Far Tortuga is one of the finest works of fiction I have ever read. Had this book been written a hundred years ago, we wouldn't be comparing Matthiessen to Conrad today (as happens often), because Matthiessen's writing is so much better. This book's prose is mytho-poetical, gorgeous, and shorn of everything that is not necessary (unlike Conrad's heavy-handedness). Even though we (ironically) live in an age of some fine writing, the frenzy of life and the vulgarity of taste of most people is such that a book like Far Tortuga comes along, gains some readers, gets some good reviews, and is forgotten. It's not Matthiessen's fault; it's just that anything today of real quality is noticed by fewer and fewer people. Far Tortuga is a dream. Please read it, you won't be disappointed.

Any other writer might use an entire paragraph to describe a sunrise in the opening passages of a novel, but in "Far Tortuga" Peter Matthiessen does it with just one word: "Daybreak." Matthiessen boils down the physical descriptions of the novel's settings to short present tense sentences. Opening up the book the reader almost feels he or she is looking at a screenplay minus the technical directions. Example: "Shade trees, a small waterfront of green and pink pastels. Soft air of sunrise. Birdsong and bicycle bell. Sweet rot, tin roofs, bougainvilleaea. Cock Crow. Three walking figures and a dog." Despite this minimilist approach, indeed because of it, Far Tortuga succeeds in evoking the look and feel of a location far better than with a more conventional writing style.

Far Tortuga tells the story of a handfull of superstitious turtle fisherman from Grand Cayman as they begin a voyage late in the hunting season of 1968. Not only do they fight the rising seas, but fight among themselves with results that range from comic to tragic. They encounter rival turtlemen, a frightening white object that hovers just beneath the ocean waves (dead whale?), a mysterious man in a blue boat that speaks not a word, and the desolate island of Far Tortuga.

Most of the story is told through the spoken words of the characters, written in Carribean islander dialect that would do Mark Twain proud: "I thinkin dat dese old rocks was ballast. Call dem kellecks, huh?" "Prob'ly de back-time people not speak English good as we do, Speedy, so dey say kellecks."

However, the printed word is only a part of the story. The simplistic illustrations of Kenneth Miyamoto suggest sunrises, sunsets, night skys, storms and ocean horizons. They compliment the text perfectly and serve as unique dividers between chapters and subchapters. One cannot imagine the book without them.

For the most unusual and gratifying reading experience of a lifetime, pick up a copy of Far Tortuga.

Peter Mattiessen is one of my favorite writers. You know, if you pick one his many books and open them,whether fiction or non-fiction, that you will be entertained, and see something through fresh eyes, and behind the writing a man concerned deeply for the suvival of our planet. Far Tortuga is a strange, other-worldly book. Mattiessen creates a new style, with word paragraphs of beautiful descriptions of the natural world and the sea, then the emphasis on the dialect spoken in the Bahamas, so deeply felt and understood that it is poetry, the natural rythums of speech and nature captured. Matthiesen has risked much but has succeeded on every creative level. One keeps going back to relish a passage and say "How did he do it, so deeply understand the native speech and blend it into a thrilling adventure story?" He has done this and more, this adventure story about turtle fishing, the sea, human nature under the stress of the elements, and wonderful imagination for names like the name of the turtling ship, the "Lillias Eden," place names like Misteriosa Reefs, and the characters like Raib Evers, Byrum, Speedy, and my favorite: Will Parchment. It is a story of adventure and meditation, of a deceptive simpicity. I think of Joseph Conrad mixed with the wonderful Bahama watercolors of Winslow Homer and Mattiessen in his imagery is easily their equal. It is a zen meditation on the sea and deep regret of things lost and hope of things that may be there, a "Far Tortuga" that may not be on a map but lies out there, home of wide-winged seabirds, pirates, and adventure. "Far Totuga" is a one of a kind masterpiece that throws its readers headfirst into the vision and never lets go.When I read it,I hear the sea surge,feel the author's deep love of nature and of the blue watery planet,where most of our natural paradises and magical places are disappearing.

