The Weeping Goldsmith: Discoveries in the Secret Land of Myanmar [Hardcover]

W. John Kress (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2009

"The Weeping Goldsmith: Discoveries in the Secret Land of Myanmar" relates how W. John Kress came to appreciate the people and culture of Myanmar through an understanding of their plants, natural habitats, and human-dominated environments. Intertwined with descriptions of the author's personal experiences and observations are notes on the history, culture, and modern society in Burma. Included are excerpts from his journals written while in the field, which serve as counterpoints to the accounts of earlier plant explorers who visited these places a century ago. "The Weeping Goldsmith" is a delicate white and yellow-gold flower that defied replication even by an experienced goldsmith, according to legend. By the end of his journey the author grew to understand how politics could interfere with scientific research, leading the author to empathize with the sorrowful goldsmith.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

In the great tradition of Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, this book is a first-person narrative of daunting travel and scientific discovery in the little-known country of Myanmar. Dr. Kress explored many areas in this enigmatic country, surveying its teak forests, bamboo thickets, timber plantations, rivers, and mangroves to document its incredible botanical diversity. Myanmar is one of the great biodiversity "hot spots" in Asia, but because of its social isolation and reputation for political repression it has been closed to--or avoided by--many scientists. Nevertheless, Dr. Kress was determined to search for and record plants that had not been studied since they were first discovered by Western botanists over a century ago. Among the rarities he came upon was a new species of plant called "the weeping goldsmith," a ginger flower whose Burmese name was derived from the legend that the local goldsmiths were reduced to tears because none of their own creations could rival its exquisiteness.

Dr. Kress also relates how he came to appreciate the people and culture of Myanmar through an understanding of their flora, natural habitats, and human-dominated environments. Included are fascinating excerpts from his field journals that serve as counterpoints to the accounts of earlier plant explorers. Illustrating the text are some 200 of Dr. Kress's own color photographs of the incredible plants, people, landscapes, and temples he witnessed in his travels as well as 30 archival images of Burma taken by past explorers. The back matter features an illustrated portfolio of representative native plants.

This lively armchair exploration should appeal to a general readership as well as to botanists, conservationists, and environmentalists.

About the Author

W. John Kress is a Curator of Botany and Research Scientist at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution. He is the co-author of A checklist of the trees, shrubs, herbs, and climbers of Myanmar and Plant Conservation -- A Natural History Approach, and has written many botanical articles.

Wade Davis is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society and has written many books, including The Serpent and the Rainbow, One River, and Light at the Edge of the World.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 204 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press; 1 edition (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789210320
• ISBN-13: 978-0789210326
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #801,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > Travel > Asia > Myanmar

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A journey through Myanmar's forests and culture, November 27, 2009

By 

Enjolras (Springfield, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Weeping Goldsmith: Discoveries in the Secret Land of Myanmar (Hardcover)

Have you ever wanted to travel to Myanmar and see its ancient pagodas and forests? Dr. John Kress' The Weeping Goldsmith: Discoveries in the Secret Land of Myanmar is a great book for those who have always wanted to visit the Golden Land, as well as those of us who simply can't get enough of Myanmar. Dr. Kress, a curator at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, spent around a decade traveling to the country a updating a checklist of Myanmar's plant species (see A CHECKLIST OF THE TREES, SHRUBS, HERBS, AND CLIMBERS OF MYANMAR (CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL HERBARIUM, VOLUME 45: 1-590).). The Weeping Goldsmith contains his reflections on his time in Myanmar, as well as his thoughts on Burmese culture more generally.

One question worth addressing immediately is why this book is so expensive. Well, The Weeping Goldsmith is more a mix between a photo book and a regular memoir. The book has over 200 of Dr. Kress' photos depicting various indigenous plants and Buddhist temples. The book is visually appealing enough to flip through as you might with a professional photographer's coffeetable book (Dr. Kress photos are beautiful - I originally thought they were taken by a professional photographer). These photos also make the book more enjoyable to read, as you can see a photo of the plant or location described immediately in front of you. In a sense, it provides the reader a much stronger sense of visiting and seeing Myanmar than a regular memoir with fewer pictures might. My wife (originally from Myanmar) became nostalgic for her home after flipping through.

Of course, the text itself is the star of the book, and here The Weeping Goldsmith also brings Myanmar to life for the reader. Much of the book is about Dr. Kress' adventures in Myanmar (not unlike Dr. Alan Rabinowitz' Life in the Valley of Death: The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed), although The Weeping Goldsmith also spendsa significant amount of time discussing Myanmar itself. In addition to a brief description of Myanmar history, Dr. Kress also has a chapter that discusses the potential role that Buddhism has played in protecting Myanmar's biodiversity (disclosure: Dr. Kress has cited a paper I wrote on this subject). He also interweaves the history of other botanical explorers, most notably Francis Kingdon-Ward, into his own tale.

Some of the anecdotes in the book were quite amusing. Dr. Kress' team found many interesting species of flower in Buddhist shrines, including the Weeping Goldsmith ginger which is common in temples but was previously unknown to Western science. At another point, after spending days looking for a particular hemiorchis, Dr. Kress had to shove his colleague to prevent him from accidentally sitting on the first specimen they had found. Dr. Kress encountered other difficulties in the forests of Myanmar, from bloodsucking leeches to urinating cicadas. However, the saddest and most frustrating problem for his research was the political chicanery of Myanmar's junta, which often denied his team permits to travel to important locales and made his fieldwork generally more complicated.

Having been to several of the locations described in The Weeping Goldsmith, I smiled as I recalled how the book really does describe what travel in Myanmar is like. I took the same long ride by elephant to Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park, and my tractor also broke down en route. Dr. Kress perfectly captures the Myanmar that I know and love, making me confident that The Weeping Goldsmith would serve as a great introduction for those readers who have always wanted to visit the Golden Land.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful synthesis of Burmese flora, history, and culture, April 15, 2010

By 

Ananda (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Weeping Goldsmith: Discoveries in the Secret Land of Myanmar (Hardcover)

This book is a rare find, because it synthesizes botanical research, history, and culture in Burma. The photographs of several different plant species as well as depictions of Burmese life are also beautiful. Most importantly, the book reveals yet another aspect of Burma-the need for academic research and wildlife preservation- that is often shadowed by the dominating discussions of politics and human rights.