3,001 Arabian Days: A Memoir
Subtitle
Growing up in an American oil camp in Saudi Arabia (1953-1962)
"3,001 Arabian Days" is a memoir about the author's experiences and life-shaping take-aways from growing up Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, from 1953 to 1962, and how they affected his life going forward. He worked as an adult for 17 years in the kingdom during two iterations before retiring from the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) in 2011. He met his American wife, Pat, in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, in 1986.
Bio
Rick Snedeker, a 1973 journalism graduate of ASU, is a retired journalist and writer living with his wife and a cat named Buddy in South Dakota. He has published two books: "3,001 Arabian Days: A Memoir" (2018) and "Holy Smoke: How Christianity Smothered the True American Dream" (2020).
Praise for this book
An often beautifully written and intellectually sensitive reminiscence. ... The author lucidly and often poetically conveys his remembrances in a series of brief, impressionistic anecdotes that
reflect the gossamer quality of youthful recollection ... His commentary is remarkably insightful, and he has a gimlet eye for nuanced portraiture. But although he astutely observes Saudi Arabia’s cultural and political climate, his attention is more typically drawn to the personal. ... an enjoyably stimulating read that also features marvelous black-and-white photographs.Kirkus Reviews
"3,001 Arabian Days" has everything a reader wants in a book, with a congenial narrator to lead you on an adventure in an exotic locale and in a lost era. While the book will be of special interest to those with a connection to the Arab world or to the oil business or Aramco, I had none of those and yet found myself charmed by the author's effortless storyteller's style. It is a book that is both an escape and an education.
Dale Dauten Author of "The Gifted Boss" and "The Max Strategy"