After reading this book, I suddenly realized the root problem of Western Civilization: We have no culture. Where there was once culture, we now have an expanding economic order threatening all life on the planet. Through its mechanism of growth and expansion, the Western global economy is onquering and converting life's diversity into an ecological and social monoculture of cash crops, Levis, soda pop and movie theatres. Perhaps moonscape would be a better word. Of course, it doesn't have to be this way. Our fast-paced, increasingly technological, capital-intensive, fossil fuel-centered, centralized, highly specialized, travel and commercial-oriented, often stressful society is by no means the end-all-be-all of human history. Murder, child abuse, drug abuse, theft, poverty, hunger, and every other problem that plagues the West are not products of human nature. The pathology of civilization is not natural or inevitable, and the Ladahi are proof of this. Read this book and rediscover ancient, profound, life-affirmating alternatives to the modern humdrum. Discover another way of living, thinking and feeling. Important, necessary, engaging and masterfully written - this book was a treasure to read. Indeed, it was an awaking.

This book has changed the way I looked at the issues of development, modernisation & morals. An amazing read, beautifully written and with great insights.

I have just returned from a trip to Ladakh and I could really relate to what Ms.Norberg talks about in the book.

Just a couple of side issues. It'd be good to know what exactly went wrong in Ladakh. Here are a people who for 2000 years had lived successfully by the rules of Buddhism. How & why did Buddhism fail these people in the face of global/western economic & cultural imperialism? Does the blame lie with Buddhism- it being too 'compassionate' and allowing a religion? Does the blame lie with the Ladakhis who probably were not as sincere Buddhists as they are made out to be?

After all if they really were such devout Buddhists, how come they fell to the greed that capitalism breeds?

Anyway, these are issues which could have been addressed in the book. Regardless, the book is excellent! A must read.

Rarely have I felt more dispair about the direction of what we know as civilization as I felt halfway through this book. The Ladakh people are described as happy, healthy, and self-reliant. Suddenly, the "real world" happens to them, and they come to see themselves as poor, when before they had no need of money.

The authors do a nice job of weaving a story of hope at the end but I have concern for the future of these people. It helps me understand the decision the government of Bhutan has made to isolate themselves from western-style civilization.

I believe this work by Matthiessen is simply the best written, most accessible and enlightening work on Zen Buddhism out there. For those who disagree, please post your own recommendation. It's a huge challenge (if not a Mission Impossible) to write a powerful, poetic and insightful autobiography on Zen Buddhism. We are very fortunate to have someone of Matthiessen's genius to introduce Zen to the Western world in a such powerful way. I am very grateful to the author for this treasure of a book.

Matthiessen's prose is clear and his story compelling. His Zen journals, from 1969 to 1982, tell the story of his Zen journey, without any of what the author might describe as, the breathless prose of the sincere seeker, but with great humility, depth, simplicity and beauty. Whether you like biograpy, travel books, or are interested in Zen or Buddhism, do yourself a favour and buy this book.

This is core reading. It may even be the equivalent, for American Zen Buddhism, of Thomas Merton's SEVEN STORY MOUNTAIN - although there are no signs Matthiessen will later distance himself from his autobiography, as Merton did.

As a spiritual autobiography, it is magnificently compelling. It is some of Matthiessen's finest prose, and he writes with complete openness about the cruel death of his wife, Deborah Love (who became a Zen student while he looked on skeptically, only later trying zazen for himself), his own demons, and his practice without imposing on the reader. It is a fine model of autobiographical writing.

It is also a valuable document of the planting of the Zen seed in America. Matthiessen begins as a student of Eido Shimano Roshi in New York, and provides a truthful and valuable portrait of that sangha as they built the Dai Bosatsu monastery and established one of the major places of Zen training in the United States. Later, Matthiessen becomes a student of Bernard Glassman and the portrait of their friendship as well as the beginning of their student/teacher rapport is such a gift.

Finally, this provides maybe the best portrait in print of what it was to sit retreat with Soen Roshi, the Japanese roshi and renowned haiku artist who defies brief descriptions. (Other accounts do exist: to some extent in ENDLESS VOW, a collection of Soen's haiku; and in the New York Zen Studies Society's SOEN ROKU.)

