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Laurens Van Der Post

The Lost World of the Kalahari Paperback – November 3, 1977

by Laurens van der Post (Author)

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An account of the author’s grueling, but ultimately successful, journey in 1957, through Africa’s remote, primitive Kalahari Desert, in search of the legendary Bushmen, the hunters who pray to the great hunters in the sky.

Print length

279 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harcourt Brace & Company/A Harvest Book
Publication date

November 3, 1977
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.74 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

0156537060
ISBN-13

978-0156537063
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The extraordinary life of Laurens van der Post is not easily capsulized. Author of of many books, farmer, soldier, prisoner of war, political adviser to British heads of state, educator, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer, and conservationist are titles that barely indicate the depth and breadth of this rare individual. Born in 1906 in the interior of southern Africa, he lived among the people who created the first blueprint for life on earth, becoming the principal chronicler of the Stone Age Kalahari Bushmen. He was also one of C.G. Jung's closest friends for sixteen years. Van der Post dedicated his life to teaching the meaning and value of indigenous cultures in the modern world, a world he felt is in danger of losing its spiritual identity to technology, prejudice, empty values, and a lack of understanding of the interconnectedness of all life on earth. Awarded a knighthood (the C.B.E.) in 1981, Sir Laurens died after his 90th birthday, in December, 1996.

He has written the following books:
A Far Off Place
The Heart of the Hunter‎
A Story Like the Wind

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harcourt Brace & Company/A Harvest Book (November 3, 1977)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 279 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0156537060
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0156537063
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.3 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.74 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #886,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #224 in South African History
- #383 in Physical Anthropology (Books)
- #5,435 in Traveler & Explorer Biographies

Customer Reviews:
104 ratings

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5 star		74%
4 star		9%
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Roz Bachl

Magical

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2019

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Having never read any of Laurens van de Posts' book prior to this one and having been recommended by a friend to read The Lost World of the Kalahari I was actually very pleasantly delighted by this book. He writes in such a beautifully descriptive, bordering on the romantically poetic style, whilst making the reader wanting to know how the adventure all turns out! He describes the Bushmen that makes you wish you had a time machine so you could also meet them! Just magical

Helpful

Barbara Shaw

Exploring Africa's southern desert in search of its original human population

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2013

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In the 50s, van der Post organized a group to find the last surviving bushmen living in their traditional way, entirely dependent on what they knew of the desert, untainted by modern thought and technology. On his parents' farm, he'd grown up with bushman workers who taught him their language and touched his heart with their stories of slaughter and abuse of their people by black tribes and whites. After immense frustration with his film team, and fruitless weeks in the great swamp in the north of modern Botswana, they start again and contact a family living in the dune country south of there. What they learn, about the very able and intelligent ancestors of all humanity, is both poignant and fascinating to anyone with an interest in culture and the earliest history of people.

6 people found this helpful

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David Kingsbury

Did I Miss Something?

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2011

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While he may have a nice command of the English language, and certainly shows talent in his imaginitive descriptions, this book is not about the Kalahari Bushmen. It's like the author needed a topic, and chose the bushman, so he could have a legitimate vessel to spew his philosophies and insights into the world. Does he truly care about the bushman? Half the book's story felt like it was just an excuse to talk about how the author is an outstanding person: fair, rational, logical, intuitive, expert marksman, friend, compassionate; then he also goes off for pages that are seemingly dedicated to demonizing one of the expedition's members, it's like Van Der Post was still holding a grudge from their trip, and somehow had to vent his anger and prove to everyone that he was "in the right".

I wouldn't recommend this to someone interested in learning more about ancient cultures or the Kalahari bushmen; I also wouldn't recommend it to someone looking for a book about adventure. While I'm not unhappy I read this book, I do feel like I could have read something with more substance. What I gained from this book is the experience of having read something I truly didn't care for. You know how people talk about not being able to put a book down? I had a hard time picking this one back up...

There's gotta be something better on the subject. This book isn't even that memorable of a spiritual journey; the books by Carlos Castaneda, the first few in the Don Juan series -- this is what I'd recommend for a "spiritual" journey.

