Bestselling author's book on Kazakhstan popular with reader

 "A complete delight," agreed William Boyd from The Daily Telegraph.

"Hilarious and unexpectedly moving," noted The Times.

This is all praise for a book by Christopher Robbins, Apples are from Kazakhstan: The Land That Disappeared, one of the popular books sold by Borders, one of London's largest book chain stores.

Robbins is a prominent writer and journalist. He is the author of Air America, a bestseller on which a movie with Mel Gibson was based. Robins is also the winner of the prestigious literary award Sara, and a regular author for The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Guardian.

He does not claim to be an expert on Kazakhstan or Central Asia, nothing of that kind. Before starting the book, he himself knew nothing about the country. But he was truly amazed by the fact that Kazakhstan is the size of Western Europe yet known so little that few people can find it on a map.

"Journalists, politicians - those who consider themselves masters of the world - also do not know anything about Kazakhstan. So for a writer this country is a real Klondike of ideas and information," Robbins said in an interview for the Russian web-edition "E-xecutive".

So Robbins set out on a fascinating journey in order to discover Kazakhstan, its traditions, culture and people for himself. According to his first impressions, "people are very friendly - they are grateful and open to all who are sincerely interested in their country and their lives."

"Kazakhstanis - and most of them prefer to be called that because it implies a unity of all ethnic groups living in the country, not just the ethnic Kazakhs - are very proud of the country they had gained after independence. Their patriotism is extremely positive, not militant. I think their main goal now is to be open around the world and improve relations with Europe," he said in an interview.

As he worked on the book, he had a possibility to interview President Nursultan Nazarbayev and accompany him on the campaign trail.

"Nazarbayev is a politician of a global level. When I received his agreement to being interviewed, I expected many restrictions and total control. But there was not a single trace of that! I think Kazakhstan is lucky to have such a president," Robbins said.

Asked about the country's role in global politics, Robbins noted: " Kazakhstan has no enemies and has good relations with Russia, China, its southern neighbors, as well as Iran and the United States. In this regard, Kazakhstan has special capabilities: it can become a bridge between the countries on issues where their relationship is far from ideal."

The book appeared in 2008 as paperback from Profile Books and was published under the title "In Search of Kazakhstan: the Land that Disappeared". The hard cover version by Atlas & Co came later the same year under a slightly changed and rather intriguing new title, "Apples are from Kazakhstan", which is also the name of book's first chapter. The latter version served as a basis for the book's translation into Russian. Judging by reviews available online, the book was welcomed by its main heroes, the people of Kazakhstan,  Kazinform refers to News Bulletin No 36 of the Kazakhstan Embassy in the USA.