This is highly suited for people already practicing, but Matthiessen provides plenty of background material on Zen Buddhism as well as his own introduction to the practice, such that any general reader can appreciate and enjoy this marvelous work.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I have moved to the Boston area only a year ago, and this book has helped me learn a lot about the life in and around Cape Cod since 1621. The characters seem almost real with all the trials and tribulations they have had to suffer. I highly recommned it to any reader who enjoys historical novels (the best!).

You will forget about the outside world when you read this; nothing but sand, wind, and water. Plus some natural history, local folklore, a few shipwreck tales. Typical Thoreau; he finds beauty, interest, detail in the wilderness. The desolate landscape will help to clear your mind. Highly recommended.

Each year, in preparation for a week's retreat to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I go in search of a book that would be perfect for a sojourn on a desert island. Of course, the Outer Banks are hardly deserted--the locals have printed up Wege's infamous photograph of a packed stretch of Coney Island with the caption "Nags Head, circa 2000 A.D."--but there we are on an island for seven days, my husband experiencing near death in the waves while I read. Sometimes we stop these pursuits and prowl the beach. Mostly we live as if we're the last two people on earth (which is easier in the off-peak season). I've learned that not every book is right for this way of life. The perfect desert island book has to celebrate the place you are in, not transport you. It should offer a tinge of society, because, after all, a human is a social animal, but it should not make you yearn achingly for what has been left behind nor should you be so repelled by it that you will never fit in again when you leave the island (you always leave the island). It should have some narrative sweep to withstand the competition of the seascape. It should make you think, at least a little: you want the stress to wash out to sea, not the little grey cells. Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau is the benchmark by which I've chosen beach material for several years. it is the quintessential celebration of littoral life. If you are on the beach, you appreciate it all the more; if you are not, well, at least you know vividly what you are missing. There is drama, as in the specter of villagers racing to the shore at the news of a shipwreck. There is information, as in what part of the clam not to eat, how the Indians trapped gulls for food, how a lighthouse really works. There is Thoreau's contagious respect for solitude, his occasional crankiness, and that magic trick of his that can suck in high school sophomores and get them through his books without so much as a whimper. There is one flaw to Cape Cod: brevity. It lasts about a day and a half on the Robinson Crusoe plan. This is not to say that it does not withstand re-reading, it does, but at some point after you have committed it to memory, you may wish for the collected works of Shakespeare and move onto the Bard's beach play, The Tempest.

Peter Matthiessen's Indian Country serves as the postscript to Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. The threats to Native American societies detailed in this book are less bloody and horrific, but just as real as those perpetrated by the U.S. military. Yes, manifest destiny lives on in the halls of the U.S. government in the early 21st century, but with agencies like the BIA and the Department of Interior doing the nasty work.

Along with all the hard-hitting research that Matthiessen brings to his writing, he's also at home with the natural history of Indian lands. He is subtle in the way he takes you with him on a walk through a working village or a ride to Black Mesa to get a truckload of household coal. Matthiessen spends time among the people living on the reservations, observing the slow encroachment of capitalism into their traditional ways of farming and trade, and ultimately seeing tribes divided into progressive and traditional factions.

Matthiessen is guided by the self-described, "half-baked detribalized Mohawk...," Craig Carpenter. Carpenter serves in many instances as the ambassador between Matthiessen and the locals on the reservations. And because of Carpenter's national reputation many doors that are generally closed to white writers are opened for Matthiessen.

Indian Country covers some dozen or so reservations in the United States. The sad revelation when you read through this book is every one of those reservations is confronted with a serious threat to the land they call home and a way of life they have know since being put on this earth.

Matthiessen is a methodical, although not disinterested, reporter of how the destruction of Native American culture was and continues to be attended by encroachments by and desecrations of their land (what little they've been left) by a society gone mad with greed.

And how could anyone, journalist or not, remain disinterested in the face of such things? More journalists and writers should have Matthiessen's courage and conviction.

If it is possible to secure The Paris Review - Interview with writers published by Penguin through the 1970's and 80's

The Paris Review is the best literary magazine around (even though they've rejected all of my stories). But anyway, the interview and stories are top notch. I love the blend of unknown writers and famous writers. This issue is especially good, for it's a concept issue, "New British Writing." The forum is excellent, with each author asked to give their opinion on, of course, the state of "British" literature. Furthermore, George Plimpton is very inspiring. Just reading an issue wants to make you write better or start your own magazine.

