MEASURING ETHIOPIA AND FLIGHT INTO ARABIA

In view of the present concentration of interest in Ethiopia, this book should be much in demand. It is the first book I have read about that part of the world that leaves a concrete mental picture of the country, towns, and people -- and this through a lively personal narrative of a scientific trip which -- from the view-point of science didn't achieve its purpose, but which did contribute to a closer knowledge of the Ethiopia background and psychology. The last half of the book takes the investigators on to Arabia -- and again teems with interest in anecdote and description. Carleton Coon is an ethnologist -- a novelist on the side -- hence his rare combination of narrative and descriptive talent.