Book Review Thread

I told you about Blue Latitudes.

Here's another adventure story...."Jungle" by Yossi Ghinsberg. A harrowing true story of survival in the Bolivian jungle. It's so good, I read it in 3 days. I couldn't put it down. Bloodsucking leeches, jaguars, howler monkeys, whitewater rapids, mosquitos, foot rot, real live indians, waterfalls, death, life, and incredibly beautiful rainforests filled with incredibly beautiful waterfalls. Well, I guess you had to be there. As I read the book....I WAS there.

[ Edited by: Jungle Trader 2005-12-21 11:29 ]

[ Edited by: Jungle Trader 2006-04-16 08:57 ]

If you like stories about jungles, here's a fictional one I recently read, with some choice quotes included below. The story wasn't very realistic, but it was very readable.

"Amazonia"
James Rollins
New York: Avon Books
2002

(p. 79)
Below, a vast sea of green spread to the horizon in all
directions. From this vantage, it was as if the entire world
were just forest. The only breaks in the featureless ex-
panse of the continuous canopy were the occasional giant
trees, the emergents, that poked their leafy crowns above
their bretheren, great monsters of the forest that served as
nesting sites for harpy eagles and toucans. The only other
breaks were the half-hidden dark rivers, snaking lazily
through the forest.

(p. 92)
"Don't complain. That's getting off cheap. There are
much worse insects out there, and I don't just mean the
big ones, like bird-eating spiders or footlong black scor-
pions. It's the little ones that'll get you. Are you familiar
with the assassin bug?"
"No, I don't think so," Frank said.
Kelly shook her head, too.
"Well, it has the unpleasant habit of biting and defecat-
ing at the same time. Then when the victim scratches the
wound, he drives the feces loaded with the protozoan Tri-
panozoma crusii into the bloodstream. Then in anywhere
from one to twenty years you die due to damage to the
brain or heart."
Frank paled and stopped scratching at the fly bite on
his neck.
"Then there are the blackflies that transmit worms to
the eyeball and cause a disease called river blindness.
And sand flies that can trigger Leishmaniasis, a leprosy
type of disease."

(p. 91)
And though the vegetation down at this level was
scant, it was not nonexistent. The floor was festooned
with fan-tailed ferns, thorny bromeliads, graceful or-
chids, and slender palms, and everywhere around were
draped the ubiquitous ropelike vines called lianas.

(p. 92)
"And are you prepared for the candiru?"
Her brow crinkled. "What type of disease is that?"
"It's not a disease. It's a common little fish in the wa-
ters here, sometimes called the toothpick fish. It's a slen-
der creature, about two inches long, and lives parasiti-
cally in the gills of larger fish. It has the nasty habit of
swimming up the urethras of human males and lodging
there."
"Lodging there?" Frank asked, wincing.
"It spreads its gill spines and embeds itself in place,
blocking the bladder and killing you most excruciatingly
in about twenty-four hours."
"How do you get rid of it?"
By now, Kelly had recognized the little fish's descrip-
tion and nasty habits. She had indeed read about them.
She turned to her brother and said matter-of-factly, "The
only cure is to cut the victim's penis off and extract the
fish."

[ Edited by: mbonga 2005-12-21 09:35 ]

[ Edited by: mbonga 2005-12-21 11:58 ]

[ Edited by: mbonga 2005-12-21 12:15 ]

[ Edited by: mbonga 2005-12-21 12:26 ]

WHOA! Cutting the penis off? Dats brutal, but if it saves a life.........
Another good one I read way back in my teen years, (I think I'll read it again) is "Wizard's of the Upper Amazon". It's around here somewhere. When I find it, I'll check back.

Thanks mbonga.

Another thread here was talking about the reality of jungle tribes vs. the sanitized cultural perception of them, like in the movie "King Kong." Here's another book I recently read related to that theme. Sorry for the gore and the language, but I don't like to censor. And thanks for the reading tips: I'll see if I can find those 2 books you mentioned in a bookstore.

"State of Fear"
Michael Crichton
New York: Avon Books
2004

(p. 580)
"You just don't get it, do you?" Kenner said. "You think
civilization is some horrible, polluting human invention that
separates us from the state of nature. But civilization doesn't
separate us from nature, Ted. Civilization protects us from
nature. Because what you see right now, all around you--
this is nature."
"Oh no. No, no. Humans are kind, cooperative . . ."
"Horseshit, Ted."

