the places in between is the account of rory stewart walk from heart to kabul shortly after the fall of the taliban in 2002. i bought the book after i heard an interview with rory about his latest book (prince of the marshes) about his time as lt. governor in a province in iraq.. he is a special guy.

he walked in asia (india, pakistan, iran, afghanistan) for 16 months, but the timing of his trip to afghanistan and the way he went about it (staying every night in the houses of people willing to take him in and feed him) is extraordinary.

he walks in rural afghanistan and most of the people he meets are illiterate, don't have access to media and never went too far outside their village. unfortunately this is true for most of afghanistan. their country has just been bombarded and conquered by the coalition, and they don't really have a clue of the context. quite amazing.

reading this book it is hard to be optimistic about afghanistan's future. i hope the UN, NATO the US are spending real time and resources trying to understand the situation there, and help the local population make real progress.

the book is easy and quick to read.  i felt rory was very honest in his writing. he is not making himself to be a hero, not every sentence he says is full of wit or wisdom, and his behavior is not always admirable. he is also not being very dramatic (beside a few understandable slips). he has a good sense of humor and it comes out in many of the passages in the book.