herself. She has an iron will and no fear. Situations that would be difficult under normal circumstances--such as having an abscessed tooth or dengue fever--and lay your average white collar worker out for a week, she handles while camping in the jungle alone. The second she recovers, she's up walking again. She seeks out the harshest environments possible--the Gobi desert, Southeast Asian jungle, the Australian outback--with aplomb. Let's be clear: she hiked from Mongolia to the bottom edge of Australia. It took 3 years. Even the last leg of her journey, 620 kilometers through Southern Australia, a short distance relative to her entire trip, seems impossibly long to someone like me who gets winded and tired after hiking for just 2 or 3 miles. Her story is absolutely wild.
So really, my lack of enthusiasm for this book has nothing to do with Marquis herself. She seems a little quirky, opinionated, and even a bit arrogant, especially when she talks about the people of Mongolia, China, and Australia that she encounters. However, she has a right to be arrogant. She's accomplished so much. She has a right to her quirks, such as her staunch vegetarianism on ethical grounds--if anyone proves by example that you can be healthy as a vegetarian, she can. I say, more power to her.
As for her judgments of the people she encounters, at some points, I did feel it was a little unjustified. If you're a stranger traveling through a strange land, it's important to be respectful and open to different customs and traditions than what you're used to. On the other hand, I do not feel that she is racist or prejudiced in any way. Some of the people she talks smack about actually suck as people. For instance, an old lady sabotaged her campsite out of what seemed like simple spite, many of the men she encountered seemed ready to rape her or assault her for absolutely no reason, she had to deal with theft and no one trusting her, and customs officials and shady characters always seemed ready to hold her up or deny her entry into "their" turf for no reason. It sounded pretty rough and it's sad that some people are so xenophobic they can't deal with a woman traveling on foot alone through their country. I understand when people feel annoyed with tourists who are loud, in the way, destructive, disrespectful, etc., but Sarah Marquis was none of those things; at all times it seemed like all she wanted was to avoid people and leave as little impact as possible, environmental or otherwise. So I understand the frustration she expresses.
No, my issue with this book is the writing. I heard a great interview with Sarah Marquis on NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook and honestly I would suggest listening to that, or reading one of the many interviews with her or writings about her travels (she was sponsored by National Geographic, I'm sure they have lots of fascinating material about her trips) instead of reading this book. Maybe it's the translation, maybe it's the fact that it's ghostwritten, I'm not entirely sure. It reads more like an outline than a finished book. For the uniqueness of the subject matter, I was surprised by how boring I found it. Certain instances that seem like they could have been a short essay in and of themselves were summed up in scant sentences. Even though you understand that Sarah Marquis has a strong, deeply emotional connection to nature, walking, and this trip, it doesn't come through in the writing.
I have to compare it to other "walking" books that I really enjoy--Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and Cheryl Strayed's Wild. Even though both authors walked far shorter distances than Marquis (Bill Bryson didn't even walk the entire Appalachian Trail before writing his book), both of those books carry more emotional weight, interest, insight, and just overall better storytelling than Wild by Nature.
Bryson's book had more humor and a better flow. He supplied a lot of history of the trail, but made it very interesting. He sketched out some of the travelers he encountered in hilarious detail, whereas Marquis might just sum up an encounter with a stranger in a few words and move on, leaving you wondering what just happened or why the person was mentioned at all.
As for Cheryl Strayed's book, some might say that it verges too much into sentimental, emotional material. It deals heavily with her loss of her mother to cancer, which topically seems unrelated to hiking. But for me, she really made it work, mirroring her journey through grief to her physical journey across the Pacific Crest Trail. She also delved into her own faults and past mistakes in great detail. She described the trail with a great sense of wonder and at times her story got very tense. Once again, better storytelling than in Wild by Nature made Strayed's book, for me, much more gripping.
At the end of Wild and A Walk in the Woods, I felt that I had been on a journey with the authors, that I knew something personal about what these trips meant to them. With Wild by Nature, I felt as though the physical steps of the journey had been described to me (stopping to camp, recovering from illnesses, encountering potentially dangerous people and wildlife, etc.) but a story had not been told. There was not enough detail to feel entrenched in the trip, in what it must have been like to travel through such perilous territory alone. So in the end, even though Sarah Marquis may be the most adventurous, brave traveler with the most to show for her efforts, Wild by Nature didn't reflect that.
So really, my lack of enthusiasm for this book has nothing to do with Marquis herself. She seems a little quirky, opinionated, and even a bit arrogant, especially when she talks about the people of Mongolia, China, and Australia that she encounters. However, she has a right to be arrogant. She's accomplished so much. She has a right to her quirks, such as her staunch vegetarianism on ethical grounds--if anyone proves by example that you can be healthy as a vegetarian, she can. I say, more power to her.
As for her judgments of the people she encounters, at some points, I did feel it was a little unjustified. If you're a stranger traveling through a strange land, it's important to be respectful and open to different customs and traditions than what you're used to. On the other hand, I do not feel that she is racist or prejudiced in any way. Some of the people she talks smack about actually suck as people. For instance, an old lady sabotaged her campsite out of what seemed like simple spite, many of the men she encountered seemed ready to rape her or assault her for absolutely no reason, she had to deal with theft and no one trusting her, and customs officials and shady characters always seemed ready to hold her up or deny her entry into "their" turf for no reason. It sounded pretty rough and it's sad that some people are so xenophobic they can't deal with a woman traveling on foot alone through their country. I understand when people feel annoyed with tourists who are loud, in the way, destructive, disrespectful, etc., but Sarah Marquis was none of those things; at all times it seemed like all she wanted was to avoid people and leave as little impact as possible, environmental or otherwise. So I understand the frustration she expresses.
No, my issue with this book is the writing. I heard a great interview with Sarah Marquis on NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook and honestly I would suggest listening to that, or reading one of the many interviews with her or writings about her travels (she was sponsored by National Geographic, I'm sure they have lots of fascinating material about her trips) instead of reading this book. Maybe it's the translation, maybe it's the fact that it's ghostwritten, I'm not entirely sure. It reads more like an outline than a finished book. For the uniqueness of the subject matter, I was surprised by how boring I found it. Certain instances that seem like they could have been a short essay in and of themselves were summed up in scant sentences. Even though you understand that Sarah Marquis has a strong, deeply emotional connection to nature, walking, and this trip, it doesn't come through in the writing.
I have to compare it to other "walking" books that I really enjoy--Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and Cheryl Strayed's Wild. Even though both authors walked far shorter distances than Marquis (Bill Bryson didn't even walk the entire Appalachian Trail before writing his book), both of those books carry more emotional weight, interest, insight, and just overall better storytelling than Wild by Nature.
Bryson's book had more humor and a better flow. He supplied a lot of history of the trail, but made it very interesting. He sketched out some of the travelers he encountered in hilarious detail, whereas Marquis might just sum up an encounter with a stranger in a few words and move on, leaving you wondering what just happened or why the person was mentioned at all.