(p. 586)
It was Sambuca, though Bradley could barely focus on his
face. The world was gray and faint. But he saw that Sambuca
was grinning at him, revealing a row of yellow pointed teeth.
And then Sambuca held up a knife so Ted could see it, and
smiled again, and with two fingers grabbed the flesh of Ted's
cheek and sliced it off with the knife.
There was no pain, surprisingly no pain but it made him
dizzy to see Sambuca hold up the bloody chunk of his cheek
and, grinning, open his mouth and take a bite. The blood ran
down Sambuca's chin as he chewed, grinning all the while.
Bradley's head was spinning now. He was nauseated and ter-
rified and revolted, and he felt a pain at his chest. He looked
down to see a young boy of eight or nine cutting flesh from
his underarm with a pocket knife. And a woman raced for-
ward, screaming for the others to get out of the way, and she
hacked a slice from the back of his forearm. And then the
whole crowed was upon him, and the knives were every-
where, and they were cutting and yelling and cutting and
yelling and he saw one knife move toward his eyes, and felt
his trousers tugged down, and he knew nothing more.

(p. 597)
Morton heard the barking and frowned.
"What's the matter?" Jennifer said. "The rebels chasing
us with dogs?"
"No, that's not a dog."
"It didn't really sound like a dog."
"It's not. They've learned a trick in this part of the world.
They bark like a dog, and when the dogs come out, they
eat them."
"Who does?"
"Crocs. That's a crocodile you hear. Somewhere behind
us."

Another good book is "Where White Men Fear to Tread" the Autobiography of Russell Means, man I admire greatly.

Get in touch with your inner native!!
Create Paradise!!

[ Edited by: Jungle Trader 2006-11-16 14:31 ]

Just finished reading "I Rigoberta Menchu" An Indian Woman in Guatemala. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. It seemed slow reading for the first half of the book, then it picked up. It's much the same thing that has happened to all Indians worldwide. I've heard she is curently still in exile in Canada.

My next book is "Lasting Valor". About a black man, (yes, I said black) and his lifetime of dealing with racism, especially in WW2. He finally received a Purple Heart from Pres. Clinton for his courage and sacrifice. Incredible story what he and his troops did to help defeat the Nazis. Watched the story about him on History channel I believe. Incredible man.

Oh, Guns, Germs and Steel by a long shot. Basically explains all of human history in one book. A page-turner, believe me.

Zebra Tiki can reccomend a million great adventure books...

One of my all time faves is "Ring of Fire by the Brothers Blair"
Anything by Ossa Johnson is fantastic

I'm reading "Eaters of the Dead" by Michael Crightin just now...it's sort of a reverse view of this...A civilized person from a subtropical climate gets mingled with some Norsmen int he 10th Century, and spends chronicles his life with them.

On 2006-03-22 21:40, Jungle Trader wrote:
Just finished reading "I Rigoberta Menchu" An Indian Woman in Guatemala. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. It seemed slow reading for the first half of the book, then it picked up. It's much the same thing that has happened to all Indians worldwide. I've heard she is curently still in exile in Canada.

I had to read this book for my cultural anth graduate course...a good read. Interesting follow up - apparently most of her story was fabricated. Rigoberta blames her writing partner, who in turn blames Rigoberta...quite a controversy. The story is probably a composite of the experiences of many different people in Guatemala - they're just not Rigoberta's.

hmmm.

amiotiki

Sounds like the Seinfeld episode where J. Peterman (aka bongofury) buys Kramer's life story to use as his own for his autobiography.

-Randy
(To bongofury - the comparison is only meant in a complimentary manner! Not saying you ever tried to buy someone else's identity - not that there's anything wrong with it if you did!)

I'd recommend "The Education of Little Tree" by Forrest Carter. It's his autobiographical rememberances of life with his Eastern Cherokee Hill country grandparents. If you have a heart at all, these characters will stay in your heart forever.

shogun

If you're interested in what happens when you spend 13 summers living among wild Alaskan brown bears, then becoming a grizzly entree, then read "Grizzly Maze".

