Actually the full title is: Baghdad Without a Map and other misadventures in Arabia, by Tony Horwitz. I picked it up for two reasons: one, I needed a break from fiction. And two, I really have liked Tony Horwitz’s other books (well, okay, I really liked one and kind of liked the other). I wasn’t disappointed. He’s a good journalistic writer, and has fascinating adventures. I guess I still have a journalist in me somewhere, because I find myself becoming nostalgic about reporting, even though he doesn’t paint it in a very favorable light, especially in the Middle East of the 1980s. It begins with his wife being transferred to Cairo and his desire to get free-lance writing work. The book is compiled from all sorts of adventures he had and paints an interesting portrait of the people he met over three years in the late 80s. So, it’s pretty out of date. That said, it’s still pretty interesting. He goes to pretty much every Arabic country plus Israel and Iran (he was covering Kohmeini’s funeral). The only updating he does is in the last chapter, when he re-visits Iraq during the first Gulf War. I’d like to know what he thinks of the area now. It also reminded me that I once read Nine Parts of Desire by his wife, Geraldine Brooks, and I’d like to find it and re-read it again.