His career as an explorer and Asia expert was cut short the following year when he was killed in an automobile accident near his native Bremen.
The book is an account of Trinkler's voyage, which began in Riga, Latvia, and included a trip by train across Russia followed by a seven-week delay at the Russian-Afghan border.
The book contains vivid accounts of the places he visited, including Herat, central Afghanistan, Kabul, Peshawar, and the "Valley of the Great Buddha," where Trinkler viewed the large, rock Buddhist statues of Bamian (destroyed by the Afghan Taliban in 2001).
The chapter on Kabul describes the opening up of the country brought about by the amir, Amanullah Khan (ruled 1919-29), and the work of German architects and engineers in building roads, of the German medical mission in superintending the hospitals, and of "the celebrated German-Afghan Company [in] trying to reorganize the administration and business of Afghanistan."
Trinkler published the scientific results of his trip in a separate volume, Afghanistan: Eine landeskundliche Studie auf Grund des vorhandenen Materials und eigener Beobachtung (Afghanistan: A country study based on existing records and personal observation, Gotha, 1928).