Travel reading: "Far Horizons" by Frank Gardner

If you ever watch the BBC news, you'll know who Frank Gardner is. He is the "security correspondent" who knows a lot about the tangled antagonisms of the Middle East.  Thanks to those antagonisms he is also a wheelchair user, having been the victim of an opportunistic Al Qaeda shooting in 2005. It was remarkable enough to survive that shooting, but to have maintained his job and kept up an active professional and travelling life since it happened is amazing, and does him vast credit.

The story of the shooting and its aftermath itself was the subject of Gardner's first book "Blood and Sand", which I listened to as an audio book in the car some time ago. This book is a collection of travel stories, most from before the shooting and a few after. Though one chapter revisits the fateful day in Riyadh, the book is not about that event, and in fact is only partially about the impact of the disability afterwards. It is really just a selection of travel stories, ranging from gap year adventures on a shoestring budget, to genuine adventures in some extraordinary places around the world, to professional assignments and even a package tour or two. It is a travel book which fills in a lot of autobiographical details along the way - we know Mr Gardner a lot better as a result.

Gardner is an admirable character, most of all for how he reacted to his disability, but also for his get-up-and-go spirit generally. Even if one's ingrained British class consciousness detects that he emerges from a bit of an Hooray Henry background (he has young fogey friends called Peregrine, clearly sets considerable store in being able to shoot straight and believes in doing his bit in the Territorials), this book actually helps dispel some of the prejudices that observation might generate.

The only problem is, well, that this book isn't actually that good. It is not anything like complete or deep enough to be an autobiography, nor is the writing powerful or evocative enough to qualify as top quality travel writing - although there is no question that many of these travelling experiences certainly provide the raw material. The travellers tales are related in the sort of way one might expect round a dinner table. They are diverting, interesting on the whole, impressive here and there, but don't make you feel like you were there. There is good observation, plenty of anecdote, but little insight or analysis. The repast is one, shall we say, which leaves you a little unsatisfied.

This is doubtless to measure Gardner by a high standard. Don't get me wrong; this is readable and entertaining. It's just that it's a bit insubstantial. Not that that affects one's admiration for its author.

Recommendation? If you are interested in Frank Gardner, you will get much out of this book. I will see him differently when he crops up on the news, certainly. If however you are after great travel writing, or insightful analysis of places around the world, you will do better elsewhere. 

A man who looks forward