Customer Reviews

The Pigeons and the Witch Doctor: Adventures of a Modern Map Maker

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"Pigeons and the Witch Doctor" is a delightful read that chronicals the life and times of a most remarkable man: Dr. Heng Thung. Heng is an Indonesian-born mapmaker, educated in the United States, and full-time thorn in the side of small-minded American, European, Asian, and UN bureaucrats and fuctionaries. Heng's energy, concern for human welfare, and single-minded devotion to good geographical information often brings him into conflict with suspicious customs officials and greedy politicians. Heng modestly describes his successes and failures in looking for oil in Sumatra, counting native peoples and fields of opium poppies in Laos, teaching in Holland, and mapping land uses and looking for diamonds in East Africa. Along the way, are both funny and sad encounters with buracuraies and a host of interesting characters. Anyone who would like to know what Third World mapmaking is about will enjoy this book.

I was truly impressed by the descriptive nature of this book. It took you to the time and place, the feelings of the experiences that the author had as he traveled across the world and back. Few writers write from a personal place like this and it was inspiring. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have recommended it to many people. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.