Reviews of Into a Desert Place
Mackintosh... makes a great traveling companion.
— New York Times Book Review
Always vastly entertaining, this is one of the finest pieces of travel
writing to appear in years and certainly one of the best books on Baja
ever published. Don't miss this title; it's that good.
— Coast Book Review Service
Mackintosh...is an intrepid writer who not only details his very
exciting journey but also puts Baja California into historical
perspective...An impressive collection of lore, adventure. Mackintosh
has a very exceptional ability to involve the reader in his plights and
his joys.
— Book Reader
Mackintosh is the…fair skinned, flame-headed Brit who, with no
money to speak of, walked—read my lips—walked 3,000 miles solo
down one Baja coast and up the other, carrying a 60-pound pack and
surviving on cactus, rattlesnakes and the fish caught from shore on a
small, telescoping Daiwa rod. In searing, killing heat, he
painstakingly distilled minuscule quantities of life-sustaining water
as he went, and he frazzled seven pairs of boots during the
Odyssey...the book is, quite simply, the best Baja book ever
published—a sprint-paced, harrowing adventure yarn that has all the
elements of a classic film.
— Western Outdoor News
A truly uplifting account of what one person alone against the world
can accomplish. It is also one of the finest pieces of travel writing of
recent times.
— Irish Independent
Before the trip, Mackintosh didn't consider himself a writer or an
outdoorsman, for that matter. Most of his exercise consisted of
knocking back a few beers in a pub or in front of a television set. With
Into a Desert Place, Mackintosh proves he is both. In an uncluttered
and sincere writing style, he takes the reader along on all legs of the
journey, from the slow days of trudging up and down dusty hillsides
to lively marine expeditions with Mexican fishermen...As he treks the
miles with sore feet, Mackintosh changes from a clumsy, chubby city
boy into a competent wilderness explorer, gaining endurance and a
self confidence that comes only from pushing internal limits.
— Albuquerque Journal
Exciting, colorful, imaginative, amusing, instructive, this is a quirky,
highly individualistic account of derring-do...Beyond recounting his
travails, victories, hopes and set backs, Mackintosh introduces
dozens of cameos of earlier visitors to Baja—John Steinbeck to name
one—and a plethora of historical vignettes. Many colorful
photographs help put you right in the experience—you'll feel you've
participated in every one of the 3000 tortuous and fatiguing
miles...reading about it is a glorious experience, a demonstration of
the sheer will requisite to conquer an unforgiving area of our planet.
— Times (New Jersey)