This book is about the real life adventure of Timothy Treadwell, not to mention eccentricity, mania, possibly a con game, and two untimely deaths, four if you count the bears involved. It's a great book for discussing how crazy is crazy, and where does common sense end and science begin.

The Jenna Jameson biography was a good read.

Yah Amiotiki, I guess Rigoberta fooled the entire world. Maybe we could say it was "based on fact".

kctiki, I bought that book last night. I already dig it after the first chapter.

Zebratiki, I saw the show on TV about Timothy and all the footage. Just amazing. There was no line drawn. With grizzly's you had better draw a line and NOT cross it and that line should be farther than 5 feet OR you're dead. Common sense was out the window.

James Michener's HAWAII is another good book to read. No brainer.

WOW! "The Education of Little Tree" is a great book. Thanks kc for your recommendation. Last night I read the chapter, "A Night On the Mountain" twice and I laughed till I cried, and continued laughing even today while I was working. Mr. Chunk and Mr. Slick, 2 characters with a get-rich scheme that turned into a nightmare. Okay not a hellish nightmare (although they may have thought they were in hell), but a survivable nightmare.

A quote from the book, on Sharing Little Tree, "Granma said when you come on something good, first thing to do is share it with whoever you can find; that way, the good spreads out where no telling it will go. Which is right."

Another quote, "Little Tree is more than a touching account of 1930's depression-era life. This book is a human document of universal meaning. The Education of Little Tree speaks to the human spirit and reaches the very depth of the human soul."

My goodness, you are right kc, it's like we have lost our way, our souls.

But we still have each other and we do the best we can in this world that we live in. I just thought of the song by Pink Floyd, "Welcome To The Machine".
Gotta go, I'm thinking too much again.

Black Like Me.

Alltime!

Re: more funny stuff in "The Education of Little Tree" - Grandpa's commentary on the snakebite incident cracked me up too.

A few other books I found funny are "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole and "Motherless Brooklyn" by Jonathan Lethem, both feature noble oddballs struggling to make their place in our modern world.

Uh yeah, the chapter on Willow John and the frog in church. "LARRRRUP"

hmmmm, duped again?
"Little Tree" is said to be Forrest Carter's autobiographical remembrances from his childhood. I'm not so sure that this account is true. There are questions raised about his other name "Asa".
Just the same it's a great book but I wouldn't take it as truth.
Although, I reck'n, more n likely, some of these things did happen.

Oh yeah, Kon Tiki...Thor Heyerdahl

The Book of Tiki ....Sven Kirsten

If you haven't read these....you ain't Tiki Tiki Tiki.

If you like American History, check out "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. It's the closest you'll ever get to going back in time to the Gettysburg battle, Civil War. This book is like a time machine. I'm watching the dvd now. Fascinating.

For you pirate fans, take a look at "The Pirate Coast" by Richard Zacks. A historical account of this countries first overseas covert operation.

Washington Post Book World:
In 1803 the American warship USS Philadelphia ran aground in Tripoli harbor, and the Barbary pirates captured three hundred U.S. sailors and marines. Faced with a hostage crisis and a war, President Thomas Jefferson made the bold decision to authorize a secret mission to overthrow the government of Tripoli. The operation leader, William Eaton, with almost no supplies or money, led a mercenary army on a death-defying march across the Sahara desert to surpise attack the enemy. Backed by the cannons of the U.S. Navy, they achieved a remarkable victory by capturing the Moslem nation's third largest city. Eaton, the conquering hero, was poised to move on when he discovered that Jefferson had no appetite for foreign conquest.
A historic drama that still resonates today, "The Pirate Coast" is the story of America's first overseas covert operation, and one of the most compelling adventures ever undertaken for love of glory and country.

Thomas Jefferson is revered among most Americans as a great President. After reading this book it is my view that he was an average scoundrel politician, though history books paint a different picture. The real hero, who it turns out was abandoned, was William Eaton. Ever heard of him? My guess is no. He was the greater American hero, yet nobody has ever heard of him. Shame. Funny how, from the past to the present, (over 200 hundred years) you'll find the same old song regarding our legislative branch of Gubmint and the parallel personalities & cultures of the people who inhabit that area of the world, (Tripoli). Same old f*^&ing song 200 years later. Bastards!

