River Dog: A Journey Down the Brahmaputra

Good service and interesting read

Quick service good value

brilliant book

bought as a present.

I absolutely loved this book and fell in love with Bhaiti the dog that Mark makes the adventure with - and of course other characters. Trials and tribulations of border crossings and sometimes it looks like the journey might not ever be complete. A great travel book that transported me to India and the Brahmaputra River. It was very sad at the end when Mark had to say goodbye to his companion but like all good stories it had a happy ending. I enjoyed the book so much that it inspired me to book a riding holiday to Assam and I was able to ride along the banks of the Brahmaputra.

Mark Shand has a unique way of narrating his amazing journeys. Very descriptive and atmostpheric. You just want to keep turning the pages as you travel with him and can't wait, like him, to see what's around the next corner. This is definately the book for the armchair traveller. I'm always sorry when his adventures end.

Unlike other reviewers, I found the focus on the dog to be irritating and contrived. Irritating because I wanted to read about Tibet, North East India and Bangladesh and not how much his dog ate or how well it could fight or copulate; contrived, because it felt like in the absence of being able to navigate the first half of the river (weather made him choose to tackle the lower part of the river first and then when he wanted to start on the upper part the Chinese authorities revoked their permission) he decided he needed some other content to justify a book and he decided to replicate the success of his earlier travels by travelling with an animal. However, in the earlier work his companion was an elephant and there was real interest for a European reader. A dog just didn't add enough for me.I do, however, like his writing. When he describes places and people it is very easy to visualise. I think this book would have made a wonderful magazine article. As a book it lacked substance. But when he mentions some of the costs he incurred in making the trip (hire of various boats, different crews, cooks, porters and British Airways flights for a travelling companion) I can see why he felt compelled to find a way of making a book.

A little boring but great

I had high hopes for 'River Dog' as the Brahmaputra is a unique wonder of a river, but this is more of a personal diary than a travel log. We get to know a bit about the adventurous Mr. Shands and his new dog Bhaiti. Hints of the troubled history of India's eastern states peek through, but there's disappointingly little that describes the role the river played. And Mr. Shands is admittedly not taken with Bangladesh, so while it's almost half of the distance he traveled, the Bangladesh part of his journey gets about 10% of the pages.It's far from a waste of time, though. It's a fast read and it opened my eyes to this incredible river. The first part of his adventure as he joins a hunt for Shangri La is edgy and exciting, and we get a great feel for the roots of this river at the top of the world.But after that we need to wade through altogether too much material about his new pooch. Clearly, the dog had a great time on this trip. As for us, we do get glimpses of the river and snippets of quotes from some early British explorers. And we have several detailed descriptions on how to deal with government administrators. But while we learn that eastern India is a disputed area, we don't get a lot of insight beyond that. He mentions in passing, for example, that the Chinese army had made its way far into what is now India. This must have some kind of residual impact on the people who live there now. But we wouldn't know that through this work. We also get bits of Hindu culture that flow throughout as he occasionally mentions a religious foundation to what is driving actions for his fellow travelers and himself. It's hard to tell for this novice, though, how much of this is real and how much is just for fun. When he, for example, encourages his friend to help him find a pet by envoking a heritage of dog worship. Sure this was funny. But it's hard to tell if there was any real foundation.So River Dog is a fun fast read, and it relays a touch of cultural insight while you learn a bit about this incredible river as it roams through eastern India. Just don't pick it up if you're looking to learn anything about Bangladesh.

Excellent condition - good adventurous read - delivered on time -

I bought River Dog because I am taking a trip on the Brahmaputra River in India and hope to get some insight into my trip.