Hidden Amazon: The Greatest Voyage in Natural History [Paperback]

Richard L. Lutz (Author), Dick Lutz (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Lutz is an advocate of expeditions into the Peruvian section of the Amazon basin, positing that such trips provide income for indigenous people dwelling there as well as provide valuable financial resources that help save areas of the rain forest. His narrative follows his journeys by river and by land to the Canopy Walkway via International Expeditions, Inc., a company that contributes funds to the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research. As he wonders at the Amazon's flora and fauna, Lutz's straightforward journal offers an enthusiastic account of this magical and mysterious region, discussing sights, sounds, and natural history in some detail. Encouraging the reader to consider a similar trip, Lutz stresses the fine level of comfort provided by the expedition, allowing one to travel through the alien, remote landscape while basically protected from harm's way. Alice Joyce

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: DIMI Press; 1st edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0931625335
• ISBN-13: 978-0931625336
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,151,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars GOOD FACTS, BAD WRITING, August 31, 2000

By 

Raul C. Goldstein (Seoul, Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hidden Amazon: The Greatest Voyage in Natural History (Paperback)

In preparation for a trip to the Peru Amazon, I purchased Hidden Amazon. The book has many useful tidbits about the Amazon and the immediate environs, but the writing style is so juvenile as to be off-putting. The shameless touting of one tour company grows old fast and one starts to wonder why one paid full price for a sales promotion. The photos are excellent, but not one has a description.

There must be better books about this area. I recommend you keep looking

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accurate, concise, enlightening and fun to read., October 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hidden Amazon: The Greatest Voyage in Natural History (Paperback)

As someone who has been to the Amazon many times, I found this book by Dick Lutz to be accurate in its historical content, natural history data and cultural information. The book is based on an "eco-tourism" experience and thus gives the reader a first-hand look into the programming and practices of tour companies that work to conserve natural resources by creating local economic incentives for the preservation of wildlife habitats as "attractions" to international travelers. I would recommend this book to people who desire to travel to remote a natural habitat such as the Amazon, to learn as much as they can while there and to minimize their impact on the local environment. Hidden Amazon contains a section with color pictures, too, which includes shots by wildlife photographer extraordinaire-- Mason Fischer.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good information, but..., November 17, 2003

By 

Roger E. Herman (Greensboro, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hidden Amazon: The Greatest Voyage in Natural History (Paperback)

Most of us know something about the Brazilian Amazon. There is a lot to learn about the Peruvian Amazon, a wholly different environment. This book is another of Dick Lutz's natural history travelogues that mix his experiences on tours with abundant information about the natural and human history of the area he's touring.

It's hard to tell if these are pure books about the author's experience or a literary embellishment of the tour company's promotional material and Guidebook for Tour Guides. Readers will learn about the expedition on the tour company's boat-a journal about Our Experiences for the Folks Back Home-and the natural history of this precious rain forest environment. It's a combination of postcards to those who couldn't make the trip and a good high school course or college course in applied biology.

This book contains some pictures, with credits to the author's wife and to the tour company, but no explanations of what the pictures are. One gets the feeling of looking at a hastily-assembled scrapbook. If you're interested in what a tour of the Peruvian Amazon might be like, you'll gain some insights from this work.