Edited to add (Tripoli) so as to clarify focus of my indignation.

Get in touch with your inner native!!
Create Paradise!!

[ Edited by: Jungle Trader 2007-01-23 19:38 ]

Generally the books I buy are reference books with pictures...most prompt a nostalgic fury in my mind and heart. Not much of a reader, so only reviewing here from an "OMG I remember that!!!" viewpoint.

Just got 3 books today (Amazon.com):

DECORATING WITH FUNKY SHUI
by Jennifer O'Neil & Kitty O'Neil
~full of fun collectibles.....pez dispensers,souvenirs, plastic horses, snow globes, matchbox cars, kitchen/lounge/livingroom/den/bedroom/bathroom collectible displays, smiley faces, etc.

KITSCH DELUXE
by Lesley Gillian & Mitchell Beazley
~trailor decorum (fabulous), furniture, wild & wonderful rooms, bars, gnomes, icons & their collections, ceramics, example/refernce to Shag, tiki mugs, Polynesian decor, etc. GREAT book!!!

FLORIDA KITSCH
by Myra & Eric Outwater
~Florida souvenirs, gators, flamingos, shells, flowers, palms, ceramics, mermaids, fish, oranges, swizzle sticks, bottle people, lamps, deco architecture, etc.

On 2006-04-13 22:21, RevBambooBen wrote:
Black Like Me.

Stunning, this is actually one of my favorite books. You better not be bullshitting, Ben, because I will have to beat you down.

Other than that, I finished H.P. and the Deathly Hallows yesterday. Didn't much like the ending, but what can you do...

On 2006-04-22 21:24, Jungle Trader wrote:
Oh yeah, Kon Tiki...Thor Heyerdahl

The Book of Tiki ....Sven Kirsten

If you haven't read these....you ain't Tiki Tiki Tiki.

Ditto. I'm just re reading one of my faves I thought I'd share - 'Towards Tahiti'
published in 1955. I thinks its very Tiki.

The author (WB Crealock) sails a square rig schooner between 1951 and 1953 exploring the following locations:
Galapagos
San Blas
Mangareva
Marquesas
Tuamotus
Nengonengo
Fakarava
Bora Bora
Tahiti

In a dive in Tahiti: "The entertainment consisted of watching a succession of females cruise up and down under very short canvas, and eventually under bare poles."

In the Marquesas: "...and together we climbed the wooded hillside in search of tikis which were said to lie there. We found the place, a small clearing draped with foliage and overgrown with grass, and the edge of the clearing we saw what seemed at first to be black blocks of weathered stone. We went closer and saw that each was hewn into a squat, life size figure with faintly leering features."

Mangareva: "As the visiting male, I was naturally the target for Terumi's hula, and the sight of her weaving towards me with her hips keeping in time with the guitars, was a devastating one for a timid bachelor like myself. We were to see many hulas after that, and learned to judge fairly well the ability of a particular performer, but I doubt of any other had quite the impact of the first hula in Mangareva; and only the great Augistine in Tahiti could match it for skill".

Nengonengo: "Having marked the channel, we motored up the lagoon and came to a most perfect little anchorage, where a beach formed the corner of the reef and palm trees ran along behind it for a hundred yards or more. I, for one, blessed the reef which had imprisoned us in such a place".

Lotsa good B&W pics in the book

Anyone suggest more in this vein?

Just finished "The Shack", alls I can say is read it, for those of you with doubts about "The Great Mystery" it might help.
"Highway 49, The Golden Highway" great book about the Calif. Gold Rush, newspaper articles, diaries, journals, archives from the 1850's all in one book. No research necessary, it's all there.
"A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. Want to be happy? Read it. Learn.

Someone mentioned diving - I'm JUST now reading Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson. It was already made into a Discovery Channel or Nat Geo or something like it documentary years ago - but I had nothing to read and my mom and given this to me a few years ago - so I decided "What the hell." It has been an amazing story so far - I have to keep reminding myself this is a non-fiction story - not another Rollins book (by the way, I LOVE Rollins! He puts some excellent adventures together - with a twist of mysticism!)

I know, not exactly Tiki or poly-related, just fascinating.