As for Cheryl Strayed's book, some might say that it verges too much into sentimental, emotional material. It deals heavily with her loss of her mother to cancer, which topically seems unrelated to hiking. But for me, she really made it work, mirroring her journey through grief to her physical journey across the Pacific Crest Trail. She also delved into her own faults and past mistakes in great detail. She described the trail with a great sense of wonder and at times her story got very tense. Once again, better storytelling than in Wild by Nature made Strayed's book, for me, much more gripping.
At the end of Wild and A Walk in the Woods, I felt that I had been on a journey with the authors, that I knew something personal about what these trips meant to them. With Wild by Nature, I felt as though the physical steps of the journey had been described to me (stopping to camp, recovering from illnesses, encountering potentially dangerous people and wildlife, etc.) but a story had not been told. There was not enough detail to feel entrenched in the trip, in what it must have been like to travel through such perilous territory alone. So in the end, even though Sarah Marquis may be the most adventurous, brave traveler with the most to show for her efforts, Wild by Nature didn't reflect that.
September 30, 2018
I couldn't finish this book. It is poorly-written and an unstructured narrative about a priviledged woman who has no respect for other cultures. Life is too short to read this drivel.
July 2, 2016
There are few times when I have uttered the phrase, "I wish the author used a ghost writer." And yet, here we are. Sarah's got a tremendous adventure and her story is remarkable. Her writing is, simply put, horrendous. I was shocked by the final acknowledgements that she actually had an editor. For 3/4 of the book I was lost in her journey because there's no foundation to her narrative. She jumps from topic to topic and doesn't explain where she's actually going. The maps at the beginning of each chapter are useless, since they don't provide dates but basic plot points.
Further, the author is disgustingly racist it's actually appalling, considering she's a world traveler. She makes it a point to recognize her own privileges as a white woman, but falls on white feminist rhetoric throughout the book. For instance, she feels a connection to all women, regardless of any other non-negotiable differences between them (e.g. Ethnicity, Class, etc.). At one point in the novel, she literally states the sentence (with full conviction, no sarcasm whatsoever): "The Chinese are responsible for so many endangered species." Let that sink in.
I strongly suggest she stick to what she's good at: hiking.
Further, the author is disgustingly racist it's actually appalling, considering she's a world traveler. She makes it a point to recognize her own privileges as a white woman, but falls on white feminist rhetoric throughout the book. For instance, she feels a connection to all women, regardless of any other non-negotiable differences between them (e.g. Ethnicity, Class, etc.). At one point in the novel, she literally states the sentence (with full conviction, no sarcasm whatsoever): "The Chinese are responsible for so many endangered species." Let that sink in.
I strongly suggest she stick to what she's good at: hiking.
March 9, 2017
I am elderly now but when I was young, before nylon windbreakers, fleece jackets and gore tex revamped backpacking, I was an adventurer. Now I live by reading the books of younger voyagers. I try to remain open minded but that didn't help with this book.
The first off putting statement I encountered was that Sarah was said to be disguised as a man on her adventures to protect herself. Ok....but when I got to the center of the book I found no beautiful pictures of the scenery but dozens and dozens of photographs of Sarah posing for the camera in full living color and in a couple of shots not very well covered either I might add and there was certainly no doubt in any of the photos that she was a woman.
As numerous others have stated, the style of writing is off putting and remote. Where is the reason for her quest, the introspection, who would pay her expenses and why? I found myself irritated, cheated and judgmental. Save your money.
The first off putting statement I encountered was that Sarah was said to be disguised as a man on her adventures to protect herself. Ok....but when I got to the center of the book I found no beautiful pictures of the scenery but dozens and dozens of photographs of Sarah posing for the camera in full living color and in a couple of shots not very well covered either I might add and there was certainly no doubt in any of the photos that she was a woman.
As numerous others have stated, the style of writing is off putting and remote. Where is the reason for her quest, the introspection, who would pay her expenses and why? I found myself irritated, cheated and judgmental. Save your money.
May 29, 2016
Well, it's pretty clear that Sarah doesn't like people. She avoids them. She skirts around them. She sneaks away from them. She hides from them. She really doesn't seem to like people.
Perhaps I don't fully understand what it is like to be a woman trekking on her own, taking on the monstrous goal of walking through Mongolia, Siberia, China, Laos, Thailand, and Australia. She obviously needs to take precautions. I can't help but wonder if opening herself up to relationships and interactions would have made a difference for her.
I've read quite a number of "woman trekking/exploring the world" kinds of books but this one felt so different. Marques distanced herself so dramatically from those she encountered. She didn't seem willing to see how she could be welcomed in different cultures. As someone who has lived a significant number of years in a country where I was not a citizen, I found it very difficult to read her "I know better than all of you" attitude. I cringed when it seemed that she had no respect for her host country.
She highlighted all of the beauty of the spaces where she trekked through but I really think she missed out on the incredible beauty of people during her 2 1/2 year journey.
Perhaps I don't fully understand what it is like to be a woman trekking on her own, taking on the monstrous goal of walking through Mongolia, Siberia, China, Laos, Thailand, and Australia. She obviously needs to take precautions. I can't help but wonder if opening herself up to relationships and interactions would have made a difference for her.
I've read quite a number of "woman trekking/exploring the world" kinds of books but this one felt so different. Marques distanced herself so dramatically from those she encountered. She didn't seem willing to see how she could be welcomed in different cultures. As someone who has lived a significant number of years in a country where I was not a citizen, I found it very difficult to read her "I know better than all of you" attitude. I cringed when it seemed that she had no respect for her host country.
She highlighted all of the beauty of the spaces where she trekked through but I really think she missed out on the incredible beauty of people during her 2 1/2 year journey.
December 24, 2017
Long winded and racist. Didn’t finish it. Sorry.
December 23, 2019
The author of this book would not like me. She would find me physically repulsive. She would sense me to be of weak intellect. She would condemn my work ethic and my myopic eyesight. She would fault me for my relationship with Mother Earth. She wouldn't trust me. She would suspect me of ill motives, maladaptive behaviors, abusive relationships, and loath my general ignorance.
I say this only because that's what she thinks of everyone she ever met with two exceptions. 1. People that give her free things. 2. Good looking white Australian men. The free things category is quite broad, there are the people that just dumped enough money in her lap that she could take three years off work and go hiking, she really liked them. And there were the people she met along the way that gave her free food and lodging. She didn't really like them that much, but she put up with them for brief periods of time and later judged them to be hapless victims. When people she met along the way wanted her to pay for the food and lodging she did not like them, and felt strongly compelled to point out all of their short-comings to the world by publishing it in a book.
Her writing style is to the point. Mongolians ruin Mongolia by just being there. Chinese, same thing. Laotians, same. Thai, same. Khazaks cannot be trusted. Native Australians, same. If it weren't for stingy people interacting and requesting payment, those countries would be fine.
