Papua New Guinea: Tales from a Wild Island

Howard Beck is no ordinary travel writer. When visiting a country, he immerses himself totally in his experiences, taking his readers to new levels of awareness. In this earthy narrative he introduces the reader to a rugged land of 10,000 colorful tribes, a weird and wonderful bestiary, and an adventurous author whose culinary bent finds him dining on python, rat, bat, parrot, and insect pupae. Adventures in a land described as "like every place you've never been" see Howard one moment standing on the country's highest mountains, the next exploring the mysterious world beneath the jungle in search of the planet's deepest cave. His travels with a "tea-towel map," described with down to earth and often amusing clarity, will have the reader warming to tales of archery contests with wild tribesmen, the discovery of macabre burial sites, sorcery in the dead of night, and of being invited to live with a tribe in the land of Laughing Death, where the deceased are exhumed and eaten as a mark of respect. Lavishly illustrated, this is a book to inspire adventurers and travelers alike, whether aspiring or of the armchair variety.