Absolutely fascinating, informative and approachable read for anyone who wonders what is happening in that empty wasteland called the Sahara.

The author, Judith Scheele, knows exactly who she wrote this book for as she is well aware of the misconceptions surrounding the desert. My idea of the Sahara, fed mostly by movies, was exactly the one she describes in the opening chapter: sand dunes, unbearably hot during the day and insufferably cold in the night with a camel here and there. It’s so much more than that though and my view of the Sahara and to some extent of any other desert is forever changed.

I found the writing and structure perfect for this topic as it reads almost like a TV documentary. In the span of few paragraphs descriptions of mountain ranges are followed by history, fauna and flora, then by religion, culture, history again and then some information about salt, political prisoners and natron. The author stitches these topics together seamlessly so you are never wondering why something is mentioned and it doesn’t distract from the chapter’s theme. Each chapter builds upon what was already covered so the view of the desert grows in complexity but not in an overwhelming way.

Since the book covers such a wide range of topics I have also found it to be the perfect springboard for ideas for future reading not necessarily exclusive to the desert.

A big thank you to Judith Scheele, Basic Books and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll admit, for the majority of my life I have thought of the Sahara as just a massive, almost lifeless expanse of sand that served as little more than a large and challenging pass-through point. In other words, I carried the same very, very mistaken assumptions called out rather explicitly here at the start of "Shifting Sands" by author Judith Scheele. The rest of the book from then on out proved to be a fascinating engaging read that, in short, helped show this region of the plant to be a far more complex place in almost every major facet than I ever could have been able to guess.