I've been hanging on to this one for a while now, and #nonfictionNovember seemed like a great time to finally dig in. I have some mixed feelings, though, which has me almost feeling like a traitor to my profession!

The story is essentially three different things:

-a history of scholars and scholarship in Mali and the general area
-a history of Mali
-the story of the jihad and Timbuktu, prompting the removal of the manuscripts from the city before they are destroyed.

All three are interesting, but the summary only handles a small part of the first and third, and doesn't really tell the whole story held within. I was expecting a very specific story, but ended up getting...well, a little bit of everything. It was all interesting, but there just wasn't enough focus on what the book declared it was about.

Now, that said, it was well written and enthralling. In all, it probably took me about 3 or 4 hours to read, so it was definitely engaging. Sadly, it wasn't quite what I was hoping for.

An important tale of adventure and historical significance. I loved learning about events previously unknown to me, and from such an interesting perspective.

This title first caught my eye at “Bad-Ass” and “Librarians” … when I got to the “Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts”, I knew I had to read it. Does it live up to its title’s expectations? Yes and no. It provides a literary history that is unknown to many Western bibliophiles (or ok at least I was sadly ignorant). It provides a social history that is likewise less known of the tribes of the distances needed to go to forge cooperation. However it doesn’t go into as much depth about what these precious manuscripts are as I would have liked. This is a beneficial read for those wishing to better understand recent conflict. However read with the understanding that you will be left wanting in knowing what in particular was saved.

I really didn't like this book at all, despite the very thought-provoking title. I barely managed to get through a third of the book, and giving it three stars is me being generous.

A good non-fiction account of trying to preserve knowledge and history.