Africa Books

Carol Batrus captures the flavor of finding oneself in the oft difficult world of 20th and 21st Century America through living in Africa. By way of her travails she discovers,in no particular order, life, herself, a whole new culture, and a myriad of friends that make life as fulfilling as could be for one who persues it. Uplifting and inspriational. A terrific read.

Wow, what a story! This light little book packs quite a punch. Carol's account is uplifting, exhilarating and sprinkled with enough humor that this serious story does not weigh you down.

Reading about Carol's journey from The Big Apple to rural South Africa is almost like being on the voyage yourself. The sights and smells and sounds described are vivid, yet the detail is never overbearing.

Self-reflection. Seizing the moment. Challenging yourself to the farthest reaches of imagination. Being outside your comfort zone. Achievement. Sadness. Happiness. Fear and overcoming it. Seeing people without prejudice. - - - All of that and more will be found in these pages.

South Africa was far removed from everything businesswoman executive Carol Batrus knew: so what led her to move from her high-powered, successful job on Wall Street to the heart of Zululand to help the tribe's economic development? WHEN ELEPHANTS FLY: ONE WOMAN'S JOURNEY FROM WALL STREET TO ZULULAND is a moving memoir of her journey, which was to help the tribe economically without destroying the environment. Her decision and journey is inspiring and provides plenty of insights into South African and local environmental issues.

This book is an inspiration! I am an inveterate reader of travel literature. When I saw this book in my local independent book dealer I was intrigued by the subtitle--One womans journey from Wall street to Zululand!~ Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. Carol is a marvelous story teller and her honesty and transparency are thoroughly disarming. She lets the reader into her life and into daily life in Zululand.
I learned so much that I decided to adopt it as a supplementary text in my University level class in the business school. Students need to learn that they can do well by doing good and that they can, as Carol Batrus does so graciously, overcome life's challenges. When I came the end of the book, I did not want it to end--so I read the acknowledgements page. There I discovered the name of a former student and colleague--who I immediately wrote and asked her to put me in touch with the author.
A few month's later Carol Batrus came and spoke with my class at the University and I discovered that she is as charming in life as in her book!

This book will be of interest to anyone going to a Third World Country. Whether one is a casual traveler or an NGO professional, Carol Batrus' experiences become lessons that will make the journey more effective. She shows that the steps needed to accomplish organizational priorities remain similar in large companies, family life, or in the bush. If her entertaining prose is motivational, you will be glad that she went first.

This book is a perfect summary of the dark side of humanitarian work. Unequipped, unprepared contract workers who are unprotected and essentially thrown to the wolves.

The author answers an fax looking for boat drivers and the only preparation he's given is a night at a bar and told to watch out for displaced wildlife. From the moment he steps off the plane it goes downhill. Even a good deed ends in tragedy because he doesn't understand the population he's trying to help.

Mostly though this is an indictment of the conditions the relief workers have to deal with because different UN agencies and Non governmental organizations all want to show how much they are "helping". The individuals may do good things but the organizations use it to play politics.

Burnett provides a vivid picture of the logistics and politics surrounding relief work as well as the dangers and difficulties of doing this work in a war zone. What I liked best about this book is he didn't enter into this job with any particular altruistic or political agenda. As a result Burnett is able to paint a rather honest and impartial picture of NGOs, the UN, the people of Somalia and his fellow aid workers. The book is written in a way that lets you experience what he experienced. It is a personal account that keeps you turning the pages.

This is a well-written, fast-paced book that sheds an important light on relief work, its benefits and its risks. I knew very little about the floods in Somalia, and this was a great lesson as to what I missed.
Great read. You won't be disappointed.

This book reads like a bullet train from New York to Mogadishu, from heaven to hell, a pageturner if ever there was one. You get a privileged insight into the life of a reliefworker, a first hand account of the absurd madness of a godforsaken place where anarchy rules and where lives have no value.

Speedboats donated by western governments to distribute relief supplies quickly turn into perfect terror tools for local warlords, who find them to be ideal to impose their will on the population, specially when mounted with a machine gun...

John Burnett completely repaints the picture that I had in my mind of a relief worker. Only guts, ingenuity and a whole lotta luck will help you to get out alive of a place like this.

From the comfort of your home to the nightmare of Somalia is just a book away...

