Library Journal
Golding's first full-length nonfiction work is an account of the 75-year-old author's month-long cruise up the Nile. ''He who rides the sea of the Nile must have sails woven of patience,'' warned Golding's captain; that admonition proved to be true as Golding, his wife, and four crew members went along, and the book becomes more of an adventure story than a travelogue. Its most insightful passages detail the Western writer's interactions with Egyptians, illustrating the huge differences in lifestyles; and it chronicles his thoughts as the book he expected to write changes into the book he does write, all because of those cultural divergencies. Golding's storytelling abilities, his amusing observations, and his powerful descriptions make this an informative accountnot by revealing the history, archaeology, and geology of the land as he had intendedbut through his honest and resplendent impressions of the country, its inhabitants, and its complex society. Melinda Stivers Leach, Precision Editorial Svces., Boulder, Col.