Customer Reviews

Antipode: Seasons with the Extraordinary Wildlife & Culture of Madagascar.

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
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Heying is a terrific writer and a keen observer of the world around her. She has traveled to Madagascar to research the behavior of tiny poisonous frogs but finds herself equally challenged by the strange behavior of the island's human inhabitants. The book is a thoughtful exploration of the predicament faced by forest creatures, the Malagasy people, and ultimately, the author herself. For those not lucky enough (or brave enough) to live in a remote tropical forest, this book provides a vivid portrait of the experience.

This book is focuses on what it's like for a western biologist (herpetologist) to go to Madagascar to study frogs. Heather Heying has a wonderful way with words that creates vibrant images of what she saw, heard, and felt while living there. Most of the focus is on cultural issues, including her own culture shock. Wildlife is used as a means of conveying her experiences and the experiences of the Malagasy people, not as the thrust or purpose of the book. I highly recommend this if you are at all interested in the people of Madagascar. This is a very well-written, engaging account.

I read this when traveling to Madagascar to get a sense of what the place was like. I found this book to be very descriptive, informative and enjoyable. Heather is a frog researcher. I was a bit bothered by how frogs are marked and what I learned about frog research, but setting that aside the rest of the book was very good. Heather talks about the nitty gritty of travel - getting from point A to B, what there is (or isn't) in the way of facilities and food, etc. But, mostly, she focuses on her interactions with the local Malagasy people and her life on the isolated island of Nosy Mangabe. Although she was there in the late 1990's, she probably didn't begin to foresee that Nosy Mangabe would become such a tourist island. Today, it is easier to reach and well worth the trip if you get to Madagascar. I found reading this gave me a much deeper appreciation and perspective on my trip than I would otherwise have had.

A writer who can transport someone from the hard concrete unnatural world of NYC to a bambo well thousand of miles away in a remote tropical forrest has to be one I love! Really loved the connection to nature this brought for me. I'd love to read another travel log of Ms. Heyings.