The genesis of this blog and of my interest in Africa was in the reading of two books, perhaps not the most ideal books, on travels within Africa: Ryszard Kapucinski's "Shadow of the Sun" and Paul Theroux's "Dark Star Safari". As a logical extension of this interest I've just returned from two weeks spent on vacation in South Africa (no small credit for this goes to my wife Tanya for having the genius to realize that this was actually the most obvious destination for our summer vacation). I'll try to write more about the trip later but suffice it to say that we both had a wonderful time, learned a lot and miss it already.
On my return, I've been catching up on my blogs (reading the SA blogs was fun because they mention stuff that happened while we were there) and found it funny that Greenspun has just read "Dark Star Safari" (in preparation for travelling to Africa) and seems to have missed the point or at least part of it. Still, his "summary" is worth a read and the comments include some interesting links.
And while we're talking about Africa books, I'll recommend the following books we brought or bought on vacation:
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton
Don't Lets Go To The Dogs Tonight by Alexandra "Bobo" Fuller
Clicking With Xhosa by B. Kirsch, et al.
Presenting South Africa by Peter Joyce