Redheads [Paperback]

Paul Spencer Sochaczewski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2000

In the middle of a Borneo rainforest a band of near-naked Penan, encouraged by an equally clothes-challenged renegade Swiss shepherd, hesitantly blockade a logging truck, testing their commitment to protect their forest home.

Nearby, an orangutan researcher is threatened with being thrown out of her study site unless she can reach a compromise with the powerful minister of the environment.

How can the world's oldest forest be saved? Who has the answer? The scientist who studies orangutans? The marketing experts of the world's largest nature conservation group? The earnest monkey-wrenchers? Or are they all just kidding themselves that they can make a difference?

At the heart of Redheads fictional action lies the very real problem of rainforest destruction and the philosophical question of where the real boundaries lie between apes and humans. Could sex be an effective instrument of communication between the two? And just what is it about red silk underwear, anyway?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul Spencer Sochaczewski

Paul Spencer Sochaczewski has spent more than 30 years on the conservation front lines. Born in Brooklyn, New York, raised in northern New Jersey, graduated from George Washington University, he served in the Peace Corps for two years in remote parts of Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, and was creative director of J. Walter Thompson advertising affiliates in Singapore and Indonesia for another ten. He ran World Wildlife Fund International’s global public awareness campaigns to protect tropical rainforests and biodiversity and is now a consultant for IUCN-the World Conservation Union and the International Osteoporosis Foundation. While on sabbatical in Hawaii in 1992, Paul changed his family name from Wachtel to the original vowel-challenged name of his Polish-born father. He is co-author, with Jeff McNeely, of Soul of the Tiger: Searching for Nature’s Answers in Southeast Asia (Doubleday, Paragon, Oxford University Press, University of Hawaii Press, Shinkosha) and EcoBluff Your Way to Instant Environmental Credibility (Bonus Books). Lyall Watson, author of Supernature, said Soul of the Tiger is 'a timely, revealing, delightful, and yet totally unsentimental look at the relationship between our own and other species which must lie at the heart of all successful conservation.

'He has written more than 500 by-lined articles for the International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Geographical, International Wildlife, BBC Wildlife, Earth Times, E: The Environmental Magazine, GQ Active and many other publications, and is on the editorial advisory board of the Indonesian Heritage Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Malaysia (Archipelago Press). He lives in a small village in Switzerland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Sid Harta Publishers; 1st edition (March 9, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0958744890
• ISBN-13: 978-0958744898
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,858,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fabulous Book in Every Way!, August 1, 2000

By 

Daniel Quinn (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Redheads (Paperback)

In the middle of a Borneo rainforest, a band of near-naked Penan aboriginals, encouraged by an equally clothes-challenged renegade Swiss shepherd, hesitantly blockade a logging truck, testing their commitment to protect their forest home. Nearby, an orangutan researcher is threatened with being thrown out of her study site unless she can reach a compromise with the powerful Minister of the Environment. Who has the answer to saving the world's oldest forest--the marketing experts of the world's largest nature conservation group or the earnest monkey-wrenchers? Though the exasperating and sometimes self-defeating politics of nature conservancy may sound like grim stuff, Sochaczewski's book is very far from grim. One reviewer went so far as to call it "a rollicking and often raunchy read." I myself was asked for a quote and gave the publisher this one: "Redheads does for the struggle to save the rain forests of Borneo what Catch 22 did for the struggle to stay alive in World War II." Overall, a delightful book in every way--and must reading for anyone who cares about the future of the world.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Redheads, February 1, 2001

By 

Rea Martin (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Redheads (Paperback)

Redheads is a timely book about urgent ecological issues. It's told in a palatable story form with characters who are drawn with a farcical spin, but whose ulterior (and not so ulterior) motives translate into pending global disaster. The stakes couldn't be higher. This clearly experienced and well-informed author has chosen fiction to expose the powerfully destructive forces involved in worldwide environmental politics. However, anyone who reads Redheads will sense the faultline of reality that underscores this pending ten point quake.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a great read, January 23, 2001

By 

Laura Misteli (Basel, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Redheads (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book - who can resist a jungle adventure featuring a cast of unforgettable and wacky characters! Yet the story is all the more memorable because it so effortlessly conveys the shady politics behind the ecological disaster threatening Sarawak and its people. It's not just a great read, it's a wake-up call to those (like me) who know little about conservation issues.