This novel is the story about the impact of outsiders on a tribe of Indians in the Amazon. Essentially two facets of the outsiders (read Western Civilisation) that are explored ' the 'sacred' in the form of missionaries, and the 'profane' in the guise of mercenaries. Their stories told in alternating chapters, Lewis Moon and Martin Quarrier both have a purpose in mind - both feel that they can 'save' the locals that are yet to come in full contact with Western Civilisation. Moon is part Native American, and at the beginning of our story he is a mercenary hired to kill the Indians. On a drug induced flight, he crashes into the jungle and ingratiates himself into the 'wild' Indian tribe. His relationship with the tribe is really an extension of his life so far ' he doesn't quite fit in, no matter what he does. Quarrier is an evangelical missionary who has travelled with his wife and child to bring the word of God to Indians. Very early on, however, Quarrier has doubts about his own suitability, and then the broad-spectrum suitability of anyone using trickery to force a belief on the Indians. This brings him into conflict with his co-missionary, who is a stereotype of all that is wrong in the missionary movement ' this character is a man more interested in his own personal reputation and the number of souls he has saved (or it looks like he has saved) than genuine results.

This is a well written exploration of 'missionaries and misfits' on the edges of civilisation. We have comparisons of Catholics and Evangelicals; comparisons between missionaries who are there for the greater glory of God (or the idea of God at least) and for the greater glory of their own name; and the attempts by different outsiders to 'save' a tribe from other outsiders, with more concerns for their own agendas than the welfare of those they are trying to save. Oh, and there is some amazingly insightful writing about interpersonal relationships to boot.

What I liked best about this book was that Matthiessen spared nobody ' unlike some novels of this genre, the Indians are not simple 'noble savages' ' some are cleverer than others; the Indians aren't all environmentally friendly, in-tune with nature good-guys (Moon takes them for task for their wasteful practices, but they don't care)and Matthiessen takes the time to explain the motivations of his characters, something that can be sorely lacking in some novels.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good novel. For those with an interest in the specific topic area (the Amazon, 'Western' culture meets 'natives', missionaries) there is a lot here (if you liked Poisonwood Bible, i you would probably like this). But even if this is not an area you would naturally gravitate to, i would recommend it on the basis of Matthiessen's great writing alone.One point - the first 4 -6 chapters can be hard going, but stick with it - things pick up. It was for these first chapters that i docked a star (would have given it 4.5 stars if possible).

One theme I found to be particularly compelling in this book which has not been directly explored in the reviews currently posted is the search for identity which seemingly each character in this novel is engaged. Lewis Moon, a man who existes on the fringe of the dominant culture of the US, longs for validation in the culture of his ancestors, a culture which is tragically unavailable. The missionaries, Protestant and Catholic alike, seek identity and validation in the people they seek to convert, including the endless "conversion" of their own families. The other characters have their own identity issues. The most compelling of these searches, to my mind, was that of Lewis Moon who, without any feeling of loyalty to any culture available to him, seeks identity in an indiginous culture not yet eradicated by the dominant Chilean culture of European origin. (Perhaps he thinks he can help them avoid the fate of the culture of his ancestors.) The novel explores each character's basis for self-perception and what they do when their basic assumptions about their role in the world are challenged. What does it mean to be an American? What does it mean to be an American who has had his citizenship revoked? What does it mean to have faith? What if the dogma of your denomination appears to produce results that seem "un-Christlike?" What does it mean to indentify as a member of an indigineous people? What does that mean when you are among members of another indiginous people? All these questions (and there are many more) posed in the book have lead me to a better perception of who I am and why I think so. One of the best books I've had the pleasure to have read.

This book is the comparison of Missionaries Vs. Mercenaries and is charactered by peopled with ethnic groups who also come from the same sort to conflict: Jews and American Indians in the land of the Amazon. Kind of a "If religion doesn't work, shoot the bastards," and "women like being ravaged by animals." This is not a book for the weak stomached, or the self righteous. This is a book for people who want to tear the face off of reality. This is a great, honest and sad book. It is a requiem for indigenous people around the world, maybe for you

I have very much enjoyed reading this book again and again, especially in conjunction with the film that the book describes being filmed, "Blue Water White Death", which so far as I am aware has not appeared in video form or I would surely have it in my collection by now. The film is acknowledged to be one of the better shark films in existence, and the book somewhat pales in comparison, but a worthwhile read nonetheless. I have read the hardback edition and now own the paperback. I must say I miss the color plates which are in the hardback edition. I sincerely hope someone will transfer the film to video at some point.

