Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon

by Paul Rosolie

For fans of The Lost City of Z, Walking the Amazon, and Turn Right at Machu Picchu comes naturalist and explorer Paul Rosolie's extraordinary adventure in the uncharted tributaries of the Western Amazon--a tale of discovery that vividly captures the awe, beauty, and isolation of this endangered land and presents an impassioned call to save it.

In the Madre de Dios--Mother of God--region of Peru, where the Amazon River begins its massive flow, the Andean Mountain cloud forests fall into lowland Amazon Rainforest, creating the most biodiversity-rich place on the planet. In January 2006, when he was just a restless eighteen-year-old hungry for adventure, Paul Rosolie embarked on a journey to the west Amazon that would transform his life.

Venturing alone into some of the most inaccessible reaches of the jungle, he encountered giant snakes, floating forests, isolated tribes untouched by outsiders, prowling jaguars, orphaned baby anteaters, poachers in the black market trade in endangered species, and much more. Yet today, the primordial forests of the Madre de Dios are in danger from developers, oil giants, and gold miners eager to exploit its natural resources.

In Mother of God, this explorer and conservationist relives his amazing odyssey exploring the heart of this wildest place on earth. When he began delving deeper in his search for the secret Eden, spending extended periods in isolated solitude, he found things he never imagined could exist. "Alone and miniscule against a titanic landscape I have seen the depths of the Amazon, the guts of the jungle where no men go, Rosolie writes. "But as the legendary explorer Percy Fawcett warned, 'the few remaining unknown places of the world exact a price for their secrets.'"

Illustrated with 16 pages of color photos.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Adventure, Nature, Memoir, Science, Environment

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 18, 2014

About the author

Hello! I’m Paul Rosolie, author of the new book "JUNGLEKEEPER: What it takes to Change the World" out January 20th 2026. I'm also author of Mother of God (2014), and The Girl and the Tiger (2019).

Growing up my parents read me Sherlock Holmes, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, James Herriot, White Fang by Jack London and more. Because I am dyslexic it took me a long time to learn to read, much longer than other kids. So being read to was really important. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I fell in love with reading on my own. Today it amazes me the extent to which the books I love have influenced my life, and I feel that story telling, more than anything else, is my greatest passion.

Along with being a writer, I work as a conservationist protecting wildlife and ecosystems – mostly tropical rainforests. I work in the Amazon, India, Indonesia and other places where biodiversity and habitat loss are rampant. I believe we live in the most crucial time in history because our natural systems and wildlife are dwindling and we as a global community have little choice but to reassess our relationship to the natural world. That is the focus of my writing.

My book Mother of God (Harper Collins) is non-fiction and was my first book. It gained the praise of environmentalists and adventurers such as Jane Goodall, Bear Grylls, and Bill McKibben who have called the book a “gripping”, “awe inspiring”, “rousing tale”, “with a great and enduring point”. It mostly chronicles my formative years as an explorer and protector of wild places. This book had the very real world result of helping to protect over 30,000 acres of primary jungle in the Amazon Rainforest.

My NEW book The Girl and the Tiger (Owl Hollow Press) is a work of fiction, though this story is very much based on the last ten years I’ve spent in India tracking the migration of wild tigers and elephants. I tell everyone that this book is less my own creation and more a collection of moments, truths, and legends I found over the years in the Indian jungle. It is a necklace of a book, a series of seeds and teeth, stones and bones, gathered from the forest floor; I only added the string. It is the result of following elephants, searching for tigers, sitting late into the night around campfires, and becoming acquainted with the tribes of the forest, both human and animal.

I’m so excited to bring this story to the world. If you’d like to follow along I’m going to be sharing the journey on Instagram @PaulRosolie .

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very eager to read this book as I had spent three months up the Amazon living in a settlement of Caboclo Indians. These are mixed race people from the rubber boom of the 19th century. They hadn't gone to the cities to live but remained in the jungle intermarrying with other Caboclos and also with those they called 'the painted men'. They had no contact with tourists of any kind and I was the first non-Indian to have visited them.

How I got there was I was sailing around the world with three friends and when we got to Brazil, they all went to Rio de Janeiro and I thought it was my one and only chance to go up the Amazon. Over the next month I went first to Belem, then Santarem ending up in Manaus. I spent a few weeks working out how to avoid the tourist routes and arranged tours. I was in a travel agency when a guide, an Indian, said he was going back home for three months and did I want to come? We negotiated a price and then after a fantastic two day journey sailing on river boats, canoes, a bus (it got stuck at a pot hole big enough to sink it in which Victoria Regina lilies 6' across were growing) and finally walking we got to Lake Amañas in Amazonas.