As she points out early in the first chapter, she was spiritually required to take this hike and point out everyone's faults. She had no choice. She can't help it if 99% of us are horrible, that's just the way it is. Not trying to sound politically biased, but most of this was like reading a Donald Trump twitter feed.
I say this only because that's what she thinks of everyone she ever met with two exceptions. 1. People that give her free things. 2. Good looking white Australian men. The free things category is quite broad, there are the people that just dumped enough money in her lap that she could take three years off work and go hiking, she really liked them. And there were the people she met along the way that gave her free food and lodging. She didn't really like them that much, but she put up with them for brief periods of time and later judged them to be hapless victims. When people she met along the way wanted her to pay for the food and lodging she did not like them, and felt strongly compelled to point out all of their short-comings to the world by publishing it in a book.
Her writing style is to the point. Mongolians ruin Mongolia by just being there. Chinese, same thing. Laotians, same. Thai, same. Khazaks cannot be trusted. Native Australians, same. If it weren't for stingy people interacting and requesting payment, those countries would be fine.
As she points out early in the first chapter, she was spiritually required to take this hike and point out everyone's faults. She had no choice. She can't help it if 99% of us are horrible, that's just the way it is. Not trying to sound politically biased, but most of this was like reading a Donald Trump twitter feed.
August 17, 2017
(Keine Sterne, da eine Biographie)
Was für eine starke Frau! Ich bewundere Sarah Marquis sehr für ihre Stärke! Das Buch selber fand ich aber leider vom Schreibstil nicht gut. Ein zweites Mal würde ich es nicht lesen (andere Outdoorbücher schon). Schade.
Was für eine starke Frau! Ich bewundere Sarah Marquis sehr für ihre Stärke! Das Buch selber fand ich aber leider vom Schreibstil nicht gut. Ein zweites Mal würde ich es nicht lesen (andere Outdoorbücher schon). Schade.
December 16, 2017
3 stelle solo perché ha un faccino tanto tanto simpatico
[letto in edizione italiana]
La tipa è tosta eh, tostissima. Fa cose pazzesche che mi lasciano a bocca aperta, cose che, sapendo quanto pesa uno zaino per un trekking di 6 giorni, riesco a cogliere abbastanza bene. Mi rendo conto che condensare 2 anni e mezzo di viaggio in 240 pagine non sia banale, ma di quelle 240 pagine di veramente piacevoli ce ne sono su per giù la metà.
Attraversare a piedi paesi così selvaggi e difficili, da donna sola, non credo sia rassicurante. Non sto commentando la sua impresa, che mi sembra grandiosa, né sto stroncando lei. Selvaggia, coraggiosa, sporca e stanca, lei mi è simpaticissima. Ma il libro mi è piaciuto poco poco. Probabilmente, suppongo, non ne ho la certezza, è tratto da testi eterogenei già pubblicati altrove (blog, articoli vari) alcuni ben riusciti altri meno. Per la gran parte lo stile è rigido, poco coinvolgente anche nei momenti drammatici; non si coglie lo scorrere del tempo, ci si rende conto con fatica che dal capitolo precedente sono passati mesi; dedica pagine e pagine ad alcuni paesi (mongolia, Australia) e liquida in poco Laos (mi ero persino scordata che l'avesse attraversato), Thailandia, Siberia.
Resta per prudenza a debita distanza dagli esseri umani che trova, probabilmente a ragione, più minacciosi dei coccodrilli, quei pochi che incontra per necessità li presenta come sospettosi, poco cordiali, aggressivi. Ogni tanto salva dalla critica una donna, ma raramente. (Tesoro, sei tu ad essere molto strana e in casa altrui, mica loro).
Ha scadenze da rispettare, non può e non vuole per prudenza prendersi il tempo di farsi conoscere e di conoscerli, scappa via. E noi ci perdiamo storie, abitudini, culture di paesi che conosciamo pochissimo e che, temo, alla fine conosca poco anche lei. Bella e coinvolgente invece la parte australiana, cammino con lei fra animali, piante, fatica, paesaggi lussureggianti. Nel resto dell'avventura non riesco a starle al fianco.
Seccante il pippone vegetariano che cerca di far sentire a disagio gli onnivori. Trovo le prediche parecchio fastidiose sempre!
Ho notato alcune contraddizioni. Ad esempio: [...] incarna tutta l’ospitalità delle generazioni di donne mongole che l’hanno preceduta. quali? Pare che siano tutte ospitali, la maggior parte le descrive come virago sospettose e cattive.
EVITANDO la fonte di tutti i miei problemi, ovvero la gente, lascio che la Thailandia mi seduca con i suoi sorrisi, i suoi monaci, i suoi profumi e la sua generosità.. e chi è che ti sorride ed è generoso con te se la gente la eviti come la peste?
Ma questa volta avevo deciso di fare almeno il richiamo per l’antitetanica,per proteggermi dalla rabbia.. Antitetanica contro la rabbia?
aggiungo: 66 volte la parola sorriso e i suoi derivati. Pietà! Se ne trovavo ancora uno volava il Kindle dalla finestra.
Edit: mi sovviene che il titolo vorrebbe evocare "Wild" della Cheryl Strayed. Bè, non ci siamo proprio.
[letto in edizione italiana]
La tipa è tosta eh, tostissima. Fa cose pazzesche che mi lasciano a bocca aperta, cose che, sapendo quanto pesa uno zaino per un trekking di 6 giorni, riesco a cogliere abbastanza bene. Mi rendo conto che condensare 2 anni e mezzo di viaggio in 240 pagine non sia banale, ma di quelle 240 pagine di veramente piacevoli ce ne sono su per giù la metà.
Attraversare a piedi paesi così selvaggi e difficili, da donna sola, non credo sia rassicurante. Non sto commentando la sua impresa, che mi sembra grandiosa, né sto stroncando lei. Selvaggia, coraggiosa, sporca e stanca, lei mi è simpaticissima. Ma il libro mi è piaciuto poco poco. Probabilmente, suppongo, non ne ho la certezza, è tratto da testi eterogenei già pubblicati altrove (blog, articoli vari) alcuni ben riusciti altri meno. Per la gran parte lo stile è rigido, poco coinvolgente anche nei momenti drammatici; non si coglie lo scorrere del tempo, ci si rende conto con fatica che dal capitolo precedente sono passati mesi; dedica pagine e pagine ad alcuni paesi (mongolia, Australia) e liquida in poco Laos (mi ero persino scordata che l'avesse attraversato), Thailandia, Siberia.
Resta per prudenza a debita distanza dagli esseri umani che trova, probabilmente a ragione, più minacciosi dei coccodrilli, quei pochi che incontra per necessità li presenta come sospettosi, poco cordiali, aggressivi. Ogni tanto salva dalla critica una donna, ma raramente. (Tesoro, sei tu ad essere molto strana e in casa altrui, mica loro).
