|
Into the Heart of Borneo |  | Author: Redmond O'Hanlon
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $0.26
as of 9/9/2010 11:06 UTC details
You Save: $13.74 (98%)
New (21) Used (78) Collectible (2) from $0.26
Seller: thrift_books
Rating:  26 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: Vintage departures ed
Pages: 208
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0394755405
Dewey Decimal Number: 915.9830438
EAN: 9780394755403
Publication Date: September 12, 1987
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
"Ye Gods, old man--don't do it!" you're bound to shriek on page 1 of this hilarious travelogue, on which the author lists the hazards that may befall him--vipers, cholera, crocs, ticks, tuberculosis, malaria, rabies, and 1,700 types of parasitic worms among them. After all, portly, over-the-hill London Times literary reviewer Redmond O'Hanlon hasn't done anything more aerobic than flip the pages of a book for decades; he wasn't even a Boy Scout. It's hardly reassuring that his colleague, poet James Fenton--who had the big idea to trek in Borneo--was a Boy Scout. He hated it, and besides, aged, balding Fenton, whom O'Hanlon describes as rather worm-like, sounds like he's a likely lunch for a swooping black eagle. But on they trod--with the much-needed help of three Iban natives and an unseen, though oft-quoted river god--through jungle, across rivers whose height may rise seven feet overnight, and via native villages (where they often have late-night parties), with one goal in mind: seeing the fabled Borneo rhino. Fenton is nearly swept away in a whirlpool, they subsist on jungle-worm gruel, and ripping off sucking leeches is a near-daily occurrence, but cultural and natural insights and adventures abound in this rip-roaringly funny and deftly written travelogue that will have you chortling out loud. --Melissa Rossi
Product Description
The story of a 1983 journey to the center of Borneo, which no expedition had attempted since 1926. O'Hanlon, accompanied by friend and poet James Fenton and three native guides brings wit and humor to a dangerous journey.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 26
 What were some of these other reviewers reading? December 18, 2009
Benjamin W. Buhl
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
With the exception of the first two or three chapters and about 20% thereafter, this travelogue/jungle study is a real snooze.
The best of the book begins on page two where a Major Malcolm explains the potential dangers that lie ahead for the men. It ends on page six. Perhaps you are best reading only those pages in the library and then putting this back on the shelf.
One thing you will learn for sure if you make it halfway is that Bertram E. Smythies wrote "Birds of Borneo." The author refers to both about every five pages. If you are someone who likes knowing the Latin name for all species encountered on a trip through a jungle, you're in for a treat. If you are an ornithological aficionado or expert of any kind, this is no doubt a must read.
But unless you are the kind of person who enjoys plowing their way through a tired, often confusing account written a man plodding through the jungle, I suggest you forget this one. Supposedly Redmond O'Hanlon has written better. Personally I'd try my luck with any number of other travelogue writers before trying another of his.
Classic travel adventure September 25, 2009
J. I. Uitto (Brooklyn, NY, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This classic travel adventure recounts a 1983 trip into, well, the heart of Borneo by the author, Redmond O'Hanlon, his friend the poet James Fenton, and three local Iban guides. The purpose of the trip is, ostensibly, to try to rediscover the Borneo Rhinoceros that is believed to be extinct. The story evolves around the unlikely party's boat trip upriver from Kuching on South China Sea to Mt. Batu Tiban. The trip is at times dangerous, as they traverse rapids and face other natural challenges en route. Along the way the troupe comes across other ethnic groups--some of whom bear generations old grudges against the Iban--and engage in riotous celebrations with them. The book includes much interesting information about the people who live in inland Borneo. Redmond O'Hanlon is a naturalist by training (Oxford) and was for years the natural history editor for the Times Literary Supplement, so inevitably the book contains frequent passages describing the nature--especially bird life--that they encounter. The sympathetic Iban will have many a good laugh on account of the two clumsy Britons. In the end they confess that they never believed they'd be able to complete the trip, O'Hanlon being too fat and Fenton immensely old. O'Hanlon observes the world around him with a keen eye for detail and writes it all down in fabulously engaging prose. His sense of humour and self-depreciating style, as well as openness and empathy guarantee that this travel memoir is a definite winner.
 Boring naïveté March 21, 2009
Roman Nies (Helibrunna)
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
The so called British humour! Here it is not always very entertaining if not flat. The art of humour should be not to practise it at the cost of others.
The inhabitants of inner Borneo might be "primitive" in comparison with us, but their mind is not necessarily less civilized. Everybody who has visited primitive people and tried to get acquainted with their way of thinking has the opportunity to learn that they are not different to us and that in each one are the same capabilities that are found in our human race everywhere.
I regard it as doubtful whenever book writers take a commercial advantage when they design their individual pictures of other people which they have not studied thoroughly. Such kind of reports may impress those who stayed at home, which is not at last due to the expectation of the reader.
But the reality has a different look. Maybe my different experience in the inner of Borneo is owed to the fact that I was not in the same place, but I fear it would have impressed me even less. For me the book was boring. You do get some knowledge about the indigenous people and birds which both are not fit for cage-holding. But not so much more. How the protagonists behave in the jungle is partly naïve or distressing, at least they see it as such. What types of drifters and trampers populate our last virgin forests! Poor natives!
Nevertheless it is an astonishing performance to make money with such an eventless story, in which there is nothing spectacular found, neither inside nor outside, without deeper insight in the course of the wildlife and the ways of the wild people. This is what makes a good author, make a lot out of less. And the reader consumes it! Respect! But for anybody who wants to know how the proper rainforest and the people who live there is, I cannot recommend this book. Better read Alexander von Humboldt`s South American journey.
Great book! December 17, 2008
L. Robinson (Louisiana, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was a great surprise. Borrowed it from a relative and found it was absolutely hilarious. Made us want to visit Borneo, but not to visit Borneo (you'll understand if you read it). I had to buy another of his books after reading this one.
publishing/printing madness August 8, 2006
Allan Galberg (canada)
1 out of 17 found this review helpful
received above book; correct cover, but inside is another book by name of 'the glass key' by dashiell hammett. tried to contact you by various means, to no avail.original packaging long gone. how do i go about getting the book i ordered???
Showing reviews 1-5 of 26
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. | |
