now here's the kind of book we need youngsters to read

[intertribal]

From The Guardian: "The Power of Dictator-Lit"

In fact this is not Berdymukhamedov's first book. In May 2007, mere months after assuming power, he published Scientific Fundamentals of the Development of Public Health in Turkmenistan (Berdymukhamedov trained as a dentist). And who can forget the classic To New Heights of Progress: Selected Works – or Speech of the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov at the Extended Sitting of the Cabinet of Ministers? However, these tomes reached a local audience only; unlike his predecessor, Berdymukhamedov has had to struggle for global success.

Alas, information on what's actually inside the new book is scarce, although to judge by the cover – which depicts a smiling, cardigan-clad Gurbanguli gently fondling a handsome steed – it is less philosophical-historical tract and more coffee table tribute to Turkmenistan's Akhal Tekke horse breed. Intriguingly, Turkmenbashi was also something of a hippophile. He had a beautiful pet horse named Piyada whose portrait hung in the national gallery in Ashgabat. And, of course, the majestic poem on page 30 of Ruhnama (Volume 1 of the English edition) begins with a startling combination of searing declaration and enigmatic questioning:

"I have a powerful Turkmen thoroughbred, would you groom it Jgalybeg?"

Meanwhile Berdymukhamedov has a long way to go if he hopes to catch up not only with Turkmenbashi but also his fellow Central Asian dictators, all of whom are published authors many times over, and all of whom have works available in English.

Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan has knocked out such classics as Strategy of Formation and Development of Kazakhstan as a Sovereign State, In the Flood of History, and The Epicentre of Peace. Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan has authored works of cultural appreciation ranging from Khiva: The City of a Thousand Dreams to political tracts such as Uzbekistan on the Threshold of the 21st Century: Challenges to Stability and Progress. The heavyweight champion, however, is surely Emomalii Rakhmon of Tajikistan. His website proudly lists 17 books (more than one for each year he has been president), all available in handsome leather-bound editions, among them The Tajiks in the Mirror of History in which Rakhmon argues that the ancient Persian prophet Zoroaster was born in the territory of modern day Tajikistan.