Ha scadenze da rispettare, non può e non vuole per prudenza prendersi il tempo di farsi conoscere e di conoscerli, scappa via. E noi ci perdiamo storie, abitudini, culture di paesi che conosciamo pochissimo e che, temo, alla fine conosca poco anche lei. Bella e coinvolgente invece la parte australiana, cammino con lei fra animali, piante, fatica, paesaggi lussureggianti. Nel resto dell'avventura non riesco a starle al fianco.
Seccante il pippone vegetariano che cerca di far sentire a disagio gli onnivori. Trovo le prediche parecchio fastidiose sempre!
Ho notato alcune contraddizioni. Ad esempio: [...] incarna tutta l’ospitalità delle generazioni di donne mongole che l’hanno preceduta. quali? Pare che siano tutte ospitali, la maggior parte le descrive come virago sospettose e cattive.
EVITANDO la fonte di tutti i miei problemi, ovvero la gente, lascio che la Thailandia mi seduca con i suoi sorrisi, i suoi monaci, i suoi profumi e la sua generosità.. e chi è che ti sorride ed è generoso con te se la gente la eviti come la peste?
Ma questa volta avevo deciso di fare almeno il richiamo per l’antitetanica,per proteggermi dalla rabbia.. Antitetanica contro la rabbia?
aggiungo: 66 volte la parola sorriso e i suoi derivati. Pietà! Se ne trovavo ancora uno volava il Kindle dalla finestra.
Edit: mi sovviene che il titolo vorrebbe evocare "Wild" della Cheryl Strayed. Bè, non ci siamo proprio.
May 12, 2018
Woha, it's been a while since a book made me this angry/mad that I've wasted time with it. I'm so glad that I got it from the library and didn't spend money on it to boot.
The writing is just not good and it's just inconsistant storytelling. There are time jumps with interesting parts of the journey missing. Things, why she does or not does something or some things that are happening, are not explained. We are told, that she always does things a certain way only to read a few pages later that, for whatever reason, she went back on it.
She also is basically only writing about her bad experiences and if she has a good one - it's only a paragraph or something. No, I don't expect to read only about the good stuff of such a journey but I expect that both kinds of experiences get the same amount of attention.
Also, this should be kind of a travelogue, right? There are so little things told about the landscapes, cultures and everything else (except the bad experiences with people - which she apparently only had in non-caucasian countries. o.O).
What also made me go 'Hmmmm' a lot - she's travelling in different cultures with different needs and especially demands on surviving - but she's judging them for it? She's appalled that there is a meat market and that animals died for their meat but is buying sheepskin/fur for herself on the same market? Where does she think that that sheepskin comes from? And some other things that made also me go o.O/Seriously?!? so hard.
Also, at one point she's ranting about tourists who don't ask people before taking pictures and behave badly and a page later she pridefully tells us how she walked into a village where a guard and a sign tell foreigners to stay out. Seriously?!?
From what I've gathered while reading this and what she told us - she is apparently an experienced hiker. But, she doesn't even research how to survive and camp in -30°C windy winter weather in Gobi (Especially since she had six weeks in Japan to do it?) and then whines that she only learned afterwards that there would have been a pretty easy solution to her problem. Also, she didn't get vaccinated for rabbies and other stuff while knowing that these diseases are very common in the countries she hikes through. Because in her two years of preparing this journey she didn't have time for it. Seriously?
She is always talking about how she looks after her saftey and everything and then camps at water places (where predators come to hunt and/or people can easily find her) or when she's robbed she stays at the same place when in other instances when she just saw a person/car in the distance moved on even though it was already dark? So stupid and I just can't get behind this.
So, yeah, kudos to her for hiking all these kilometers and getting to where she wanted. But, her attitude to other cultures and especially her storytelling lack a lot.
The writing is just not good and it's just inconsistant storytelling. There are time jumps with interesting parts of the journey missing. Things, why she does or not does something or some things that are happening, are not explained. We are told, that she always does things a certain way only to read a few pages later that, for whatever reason, she went back on it.
She also is basically only writing about her bad experiences and if she has a good one - it's only a paragraph or something. No, I don't expect to read only about the good stuff of such a journey but I expect that both kinds of experiences get the same amount of attention.
Also, this should be kind of a travelogue, right? There are so little things told about the landscapes, cultures and everything else (except the bad experiences with people - which she apparently only had in non-caucasian countries. o.O).
What also made me go 'Hmmmm' a lot - she's travelling in different cultures with different needs and especially demands on surviving - but she's judging them for it? She's appalled that there is a meat market and that animals died for their meat but is buying sheepskin/fur for herself on the same market? Where does she think that that sheepskin comes from? And some other things that made also me go o.O/Seriously?!? so hard.
Also, at one point she's ranting about tourists who don't ask people before taking pictures and behave badly and a page later she pridefully tells us how she walked into a village where a guard and a sign tell foreigners to stay out. Seriously?!?
From what I've gathered while reading this and what she told us - she is apparently an experienced hiker. But, she doesn't even research how to survive and camp in -30°C windy winter weather in Gobi (Especially since she had six weeks in Japan to do it?) and then whines that she only learned afterwards that there would have been a pretty easy solution to her problem. Also, she didn't get vaccinated for rabbies and other stuff while knowing that these diseases are very common in the countries she hikes through. Because in her two years of preparing this journey she didn't have time for it. Seriously?
She is always talking about how she looks after her saftey and everything and then camps at water places (where predators come to hunt and/or people can easily find her) or when she's robbed she stays at the same place when in other instances when she just saw a person/car in the distance moved on even though it was already dark? So stupid and I just can't get behind this.
So, yeah, kudos to her for hiking all these kilometers and getting to where she wanted. But, her attitude to other cultures and especially her storytelling lack a lot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2020
Where do I even start with this train wreck?
I went into this, expecting something a bit like Cheryl Strayed's novel, which balanced nature and humanity.
This? This was a ridiculous mis-matched trek across countries in which the author was barely prepared to travel. The start and stop, leave and come back mindset was ridiculous enough. As was the preaching about being a vegetarian OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
But what struck me the most in this was the fact that this was the FIRST travel memoir I've ever read in which the traveler (re: explorer, as she prefers to call herself) doesn't even attempt to integrate with the cultures that she's traveling through. Not only did Sarah expect these cultures to accept her as HER own personally-defined culture, but she belittled and complained about them constantly. To the point of making a comment about being "among her own people" (re: Caucasians) upon getting to Australia. To the point of talking about how she had no interest in Asian men, but practically falling over upon seeing a white man in the bush.
She was so hell-bent on becoming one with nature that she forgot the fact that she was intruding upon centuries-old cultures that could have accepted her if she'd attempted to learn a little about them.
Just a little understanding or saturation. ANYTHING. Anything more than just expecting them to do things in her 'white woman vegetarian European' way of life, and being upset when it didn't happen.