Superbly written and very hard to put down, this book throws quite a few surprises. Burnett provides first-hand insight into the adventurous and dangerous world of those on the field who distribute humanitarian aid.

Relief workers, like those they are trying to help, survive crocodiles, snakes and hippos, feuding warlords, and child soldiers. At the same time they are dealing with competing aid organisations and governments' political and military agendas. Through tears, anger and frustration, he reveals what it is like trying to save lives in a war zone.

When it came to dealing with people, Dian Fossey was sometimes her own worst enemy, but her dedication to saving the African mountain gorilla and its habitat in Rwanda is indisputable. Describing himself as an "editorial collaborator," rather than as a biographer, Farley Mowat assembles Fossey's story from her never-before-printed journals and private papers, inserting them directly into the book in boldface so she can tell her own story. From her founding of the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda in 1967, until her murder there in December, 1985, Fossey battled to save "those she loved" from poaching, abduction, and dismemberment.

Throughout her eighteen years at Karisoke, Fossey studied organized groups of gorillas to whom she became so familiar that they would even touch her. As fierce and protective of her own "turf" as a silverback, however, she refused to bend to the exigencies of the political climate and funding requirements and made innumerable enemies. When local herdsmen exerted their age-old rights to graze cattle on "her" mountain, Fossey shot the cattle. When poachers hurt her gorillas, she pursued them, even kidnapping the four-year-old son of one of them to force his surrender. When students at her own Center disagreed with her, she could be brutal.

Fossey also fought local officials, park guards, and conservators who took bribes and staged events in order to protect their payoffs. She battled conservation organizations which wanted to get her funds, rival researchers who wanted to take over her project, and governmental officials who saw tourism in the park as a source of wealth and graft. Always fighting with ferocity, she made no effort to see another point of view or compromise. Her unsolved murder in 1985, by someone who knew the layout of her cabin, could have been by someone from any of these alienated groups.

Mowat presents Fossey as a lonely warrior who never found personal peace, a woman who was instrumental in drawing pubic attention to the plight of the mountain gorilla but who was less sucessful than she had hoped. As he points out in his Epilogue, her cause has been continued by some of the researchers who studied with her. Two of those, Amy Vedder and Bill Weber, continue the story of the gorillas from the death of Fossey through 1993's disastrous Rwandan Civil War. Their book, In the Kingdom of Gorillas: Fragile Species in a Dangerous Land, reflects a more conciliatory viewpoint than that of Fossey. Mary Whipple

This Book contains the interisting life of Dian Fossey from her bith to her dearh

Another engrossing and fascinating Mowat title, another Mowat "must read", "Woman in the Mists" is the sympathetic biography of a woman whose work gave us a window into the world of the mountain gorilla, a species to whose protection and conservation she was devoted. By alternating excerpts from her diary entries and personal letters with his own descriptive text, Mowat brings Dian Fossey, a powerfully willed and often abrasive woman, to life. Her youthful years, young adulthood, her fateful meeting with Louis Leakey, her romantic involvements and disappointments, her first contacts with the gorillas and the years of her work and struggle are portrayed with humanity and affection. The tale is enormously enriched by her own words. She struggled indomitably against self-serving African bureaucrats, indigenous herdsmen and hunter-gatherers, antagonistic forces that gained strength against her in the fields of primatology and philanthropy, and her own gradually deteriorating health largely the result of a powerful smoking addiction.

But her work and her happiness were plagued by male academics and agents of philanthropic organizations who got caught up in a web of calumny and distrust motivated by primatologists who were seriously bent out of shape by her abrasiveness and who felt they could avenge themselves by vilifying her, possibly abetted by society's undercurrent of misogyny. Had there been no vilification, she may never have been killed, as her fatal enemy, probably an African, no doubt took strength from knowing how much she was hated by, for example, the American and European agents of the Mountain Gorilla Project. Mowat provides the reader a chilling view of Fossey's victimization, but never identifies the sexist element which seems apparent to this male reviewer.

Fossey survived all the victimization because of her extraordinary strength and a powerfully motivating love for the gorillas and the entire eden-like natural world in which she lived. She had serious blind spots: her obliviousness to her abrasiveness, her hatred for the National Park's Tutsi herders and pygmy hunter-gatherers, even before the latter began killing her beloved gorillas (whole gorilla family groups, in order to capture a single infant for the zoo trade and skulls for the tourist souvenir trade), and her (and Mowat's) use of the racist epithet "wog" with impunity toward Africans who she hated, though she shared genuine bonds of love with the Africans who worked with her as trackers and poaching patrollers, and evidenced no other racist feeling. Mowat's record of Fossey's life is a powerful, shocking, revealing and loving account.

