Buckley describes his two-year journey through the world's deserts. He tried as much as possible to travel like the local people, using buses, lorries, trains and, occasionally, camels or mules.

In the Sahara he was threatened with murder. In the Gobi he hijacked a cycle rickshaw. Encountering the desert at its most extreme he learned how to find water - and how to spit tobacco into a camel's nostril.

(Vintage, £7.99)