adventures in tropics and far north

A loose compilation, a very diverse mix of travel and exploration with a bit of other contemporary (1970s) topics sprinkled in. Dated but well worth the read. It's all over the place - sea snakes, skiing, Jonestown, bigfoot, rafting in Nepal, spelunking, Polynesia, ice fishing - but it works. Some are hilarious and fascinating, others so-so. 3 1/2 stars for writing, 4 stars for entertaining subject matter. ( )

a real-life Indiana Jones who writes instead of nabbing priceless artifacts, Cahill writes the funniest social criticism disguised as travel journalism.

unlike Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, this book is dark. he even warns us at the entrance to this hall of mirrors but nothing prepared me for the middle portion of the book. the first portion of the book was darker than his other stuff, yes, but still within the realm of dark humor. then he gets to the Jonestown Massacre in Guyana. i had to stop reading several times just to keep from breaking down. i knew it was bad but i had no idea just how bad and Cahill's unique perspective and insider knowledge made it utterly gut-wrenching.

once that portion of the book is over, he gives a quick, hilarious chaser to wash away the bitter let behind by the Story That Must Not Be Named and then into more usual tales of adventure and cynical woe.

disjointed and non-linear? yes. but well worth it to hear about Cahill's experiences in his voice. ( )

“In these same waters there is another fish that looks very much the upright and businesslike cleaner wrasse. The blenny, however, is an entirely different kind of fish. The sly blenny finds a wrasse in full dance at its cleaner station [the wrasse is a small fish which has a symbiotic relationship with groupers, it swims inside the grouper’s mouth and eats tropical parasites that accumulate and annoy the grouper,] and there it sets itself up for wicked business by imitating the dance of the honest fish [the wrasse.] when the grouper approaches mouth open, the blenny darts in, tears off a hunk of Flesh, and escapes to a nearby niche the enraged grouper can’t penetrate. The blenny is a fish that lives in treachery and feeds off the flesh of those who would freely feed it. It is sometimes called a false cleaner, though I prefer to think of it as a lawyer fish."

This book by Tim Cahill is a wonderful collection of essays drawn from Rolling Stone and other magazines. Cahill is the adventurer all of us Walter Mittys would like to be. He writes of wild­water rafting in the Himalayas, scuba diving with sharks, rappelling down cliffs in the utter darkness of caves, crossing Death Valley on foot during the summer--all sorts of death­defying adventures. At one point he reflects on the "sickness" of one of the war simulation games in the wilderness of New Hampshire: " Gaines was probably right, at least for those of us who enjoy this Constant testing and attendant adrenaline rush. It is a way of finding out who you are, and even those who object to the concept of the game, to its emotional weight, 'look for the same kinds of whatever means available. I know for a fact that quite a few of those who said they found the idea ’sick’ spend sessions with a man who say yes, uh-huh, and how do you about that?’" ( )

As an explorer, Tim Cahill gets everywhere. As an invstigative reporter, he has given us realistic and human reports of stories which another reporter would only be able to couch in Paparazzi-speak. When there is horror (which there is), he is understated. When there is excitement (of which there is a lot), Cahill shares it with us.

From ice-fishing in the depths of winter, and extreme skiiing, to the jungles of South America, Dian Fossey's legacy and south-sea diving, Tim Cahill has done it all, and brings it to life here. I found the Jonestown story, of which he was one of the first reporters on the scene, to be haunting, and it is a testament to his skill that he could make such a horror accessible on a human scale. And then we're vertical caving, in some of the most incredible parts of the Earth.
A great book of more-than travel stories, by a man who fits equally well into the writer and traveller camp, as far too few do.

If you're travelling, or are thinking of traveling, read this book, and you might just step off the beaten track a little more... ( )