If you are interested in great white sharks, this is the book for you. It's fun and informative. I have to disagree with one fact the book gives, however. The great white shark is not the most dangerous predator of the ocean. That would be the killer whale. They are larger, smarter, faster, more agile, and able to hunt cooperatively. Also, very recently a famous marine biologist observed predatory sharks larger than the great white (at least thirty feet long) deep in the Pacific ocean. They apparently live very far down, however, and could never be a danger to humans.

It's wonderful to be able to read the narrative of shark dives from the safety and comfort of home.

This is a great narrative of the expedition to search for the Great White shark...hopefully the numerous "specials" on TV and the recent article in National Geographic will help "save" this treasure of the ocean.

You can't help but get involved with this book, just as exciting and fascinating as any novel.

If you enjoyed this one, try _Snow Leopard_ or _Indian Country_.

Zen has a built in feature that makes it a little difficult to fathom at first. Those who have been practicing a while have developed enough insight that they see things a different way and therefore communicate in a different way. This communication is defined by a lilting, flowery and (in my view) often opaque use of language. The rest of us have a hard time figuring out just what the heck they're talking about. Unfortunately, in order for we "have-nots" to get it, we need some useful instruction from the "haves". This communication gap, if you will, can interfere with the learning process.

The title of this book implies an effort to bridge the gap and Buksbazen does a laudable job of delivering the goods. Don't expect an intellectual tour de force. That's not what it's about. Rather, this book is merely a short, simple, plainly-stated guide to getting started with "just sitting". The book is divided into three sections. The first provides a brief history of the Zen movement in Buddhism. The second, the heart of the book, provides some practical advice for the most basic form of Zen meditation, breath counting. The final section gives you some practical advice on continuing your practice within the "meditative community", an essential facet of meditative practice.

I especially appreciated the author's assurance that Zen is not as inaccessible as it might seem to us beginners. Don't worry, he says in effect, just start practicing and as you get better at settling your mind, you will begin to understand more and more. It will take some time and effort, but it will come. If you're looking for a book on different forms of meditation or a discourse on Zen practice, look elsewhere. But if you're looking for an easy "Getting Started:" manual, you might want to give this book a try.

I was encouraged to "just sit" when I started practicing Zen meditation, but John Daishun Buksbazen's meditation manual offers much easier intructions to Zen practice. In his Foreward to Buksbazen's how-to guide, Peter Matthiessen notes that "this gentle book . . . is a wonderful introduction to Zen Buddhism, and also an invitation to a new life" (p. 13). Buksbazen is a Zen Buddhist priest and a psychoanalyst. Meditation offers us "a way of getting deeply in touch with the true Self," he observes; "not just the narrow self; that much can be accomplished through psychotherapy or a number of other disciplines. But sitting deals with the 'big-S'-Self, that most basic level of reality that has nothing to do with culture, social status, intellect, or even personality. It deals with who you really are beyond all specifics of time and place. And who you really are, ultimately, is the universe itself" (p. 35).

Organized into three parts, "Buddhas," "Sitting," and "Community," and then followed by a section of "Frequently Asked Questions," Buksbazen's 123-page book offers its reader an excellent introduction to taming our minds and discovering who we are through the practice of Zen meditation.

G. Merritt

This book does an admirable job of explaining the fundamentals of Zen meditation. There are many, many good books out now that include some discussion of meditation technique, but usually that's as a part of a larger discussion of Buddhism and Buddhist thought, and the mechanics of meditation often get inadequate attention. With this book, the reader will get a solid introduction to meditation, sufficient to get actual practice off to a good start. I would not be surprised if it becomes a classic in the field. Very well done.

