TGO book club
Every issue, while coronavirus restrictions last, we’ ll be getting a small group of readers together (virtually, of course) to discuss a good read
What was your overall impression of Outpost?
STEPH: When I first read about the book, I was expecting it to be more about the author and his experiences in the places he writes about. But it’s more than that – for example, the chapter on Scottish bothies had lots in it about history, art and more. I also thought it was really funny. When he talks about himself in the US as being like Hugh Grant stumbling onto the set of
No Country For Old Men; and when he describes tardigrades as “microscopic moss piglets” with “faces like crushed Coke cans” – it was just really relatable humour.
GINNY: I enjoyed it but I found it quite frustrating in places. What you were saying, Steph, about the fact that there was so much in it – he makes so many references to writers, historians and explorers that at points I felt that he’d tried to put too much between the covers of the book.
HIRAN: I felt that rather than a book it was like his own diary. He puts so much into it – and the way he looks at things, it seems to me he’s more an artist than a traveller. I was focusing on reading one chapter at a time and I did quite a lot of Googling trying to understand each place he was describing. Generally I’m a fiction reader and English isn’t my mother tongue. This is one of the few non-fiction books I’ve touched because I liked the whole concept and
I like his perspective on life.
So this is a book that needs to be read slowly?
STEPH: I felt that you couldn’t read it too quickly, because if you did then you’d miss a lot of the essence and the descriptions of the places.
GINNY: I think it’s really interesting what you say, Hiran – advising people to take it a chapter at a time is a really good idea. Because each chapter is so rich, so complex, so multi-layered, that taking them almost as self-contained descriptions is a great way of tackling the book.
If I’d done that I might have found it less frustrating!
HIRAN: It took me a couple of months to read the whole thing. I was even going through his references because I was so curious about where he was coming from. Maybe it’s a personal thing – I’m mainly a solo traveller, and when I travel I like to understand the background of a place rather than just ticking the activity box. Travelling is a different thing for different people.
Richards writes about isolation, but is he really searching for it himself?
GINNY: Most of the places he went to… although they were very remote there were always other people around, so that was one of the paradoxes of the book. He didn’t seem to choose to go there to be isolated and reflective himself.
STEPH: I don’t think he’s the kind of person who searches for isolation. In the Scottish bothy chapter, for instance, he didn’t have to go with a friend. He talks about going to the library to write so that there are people around. I feel like he is a person who likes the idea of solitude but actually he’s just as drawn to the people as he is to the places themselves.
HIRAN: He’s curious about the subject of isolation – but that doesn’t mean he wants to be isolated. He’s trying to understand it as a subject. When he travels to these places he’s thinking “I need to keep a record, I need to keep track of it”. So for him it’s like a project to understand the subjects of isolation and outposts. It’s very different to going somewhere without obligations or responsibilities.
Do you think Richards feels guilty for encouraging exploration of wild places?
GINNY: That’s another interesting paradox of the book. It’s inspirational and it does inspire you to go to some of these places… but he’s also saying we’re destroying these environments because too many of us are going so it’s a real dilemma.
HIRAN: We are curious as human beings, we love travelling and exploring; but he says we need to think about how we can do this in a more sustainable manner.
STEPH: The outposts are probably some of the most sustainable places on the planet. The dilemma is that more people going to these places and the journeys they take to get there can be hugely damaging.
What did you take away from the book in the end?
STEPH: It was definitely inspiring. It gave me that sense of longing to be out in the wild, have those isolating experiences and go to some of those places. He gets you interested in places by giving you the history, geology and everything else.
GINNY: It sort of enriches the places in your imagination. There are so many accounts of strange happenings and so many fascinating little stories.
HIRAN: This is one of the very few books I’ve read like this, and it really inspired me to read more in this field. My whole perspective on travelling has changed because of this book. I’ve recommended it to so many friends!