Gifts of Unknown Things: A True Story of Nature, Healing, and Initiation from Indonesia's Dancing Island [Paperback]

Lyall Watson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1991

Discover the extraordinary island of Nus Tarian, in Indonesia, where everyday reality contains terrifying, inexplicable, and miraculous phenomena. Magical feats, extrasensory perception, and psychic healing are commonplace in this land where the natural and the supernatural coexist and challenge our beliefs about reality.

At once a scientific exploration and an imaginative adventure, Dr. Watson's astonishing and life-transforming journey becomes our own, challenging many of our fixed beliefs about the "real world."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Watson is a naturalist and author. He is based in a cottage on the west coast of Ireland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Destiny Books (December 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892813539
• ISBN-13: 978-0892813537
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #433,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A commentary on the inter-connectedness of all nature., July 8, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Gifts of Unknown Things: A True Story of Nature, Healing, and Initiation from Indonesia's Dancing Island (Paperback)

While exploring the uncharted islands of the Javanese Atoll, Dr. Watson's boat is unexpectedly caught in a typhoon of incredible ferocity. When the storm abated, Dr.Watson and his crew discovered they had been carried nearly four hundred miles off their original course. With their boat badly damaged they headed for the first land they saw and discovered not only a refuge from the sea, but an island whose inhabitants possess an exceptional connection to the environment that surrounds them. Here were a people whose primary language is dance, who interpret sound as color, and who displayed a profound understanding of the power within everything that surrounded them; whether it be rock or tree, wind or sea. This is a journal of a personal odessey that changed the life of the author and will influence the life of everyone who reads it. The power of this book is not in its words but in the understandings that will resonate within the reader as the story of this incredible experience unfolds.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An all-time classic!, April 26, 2000

By 

Cynthia Sue Larson "www.realityshifters.com" (San Francisco bay area, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Gifts of Unknown Things: A True Story of Nature, Healing, and Initiation from Indonesia's Dancing Island (Paperback)

Biologist Lyall Watson travels to Indonesia in search of magic... and finds a 'dancing island' and a girl who comes of age to become a shaman and healer. For those who simply enjoy a good story, this is an excellent book. For those who realize that the magic described in this book is real, it's even better. Watson is a first-rate story-teller, and I would give this book ten stars if such a thing were possible!

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this is a feast for the mind and the spirit, March 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Gifts of Unknown Things: A True Story of Nature, Healing, and Initiation from Indonesia's Dancing Island (Paperback)

Thank you Destiny Books for reprinting this extraordinary meditation by the iconoclastic scientist Lyall Watson! First published in England in 1976, Watson's ideas are just now beginning to surface in the mainstream. Read it for the beauty of its language and structure. Read it for the thoughts that will suddenly stream into your consciousness. Read it for the sense of wonder a truly great book can bring to your life.