Of Peter Matthiessen's non-fiction I have previously read only The Snow Leopard, but I have also enjoyed a collection of short stories called On the River Styx. Mr. Matthiessen's authorial voice is very prickly in Birds of Heaven, much more cranky than I remember it in The Snow Leopard, which was written in the wake of the death of his wife from cancer. The Snow Leopard was permeated with sadness and longing. Birds of Heaven is permeated with anger and impatience.

The book is arranged geographically. Beginning in Siberia, Mr. Matthiessen takes through Asia to Australia and then on to Africa and Europe and finally to North America. There are no cranes in South America (or Antarctica).

The author is at his best when he is combining his wry observations of the people and places around him with an enthusiastic and well-informed account of the natural history of a region. I felt that he was less successful when he lets his righteous indignation get the better of him and begins to make snide comments about the absence of a love of the natural world in Chinese society, the wrong-headedness of various bureaucrats and the corruption of local officials.

It is not as if I disagreed with his point of view, but I knew that I already shared it before I even picked up the book. I can't imagine anyone who had any doubts about the importance of cranes as sensitive indicators of the general health of the environment being won over to the crane's side by this hectoring, doctrinaire authorial voice. But then, perhaps this books is really just an extended love letter to the cranes and to the environment in general. As such, it succeeds wonderfully.

Peter Matthiessen includes stories of native people on all the continents that harbor cranes in _The Birds of Heaven: Travels With Cranes_ (North Point Press). He recounts some encounters with humans ("craniacs") who are trying to save the cranes, which are in trouble everywhere, but most of the extensive travels described in this book can only report trouble. If we do not, however, learn what the crane has to tell us, it will be despite Matthiessen's efforts, for in him, cranes have a lucid and compelling advocate.He has gone to exotic locales wherever cranes go. There are plenty of common denominators wherever he travels. Cranes, like so many other forms of wildlife, are hunted, trapped to sell as exotic specimens, and poisoned as agricultural pests. Cranes need wetlands in which to feed, and humans need wetlands to serve as repositories for waste and to be built over to make more space for more humans. It is clear everywhere that Matthiessen goes that humans are winning, and therefore losing.

He has produced an unforgettably bleak picture of ecological matters in China, and an optimistic account of our own country's efforts in getting whooping cranes started again. That we don't know what we are doing in dealing with the cranes is shown in a paradoxically happy outcome for them in Korea. Wars are, as the posters used to declare, harmful to children and other living things, and the Korean War was disastrous for humans and for cranes. There is now a Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, just a couple of miles wide but running from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea. Human habitation is forbidden in the area, and farming is very limited. Matthiessen is thus able to visit the DMZ's boundary, accompanied by armed soldiers. ("One may visit a North Korean museum that reveals American atrocities, but we decline this educational opportunity, electing to go birdwatching instead.") He thus gets to watch cranes in the "most fiercely protected wildlife sanctuary on earth... an accidental paradise for cranes." Woe to the cranes if peace breaks out.

This volume includes paintings and drawings of cranes by Robert Bateman, lovely renderings that are more compelling than the usual field guide renditions. They complement Matthiessen's fine text. Cranes are long lived, and they often mate for life. Their windpipes are modified like French horns to produce eloquent and distinctive calls. Their size and their pugnacity, for they are protective birds and dangerous to handle, should make us respect them as fellow-citizens of the planet. There is no need to invoke anthropomorphism; there is a spiritual bond between humans and these animals which Matthiessen has movingly demonstrated. He knows, however, that "the time is past when large rare creatures can recover their numbers without man's strenuous intervention," and despite his romantic optimism, his stories show we are strenuously bent on something else entirely.

The readers of "The Birds of Heaven" should be prepared for joy, awe, geographic and naturalist education, but also sadness,fear and disgust. Matthiessen travels the world in search of the wild cranes. He is not just an observor, he is part of the effort to study and save these amazing birds. Robert Bateman's drawings are beautiful and serve as references as you read.

Peter Matthiessen travels with George Archibald, from the International Crane Foundation, through Asia revisiting places where cranes were previously abundant. They share the wonder of the many sightings of cranes. Yet Dr. Archibald is quoted as saying,"What a species we are!" after "being astonished anew by the destructive and murderous proclivities of man".

I learned so much from this book and recommend it to those who are not afraid to see the world as it is.