'A wonderful, rushing, crowded, enlightening voyage . . . A book which, in its ingenious understanding, its acceptance of a very imperfect world, and its energetic and constant fascination with human variety, should do a great deal to dispel the easiest and therefore the most prolific paranoid deception which the Western imagination has now fabricated in its desperate attempt to avoid facing reality' Angus Wilson, Observer

'A gem of a book, full of events and people and philosophy' Sunday Telegraph

'With an eye for the striking scene and entertaining incident he combines a perceptiveness of deeper realities that makes Arabia more than an amusing travellers' journal' Daily Telegraph

'A very enjoyable book . . . It is racy and entertaining travel writing' Cosmopolitan

'The advent of a new travel writer of the first rank is an occasion to celebrate. Such a discovery is Jonathan Raban, whose Arabia is a tour de force' Yorkshire Post