The Place of Stunted Ironwood Trees: A Year in the Lives of the Cattle-herding Himba of Namibia Hardcover – 1 January 2000

v good - as described

The book arrived right on time for when I needed it for class. I've learned a lot from it. Great book. :)

I have to work hard to finish this book - almost there. I have visited the Himba and will do so again later this year. I am keen to know more about them. There is not much that I am taking from this book and what's there you have to work hard to find. What's hard about this book is that it is neither one thing nor the other. It is written as a quasi-novel, yet does not conform to the novel protocol of key characters. So there is bits on the a number of people rathe r than unfolding story, which makes it hard to keep track of and to be engaged with. And there is a lot of "The night had been cold and long", "the sun was low", "there was a hot wind", "this morning arrived early" (whatever that means). And then on the otehrr hand the book is not a scholarly paper with key elements of the life of the Himba reported in a logical way. I would love to read other papers by the author - he must have so much to share but this vehicle wasn't for me unfortunately.

Gives you a "feel" for life in the area, even tho depicts only one tribe. Book is best read in chunks unless you are an antropologist; descriptions of daily life activities (the B&B of anthro research) sometyimes gets tedious (from a former academic!). But together with the guidebook, my wife & I feel we are "prpared" for our 2013 Namibia trip!