I spent a few hours reading this book last night. The first half of the book was pretty cool, obviously well edited over time as the author remembered the details over time. It contained lots of interesting stories about life in Africa.
It's really bizarre to me that the British (in this case the author it Scottish) would go to a university and ask for volunteers for new graduates to go live in Africa. Why would the local African people accept inexperienced young white people (with no training in law) to act as their court system? The author was sort of like a judge when he got to the place - he would try to determine who was telling the truth and then sentence the wrongdoers to prison or lashings or make them pay a fine. This is so weird to me. Not only that, but he had servants. This British colonial mumbo jumbo blows my mind.
The second half of the book is totally different from the first. Over 40 years later, the author (and his new 2nd wife, an amateur painter) returned to Zambia. This part of the book is hastily thrown together - just a copy of journal entries including what they ate for every meal and what the wife was up to, and how much things cost. I think if Mr. Grant had more time he would have filtered these irrelevant details out to make it match the first half of the book.
In my area, this book costs over $100. Just get it from your library instead of buying it.
