| View Larger Image | The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda, Revised Edition | Hardcoverby Thor Hanson (Author)
| List Price: | $24.95 | | Price: | $18.21 | | You Save: | $6.74 (27%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | 1500 Books LLC | | Edition: | Revisedth Edition | | Page Count: | 284 Pages | | Publication Date: | June 01, 2008 | | Sales Rank: | 276,343th |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9781933698199
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Dr. Thor Hanson, scientist and writer, brought the nascent gorilla tourist program in Bwindi National Park, located within Africa's Impenetrable Forest, to life. With grace and good humor Hanson navigates the local customs, mores and bureaucracy governing everything from love to superstition to build infrastructure, hire and train staff, fend off millions of ants among many other creatures while studying and acclimating the mountain gorillas to humans in their midst. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 18 reviews)
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The best Peace Corps experience ever! by D. J. Nardi (Washington, DC)  5 Stars
August 28, 2009
This is an amazing book about an amazing part of the world. I took this book with me when I visited Bwindi Impenetrable Forest a few weeks ago. While seeing the gorillas myself was wonderful, Thor Hanson's account in The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda, Revised Edition really added depth to my visit. In the book, Hanson recounts his years as a Peace Corps volunteer helping to establish ecotourism in Bwindi (the same ecotourism I ultimately benefitted from). His book weaves observations of the gorillas with amusing anecdotes of the Uganda people, whom he describes as being amongst the kindest in the world (an observation with which I agree).
Hanson really breathes life into the gorillas, describing the personalities of the individual families. One episode in particular really stuck out. Gorillas often mock charge humans. Once, when Hanson was observing a family, two aggressive males charged him and his group. However, another gorilla stood in between the aggressors and the humans, as if protecting them. This heartwarming episode suggests some gorillas have empathy for humans. Through Hanson's book, hopefully more of us will have empathy for them.
Hanson also provides an excellent overview of life in Peace Corps. While he admits his Peace Corps experience may have been more exciting (most volunteers end up teaching English), he shows the struggles some volunteers face immersing themselves into an entirely new culture. I was particularly struck by how volunteers sometimes felt they were never fully accepted into the community - that they often remained the "white curiousity". On that note, this book should be assigned reading for new Peace Corps volunteers.
The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda, Revised Edition is not just about gorillas, not just about Uganda, not just about Peace Corps - it's the combination that makes reading it such a joy. I wholeheartedly recommend it if you ever get to visit the gorillas and people in Bwindi - or if you are just looking for a good book.
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First rate introduction to Ugandan culture and Mountain Gorillas by P. Houston (Cambridge, ma) 5 Stars
July 28, 2009
I bought this book with the expectation that I would learn lots of facts about mountain gorillas before heading out to Bwindi to see them in the flesh. But now, having just finished the book, I can't honestly say that I learned much about gorilla behavior. Hanson's devotes maybe a third of the book to discussing gorillas, and even then, the emphasis is on the habituation process which he was involved in as part of his Peace Corps mission, not on gorilla ecology. The rest of the book covers Ugandan history, culture, the impact of the Rwandan genocide, and the struggle to convince the local people to see the parks as sources of sustainable income, rather than hunting and poaching grounds. But the bulk of the story deals with Hanson's experiences and relationships with the Ugandan people - the friendships he formed, and the losses he suffered (mainly through the ravages of AIDS).
Even though I learned little new about gorillas, I still recommend this informative and poignant book to anybody wanting to learn more about East Africa.
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Fantastic Read by William Cramer (Houston, TX) 5 Stars
November 23, 2008
This is one of those books that once I started reading, I could not stop. It really was that interesting! It's a mix of gorilla life, human life and the author's exploits in Uganda. The author did a great job of blending all of this together in a book that can make you sad in one paragraph, laugh in another, and amaze you in yet another paragraph.
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Beyond all expectations! by Lori Zue (Seattle, WA) 5 Stars
October 08, 2008
And not that my expectations were low, either, since bestselling novelists Garth Stein and Jennie Shortridge heartily endorse Thor's book. So, were the tear tracks on my face as I finished the book from laughing or crying? Both. Thor is a master at blending the two emotions -- and everything in between -- in this well-crafted, poetic story. While I never forgot that every word, every event, every emotion was true, the book reads as smoothly as a brilliant piece of fiction. But it's not. And that's the book's majestic legacy. As seemingly impenetrable as the forest he writes about, Thor Hanson pierced the barrier between fiction and memoir -- incorporating traits of the former to the benefit of the latter. Huge kudos to the self-described "eco-nerd" with the soul of a poet, the heart of a giver and the eyes of a very wise man.
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Laugh-out-loud funny AND educational by Kathie J. Hightower (Nehalem OR) 5 Stars
October 01, 2008
I always know it's a good book when I can't help but stop continuously to say to my husband, "Greg you have to hear this." I did that a lot with this book. Thor may be a scientist but he writes clearly, engagingly and with lots of humor, not always common with scientists. His interactions with the gorillas were very interesting, but what I found most fascinating were the interactions with the people of Uganda. Thor has a good eye for interesting (some poignant, some funny) similarities and differences between our cultures. Whether you ever plan to travel to Uganda or explore gorilla eco-tourism, or not, this is a worthwhile read.
---Kathie Hightower, co-author of Help! I'm a Military Spouse -- I Get a Life Too! 2d Edition
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