Farley Mowat performed an excellent service when he wrote this book. Dian Fossey was a woman of great character, confidence, courage, determination, and conviction. Her life was lived for what she found to be a greater cause and the world is that much worse off without her. This book did an excellent job of showing the reader who Dian Fossey really was and what she really went through. I recommend it to anyone. It is well worth reading.

Read this book, and you will feel like you know the real Dian Fossey. Personal letters, journal entries all give insight to her life as a living, breathing human being who had many friends (human and non-human). Her passion for life is inspirational! This is a must read, and also an excellent book to read for school projects!

Gerald Durrell has written quite a few books and this is one of the funniest. He travels to Africa to find rare and exotic animals and has laugh out loud funny adventures. He also has a serious message about preserving animals and their natural habitat.

This would be a good book for middle school type readers.

I could not recommend any book more wholeheartedly than I do "A Zoo in my Luggage", along with all books by Gerald Durrell. Young and old will find the information of great interest, the writing style hilarious and entertaining, and the geographic descriptions factual and vivid with local color. I have read all of his books when I was a young mother living in West Africa, and I have ordered these books now for my grandchildren to enjoy.

Gerald Durrell's books have touched the hearts of naturalists for decades and I admit that I have only become a fan of his in the recent years. I was introduced to his books through my local used bookstore, where I was looking for copies of James Herriot's books that were not offered at my local bookstore, and decided to pick up a few and try them out.

His stories have a incorporated a vivid energy and hilarity into his passionate memoirs of unique nature experiences that will entertain any nature-lover. While some of his scientific practices may now be considered obsolete, we are given a rare glimpse into the love and respect for all things living that has been a core aspect of any naturalist throughout the ages.

I have since bought as many of Durrell's books that I have been able to find, and treasure each and every one of them.

Naturalist/writer Gerald Durrell, with a writer's eye for unusual detail, a great sense of humor and absurdity, and an unquenchable enthusiasm for finding unique animals, recounts his third animal-collecting trip to the Cameroons in this classic 1960 memoir, recently reprinted. Supplying other people's zoos for many years, Durrell, on this trip, intends to collect specimens for his own zoo, one which will be open to the public and which will become a "self-supporting laboratory" with a captive breeding program to prevent the extinction of these species.

Arriving on the west coast of Cameroon, Durrell uses pidgin to converse with the Africans and refers to all animals as "beef," but he soon acquires many rare animals from the local population. A frightening canoe ride through hippo-infested waters, an attempt to capture a fifteen-foot python, a search for the blue-scalped, bald-headed Picanthartes bird, and the experience of smoking out a hollow tree keep Durrell and his staff energized and excited before they head to the highlands. There, Durrell stays with the charming Fon of Bafut, a elderly king with many wives, and he and Durrell enjoy many long evenings of talk, dance, and whisky. Soon the Fon's compound fills up with hundreds more captive reptiles, birds, and animals, including a half-grown baboon, a five-year-old chimp, and a baby chimp, all of which provide innumerable, often hilarious adventures.

Durrell provides details about the care and feeding of these animals, and he and his staff prove to be very "hands-on" caretakers, often having animals creep into their beds. The logistics of building cages and, eventually, packing them for the trip home, reveal the level of detail necessary to keep these animals healthy and calm so they can survive the trip to England. Upon his return, Durrell then begins the daunting task of trying to find a place to house these rare specimens, a task he neglected ahead of time.

