A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine sent me a link to a book on eBay saying “This is something you might want. American expat cartoonist who drew some funny sketches of life in Kuwait. Also a shawarma guide for the ‘90s.” Literally, 2 minutes later I sent him a screenshot of my order. It was selling for 9KD and it came out while I was at university in Lebanon so I was curious to know what was “in” while I wasn’t here. The book ended up being delivered yesterday and it turned out to be way more interesting than I expected it to be.
It’s 132 pages filled with illustrations, maps, reviews and recommendations of where to go and what to do in Kuwait all written in a humorous tone. It reminded me a bit of the Wizr series but with a lot more illustrations and content. I posted some pages up on my Instagram and pretty much I right away started getting bombarded by people asking where they can get a copy and I honestly have no idea.
There is one for sale on Amazon right now but the guy is asking for like $700 which is obviously ridiculous. At one point it looked like there was a copy available online but that was back in 2006 and the page no longer works. It’s 132 pages so I can’t sit down and scan the book one page at a time.
Until I figure out the best way to share the whole book online you can for now at least check out the few pages I’ve uploaded here.
Thanks Shaheen!!!
21 replies on “Lost in Kuwait – A Traveller’s Guide to Good Eats & Cheap Thrills”
Go to any copy center in any coop and they’ll scan it for you for a buck while you shop.
Great Find!
Thanks for sharing!
What a gem! Mark, I seriously demand the full thing to be scanned and shared! As Buzz has said, just go to any coop’s copy center and let them scan it as you do your shopping u.u.
Hi Mark.
Is it possible to borrow this from you, and I’ll have it copied in MRG complex? I live near to your area 😉
its written on it Volume 1 that mean there should be part 2.. what about you contact Aron Johnston and have a conversation with him and you post the conversation here 😀
How cool would it be if they make it into a podcast special one shot? One can hope!
This honestly sounds like 248am, before there was 248am 😂 I wonder if the locations mentioned still exist today.
My parents had this on our coffee table for years back when we lived in Kuwait. Actually thought it would be great content for 248 but since we moved to Canada I haven’t been able to find it!
I think the guy even got Khyber in there which is probably the most legendary chicken tikka on the planet!
Remember – tip well!
Where and how did you manage to get your copy?
Copy and bind several copies of this please and sell it. I would buy it. Would be a lovely gift for many. Cheers.
https://www.aronjohnston.net/
My guess is that’s him. A photo of an arabic coke bottle on the main page is somewhat of a clue.
The better clue is his CV. He was an art teacher at ASK from 2000-2002
Turns out that is his son not him, same names
I just found my copy while cleaning stuff out at my parent’s house and I remember so much of this. Wish I could contact the guy still
Jesus, you can’t just copy a book wholesale! It’s intellectual property protected by copyright. Contact author and pay him. Keith wells was not happy some dude put wizr all over his website and I tried to pay him for rights to all wizr !
This is gold!
My wife and I got one many tears ago it’s still relevant.
Does anyone know if there is a second volume to this book?
Yeah there is I have it
Thanks for that confirmation Mark. I have the first volume and was looking to complete the set. Unfortunately, the second volume seems to be rather elusive.
when are you going to share?