by Edward Rice
This is the story of the life of the amazing adventurer and prolific author Richard Francis Burton. The book is well written, well researched and very interesting and tells the story of the life of an amazing man.
Burton was an incredible invididual, curious, intelligent and able to endure incredible hardships to see and experience the things that interested him. He was also very stubborn and free to express his true feelings and this alienated alot of people. His attitude caused him no end of difficutly getting the respect he deserved, postings he sought and support for his projects.
He reporedly learned more than 27 languages and dialects, kept detailed notes of most of his journeys, however, there are a couple of periods of his life that are shrouded in mystery and people speculate on what he was doing. There is also speculation that he may at times have been working as an undercover agent for the government, not just engaging on personal journeys.
He spent time in India and became a Hindu, then later became a Muslim and made a pilgrimmage to Mecca. He not only documented his journeys in copious detail including many of the sexual rights and practices of the cultures but he also translated many famous works including the Arabian Nights and Kama Sutra.
He suffered many illnesses and while on his quest to find the source of the Nile he was paralyzed and blind for a time, but her persevered and went on to experience many other hardships. It was incredible to hear about the hardships he endured and yet he kept going and was not deterred from further adventures and hardships.
In his later years he married a woman he loved and who adored him and they spent a number of wonderful years together, not always in the greatest conditions.
It was amazing that he did not get the support he needed for what he wanted to do. There was infighting in the East India Company and the military and it seems his enemies always seemed to be more powerful than his supporters. He never made it to a rank beyond Captain but he was eventually Knighted. However, he always struggled for money, never receiving posts that paid a decent amount and not receiving much of a pension.
Shockingly, his wife burned much of his notes, and writing upon his death. People speculated that she wanted to destroy the sexual/pornographic material but people wonder what else might have also been sacrificed to the flames.
Burton was an incredible, if difficult to deal with, individual. His life story is amazing and the book certainly does justice to him.
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