Moorhouse begins the book by stating that his marriage broke up because of his own adultery. He says that fear is the basis for life and he wanted to cross the desert to combat his fear. He spent the book complaining about how miserable he was and how untrustworthy and lazy his native guides were. In the end, he worked three camels to their death and almost died himself and didn't make it close to his goal — and in the process destroyed his relationship with his girlfriend. It's not a trip I would want to take or one I enjoyed reading about much. It was much more about him, his motives, fears and feelings than about what he saw.