A lively writer with a commitment to conservation and a tremendous sense of fun, Durrell gives the flavor of the whole trip, not just the academic details, providing realism at the same time that he reveals irrepressible humor, much of it directed at himself. His sensitivity to his surroundings, which he conveys through vibrant descriptions, makes the countryside come alive, while his anecdotes about the animals and the people he meets show his interest in expanding his knowledge while fully participating in events around him. Though there is no epilogue to bring the reader up to date on the success of Durrell's zoo or its captive breeding program, this information is readily available at: http://www.durrellwildlife.org/index.cfm?a=11 Mary Whipple

Gerald Durrell spent most of his life collecting interesting animal specimens and Durrell is an interesting human specimen himself. His well chronicled life (mostly chronicled by Durrell) begins with the hilarious, and very succesfull, "My family and Other Animals". It is ably followed up with the equally hilarious "Birds, Beasts and Relatives". Both books are full of tales from the Durrell family's years on the Greek Island of Corfu, pre WWII. Little Gerry dives right into the flora and fauna of the island, including its human fauna. I own very few nonfiction books with such a plethora of memorable characters. Now, of course, we get to the volume in question. It is plenty good, and worth multiple readings over years, as is "The Overloaded Ark" and several other books detailing trips to collect animals. A word of warning, don't go nuts and buy all the zillion Durrell titles. Some of them are out of print for a reason and were most likely dashed off by Durrell to finance a collecting trip or two...

This book covers every aspect of the making of the film Zulu. It contains first-hand accounts of the research, extracts of the screenplay, script notes, letters and productuion documents, and biographies of the filmmakers and principal actors, still pictures and problems and location conditions encountered. If you are a Zulu buff, this book is for you.

Charles Lowe

More than you ever wanted to know about the making of the Film Zulu. Superb, but for Aficionados only. Not A History book of the campaign, but it is fascinating to read (in its Unedited Entirety) the Short story which became the source of the Film. Excellent

Do you know all the words to "Men of Harlech"? Do you long to tell some slacker whining about why you got stuck with a dirty job: "Because we're here lad and nobody else. Just us." Do you believe that one of the component parts of a miracle can be, "a bayonet... with some guts behind it"? Well, my lad, then this is the book for you, the book that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know and more about the greatest war movie ever made: Zulu.

This labor of love by Sheldon Hall is chock full of surprises, like the fact that the creative partnership behind it was composed of three flaming leftists: a couple of youthful Communists, John Prebble and Cy Endfield, who avoided the United States during the McCarthy Era, and an unrepentant socialist, Stanley Baker. Contrary to what one might have expected, surprisingly little of their leftist politics showed up on the screen (some of it Sheldon shows ending up on the cutting room floor in what is either dumb luck or good thinking on somebody's part) in a movie that is often condemned today as a tribute to British imperialism. Why? Well, partly it was just a better grasp of reality. They would have realized what contemporary leftists in the film industry are incapable of understanding anymore: that there is more money to be made in celebrating military heroism than in trashing it. But there was something else that IMHO made a world of difference: they had all lived through WWII, and they had all served in the military as well, making it MUCH more difficult for them to despise the common soldier as the subhuman tool of imperialism that modern leftists who have neither served themselves nor faced the realistic prospect of losing their freedom on the battlefield do so easily today.

Mr. Hall's thoroughness is evident throughout. Among other things he exposes Jack Hawkins' famous claim to have walked out on his own premiere to have a serious problem: the scenes he complains about were never in the movie, and then offers a plausible explanation for it. He also devotes a full chapter to the difficulties inherent in making a film on this subject in South Africa during Apartheid. The later prequel Zulu Dawn is also briefly discussed.

Perhaps the most interesting piece of all was Mr. Hall's spirited, and I must say to me quite convincing, defense of the movie against nitpickers looking for historical errors by pointing out that:

1. the subsequent explosion of research on the Anglo-Zulu War, much of it inspired by the movie itself, was rather obviously not available to the filmmakers,
2. some of the nitpicks are hardly settled questions and in any case reflect PREVIOUSLY made stylistic choices: (Should Chard as an Engineer have been depicted in a BLUE coat? In a contemporaneous painting of the battle HE POSED FOR he is shown wearing a red coat.)
3. during volley fire scenes, you can see in the closeups that Michael Caine possesses anachronistic dental work for the period -- I'm forced to agree with the author that, "this is madness!"

I was a bit dubious at first about Mr. Hall's superficially cutesy layout: dividing the book into three parts before, during, and after the film shoot respectively titled: "Preparing for Battle", "Dispatches from the Front", and "Victory and Aftermath", and further subdividing it into chapters titled with quotes from the movie, for example 8. "Fall them in, call the roll" -- Casting the actors and 18. "Volley fire present!" -- Reviews and criticism, but as in the examples cited, I cannot dispute their appropriateness. (I wonder how long it took Mr. Hall to come up with them all?)

