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Tahir Shah
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Travels With Myself Paperback – May 17, 2021

by Tahir Shah (Author)
4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 18 ratings
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Travels With Myself is a dazzling collection of selected writings by bestselling travel writer and novelist, Tahir Shah. Written over twenty years, the pieces form an eclectic treasury of stories from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and beyond.

Some consider the lives of women in society – both in East and West. The women-only police stations of Brazil, for instance, as well as the female inmates waiting to die on America’s death row, or the young widows who clear landmines for a living in northern Cambodia.

More still consider Morocco, where Shah and his family resided for many years in a mansion set squarely in the middle of a sprawling Casablanca shantytown. Yet more reflect on the oddities and contradictions of the modern world, such as why, in India each summer, hundreds of thousands line up to swallow live fish; or how the Model T Ford sounded the death knell of lavish Edwardian ostrich-feather hats.

Regarded as a brilliantly original writer, Tahir Shah has gained a worldwide following by perceiving the lands through which he travels with a lens honed to detail. Questioning everything he observes, Shah taps down to a bedrock of wonder which most writers and travellers don’t even realise exists.

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  1. Print length
    535 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    May 17, 2021
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1.34 x 8.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    191238373X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1912383733
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Secretum Mundi Ltd (May 17, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 535 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 191238373X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1912383733
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.48 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.34 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 18 ratings

About the author

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Tahir Shah

Tahir Shah

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Tahir Shah was born in London, and raised primarily at the family’s home, Langton House, in the English countryside – where founder of the Boy Scouts, Lord Baden Powell, was also brought up.

Along with his twin and elder sisters, Tahir was continually coaxed to regard the world around him through Oriental eyes. This included being exposed from early childhood to Eastern stories, and to the back-to-front humour of the wise fool, Nasrudin.

Having studied at a leading public school, Bryanston, Tahir took a degree in International Relations, his particular interest being in African dictatorships of the mid-1980s. His research in this area led him to travel alone through a wide number of failing African states, including Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Zaire.

After university, Tahir embarked on a plethora of widespread travels through the Indian subcontinent, Latin America, and Africa, drawing them together in his first travelogue, BEYOND THE DEVIL'S TEETH. In the years that followed, he published more than a dozen works of travel. These quests – for lost cities, treasure, Indian magic, and for the secrets of the so-called Birdmen of Peru – led to what is surely one of the most extraordinary bodies of travel work ever published.

In the early 2000s, with two small children, Tahir moved his young family from an apartment in London’s East End to a supposedly haunted mansion in the middle of a Casablanca shantytown. The tale of the adventure was published in his bestselling book, THE CALIPH'S HOUSE.

In recent years, Tahir Shah has released a cornucopia of work, embracing travel, fiction, and literary criticism. He has also made documentaries for National Geographic TV and the History Channel, and published hundreds of articles in leading magazines, newspapers, and journals. His oeuvre is regarded as exceptionally original and, as an author, he is considered as a champion of the new face of publishing.

www.tahirshah.com

www.twitter.com/humanstew

www.facebook.com/TahirShahAuthor

http://www.youtube.com/user/tahirshah999

www.pinterest.com/tahirshah

Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
4.9 out of 5
18 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

marksutherland
5.0 out of 5 stars A mercurial anthology
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2017
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As there are currently precisely five five-star reviews, and no others, showing for Travels with Myself, I shouldn't wish to feel churlish in awarding any less. Truth to tell, however, Tahir's books are individually erratic in terms of theme, style and quality -- something of a lucky dip -- and this one is itself middle of the road. Written over a period of years, not months, it's a repository of previously published and perhaps prospective media articles of no defined pedigree. Indeed, it's such a mixed bag that there's no noticeable thematic arrangement at all. The order of the table of contents alphabetically (an idea he picked up from one of his father's books) attests to that.
That said, it IS lots of fun. Or not. Depends on where you open it. Do so at random. Or be a non-conformist and read it back to front. And I can recommend it as that kind of book.
3 people found this helpful
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Steve Diput
5.0 out of 5 stars Psychological journey while travelling in unusual places
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2020
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As in his other books, Tahir Shah travels in the ordinary geographical sense (but to extraordinary places) as a stimulus to self-discovery, to finding his inner self and to give hints to others how the purpose of life is found.
The locations are spread all over the world, where Westerners usually do not go too much.
His observations are deep and stimulating.
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mardi donaldson
5.0 out of 5 stars travels with myself
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2014
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Hello.. again i love the way Tahir Shah writes, i love to travel myself and this book is another view of the world.
Book was received way before the due date and is in great condition.
2 people found this helpful
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Horse's Friend
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2015
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Excellent book. Wonderful descriptions of life and people.
4 people found this helpful
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Jake Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite travel book of all time
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2019
This book is wonderful, amazing, brilliant. It is a collection of travel writing from many years of Tahir's life and takes place in many different countries. The places he goes and the people he meets defies all explanation and at times you find yourself baffled and bewildered. Among the sixty something chapters, all in different places, there is a thread where Tahir interviews and meets with women in difficult situations, defying all odds. In this way, Tahir champions women's rights by taking us to people and places the regular news media is unwilling to go.
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Ita
5.0 out of 5 stars Sixty Facets
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2012
This book containing over sixty very varied pieces of work written by Tahir Shah over the past twenty years, is intended to be a bedside book or a companion on the reader's own long journey. The writing was inspired by experiences in many parts of the world including Morocco where the author now lives, and the emphasis is on the people encountered as much as the places visited. Dedicated to his wife, Rachana, `Travels With Myself' is unusual for a book of the genre in that it contains several very sensitive pieces concerned with understanding the predicament of women in very difficult situations.

