This is the second of Theroux's books I've read (the other was he Pillars of Hercules), so I was prepared for his rather curmudgeonly style. He makes some really good points about the nature of aid in Africa and how it might be doing more harm than good. He is rather mean spirited towards other travellers and tourists in Africa, along the lines of if you're not getting shot at then you're not really in Africa. For him other tourists are either terribly over indulged and cocooned from the realities of African life in their lodge with butler, or on some sort of disaster tourism jaunt. Nevertheless I romped through the book and really enjoyed it.