| View Larger Image | Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon | Paperbackby John Hemming (Author)
| List Price: | $24.95 | | Price: | $16.47 | | You Save: | $8.48 (34%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Thames & Hudson | | Page Count: | 368 Pages | | Publication Date: | November 30, 2009 | | Sales Rank: | 465,957th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
“In his long career of exploration and scholarship, Hemming has become a powerful advocate for the Amazon.”—The New York Times, John Hemming Amazonia is one of the most magnificent habitats on earth. Containing the world’s largest river, with more water and a broader basin than any other, it hosts a great expanse of tropical rain forest, home to the planet’s most luxuriant biological diversity. The human beings who settled in the region 10,000 years ago learned to live well with its bounty of fish, game, and vegetation. It was not until 1500 that Europeans first saw the Amazon, and, unsurprisingly, the rain forest’s unique environment has attracted larger-than-life personalities through the centuries. John Hemming recalls the adventures and misadventures of intrepid explorers, fervent Jesuit ecclesiastics, and greedy rubber barons who enslaved thousands of Indians in the relentless quest for profit. He also tells of nineteenth-century botanists, fearless advocates for Indian rights, and the archaeologists and anthropologists who have uncovered the secrets of the Amazon’s earliest settlers. Hemming discusses the current threat to Amazonia as forests are destroyed to feed the world’s appetite for timber, beef, and soybeans, and he vividly describes the passionate struggles taking place in order to utilize, protect, and understand the Amazon. 20 color, 50 b&w illustrations. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 4 reviews)
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Product placement by Jay C. Smith (Portland, OR USA)  4 Stars
March 03, 2009
Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon
This is a beautifully produced book, well worth its discount price at Amazon (the bookseller, not the South American basin). I was led to it by Candace Millard's favorable review in The New York Times Book Review. Hemming, a former Director and Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society in London, is a noted authority on the Amazon (the basin, not the bookseller). This volume mixes history, geography, anthropology, botany, zoology, and other disciplines into a detailed and compelling narrative covering several hundred years. You will meet many heroic, obsessed, curious, and villainous characters along the way. Much of the book describes how badly the indigenous people and the land itself have been treated. Throughout, however, the core of the story is the place itself - the rivers, the landscape, the flora, and the fauna. Once you read it you may want to make a visit.
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Sincerely disappointed by J. Texley  2 Stars
September 27, 2008
This is an area of intense interest for me, but I was disappointed with the book. The author takes the role of Nineteenth Century explorer, not modern scientist. His biology is truly weird--calling animals "stupid" or "cute" in an anthropomorphic way. He interweaves none of the new biology or genetic anthropology that has made the study of Latin America so fascinating in the past few years.
And while he includes photos, the predominant theme is the abuse and slavery of the indigenous people. That's a fact, of course, but there is also their genius in genetic engineering, terraforming, and social systems.
The author seems to be looking at the Amazon through the eyes of some scientific colonialist.
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It does deserve 10 stars. by T. A. Coskuner (New Jersey, USA)  5 Stars
August 10, 2008
It is a very important work. Gathered real info in years and years.
Yes, it deserves not only 5 but 10 stars. Read this book, read it with digesting its' every paragraph thoroughly. Because, people of our world have to come to an understanding what takes place on the other parts of the world other than their tiny home-towns and know if they contribute to the happenings in the Amazon.
Read this book, but before doing it, know who John Hemming is. (Born 1935). (Wikipedia.org will help). And then, you will separate this book from your others and appreciate it. This book is not read as an adventure book or love story or thriller or any other.
This book is a real subject which occurred in the past and occurring now present. His ability to reach out to your understanding is unbelievable. You will read it to the end in one opening. Unless need to use restroom.
I can only hope if it will be published in Portuguese language too so it can be read by Brazilians whom don't speak English.(I'd like to know). Because that is their land and only they can make the real difference for their own good and for the rest of the world.
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Mind- Boggling by Michael J. Klementovich (Bethlehem PA) 5 Stars
June 22, 2008
Well I love reading about the jungle...be it the Amazon or the Congo. I love the diseases...the bugs...the brutal nature of this unforgiving land. The reason why I love reading about it is because I will NEVER EVER GO THERE SO THIS IS THE SECOND BEST WAY TO "BE THERE" WITHOUT ACTUALLY DEALING WITH THE SIDE EFFECTS.....those being death and malaria. and parasites that will ravage the body forever. I visited PERU in 1984 and Cuzco and that is as close as I ever want to get......So this is one hell of a ride without ever leaving your home. THIS BOOK IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!If you want adventure........BUY THIS BOOK you will not be disappointed!!!!!!!!!!!
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| Walking the Jungle: An Adventurer's Guide to the Amazon
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