Defects? The only one I can think of is an unfair one: I only wish Mr. Hall could have written this a few decades sooner. After forty years so many of the principals are gone, some to the simple ravages of time and many more to the Big C. Fortunately devoted spouses and children, justifiably proud of their lost loved ones' achievements, were able to fill in many of the gaps.

Note: if you want a complete audio recording of the movie's version of "Men of Harlech", which is slightly different from any other, your best choice is the first track on the Best of Ivor Emmanuel, who sang it in the movie as Private Owen. This isn't precisely the musical track heard on the film, but unlike the version heard on the film's audio track, it is complete and in one piece. (A more recently recorded choral version without Ivor Emmanuel is also available: Zulu (1964 Film) (Includes Other John Barry Film Score Selections))

Of course the real star both in front of the camera and behind it in Sheldon Hall's book, is actor Stanley Baker. Not a household name in America, but one who was certainly a presence in Britain. Enough that is, to personally get this exspensive epic into production. Together with writer-producer-director partner Cy Endfield, they had just as much trouble making the 1964 Paramount release "Zulu", as John Wayne had in filming his version of "The Alamo" four years earlier. Hall is certainly one dedicated "Zulu" movie buff and it shows in his exhaustive research and attention to detail in this book. It's everything you ever wanted to know about the movie and the real event at Rorke's Drift, South Africa in 1879. When a mere 150 soldiers of the British Army, were forced to take on over 4,000 Zulu warriors.

Stanley Baker sadly never achieved international stardom, but a young "pre-Alfie" Michael Caine was introduced to the world in this film -without the cockney accent though. Indeed, this is a good-read, well illustrated with script pages, shooting schedules and set designs etc. I remember myself seeing "Zulu" on it's first release in London, at my local ABC cinema and the place was packed. A schoolboy's dream of an action picture and it was British produced, well American Joseph E. Levine did help to get it financed...

The book Zulu:With Some Guts Behind It is a great book for people who like the movie Zulu. It explains every stage of the film-making, and tells you about the actors and their own carrers. I love the movie Zulu, and I think that the book has, if it is even possible, made it so I enjoy it more! Another great thing about this book, is that it has alot of pictures, so it is not as intimidating if you were just going to start reading, and say to yourself, Wow, thats alot of pages, of alot of words, and letters. And the author breaks it down, so if you just want to read for a short time you can pick the topic you want to read about, and not have to go through the book to find something you are intrested in that is not too long. All and all, it is a fantastic book that you could read over and over.

A fascinating story, told with brilliant photos and a pleasant CD of music. Makes a good gift, and a sure pick-me-up for your own coffeetable.

I was thrilled to read Richard Sobel's powerful story of the Abayudaya. I had the opportunity to visit this community in May of 2002 on behalf of Heifer International. At the time I did not know of Sobel's book. It has made my visit all the more meaningful. Now I want to return.

The Abayudaya Women's Heifer Project is located in the Mbale district of Eastern Uganda and Heifer work with them was started in 1997. A group of seven women became the governing council. Twenty heifers were originally distributed and to date there have been 5 pass-ons. There are now 22 persons ready to receive Heifers.

This group is one of the poorest groups that Heifer works with in Uganda. However, it should be noted that the assistance of the Abayudaya Women's Heifer Project extends to those who are Christian and Muslim as well as Jewish.

We visited many of the farms and then visited the people gathered at the synagogue. They shared their story and we felt the power of their faith. The cows are helping the move toward self-reliance, but it is their own strength that is so empowering.

This book is the fascinating and bizarre true story of a small group of rural Ugandans who got the idea to convert to Judaism about 75 years ago. The prose part of the book is actually quite brief, but the pictures are beautiful, and the CD that accompanies the book (their prayer music) is a musical treat.

I first heard about the Abayudaya in 1996, through the work of "Kulanu," an organization working in support of isolated and marginalized Jewish community around the world. In September 2003, Rachel Namudosi Keki, a 21-year-old Abayudaya woman visited our community. It was a remarkable event.

Rachel highly recommends this book (which includes many pictures of her father, J.J. Keki, and a few of Rachel as well, although she is not identified by name) as the best available resource for understanding the history, reality, and day-to-day life of the Abayudaya.