This was the most disappointing memoir I've ever read. I wasn't inspired in the least. If anything, I felt sorry for her limited worldview and I hope she doesn't intrude on any other lives while trying to make everyone believe in the truth of her wacky-even-for-a-white-woman-European ways.
I went into this, expecting something a bit like Cheryl Strayed's novel, which balanced nature and humanity.
This? This was a ridiculous mis-matched trek across countries in which the author was barely prepared to travel. The start and stop, leave and come back mindset was ridiculous enough. As was the preaching about being a vegetarian OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
But what struck me the most in this was the fact that this was the FIRST travel memoir I've ever read in which the traveler (re: explorer, as she prefers to call herself) doesn't even attempt to integrate with the cultures that she's traveling through. Not only did Sarah expect these cultures to accept her as HER own personally-defined culture, but she belittled and complained about them constantly. To the point of making a comment about being "among her own people" (re: Caucasians) upon getting to Australia. To the point of talking about how she had no interest in Asian men, but practically falling over upon seeing a white man in the bush.
She was so hell-bent on becoming one with nature that she forgot the fact that she was intruding upon centuries-old cultures that could have accepted her if she'd attempted to learn a little about them.
Just a little understanding or saturation. ANYTHING. Anything more than just expecting them to do things in her 'white woman vegetarian European' way of life, and being upset when it didn't happen.
This was the most disappointing memoir I've ever read. I wasn't inspired in the least. If anything, I felt sorry for her limited worldview and I hope she doesn't intrude on any other lives while trying to make everyone believe in the truth of her wacky-even-for-a-white-woman-European ways.
March 12, 2016
Wow! An amazing woman that takes on travel adventures that would kill any of the rest of us before we even got a hundred miles into it. Inspiring is the peace, beauty, and unity she finds in those things that most of us would flee from in nature. Not surprisingly, it is encounters with humans that present the most terrifying threats to her safety, not the animals or the harsh environments. What a gutsy, tough person she is! Yet, what an in-tune soul. As one Aborigine said to her, "I think the world needs people like you so that the Earth continues to turn."
July 11, 2016
Poorly written and racist
Not only is this lady a terrible writer, she is a terrible person. Read this book only if you like reading books by racist authors who lecture you on the evils of eating meat while seriously overusing exclamation points.
Not only is this lady a terrible writer, she is a terrible person. Read this book only if you like reading books by racist authors who lecture you on the evils of eating meat while seriously overusing exclamation points.
August 10, 2017
La svizzera Sarah Marquis non è certo una persona ""normale"". Alla soglia dei 40 anni, 20000 km a piedi, zaino da 17 kg e carretto a due ruote da 50 kg, da sola, senza conoscere le lingue del luogo, in regioni pressoché disabitate, dalla Mongolia all'Australia. Ci vuole una persona con psiche e fisico non comuni.
Con Sarah ho viaggiato in posti estremi e con persone quasi sempre ostili. Compagni di viaggio: fame, natura meravigliosa e avversa, paura. E' un libro asciutto, non cercatevi tanta poesia: è cronaca, cronaca di avventura allo stato puro. L'avventura che è "Qualsiasi impresa in cui il rischio è alto e l’esito incerto."
Manca la parte di contatto con i nativi, ma questo è naturale, se si considerano le difficoltà linguistiche e la poca propensione alla socializzazione dei popoli delle regioni attraversate (Australia esclusa). In questo lungo viaggio il peggior nemico che Sarah ha affrontato ha un nome breve: UOMO
""Comincio una traversata in cui mi accompagneranno soltanto sabbia e vento. Che gioia, mi sento rinascere: centocinquanta chilometri senza esseri umani! Sola con i miei gesti consueti e familiari e il ritmo delle gambe, che sono consapevoli della grandezza della sfida.""
Con Sarah ho viaggiato in posti estremi e con persone quasi sempre ostili. Compagni di viaggio: fame, natura meravigliosa e avversa, paura. E' un libro asciutto, non cercatevi tanta poesia: è cronaca, cronaca di avventura allo stato puro. L'avventura che è "Qualsiasi impresa in cui il rischio è alto e l’esito incerto."
Manca la parte di contatto con i nativi, ma questo è naturale, se si considerano le difficoltà linguistiche e la poca propensione alla socializzazione dei popoli delle regioni attraversate (Australia esclusa). In questo lungo viaggio il peggior nemico che Sarah ha affrontato ha un nome breve: UOMO
""Comincio una traversata in cui mi accompagneranno soltanto sabbia e vento. Che gioia, mi sento rinascere: centocinquanta chilometri senza esseri umani! Sola con i miei gesti consueti e familiari e il ritmo delle gambe, che sono consapevoli della grandezza della sfida.""
May 7, 2016
Wild by Nature is the account of the 10,000 mile hike that Sarah Marquis made across Mongolia, China, Siberia, Laos, Thailand before a journey on a cargo ship and then a further walk across the Australian Outback. Whilst she had backup and sponsors, Sarah undertook this walk solo. Not only is this a huge physical achievement, she had to stay sharp whilst facing thieves, drug dealers, tropical diseases, lethal wildlife, life threatening illnesses and natives who were not always best pleased to see a foreigner. She had to cope with freezing temperatures in the Gobi desert, scorching temperatures in the Australian deserts, being blasted by the winds on the Mongolian Steppe and survived some unbelievable thunderstorms.
It is quite an challenge for anyone to undertake, but for a single woman in some of these countries it is even more of a trial. This is not her only achievement wither; she has walked 23 countries in total; earning herself the National Geographic’s title of Adventurer of the Year. She is tenacious and stubborn, two qualities that you need to push yourself to the physical and mental limits that a walk like this demands, but there are times even for her when it all seems too much. But I think that there are a few things that let it down a little, one is that her journey seems to jump around somewhat without following any logical route. I would expect a journey of this type to flow nicely, but it doesn’t. You got a good sense of her emotional highs and lows, but it was also difficult to connect to her as a reader at times. This is one worth reading if you like walking books, but could have been much better.
It is quite an challenge for anyone to undertake, but for a single woman in some of these countries it is even more of a trial. This is not her only achievement wither; she has walked 23 countries in total; earning herself the National Geographic’s title of Adventurer of the Year. She is tenacious and stubborn, two qualities that you need to push yourself to the physical and mental limits that a walk like this demands, but there are times even for her when it all seems too much. But I think that there are a few things that let it down a little, one is that her journey seems to jump around somewhat without following any logical route. I would expect a journey of this type to flow nicely, but it doesn’t. You got a good sense of her emotional highs and lows, but it was also difficult to connect to her as a reader at times. This is one worth reading if you like walking books, but could have been much better.
October 24, 2017
I like to give thanks to my tax dollars for the support of public libraries that allowed me to borrow said book in exchange for an honest review, for which I returned well within the 3 week loan period.
see other 1 star reviews.
see other 1 star reviews.
