The Midlife Manual

This is nostalgia – an emotion scientists believe is unique to humans. The word derives from the Greek ‘nostos’ (returning home) and ‘algos’ (pain or ache)

While you wilt in the desert heat, your elderly relative, supposedly at death’s door, strides through wadis and around mosques getting very excited about things even older than she is. Before long, one ancient ruin has started to look pretty much like another.