The audio CD is a vital part of that understanding. (More Abayudaya music is available on the Kulanu-produced CD, "Shalom Everybody Everywhere;" Rachel is the soloist on these recordings, mostly recorded when she was around ten years old.)

Among the many unexpected revelations in this visually stunning book is the fact that J.J. Keki was visiting America in the late summer of 2001, and witnessed the first plane striking the World Trade Centers on September 11th. If you review film footage from that day, you can catch a glimpse of a tall black man wearing a kippah among those running from the scene.

Richard Sobol has just come out with Abayudaya: The Jews of Uganda, an exquisite volume of photographs with text about this remarkable group, and a CD of Abayudaya music is included in a pocket attached to the back cover. The music was recorded and annotated by Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, an ethnomusicologist at Tufts University.
Those of us who have lived and traveled in sub-Saharan Africa universally bemoan the fact that our pictures cannot capture the color and contrast, the rhythm, the unique beauty that is Africa. Richard Sobol, a seasoned pro, has captured the essence of these African scenes as few others can (Carol Beckwith comes to mind). Views of the Ugandan countryside and towns, of Abayudaya prayer and study and feasting, of women washing dishes and carrying water and preparing food, of elders in contemplation, of adults and children at play, of vendors of colorful housewares, of stunning posed portraits - it's all there, and each photo is a masterpiece.
And Sobol's 18-page essay about Abayudaya history and life and Jewish practice is a fine summary for those who have not been introduced to this unique community before.
Summit has written a five-page text to introduce the CD, which is entitled Abayudaya Music of Worship and Celebration. This essay is both informative and poignant. It reviews the various influences on Abayudaya music - Zulu music, church and Salvation Army music, Bantu folk music, Western visitors, and Nairobi (Kenya) synagogue melodies - often learned from recordings or the radio.
Summit recorded this wonderful sampling of Abayudaya music in informal sessions in Uganda in 2000 and 2002. The first half of the CD includes unaccompanied traditional hymns and psalms, some dating back 20 or 30 years, one composed by the community's founder, Semei Kakungulu, in the 1920s. The annotations themselves make fascinating reading. One note explains that Psalm 136, heard on the recording as a responsive "reading" with soloist and chorus, reminds the community of the downfall of Idi Amin since it recounts God's deliverance with the splitting of the Red Sea. A particularly precious rendition is Rena bat Esther's solo in Psalm 121, used by the Abayudaya to provide strength and comfort when a person is ill. This is one of the few compositions on the CD by a female composer. Another woman's composition is the melody to Psalm 130, which is sung repeatedly during a burial while shoveling earth and filling up the grave. Women seem to specialize in consolation.
Twagala Torah ("We Love the Torah") is a charming children's song composed by one of the youth leaders of the community, Moses Sebagabo. The text, in Luganda, English and Hebrew, is sung by Abayudaya children who attend public school.
The more upbeat second half of the CD features guitar accompaniment by Gershom Sizomu and electric keyboard by John Mark Nkoola, musical director of the Abayudaya high school. In an interesting contrast, Summit placed the a capella rendition of Psalm 136 in the first half and the electric version of the same psalm in the latter half. J.J. Keki's song "Ali Omu Yekka" ("My Only One") sounds like a standard love song: "I have one chosen one. I only have one love. I'm warning those others, don't come near me, she's enough...." But Summit points out that the Torah is the object of the songwriter's love, and the song is a veiled warning to Christian and Muslim proselytes in Uganda!
John Mark Nkoola wrote a modern song about the feeling he has when somebody has died. The words are particularly poignant in this place where deaths from AIDS and malaria are not uncommon: "The time has come. We must be going back where we have come from, to dust... When I think about death, I become afraid. I wish I had somebody to explain why this happens. Perhaps I may settle my mind. Let us enjoy life... Enjoy life in the right time, place and with the right people before you disappear like a shadow."
A few of the selections were heard on the community's first recording, "Shalom Everybody Everywhere!" produced by Kulanu with the Abayudaya in 1997. It is particularly satisfying to hear the beautiful, mature voice of Rachel Namudosi, in "Adonai Mukulu" ("God Is Great"). We heard her lovely child's voice on earlier recording. Happily, more recordings are in the works.

Asterix and friends battle Romans and go to different places. They also encounter new foreigners and always share wild boar with them. I rate it 5 stars because this book is better than the other books I have read.

