I have read a lot of hunting books, probably over 150, but this one has somewhat left me wordless on how to describe the book let alone the person of Prince Abdorreza of Iran.

First and foremost, I read this book because our own Bill Quimby wrote it. I have begun reading some of his books and learned a little about his career as a writer, hunter and stalwart within SCI. He did not recommend the book to me, but I found it and asked him about it. I will save his comments for another time, but suffice to say, he did an expert job working with a person of immense ego and world view that is totally different from anything I am familiar with.

Second, if you were a product of the 1970's, you are familiar with the Shah of Iran - the dictator of Iran that was overthrown by the current regime of Muslim fundamentalists. After reading this book and getting scant insight into the excesses of the family, no wonder they were tossed out of Iran. A quick look at history showed that the Shah of Iran's father led a military takeover in the 1920's and ended up in control of the control and then very wealthy when oil was discovered there. The father passed the kingdom to his eldest son, the Shah who managed to hold it together until he was ousted in 1978.

This book is about the hunting/shooting exploits of the number 2 son, Prince Abdorreza. Being the second son and hence an heir to a throne is like being vice president in the USA - big title but not much to do. Prince "Ab", as I will call him had a lot of time and money on his hands, so he decided to become the greatest hunter the world has ever seen.

He become friends with Jay Mellon, Elgin Gates, Jack O'Connor, Herb Klein and others in his quest. By is family name and the oil money in Iran, he was welcomed to hunt in places no other person had a chance to hunt. Even in the US, he was given two desert sheep tags for Nevada, he hunted polar bears out using a helicopter in Alaska (when that was legal), he went for jaguars, took several tigers - in all he hunted everywhere. Frequently, he got his ideas from Jay Mellon and seemed to be in competition with his "friends".

All in all, I lost track of the number of seriously big trophies he took. To me the most impressive was a 65" kudu in South Africa. The kudu is stunning. There are loads of other animals as well.

The pity of the book is that the bulk of his trophies, his guns, pictures and notes were left behind in Iran when his family was kicked out (or they ran out to avoid being executed). He worked with Bill Quimby and Ludo Wurfbain over many days to get the story told. Bill does an amazing job of making a "I went there, shot this trophy, immediately jumped a plane home or to the next set up hunt" type of book interesting.

Many of us would love to have access to the money needed to do these hunts but in reality - I doubt Prince Ab ever liked what he did. In all of the pictures in the book, he smiled once. His comments sound more of stamp collector chasing that one precious stamp that is just out of reach and he never finds joy in his efforts.

The prince only enjoyed the "inches" and never the people, the places or the animals he purported to have loved. He was a collector, a hoarder with an unlimited budget and appetite.

I would like to think I would not be like that if I were born into the extreme privilege and wealth he was given (not earned). Being flawed, as we all are, I likely would have fallen for the trap as well. A pity to have "everything" yet never be satisfied.

Prince Ab reminds me of King Solomon in the Book of Ecclesiasties where he questions the purpose of his life saying - "It is all vanity, chasing after the wind". At least King Solomon got it right in the end. Prince Ab did not.

Overall, I would rate this book a 6 on the dogcat scale. I would rate it a 9 in terms of literary effort on the part of Bill Quimby, and a 4 in terms of how interesting the life of Prince Abdorreza likely turned out to be.

Would I recommend this book to you? Well, yes I would - solely for the purpose of seeing what you do not want to be when you grow up. He was a shooter/collector to be pitied and not admired, in my opinion.

dogcat, I've had this book in my library for some time. Now and again I look through it. I agree Bill did a marvelous job writing about the prince. The photos tell all to me, no smiling or excitement in their faces. What a pity to have everything in the world money can buy and still not appear happy or excited. Good and interesting read though.

Thank you for the praise, Dogcat and Cessna. I think Abdorreza's station in life is most apparent in the book's two-page centerfold photo that shows the number of people and animals it took for one man's expedition into the Pamirs.

Bill Quimby

That picture was astounding! I thought it was an old pic of the Teddy Rooseveldt safari in 1909!