February 3, 2016
J'ai beaucoup apprécié ce récit et cette femme que je ne connaissais pas du tout. Après avoir sillonné le monde à pieds pendant une vingtaine d'années, Sarah Marquis nous raconte ici comment elle a relié à la marche la Sibérie et l'Australie dans un périple qui a duré 3 ans. Sarah est une marcheuse aguerrie et professionnelle, qui bénéficie d'un support et de sponsors solides pour l'accompagner dans ce trajet, mais son voyage n'en reste pas moins extraordinaire, surtout compte tenu de toutes les situations dans lesquelles elle s'est retrouvée. Parcourir le monde quand on est une femme seule n'est pas de tout repos, surtout dans des contrées un peu perdues où ce n'est pas courant. J'ai pris beaucoup de plaisir à la suivre dans ses aventures, je l'ai trouvée un peu culottée ou dure avec les gens qu'elle rencontrait parfois, mais finalement il faut ce qu'il faut pour ne pas se laisser marcher sur les pieds tout en respectant la culture et les coutumes de l'autre. J'ai été particulièrement touchée par certaines de ses rencontres avec d'autres femmes, la façon dont elle décrit ce genre de solidarité féminine universelle dont elle a été témoin à plusieurs reprises. J'ai aussi beaucoup aimé l'humilité avec laquelle elle raconte certains passages, sa façon de prendre du temps pour apprécier ce qui lui arrivait, de remercier les gens, la vie, la nature pour tout ce qu'ils lui apportent. C'est un vraiment beau récit, c'est inspirant, ça donne envie de se dépasser et d'aller découvrir ce que le monde a à nous offrir, et c'est dépaysant, tout ce dont j'avais besoin !
January 15, 2016
I really enjoyed Sarah Marquis's "Wild by Nature: One Woman, One Trek, One Thousand Nights". I would love to go on an adventure like this. Unfortunately, I am too neurotic for such a trip. I don't know how I would have reacted in many of the situations the author found herself in, such as when the horsemen kept 'visiting/stalking' her encampment at night. The author kept her composure much better than I would have! Ms. Marquis also crossed several arid regions and that's a big no-no for me. Heat and I do not get along well (one of the reasons I live in North Dakota). She certainly has stamina.
I enjoyed the travel diary layout of the book as well as the illustrated maps that show the path of her trek. There is also a lot of useful advice in this book for those who may venture out onto an overseas adventure, such as some of the tips for finding water as well as the Chinese sign language numbers.
About the only beef I have with the book is that, for the first few chapters, about one out of every ten pages did not print correctly and there is a vertical line down the middle of the pages where the text did not print. Most of the words are easy to figure out, but others are not. Other than that, the book is an easy, quick read and I would recommend it to people who enjoy travel adventures and memoirs. I obtained my copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway and I appreciate the opportunity to read and review it.
I enjoyed the travel diary layout of the book as well as the illustrated maps that show the path of her trek. There is also a lot of useful advice in this book for those who may venture out onto an overseas adventure, such as some of the tips for finding water as well as the Chinese sign language numbers.
About the only beef I have with the book is that, for the first few chapters, about one out of every ten pages did not print correctly and there is a vertical line down the middle of the pages where the text did not print. Most of the words are easy to figure out, but others are not. Other than that, the book is an easy, quick read and I would recommend it to people who enjoy travel adventures and memoirs. I obtained my copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway and I appreciate the opportunity to read and review it.
April 21, 2016
I think this woman is amazing and am awe-struck at her fortitude and determination. Her strength is incredible. My review isn't of her it's of the book. It lacked depth and was scattered. I read another review which likened this book to an outline and I feel the same. Marquis did and saw some really amazing things during her journey but I don't feel like I got to live them with her. There wasn't enough detail and I felt like there were many instances in which I wanted to know more about the circumstance she was describing but then she was onto the next thing. I wanted to know why she chose the route she did (it didn't make sense to me why she didn't walk the countries in order) or why she wanted to end her journey in Australia, or what compels her to do these treks, or how she became interested in this. She mentions a small detail that could be continued throughout the chapter but never brings it up again (the soda that the cowboy leaves for her. Did she find the others? What did it feel like to have that surprise? How did it taste to have such a treat? etc...)
I liked the idea of the book and hearing of her adventures, she truly is impressive in her ability, but it all left me wanting more answers. It's worth the read but don't go into it with high expectations.
I liked the idea of the book and hearing of her adventures, she truly is impressive in her ability, but it all left me wanting more answers. It's worth the read but don't go into it with high expectations.
March 5, 2016
I heard an in-depth interview on NPR with the author this past weekend while driving home from New Orleans. I was thrilled to find our library system had the book; I couldn't wait to read it. Listening to the author was so captivating, as she went into detail about this journey.
I can't tell you how disappointed I was in reading the book. It felt disjointed and sketchy. I kept feeling like I missed a page when I turned. I had so many questions - to what are you referring? How did that come about? Now wait, how did you get from this situation to that situation?
There were moments of brilliance in some passages, but there was just a great disconnect.
I expected so much more than impressions. I wanted more detail, more meat.
I can't tell you how disappointed I was in reading the book. It felt disjointed and sketchy. I kept feeling like I missed a page when I turned. I had so many questions - to what are you referring? How did that come about? Now wait, how did you get from this situation to that situation?
There were moments of brilliance in some passages, but there was just a great disconnect.
I expected so much more than impressions. I wanted more detail, more meat.
July 29, 2021
I love the idea of this book and would have loved to accompany the author on her journey. unfortunately the writing is terrible. lacking in structure, detail, and misses out on so much. every other sentence begins with "I".
April 14, 2016
Didn't find the writing particularly good, but her journey is fascinating. Lacks the description and personalized style that makes other writers such as Cheryl Strayed so much more relatable.
June 18, 2017
This story is amazing.: three years and thousands of miles of walking, persevering in the face of danger that would virtually anyone (such as night raids in the desert in Mongolia), sickness, and solitude. My rating reflects the magnitude of the adventure the author describes. Unfortunately, the writing doesn't really do the story justice. First off, I definitely could have used more information on some things; for example, is the cart pushed or pulled? In some places it sounds like it is attached to a belt, in others sounds like it is pushed. Maybe both depending on terrain? As another example, minor points may have been edited out in a draft, leaving future references dangling - for example, in a late chapter of the book, a minor physical ailment is described as "once again", but with no previous reference.
Another qualm I have with the book is that a few things I have some knowledge of are inaccurate, making me question other things in the book. For example, in Laos or Thailand, she visits a doctor and gets a blood test that diagnoses an overabundance of parasites requiring dewormer. This is not how GI tract parasites are diagnosed - that would be from a fecal test. Blood tests would diagnose blood borne parasites, bacterial or viral infections, none of which are nematodes (which are treated with dewormer). My expertise in this area comes from plenty of time spent studying goat parasites and looking at goat poop under a microscope (fun times!). Another example - the diagnosis of dengue fever. It may very well be accurate, but without a blood test, that's just conjecture.
