Reading Log for Magazine Article #1

Name and Date of Magazine: National Geographic, December 1998.

Title of Article: Petra, Ancient City of Stone.

Author of Article: Don Belt

Summary of Article: The author described Petra in several aspects such as : historical, geographical, the thoughts of all the people of Petra, and Petra today. The author tells us about the history of Petra across the years. Some of what he talked about is that Petra was built in the year 2000 B.C., and the first people to live there were called the Nabteans. He also talked about the geography of Petra, Petra's location was a very important trade center in the past. The people of Petra who are the Bedouins, who are Nabatean originated, feel that tourism is very important, because they are vendors and work as tourist guides in Petra. Without the tourists, the Bedouins couldn't earn livings and provide their families. The article also talks about how pretty Petra is, and how today the Jordanian government has taken a loan from the World Bank to preserve it's beauty by fixing it's ruined landmarks. Petra, also became more organized, because of the demand on tourism. The government took major interest in Petra, because it bought a lot of income.

Photographs/Illustrations/Maps: The phtographs complimented the article very much, by showing us Petra's everlasting beauty. They also gave me  a better understanding of the article. The amount of photographs was just right, because too many phtographs distract the reader from the writing. The  phtographs were also just right, because the pictures were what the author was writing about.

Comment: I enjoyed the article a lot, because it was very interesting, and it persuaded me to go to Petra one time. The author wrote every minor point, and that made me happy, because it gives me a better understanding of the article. It provided me with a lot of new information such as, Petra is a very important city to the Jordanians, and that the Bedouins depend on Petra tourists to earn livings. This article was a good article because it provided me with a lot of useful information  and it was very interesting; it was a joy to read. The language of this article was more for adults, but it wasn't so hard that I didn't understand a word. The author was using very sophisticated  words that most of my age group wouldn't understand. I would like to learn what would happen to the Bedouins in Petra, if Petra didn't exist anymore, and what would the Jordanian government do about it? The best parts of the article are when the author talked about the Bedouin and Arabic people; saying how nice they were. Another good part is when the author describes Petra. I liked those parts, because I thought  they were interesting and enjoyable. Parts of the article that could've been omitted  are the parts when the author talked about Arabs. He talked about them in a mocking sort of way, and I didn't like it. He mentioned that a small Bedouin boy urinated infront of him. Also in the dialogue between the Bedouins and himself, he wrote bad English when the  Bedouins were talking. If these things were true, he shouldn't mention them, because that is degrading to Arabs. So, I think he should've taken these parts of the article out. So, I think he should've taken these parts of the article out. When I read the article I couln't help but feel a little hatred towards the author. Despite that, I really enjoyed the article and thought it was very useful and interesting.

By: Samar Al Ansari

7C