One piece is predominant in my mind as I write this. It was written in praise of Bruce Chatwin and his book `The Songlines', his own indispensible travel companion. What Shah writes about Chatwin's work could well be applied to his own. I urge you to buy `Travels With Myself' because `with such a book the impact isn't necessarily obvious at first ... but the more you read it, and live with it, and travel with it, the more it speaks to you, and the more you realise you cannot live without that book. It's then that the wisdom hidden inside, the seed, is passed on.' Shah's best writing too is lyrical, has perfect rhythm, juxtaposes the sharpest realism with far-flung fantasy, is capable of easing the reader down through layer after layer until they hit raw metal, the mirror in which they see themselves.

You may well discover this is a book you cannot live without.
11 people found this helpful
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T.C.
5.0 out of 5 stars Navigating by the stars.
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2013
On the back of this book with the evocative cover (designed by Rachana Shah) it says that the collection is a sort of bed side book, a book to dip into ... well it is my bedside book. A gulp there a scan here (go back to it). Oh ho, what's this?
Accounts that one can trust the telling of.
Like at least one other reviewer I was startled and oppressed by 'Women on Death Row' (this terrifying story is told with admirable calm and force, (may good arise from it)) conversly there is an account of women in Cambodia enabled to do a very dangerous and helpful job.
'Memoir of a Torture Prison' carrys the same calm, stomach turning punch as 'Women on Death Row.' There are other articles about the desperate plight of women across the world.
BUT, that is by no means all, from 'The People of the Cloak' to 'On The Skeleton Coast' and 'The Romance of Richard Halliburton' the writing sings and the pieces (essays) are arranged in digestible bites one as interesting as the other.
A 'Scorpion's Palace' indeed and 'an easy read'.
Couldn't recommend it more.
pg 332 The Magic of the Ordinary.
''The real beauty of Morocco' he said pensively 'can only be seen from inside out. Search from it outside in and you will never find the truth or the real beauty held within''
4 people found this helpful
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ryan mccliment
5.0 out of 5 stars Leading by example
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2013
After Tahir's book In Arabian Nights was published he wrote several helpful pieces in his blog on varied topics. He published several tips on how he cut his teeth working as a journalist and gave great examples for how to get going as a writer. This book is a collection of (t) several pieces Tahir wrote over the years to support his family and be of service to others. Each piece is like a miniature painting that can reveal more and more as you ponder it. I was randomly reading from it yesterday when I stumbled on his piece "The People of the Cloak" and saw a whole new dimension to his writing. If you're an aspiring writer there are few better examples to draw from than what you'll find in "Travels with Myself." Thanks Tahir!
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Jac Aranda
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully eclectic collection
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2023
Verified Purchase
I loved these, mostly true, short pieces covering a huge range of material from the very personal to researched pieces on fascinating far flung ventures. Perfect for the odd moments in the day when a change of activity is needed. I just found sometimes I wished they had been assigned a date, in this changing world.
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marvellousme
5.0 out of 5 stars What it really means to travel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 11, 2022
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A sensitive insightful and a book to be read and understood on many levels according to the reader. Hidden gems of wisdom are buried within its pages if you can find them.
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Mellora Sharman
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book - Tahir Shah tells interesting short stories about ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2017
Verified Purchase
Great book - Tahir Shah tells interesting short stories about his various travels around the world in this book. This is a slightly different style of writing for Tahir compared with his books the Caliph's House or Arabian Nights, and tell often more gritty tales of the plight of different sub-populations, or of a personal nature, but I still found the book very enjoyable and would recommend any of Tahir's travel-style writing.
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