My last criticism is the soap box on vegetarianism. I have been a vegetarian for long stretches of my life. But s a hobby farmer for nearly 8 years, I have also been an omnivore and grown my own meat (chicken, beef) as well as venison from hunters I allow to hunt on my property. I absolutely understand the reluctance to eat an animal (mostly mammals, she didn't seem to care about eating fish) out of kinship with them. And make no mistake, I love my animals and have 7 pet goats that I do not eat or milk; they simply live on my farm. However, as a farmer I also know that anyone who eats eggs or dairy is directly contributing to the harvesting of animals as food (or just dispatched soon after birth): this is because approx. 50% of the animals born to a chicken or a dairy animal will of course be male, and there is limited need for males to serve as a sire for future generations. This means that most males will be harvested, killed, or in some cases left to die after birth because they are simply not needed. And certainly in poor countries no one will feed an animal for its lifetime to keep it as a pet if it does not fill a purpose. Therefore, I find the moral arguments for vegetarianism (versus veganism) to be unaware of the realities of farming. In addition, even fruits and vegetables must come from somewhere, and farming by default replaces native species with cultivated crops.
Some criticisms leveled by other reviewers I don't agree with. Some say she is too hard on the people of other cultures. I think she's a realist. Alcohol and poverty can be a very ugly combination, whether its Mongolians on the steppe, Laotian drug traffickers, Aborigines and Aussies in the outback. But that's no different than what exists in poverty-stricken areas of this country, such as the rural areas of Appalachia, poor areas in cities, or for that matter, the rise in xenophobia and racism by Trump supporters. She was right to be very, very careful and anyone who thinks it was prejudiced versus prudence probably hasn't spent a lot of time traveling alone in remote areas where they completely stand out and are vulnerable.
Another qualm I have with the book is that a few things I have some knowledge of are inaccurate, making me question other things in the book. For example, in Laos or Thailand, she visits a doctor and gets a blood test that diagnoses an overabundance of parasites requiring dewormer. This is not how GI tract parasites are diagnosed - that would be from a fecal test. Blood tests would diagnose blood borne parasites, bacterial or viral infections, none of which are nematodes (which are treated with dewormer). My expertise in this area comes from plenty of time spent studying goat parasites and looking at goat poop under a microscope (fun times!). Another example - the diagnosis of dengue fever. It may very well be accurate, but without a blood test, that's just conjecture.
My last criticism is the soap box on vegetarianism. I have been a vegetarian for long stretches of my life. But s a hobby farmer for nearly 8 years, I have also been an omnivore and grown my own meat (chicken, beef) as well as venison from hunters I allow to hunt on my property. I absolutely understand the reluctance to eat an animal (mostly mammals, she didn't seem to care about eating fish) out of kinship with them. And make no mistake, I love my animals and have 7 pet goats that I do not eat or milk; they simply live on my farm. However, as a farmer I also know that anyone who eats eggs or dairy is directly contributing to the harvesting of animals as food (or just dispatched soon after birth): this is because approx. 50% of the animals born to a chicken or a dairy animal will of course be male, and there is limited need for males to serve as a sire for future generations. This means that most males will be harvested, killed, or in some cases left to die after birth because they are simply not needed. And certainly in poor countries no one will feed an animal for its lifetime to keep it as a pet if it does not fill a purpose. Therefore, I find the moral arguments for vegetarianism (versus veganism) to be unaware of the realities of farming. In addition, even fruits and vegetables must come from somewhere, and farming by default replaces native species with cultivated crops.
Some criticisms leveled by other reviewers I don't agree with. Some say she is too hard on the people of other cultures. I think she's a realist. Alcohol and poverty can be a very ugly combination, whether its Mongolians on the steppe, Laotian drug traffickers, Aborigines and Aussies in the outback. But that's no different than what exists in poverty-stricken areas of this country, such as the rural areas of Appalachia, poor areas in cities, or for that matter, the rise in xenophobia and racism by Trump supporters. She was right to be very, very careful and anyone who thinks it was prejudiced versus prudence probably hasn't spent a lot of time traveling alone in remote areas where they completely stand out and are vulnerable.
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May 23, 2016The book ¨Wild by Nature” by Sarah Marquis is about her three year journey from Siberia to Australia on foot. “10,000 miles on foot, 6 countries, 8 pairs of hiking boots, 3000 cups of tea, 1,000 days and nights” - Wild by Nature. This quote from Wild by Nature I thought was very interesting and it caught my attention right away. This book has a lot of action, but sometimes it was really hard for me to picture what was going on. I have mixed feeling about this book because at the beginning it was very interesting then it became repetitive.
The story was told in Sarah’s view. The plot of the story is that Sarah Marquis travels alone for three years from Siberia to Australia. During her journey Sarah has to hunt on her own, she also experienced the Mafia, drug dealers, thieves on horseback who harassed her tent every night for weeks, also temperature that went from sub-zero to scorching. Also she had to deal with life-threatening wildlife, tropic ringworm, and disease. The setting in the book is all around the place because she traveled to a lot of places!
Sarah Marquis is the only main character in this book because it is a one woman journey, but she meets and has friends along the way. I feel like the message of the book is that if you set your heart to something you can do it. Or maybe no matter how hard something is embrace the moment and keep on going. Sarah has not written any more books than this one because she is a National Geographic Explorer. The genre of Wild by Nature is non-fiction.
This was my least favorite book this year because she explained each of her adventures with so little emotion. Nothing was described greatly in detail and it seemed like she was bored and being forced to go on this adventure. The cover of the book made the book seem so fabulous and amazing when in reality the cover was better than the whole entire book. Elements that I liked were in the middle of this book there's tons of pictures that she took on the journey, the pictures are very beautiful. I feel like this book isn’t exactly important to read.
This book isn’t exactly important to read because it’s mainly just her talking about her own journey, but if you want to be an adventurer yourself this book may be fun to read because once in awhile at the beginning of the book she gives you some tips. I will not be reading more from this author because she doesn’t have any more books, also her writing style isn’t my style. I feel like she could increase her vocabulary and maybe be more descriptive at times. I also felt like she was exaggerating at the cover of the book, since when she got a disease she wouldn’t go into detail and just said “I got an disease, oh no. A week later I’m better.” I’m exaggerating, but it felt very boring to read. If there's someone who wanted to be an future adventurer or explore nature I would recommend this book, but otherwise no.
There’s some action in this book and at those specific action scenes Sarah would go into detail which I loved! SPOILER ALERT D’Joe Sarah (author's) dog dies, which was a very depressing. Even though D’Joe doesn’t even really show up in this story Sarah did a very good job of describing him. This book had no cliff hangers which I thought was good even though sometimes cliff hangers give me motivation. I felt like this book was just plain pasta and needed some more sauce or salt to give it the extra umph. This is definitely not my favorite book, but if you like nature then give it a go!