I rate this book 5 stars because it was the best collection of Asterix comics I ever read. I was surprised when I found these sort of books at amazon.com. I am sure that from now on this is going to be my online book shop. have fun reading a lot more wonderful books at AMAZON.COM!!!!

Asterix should be read by all kids and adults. The jokes in it will make you laugh and give you a good feeling all over. Asterix is about a group of Gauls trying to defend themselves against the Romans and all the misadventures they have. All the stories take place in the year 50 B.C. the time of Julius Caesar and his conquests. These Gauls are the only people who are able to defend themselves against Caesar and his Romans. They contain such lovable characters as Asterix (a little midget that is clever and lovable) Obelix (a big fat stupid man who eats wild boars and beats up Roman soldiers) and Getafix (the druid who brews the magic potion that gives superhuman strenght) This is a good way for people who don't know who Asterix is to start. It contains five classics. It contains Asterix and Cleopatra, Asterix and the Big Fight, Asterix and the Cauldron, Asterix and the Chieftans Shield, and the Twelve Tasks of Asterix (based on the film) Each them are highly enjoyable. Not only that but Rene Goscinny does a wonderful story each time. One of the best things about it is the art work done by Albert Uderzo. The illistrations in it are beautifully done and contain much detail. To sum it all up, read it!

These tales are of great interest to adults. Cuttin the age at 12 is a great diservice to older folk who may think that they are *kiddies* books. Far from it. There are many references that only an adult or high teen would get, but they are still fun for the younger set. I would suggest that Amazon change the reading age to 9 to (whatever). Aloha

Asterix remains arguably the best comic book series ever written. It will delight to follow the french/belgian hero together with his fat friend Obelix (and his diminutive pet dog) throughout their adventures in the ancient world. Humor is always very subtle and entertaining and never falls into vulgarity. You will also find that the plot is coherent from beginning to end and every statement has a reason to be. By now you know I am one of those "till death" Asterix supporters - but for a good reason.

We just stayed in a African camp (Selinda) managed and owned by the Joubert's. I wish I had read their account of the region before I went to Africa. It was a great synopsis of the highlights of their life in the bush. The pictures they captured illustrate the stories they portray. I recommend it highly.

Inspring, informative and sensitive. If you love and care about the fate of wildlife in Africa, this book is for you.

The natural history filmmaker authors have lived in the African bush for over twenty years: their lifestyle and work with wildlife is profiled in a diary of their world documenting their work. Any with an interest in African life will find The Africa Diaries an absorbing read packed with details and a 'you are there' atmosphere. Color photos complete the effect.

I LOVED this book. Anyone that likes animals, Africa or adventures will like this book. This book does a great job of expressing what it would be like to live in the wilds of Africa. It also has great photos!

Derek and Beverly Joubert are probably best known for their National Geographic videotapes on African wildlife, such as "Africa's Stolen River," on the drying of the Savuti river over the course of several years and the resultant effects on the local animal populations, and "Eternal Enemies," on the enmity between lions and hyenas. The text of this book is comprised of excerpts from the Jouberts' personal journals during the period when those videos were made, interspersed with explanatory material. There are also plenty of excellent photographs - both of wildlife and of the Jouberts themselves and their equipment.

For those familiar with their videos, this book provides a more personal look at the Jouberts and what their life was like in the Savuti, as well as providing some tidbits about what happened to some of the subjects of the videos after they were made. For those not familiar with the videos, it may still be an interesting look at what life can be like for dedicated naturalists in the parts of Africa that are not yet completely tamed.

Note that unlike their videos, which focus exclusively on wildlife, this book includes quite a bit of discussion of people - not only the Jouberts and their filmmaking, but also of hunters and of the human political issues that determine the fate of the animals. If you would prefer a book focused more exclusively on wildlife, you might try the Jouberts' earlier book, "Hunting With the Moon."

Great overview of all African masks, with intelligent background and supportive material. Not just a picture book or rehash of oft-repeated images. Really a book to be used and absorbed.. It will be a great help.

First-rate, high quality throughout, this volume does what a book of this type should do: packs in plenty of color plates of the masks, and shows them being worn (in black-and-white in situ photos) on the accompanying left-hand pages of the spreads. The collection is far-ranging and, though it cannot include every type of mask, it does manage to convey the incredible variety, richness and paradoxical sophistication of this art form. Highly recommended.

