Product Description

This remarkable yearbook by Danielle and Olivier Föllmi, a follow-up to their successful Buddhist Offerings, presents the wise words of a leading personality in African literature for every day of the year, accompanied by Olivierâs beautiful, moving photographs of African people and places, from the Himba shepherds to the Peul nomads, from the deserts of Namibia to the forests of Rwanda and the savannah of Cameroon.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22201 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 752 pages

About the Author
Danielle and Olivier Follmi have written over fifteen books, including The Himalayas, also published by Thames & Hudson. They are the official photographers of the Dalai Lama and recipients of the prestigious World Press award. The Follmis divide their time between the Alps and the Himalayas.

Customer Reviews

Great contribution to African literature
I have come across this book in a bookstore in Nairobi, Kenya and it was a delight to scan through it. I did not hesitate to transport this heavy item back to my home country Holland and order four more copies (online) as presents for several friends. Meaningful images of African life (places and people) are combined with sayings that make you think. The sayings represent the African filosophy of life, how things started, how social strucutures work, how to remain mentally healthy. In other words a treasure for people in the developed world to learn about the basic and very important rules of life.

Glossy, beautiful, enjoyable but limited read.
The photographs in this book are also in another, big coffee table book by the same authors so this is a great, low cost alternative. Its nice and chunky, making a great gift. The pictures are for the most part stunning but somewhat repetitive, because the same scenes in the same countries predominate: Burkina Faso (mosques and markets), Mali, Senegal (fishing), Ethiopia, Namibia (Himba people in their village). The quotations and sayings are well selected and organised into seven sections, such as: Honouring the Ancestors January 1 - February 18, Taking Control of the Self May 14 to July 1. This gives a nice structure and I've enjoyed, over the past twelve months, waking up to enjoy and contemplate upon a different piece of African wisdom each day. However, they don't seem to bear much connection with the pictures.
My strongest criticism of this book is the way it presents one aspect of Africa as timeless rural landscape populated by elephants, zebras, bare breasted women in tribal dress, exotic looking mosques. All that is there of course. However theres also another Africa which doesn't figure here. The skyscrapers of Lagos, Abidjan or Johannesburg. The nightclubs and bars of Accra, Nairobi or Cape Town. The huge, sprawling markets of places like Kumasi or Lome, and the market traders, hustling electrical goods, cloth. Theres such a wealth of incredible images out there and a book of 365 pages ought to have had a bit more variety.
Maybe theres another book waiting where this one leaves off. Perhaps one which has pictures from every country on the continent and enables Africans to share their images, stories of themselves..
My final assessment: Good, glossy, beautiful to look at, enjoyable to read but somewhat limited.