A chronicle of the geography, history and nature of the Sahara. The author (who has also written about water) combines travelogue, science and archaeology in this informative report. In the second half of the book de Villiers brings in the great cities and civilizations of the Sahara. With a few black-and-white photographs, notes and bibliography. A Canadian journalist (whose family has roots in South Africa), de Villiers draws on travels through North Africa in the 1970s with his collaborator Sheila Hirtle.  (NAF13, $14.00)