Customer Reviews

Jaguars Ripped My Flesh: Adventure is a Risky Business

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was yet another thrift shop purchase for under a dollar and it was a dollar well spent. Tim Cahill's travel writing is punchy, funny and downright irreverent in places. It is also poignant, and darkly humorous, a travel book with a difference. Peru, Africa, Austrailia and even America are discussed from his unique point of view. An especially good chapter is "Life and Love in Gorilla Country" a journey through Rwanda and the secret world of the Gorilla. It is not a sentimental chapter, it is brutal, sometimes funny but more often that not eye opening. He talks about how Gorillas have died at the hands of poachers and mentions the work of the Naturalist Dian Fossey. This travel book is not for the squeamish or faint-hearted. Also it meanders a lot, jumping from place to place, subject to subject. You have to prepared to read it as a series of essays, travel logs articles that Cahill has written over the years and then put together to make up this book. However in this case it works and it is excellent from page one onwards. If you want a read with a sting in its tail, then this is definitely the book for you.

If Cahill lived in Ancient Greece, he would be writing about encounters with the Cyclops and the Scylla and Charibdis. Maybe it's because Cahill writes about all the stuff I would do if I could quit my job and still pay the bills--exploring ruins in Peru, sea kayaking in Alaska, watching Mt. St. Helens erupt, saving the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle, scuba diving with sharks, riding in a C-130 Hurricane Hunter, and living in Montana--but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. While Cahill might not be as witty as my favorite travel writer, Bill Bryson, he makes up for it by writing about adventures that would make Indiana Jones quake with fear. All of this is presented in a down-to-earth style that makes you wish you could hang out and drink a few beers with the guy.

The best thing about Tim Cahill books, this one included, is that they are made up of perfect end-of-the-day-sized chunks that whisk you off to far points in the company of a humble but articulate and informed travelling companion. For everyone who may never spelunk, rappell, canoe down the Amazon, or face bison in mid-winter, but wishes they could!
If you liked this, you'd probably like "Pecked to Death by Ducks" even more.

One of my favorites. Author of Pecked to Death By Ducks and A Wolverine is Eating My Leg, Cahill, a founder of Outside Magazine, has perfected the art of the short travel essay. There are man-eating sharks, dangerous cave diving, eating cheese in a yurt in Mongolia and all sorts of ridiculous first hand escapades all over the globe. He is brilliant and brilliantly funny. Perfect travel book to take along on a trip. If you want to learn how to write, read Cahill and pay close attention to his introductions and conclusions.

Cahill's books were recommended to me for some time before I read one. I just couldn't imagine that 'humorous adventure writing' was something that would appeal to me. Wrong! What is great about Cahill's pieces is that the humor is strictly at his own expense and the adventure is real. Make no mistake, this guy can really write. For example, when he ruminates about what is in store for him on a proposed dive in shark infested waters, he conjures up images of terror that any of us can relate to and then takes us to laughter with his description of his own terrified reations - which wouldn't be funny if it was US and WE were going to face the killer sharks.

These pieces are a real treat; a taste of a lifestyle that we can only dream of, and laughs that keep us from being too covetous of it. Cahill is an American original.

Cahill is fun to read; not as funny as Dave Barry, and not as (what?) thoughtful or thought-provoking as John McPhee, but fun. Cahill is (or does a good job of convincing us he is!) a Regular Guy in the Dave Barry sense, but he gets paid to go to interesting places and do exciting things. He tells us what that's like in a friendly journalistic style laced with well-done humor.

One warning: the sequencing of the essays leaves something to be desired. In particular, the last four or five pieces are all rather dark and dismal contemplations of tragedy and mortality, with almost no humor. You might want to read them first, or sometime in the middle, rather than come away from the book on such a depressing note.

If you are familiar with other Tim Cahill books, this contains similar stories; sky dives, sea dives, caving, climbs, and so on. It has more stories than usual about his own part of the world (Montana near Yellowstone) and lets us see in one story a strong sense of outrage at events surrounding endangered species in Mexico. If you prefer your authors to at least have strong feelings about some topics (I do), and the heck with dispassionate journalism, there's some satisfaction here.

Everything from proper approaches to mountain gorillas to the eruption of Mt. St. Helens is here, and the stories are usually quick reads. Perfect reading for those who grab their moments of reading enjoyment in blocks of 5-10 minutes in between other activities.

Can't see how it could fail to appeal.

Cahill's writing is somewhat of an acquired taste. This is a compilation of outdoor stories which do not always seem self contained - some missing context, some missing closure. And they are not necessarily adventures in the conventional sense, as stories may focus on nature, archaeology, sociology, etc. While the book cannot be construed as an outdoor reference, there is good information (ex. "wisdom" of cave diving). Some stories hit the vicarious adventurer's sweet spot. The author is at his best in this book when relating his experience caving in Kentucky, engaging the reader with educational content (ex. barometric effect on air flow), spectacular descriptions(ex. lightening igniting bat guano), and hair raising suspense (ex. getting lost in a maze of passages). Not all of the stories held an equal level of interest for me, but they are short enough to peruse and ponder as time permits.

Tim Cahill is the Dave Barry of the outside world. I subcribe to "Outside" magazine just to read Cahill's articles. Most of his stuff is funny, but he is serious at times, but not for long. This book is a nice anthology of his earlier articles. If you like the outdoors and like to laugh, get this book.

At the bookstore where I work, a customer once came in to ask for this book and asked for "Sharks Ripped off my Arms."! This is not a travelogue so much as a collection of essays, most originally published in `Outside' magazine, of which Cahill is an editor. As such, these make for interesting reading whether or not you are planning an excursion to any of the places Cahill talks about. His focus in these essays is understanding the undercurrents of place - whether he is in Montana or Peru or the Australian Outback - the culture, the history, and the complex relationships between travelers and residents. Some of the author's excursions have been downright life-threatening, such as when he and two other men went on an extended trek in the state of Chachopayas in Peru in a search for unexplored ruins. Wherever his travels take him, Cahill describes the scene with humor, intelligence and balance. This is not a tourist who expects hot showers and a McDonald's at every stop, this is a world adventurer who wants to see and experience everything he can. And then write about it.