Experimental Blog # 199

Comments on "Full Tilt - Ireland to India With a Bicycle" and "In Ethiopia With a Mule" by Dervla Murphy

These 2 books are the first and fourth books written by Dervla Murphy. They were published in 1965 and 1968 and are about trips that she took in 1963 and 1966-67 when she was 31 and 35 years of age.

The continuous abundance of so much detail and so many superlatives that the author uses in both books to describe her surroundings and the events of her travels, day after day; and the complete absence of photographs, even though the author took pictures with her camera, probably cause some readers to assume that her writing should not be considered to be 100% reliable. However, her writing certainly is captivating and informative. Both of these books receive very high reviews, even 40 years after they were written.

Dervla Murphy obviously has amazing strength and endurance for physical and mental pain and exhaustion, and challenges and dangers of all kinds. She also has remarkable ability to communicate and establish relationships with all kinds of people who are completely alien to her, even when they do not understand each others' languages. She also knows how to manage all kinds of animals, both friendly and domestic, as well as, dangerous and wild.