The author writes with a wonderful depth and precision so as to engross you in his journey, providing adventure with a unique and revealing perspective for life along the silk road.

If you’ve ever had the urge to chuck in your day job, step outside your comfort zone and strap yourself in for a rugged cultural journey, this is for you.

Mixing history, local politics and daily dietary details (not to mention the ablutions again) Tom set himself a hard task. Scornful of backpackers in groups who just fly in and spray the view with their digital cameras - this is a book about a man determined to extract all the juice out of the hostel/backpack/lone-tourist-in-a-hurry experience. Whether waiting for visas to get into Tashkent or finding that your bus driver has disappeared with all your possessions (that seemed to happen often) or trying to smile even though there is a gun pointed at your head - this is dangerous travel for the reader. Tom has done all the hard work for you. You NEVER have to attempt this journey.

This book would make an excellent guide of things to do - and, perhaps, not to do - for anyone planning to attempt to follow the route of the Silk Road in our modern era.

Tearing up the Silk Road is a book that deftly avoids romanticising the Silk Road and instead gives a realistic, sometimes harsh, appraisal of the countries passed through. Travellers too, will appreciate the intense focus on the nuts and bolts of travelling through the region ... It's Coote's account of the ideological battle between the East and the West in the region that adds depth to the book. He notes that the real clash is between the few who have much and the masses demanding more.