The organizers of the Rainforest Alliance present an anthology of compelling, powerful, and sometimes irreverent fiction and nonfiction from the best writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, ranging from Edgar Rice Burroughs to Douglas Adams. Tales from the Jungle is a diverse collection of stories by famous authors, biologists, and environmentalists who have been inspired by their experiences exploring jungles from South America to Polynesia. Selections include fiction by, among others, Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad, historical accounts of exploration and adventure, descriptions of rare plants and dangerous wildlife, stories that are frightening and others that are hilarious -- and some that are both. Passionate observations by such rainforest experts as David Quammen and Norman Meyers emphasize the need to conserve the rainforests -- sources of life and renewal for the future.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Katz, cofounder and executive director of the Rainforest Alliance, and Chapin, an actor and activist, have compiled an extraordinarily passionate anthology of fiction and nonfiction spanning centuries, continents and every form of jungle life-plant, animal, human. Each work in this multifarious collection of stories, essays and articles by renowned authors, explorers, biologists, environmentalists and just plain folk who've been inspired and transformed by their jungle expeditions is compelling. Classic fiction by Joseph Conrad and Peter Matthiessen, historical accounts of exploration and adventure and descriptions of flora and fauna are arranged into sections on explorers, their observations, "Adventure Gone Bad" and "Forests in Fiction." In pieces that are frightening, hilarious and often both, readers search for trunkback turtle nests and ancient ruins left by the cloud people, get a how-to lesson in head-shrinking and watch as a 50-foot long parade of ants makes its devastating march across the jungle floor. The collection ends with stirring observations by such rainforest champions as David Quammen and E.O. Wilson on the future of the ecosystem. Every page, like every step in the jungle, reveals exhilarating danger and great beauty. And just as the adventurers in these dynamic tales burn a crooked path into the jungle, their stories burn their way into the subconscious. Advertising.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Composed of 34 excerpts from previously published books and articles, many predating1990, this anthology includes pieces that describe rain forest experiences from varying perspectives. Most of the pieces are nonfiction, with a section reserved for "The Forest in Fiction," the weakest part of the book: The jungle is such an amazing place that many of the nonfiction pieces read like fiction anyway. There is the 1557 story of a German captured by Brazilian natives and another of a 1920s American student involved in a head-shrinking ceremony. Interweaving these older stories with contemporary accounts illustrates changing sensibilities about the wild. Reading this book gives an appreciation for what has been lost and why the remaining should be preserved. Recommended for popular natural history collections.?Randy Dykhuis, OHIONET, Columbus
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great intro to what the rainforest is like as a newcomer,
By A Customer
This review is from: Tales From The Jungle: A Rainforest Reader (Paperback)
Arthur Conan Doyle (Author of Sherlock Holmes), EO Wilson (famous tropical biologist), W. Somerset Maughm, Joseph Conrad, Alfred Russel Wallace (of Wallace's Line), and Henry Morton Stanley (excerpt from "The Finding of Livingstone") are to name but of few of the all-star authors featured in this book. Contains a huge number of excerpts from fiction novels, non-fiction books and essays, most of which are well-written (see above) and ALL of which are well-chosen. I will be teaching a tropical field course for high school students, and this is a perfect literary journey to help them with theirs.
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