Title: Life in the Sand Pit
Author: Terry Thomas
Publisher: XlibrisUK
ISBN: 978-1-54349177-7
Pages: 302
Genre: Non-fiction
Reviewed By: Susan Brown

Read Book Review

One pivotal decision changed the course of author Terry Thomas’ life, a decision he details in this memoir. The choice he made, to leave his homeland and his family and job in England for an opportunity to improve his family’s lifestyle, sent him to the oil fields of Saudi Arabia in 1977. With little knowledge or understanding of the Middle Eastern culture, he catapulted himself into a sink-or-swim experience in this foreign environment.

Fortunately, he didn’t sink. In fact, he found a professional place for himself on a global scale. With a background in engineering and a lot of gumption, Thomas applied and got a job with an oil company in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Even though it was a job he didn’t feel completely qualified for, he was hired. The 29 chapters of this memoir detail his assimilation into his new profession in an extraordinarily unfamiliar land. Once there, however, Thomas is not indifferent to his home-away-from-home. He writes about Al Khobar, the first place he lived, “There was something magical about walking the streets and the souks in the evening; the smell of spices and incense seemed to be more noticeable somehow.”

This memoir is full of engaging anecdotes of Thomas’ exploits, interspersed with a history lesson on the development of the region’s oil industry and his role in it. He notes his first introduction to his job was reviewing company information, “There was a drawing of the Damman Oil Field and the Dammam Dome. The field was founded by a British engineer but was not developed until the Americans came to Saudi.” Additionally he notes, “The Dammam Oil Field was where the first oil was discovered on 4 March 1938, through the successful drilling of No. 7 Well to a depth of approximately 3,300 feet. There I was in 1977, with the responsibility of operations engineering support for that very same dome.”

It is factual details such as these, along with amusing tales of trying to get through the gears of a beat up school bus for a driving test, golfing in one of the largest sand traps in the world, teaching young local boys how to shoot marbles, playing football while being attacked by a swarm of beetles and his excitement of taking a ride in his first helicopter which make this memoir fun to read. Although he notes that Saudi Arabia was not “a country I warmed to” he does acknowledge that the people were generous and warmhearted. He says, “It seemed to be the pattern in my time in Saudi. Someone did an act of kindness, and then our paths never crossed again. There was only the imprint the person had left in your life.” At the end of the book, Thomas adds his curriculum vitae, a statement on his enormous professional impact on and work in the oil industry.

I love memoirs. They’re an inviting open door to be a part of someone’s life that we might never get the chance to interact with otherwise. Terry Thomas led a fascinating life full of all the things that make up a good story – struggle, sacrifice, joy and sorrow. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him through this recap, as will other readers who are entertained by real-life drama.