2 people found this helpful

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Linda

One of the last eye-witness accounts

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2011

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Well-written and accurate, Laurens managed to meet one of the last truly "wild" bushman groups before this amazing people became overwhelmed by modern "civilization" (to understand how they were ten years before and 20 years after Laurens' visit, I recommend "The Harmless People"). By the time anthropologists and, later, dna-scientists became fascinated by Bushmen, they could no longer hunt as they could when Laurens visited them. Laurens describes the Bushmen and their way of life with intimate care, relating to them as one human being to another. Not like a scientist studying an "object". He is also a good writer, for example when he describes the eland-hunt. I loved to read this book while travelling through Southern Africa. Especially for travellers to Okavango & surroundings, this is a must-read.

One person found this helpful

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Rebecca Lesauskas

Interesting reading.

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2015

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This book is just what I was looking for.. It told everything I wanted to know about the Kalahari. It was very well written and very easy to read. It was in great condition and arrived very fast. The size of the words were easy to read. I enjoyed the descriptive wording of the book. Overall great reading.

One person found this helpful

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John Apps

Everyone should read this book

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2016

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A book everyone should read as it describes the fate of a people, a fate which many other peoples have suffered in the past, the big difference being here that the Bushman has been around for longer than most others

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Amazon Customer

Exactly as advertised. Would purchase from vendor again.

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2018

Verified Purchase

Exactly as advertised. Would purchase from vendor again.

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2016

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What a wonderful book. Tells the story of a lost and forgotten group of people, the true South Africans.

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Top reviews from other countries

Lifeskape

Rich, warm, passionate writing and beautiful photographs

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2015

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A wonderful story and full of rich, vivid imagery. I was transported into Nambia and beyond and engrossed entirely on the story of the bushmen - my ancestors. Then ones comes face to face with the stark reality of man's inhumanity to man over the centuries and indeed - given the troubles still in our world, we've leaned nothing at all. Lauren Van der Post exudes the passion and there were times I could actually believe I am standing there in the Kalahari - how wonderful of a writer able to transport you to a time and place.
The photographs are stunning and not contrived. This whole book records for all times something so fundamentally important to us all and the realisation that through greed, violence and deviousness we have this innate ability (generalisation of our human nature at its core) to throw away so much and lose that which is valuable. Our lives and future become diminished as a result.
So an uplifting book on the one hand and a depressing read in some other aspects.

One person found this helpful

RGT

Fantastic author

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2013

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I bought this as a gift for a friend as we recently visited some Bushmen in Botswana and learned a lot from them about their culture and history and their very different lives in the 21st century. I am a Laurens Van Der Post fan - I have most of his books - and now will have to re-read them all! I strongly recommend this particular book if you have any interest in Africa and its history. I know I will become immersed in his poetic language and the plight of the bushmen. A master of his craft.
The book did not arrive until the day after the estimated delivery date but I think it may have been despatched from Belgium - perhaps that's why?

5 people found this helpful

Pappashanga

Romance of the Bushmen

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2016

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This is an account of an expedition to the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa in the late fifties. The author was commissioned to make a TV documentary.
It deals with its planning and all the difficulties encountered. The purpose of the trip was to find Bushmen in their natural state.
Eventually these people are found.
What makes this a good book is van der Post's power of description. It may be that there is embellishment, but he makes something that could have been dull an enthralling read.

2 people found this helpful

Jim

Brilliant example of our lack of understanding of others different to ourselves

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

A brilliant analysis of how our 'Western values' have ignored and destroyed another way of life we don't understand and consider it 'primitive and beneath us". Well done Laurens Van Der Post

One person found this helpful

Esther L. Oberbeck

Disappearance of a culture

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2015

Verified Purchase

Written with poignancy and honesty by someone obsessed with his subject, this is the story of the extermination of the bushman as a people and culture. As a background it helps you understand some of the issues of South Africa today through the interactions between Afrikaner and various black communities. An excellent book.

2 people found this helpful

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