Travels in Northern Mongolia (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Yesön Züil, ger camp, skin sac, Ulaan Baatar, Burkhan Khaldun, Bogd Gegeen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Describes travels in Northern Mongolia, including a search for the source of the Yenisei-Angara-Selenga River system, the fifth longest river system in the world, visits to places connected with the life of Zanabazar, the first Bogdo Gegen of Mongolia, and a horseback trip to the upper Onon Valley, an area known as the Birthplace of the Mongols. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Don Croner has spent three years in Mongolia, traveling over 5000 miles by jeep and 800 miles by horseback. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 242 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (October 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419635255
• ISBN-13: 978-1419635250
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #927,654 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book by foreign person, July 1, 2001

By	Dambijantsan Bulag (Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travels in Northern Mongolia (Paperback)

I was very surprised to find this book about my wonderful country Mongolia, and I am very proud that a foreign person would take such interest in my country Even when a child I heard about the famous mountain Burkhan Khaldun, but I have never gone there. Now Don Croner goes to this mountain! I have visited the museum of our Bodg Khan, but I did not know the story of Zanabazar. Now I read about it in this book by a foreigner! And my mother's mother was born in Zavkhan aimag, near Uliastai town, which is in the book. For me, this is a very interesting book. Please, if you want to know something interesting about my country read this book.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good part of the puzzle, January 13, 2000

By	William P. Stenwick (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Travels in Northern Mongolia (Paperback)

I found this book to be very will written, interesting and highly informative. It covers Northern Mongolia very well, and in concert with "Gobi", which I just completed, gives a great profile of all except the Kazakh part of Mongolia in the West of the country. The only downside of this book is that it contains many, many errors in English which suggest that it may have been edited by a non-native speaker. The wrong suffixes are selected for many words, etc. There was also nothing about the author, who seems a very interesting personality. I recommend it for anyone interested in either adventure travel or background on the history, religion and geography of Mongolia.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In Search of Don Croner, June 20, 2000

By	"valinca" (Woodland Hills, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travels in Northern Mongolia (Paperback)

This book presents a fascinating view of Mongolia, written by an American who has seen and done much more than the typical American tourist. I would agree with others who commented about the strange combination of a highly literate author and a non-native English-speaking editor. This didn't detract from the book at all for me; it merely deepened my curiosity about Don Croner. Who is he? Why would an author who took pains to design the Book and cover, painstakingly draw the book maps, and even select the book's typography- (for heaven's sake!)- allow the most basic grammatical errors to creep into the manuscript?

Most good travel writers, like Paul Theroux for example, bounce the stories of their journeys off of personal revelations. This invigorates their travelogue and allows readers to identify with them as they travel. "Hmmmm," we say, turning the page, "I too would have found that funny, or alarming, or interesting, because I have parents who were hippies in the 60s, or because I once lived next to a Chinese gardener." But although Don Croner's narrative is chock-full of thick description, it contains maddeningly few personal glimpses. We find ourselves reading passages of intelligent observation or wry humor without any knowledge of the writer.

Croner's reticence about himself merely feeds his readers' eagerness to gather together what few facts we can find on him: He's a self-described American of European descent, tall, thin, speaks Russian fluently, and identifies with the American National identity but not at all with American mass culture (although he's very knowledgeable about mass culture). He's a voracious reader, and tends toward history books, but will probably devour anything in English that crosses his path. Like any experienced traveller, he will eat anything, sleep anywhere, and showers when he can- hot, cold or no water. He has a technical background and holds down a favored job- some type of employment with access to sufficient official connections to secure all those visas he needs for moving about a part of the world still notorious for difficulty in procuring travel docs. He either grew up abroad or is an ex-runner who blew out his knees when he was younger, because Americans simply do not walk for enjoyment as much as he does. His editor has learned english from a book or institute of British english, not American english, and displays "spell-check literacy"- that is, has run a computer spell check over the manuscript so that there aren't any glaring spelling errors. What errors there are result from incorrect word endings and grammar errors- stuff that would make it through a spell check.

At any rate, Croner's contribution is his description of places rarely seen, his speculations on the movement of historic personages, and his curiosity about native-held beliefs. With regard to this last point, he queries the locals incessantly in order to differentiate folklore from faith, to separate romantic legend from divine action. An interesting read from several perspectives.