This is the best book I have found on the psychology and understanding of African masks. Just fantastic, worth the money. 80% color plates, brief outline of basic African mask types and their interpretation, grouped by region and by style.

This is the best book I have found on the psychology and understanding of African masks. Just fantastic, worth the money. 80% color plates, brief outline of basic African mask types and their interpretation, grouped by region and by style.

I bought the hardcover version of this & it is well worth the additional expense because the photos are excellent in quality & number. The printing of the photos is of a very high quality. The book is well organized by region & tribes; since many tribes do not adhere to modern borders. I also bought THE TRIBAL ARTS OF AFRICA it is very good but the organization is poor (by region & country) and the descriptions for the smaller photos are not in the same order as the photos, so one has to really search to find out what one is looking at. Whereas the variety and great quality of the photos in AFRICAN MASKS enabled me to definitively identify a mask I acquired 30 years ago. If you collect or love viewing West African carvings I recommend investing in the hardcover version.

Taylor is one of the most competent gun writers I have ever read. He has tremendous practical experience with almost every large calibre rifle of his time, including the spell bounding numbers like 600, 577s, 500s, 450s, 450/400, 375 etc., with a nostalgic term of Nitro Express..! When discussing a calibre, he talks of taking literally hundreds of elephant, buffalo & other big game with it. So who can question his authority on African rifles. He has also covered every possible aspect of sporting rifle, which can be questioned, with respect of African hunting, e.g., doubles versus magazines, barrel length, weight, sights, triggers, ejectors/non-ejectors, etc. A must read book for the person who wants to know about large calibres, double rifles and nitro / black powder express. Excellent drawing of each cartridge is also given with details i.e., bullet weight, powder charge and pressure.

For most of us, the dream of going to Africa and hunting with the classics of the past will always remain that. However, if one has hankering for the great guns of the past and a by gone era, this book will fill that niche. If you are lucky enough to ever be able to travel to Africa, this book would be essentual reading as knowledge- practocal knowledge - of the big guns is very hard to find and full of misconceptions.

If you fall into the latter catagory, Taylor had several lifetimes of practical hunting experince, and his knowledge shines.

For most of us, there are very few hunters and shooters who have not dreamed of owning a Purdy, Holland and Holland and others of the past, in such lovely calibers as 375 H&H, and .600 Nitro. This is a book to own and dream with.

Incidentaly, despite its comparative age, much in here is still current, although much more recent calibers are not really discussed.

Grade: A+

Timeless writing! A treasure trove of literary delights for anyone interested in the ambience of a bygone era of action and adventure ala Hemingway, Selous and Bell. Something for everyone, whether an enthusiast of shooting, safari, classic cartridges and rifles of legend (doubles and single action sporters) or a mere naturalist. John Pondoro Taylor was clearly a genius in his given profession, albeit politically incorrect for his time.

If you love hunting- and african hunting in particular- you MUST have this book! It is the classic by which all others should be judged. I read my first copy so often- and referred to it when reading other African hunting books- that it started to fall apart. I bought another to read and loan, plus one bound in leather to keep for good in mint, unread condition.
Believe me, you will love this book if you are a hunter!

John Taylor's masterpiece - the definitive work on African hunting from a technical perspective. And even though his experience is nearly 100 years old now, it's still as fresh as yesterday, because the rifles and cartridges really haven't changed much. Craig Boddington's important work on the same subject is truly current, but you won't miss a beat if you just go by what Old Pondoro says.

But that's not the book's real glory - anyone can publish ballistic data and shooting tips. What Taylor does is to back up his opinions with some of the most exciting hunting literature ever jotted down by lantern light. He's a wonderful writer, with an easy flowing style that grabs you and takes you along. He saw and did things that noone else will ever again do or see, and in a sense saw the last of the old Africa pre WW2, and brings it alive. He tells you that the .577 NE is just the perfect thing for elephant, and has a couple of tales to prove it. Or how about the .375 H&H as a long range caliber? Well, did he ever tell you about the time that... It sounds contrived, but it isn't.

I can't put this book down, and approach it with caution because I know if I crack it open it'll be like saying "Jumanji" 3 times - the next thing you know hours have passed and there's a lion in your kitchen, licking the butter. Absolutely a desert island book, and one of the first to go in the lifeboat.