February 8, 2025
An impressive accomplishment but the book is weighed down by unnecessary judgement and opinions on unrelated topics by the author.
May 29, 2022
I hate that the back of the book compares Sarah Marquis to Cheryl Strayed when they are not even in the same orbit. Marquis’ adventure is truely epic, truely wild and truely inspiring! A bit all over the place though and I don’t really understand why she chose the route she did through Australia which made no sense at all. She is also super confused about what a vegetarian is and she certainly isn’t one herself!
June 11, 2018
Hmm. Tough one to review. If I was basing my review of the writing quality, and storytelling it would be lower. But because her goals are so epic I would place it higher. So I settled here.
This is a quick read, I think I read it in a week, which is rare at this stage of my life, to me it was more 'journal' like and not storytelling. This was fine once I got used to it and settled into this is more a reflection of her journals than it is a colorful story with rich explanations and deep philosophical questions and personal answers.
I'm not sure that I agree with other reviewers that she should have seen more of the culture of these places and interacted more with the people. To each their own. I prefer nature and natural beauty over chit chat with people any day. Some people are introverts and enjoy their inner dialogue more than extroverts who enjoy people and interacting with them all of the time. She is not that extrovert in this book. It is OK that we all enjoy different aspects of travel.
I don't feel I know 'who' she is in her inner landscape much on a personal level. But the girl is a serious badass. I enjoyed the sheer epicness of her endeavor. I also have adopted from her book a mentality of, "Well hell, if she can do that, than certainly I can do..." fill in the blank on anything you light be afraid to try. Which for most of us is many things!
I think I'll go find some of these interviews other people have suggested to tie it all together. overall I want to walk and see real value in that as a single pursuit. I don't think it is really fair to compare this to other walking books. Each author comes with their own abilities, opinion, life experiences etc which come out in their writing. Not everyone can be Cheryl Strayed in storytelling or Bill Bryson. I've read multiple books on hiking the PCT, and Cheryl's was hands down the best for me. But maybe because she had more story to tell and more stuff to work out on a personal level.
This book is a different story. As they all are. Just different. I did bristle a couple times over comments I felt we're not quite PC, and assume that culturally things come across differently to different people in different countries.
This is a quick read, I think I read it in a week, which is rare at this stage of my life, to me it was more 'journal' like and not storytelling. This was fine once I got used to it and settled into this is more a reflection of her journals than it is a colorful story with rich explanations and deep philosophical questions and personal answers.
I'm not sure that I agree with other reviewers that she should have seen more of the culture of these places and interacted more with the people. To each their own. I prefer nature and natural beauty over chit chat with people any day. Some people are introverts and enjoy their inner dialogue more than extroverts who enjoy people and interacting with them all of the time. She is not that extrovert in this book. It is OK that we all enjoy different aspects of travel.
I don't feel I know 'who' she is in her inner landscape much on a personal level. But the girl is a serious badass. I enjoyed the sheer epicness of her endeavor. I also have adopted from her book a mentality of, "Well hell, if she can do that, than certainly I can do..." fill in the blank on anything you light be afraid to try. Which for most of us is many things!
I think I'll go find some of these interviews other people have suggested to tie it all together. overall I want to walk and see real value in that as a single pursuit. I don't think it is really fair to compare this to other walking books. Each author comes with their own abilities, opinion, life experiences etc which come out in their writing. Not everyone can be Cheryl Strayed in storytelling or Bill Bryson. I've read multiple books on hiking the PCT, and Cheryl's was hands down the best for me. But maybe because she had more story to tell and more stuff to work out on a personal level.
This book is a different story. As they all are. Just different. I did bristle a couple times over comments I felt we're not quite PC, and assume that culturally things come across differently to different people in different countries.
March 1, 2016
*ARC provided by Allen & Unwin*
A new adventure has been chronicled for all readers who find enjoyment in seeing the world through a wandering explorer’s eyes.
Sarah Marquis spent three years from 2010 traversing through incredibly harsh environmental conditions, from the despairing heat of the Mongolian Gobi Desert to Siberia, Thailand and the great Australian outback.
She was recently applauded for her global treks by being named National Geographic Explorer of the Year in 2014, and has a number of published books behind her, but most of them non-English.
Wild by Nature, unlike other adventuresome memoirs, is not retold in the form of a personal journal; instead it is written much like a novel, and although Marquis shares her life experiences of stamina and adaptability, the book read slightly jagged with its short and sharp sentence structure and felt slightly disconnected with references to other expeditions over the course of her lifetime.
It almost felt like her adventure didn’t translate well onto the page.
Chapters went from one expedition to the next, and it was difficult at times to grasp where on the spectrum the reader was until a few paragraphs in.
But Marquis has more than 20 years of experience, and although much of her preparation isn’t delved into, readers will, however, appreciate the fact she was a woman, alone, in the middle of nowhere, and conquering her surroundings.
To learn of Marquis and her love of walking through unknown territory is real; to learn of what she came across is real, and that is what readers will enjoy the most. Her passion is astounding, and to know she has conquered such an amazing feat is astounding.
For those readers not interested in sentence structure, timeline, or what it takes to prepare for such an adventure, this is a wonderful read. You can certainly get lost and absorbed into Marquis’ world, and feel motivated to start your own expedition.
A new adventure has been chronicled for all readers who find enjoyment in seeing the world through a wandering explorer’s eyes.
Sarah Marquis spent three years from 2010 traversing through incredibly harsh environmental conditions, from the despairing heat of the Mongolian Gobi Desert to Siberia, Thailand and the great Australian outback.
She was recently applauded for her global treks by being named National Geographic Explorer of the Year in 2014, and has a number of published books behind her, but most of them non-English.
Wild by Nature, unlike other adventuresome memoirs, is not retold in the form of a personal journal; instead it is written much like a novel, and although Marquis shares her life experiences of stamina and adaptability, the book read slightly jagged with its short and sharp sentence structure and felt slightly disconnected with references to other expeditions over the course of her lifetime.
It almost felt like her adventure didn’t translate well onto the page.
Chapters went from one expedition to the next, and it was difficult at times to grasp where on the spectrum the reader was until a few paragraphs in.
But Marquis has more than 20 years of experience, and although much of her preparation isn’t delved into, readers will, however, appreciate the fact she was a woman, alone, in the middle of nowhere, and conquering her surroundings.
To learn of Marquis and her love of walking through unknown territory is real; to learn of what she came across is real, and that is what readers will enjoy the most. Her passion is astounding, and to know she has conquered such an amazing feat is astounding.
For those readers not interested in sentence structure, timeline, or what it takes to prepare for such an adventure, this is a wonderful read. You can certainly get lost and absorbed into Marquis’ world, and feel motivated to start your own expedition.
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