The Gold-Mines of Midian [Paperback]

Richard F. Burton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 13, 1995

A fascinating chronicle of Burton's 1877 expedition to locate gold and other valuable metals in the Arabian peninsula.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (October 13, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486287394
• ISBN-13: 978-0486287393
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,719 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Troubled, Mistitled, Schizophrenic, March 25, 2001

By 

Michael Green "mrclay2000" (OKLAHOMA CITY, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gold-Mines of Midian (Paperback)

For the first time in my readership of Burton, the author avoids criticizing, belittling or scorning his travel companions, largely because his travel companions are little to the purpose.

Unfortunately, most of what Burton writes is little to the purpose. Like his other works, I expected this to be a knowledgeable travelogue and journal of discovery, but a discovery of what? Burton spends the first quarter of the book discussing Alexandria and Cairo before he gets underway (this last detail almost lost in the maze of other irrelevant observations). He names every sedimentary formation and every flower on his route, and then disputes or corrects every historical observation on Midian -- Biblical, Greek, Latin and Arab. When someone washes a handful of sand and exposes a tiny nugget of gold (presumably the intended core of this book), the detail itself appears as a small nugget amidst so much worthless sand.

From time to time, a promising anecdote or observation on a Biblical place or event raises clarity above the labyrinth, only to plunge again and at length.

Glutted with learning, too heavy for the non-scholarly reader, thick with observations of questionable relevance, and fraught with meaningless, private anecdotes, the book taxes the reader considerably. Use caution.

5.0 out of 5 stars Historical Treasure, April 13, 2010

By 

Jeffrey L. Whittaker - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Gold-Mines of Midian (Paperback)

It was wonderful to secure this unassuming volume for my personal library! Filled with actual diary entries by Sir Richard, it carries the reader through a 19th century travelogue which bares unexpected fruit relative to the historical veracity of the Holy Bible!