Burton, Byron Farwell
Burton, Byron Farwell
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Burton
A Biography of Sir Richard Frances Burton

Author: Byron Farwell

Narrator: Simon Vance

Unabridged: 18 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/01/2009

Synopsis

Explorer and inventor, soldier and poet, archaeologist and diplomat, Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) was the most versatile and remarkable man of his age. But he was foremost an adventurer: “an adventurer in the intellectual and the spiritual as well as the physical world.” The pioneering traveler in Central Africa who discovered Lake Tanganyika was also the translator of The Arabian Nights and the secret translator of Oriental sex manuals like The Perfumed Garden. The man who made a dangerous pilgrimage to Mecca in disguise also produced major writings on reptiles and religion, mining and mountain-climbing, slavery and sexuality.Byron Farwell brilliantly recreates the sheer excitement of Burton’s achievements and astonishing range of interests in this fascinating biography.

About Byron Farwell

Byron Farwell (1922–1999) was an American military historian and biographer known for books on nineteenth and early twentieth-century British military colonialism. He published articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, American Heritage, and elsewhere; served as a contributing editor to Military History and World War II; and contributed to Collier’s Encyclopedia.

About Simon Vance

Simon Vance is an award-winning actor and an AudioFile Golden Voice with over fifty Earphones Awards and thirteen prestigious Audie Awards. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sharon

I wasn't sure how to rate this book. I didn't really like it, but I sort of liked it, hence the three stars. The writing was superb and I have ordered other nonfiction books by the author: one on the life of Henry Stanley who found Livingston and another about the Gurkha warriors. So if you want a wel......more

Goodreads review by Ensiform

A fascinating, readable account of the jaw-droppingly talented man’s life. His ceaseless activity (he would produce 700 pages on a place he had stayed for a week, while sick, and while doing any number of other feats) is contrasted by his limitations (his books were pretty bad; he wasn’t a leader; h......more

Goodreads review by Philip

Well, that took a while, (13+ hours over a 20 minute daily commute)!* This one has been on my "to read" list for years, but I have to say that now I've finally read it, I'm kinda disappointed - not in Farwell's 5-star telling, but in his generally 3-star subject. I've long known the rough outline and......more

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