40 or so people lived around this lake which was so big it took a river motor boat 2.5 hours to sail around. A few people lived in houses on stilts, one with the most beautiful parquet floor a la William Morris I have ever seen, but most on floating houses. I lived in the latter. The dish-washing and toileting arrangements involved holes in the sweet-smelling wood floor with pirañas waiting to clean the plates or receive... offerings.

My days were filled with fishing with seine nets and leaky pirogues, hunting with spears and dogs, music on tiny little guitars and panpipes and visiting the people who lived around the lake. I was most impressed by the medicine man who was as graceful and beautiful as a ballet dancer and who applied sound hygenic and herbal principles to his work, he wasn't a shaman. I learned how to catch crocodiles in my bare hands although I only did it once (it was enough!)

So when the author writes about his trips into the jungle, I'm not exactly ignorant and he is writing to impress with things he says are unique but in fact are quite everyday.

The Amazon rises and falls 40' a year from the melt-water of the snow in the Andes. This means that the forest can be flooded for part of the year, then it is known as igapo, and trees quite tall can look like little bushes when you manoeuvre your leaky canoe around them.

I arrived when the waters had gone down considerably and on dry land there was a small tree with a dead and stinky anaconda draped from not far above the ground, over the top and down to the ground again. It was bigger than anything in the Guinness book of world records and eclipsed the author's biggest ever 25' one. The author said he fantasised that if he had taken a picture it would have been on the front cover of Time. Judging by the size of the tree the dead one I saw was between 35-45 ft. long. The Indians I was with said that it was a big snake, unusual but not unique and that they left it there as a warning to other snakes not to come near.

Another thing was when the author described the 'rarely-seen landscape of floating islands' by moonlight. These floating islands were common on the lake where the river flowed very slowly through. They vary greatly in size from a small rug upwards. They are made up of matted grass roots, the beautiful water hyacinth and small bushes. I was told you can't walk on them, although the big ones will support your weight, because they are full of biting ants. Also, in the daytime, crocodiles hide under them for the shade.

Once, when I was visiting the medicine man I tied up my canoe to the bank but when I came back an hour or two later I found myself land-locked by a huge island, the size of a football pitch. All you can do is push it with the paddles, it's a heavy job, until it starts to part and move off slowly. They are never stationary for long.

The last example I want to write about is his encounter with 'rare, fast-moving' morpho butterflies. So rare apparently that his Indian friend takes a leaf to wrap up a dead one the author found in a parcel. I was out hunting one day with the medicine man's son. We had two dogs with us and spears and found ourselves in a beautiful little glade with a small pool in the middle and sunlight shafting down from high up above the canopy. There were morphos everywhere! Although the author says they were very fast fliers, these ones were taking it easy. Their huge, hand-size wings, glimmering and shining all the blues a sky can be, as they glided around the glade sometimes settling on us. One brushed my cheek with a wing and left a drift of angel dust. It was like an enchantment.

The author left the Amazon and went to India. He became just the sort of bleeding heart white liberal that infest the Caribbean sitting on committees to preserve the natural environment or even taking it back and not giving a damn about how the locals are supposed to make a living. They've made their pile, they've got a house and family 'back home' now they want to see a paradise preserved for their winter homes.

Conservation is important. Good conservation is taking necessary progress into account and negotiating a way through that. When that isn't done, people will remain not just poor when they can see they needn't be, but bitter and seek to take what they can. Poaching, burning, corrupt politicians (and huge foreign conglomerates) are their weapons.

So what finally got me to put the book down was this sentence that shows the attitude of the author that he finds elevated and admirable and I find beyond irrelevant:

"What is it about our species that allows us to watch sitcoms and argue over sports while cultures and creatures and those things meek and green and good are chopped, shot and burned from the world for a buck? "

All creatures are not meek and good, but his point is, as is with a lot of propaganda, if you can't work it through the facts, then go for the emotions, guilt-trip 'em. It is implied that we should get off our lazy arses and fill our days and evenings with meaningful work towards conserving the wildlife of this planet just like he does, no time for levity, frippery or going to the pub.

This is a bit like blaming people for the problems of pollution and Garbage on the planet when really it is industry, from cafes on up, that are responsible for over 95% of it. As long as it's the individual doing their best to be green, we will get swallowed by a massive wave of communal self-congratulation and governments, industry, banks and businessmen will continue on in their own sweet way, destroying the planet for money. This should not be an emotional issue as it is sold, it certainly isn't to industry or the banks. So that sentence of his and its import made me dnf this book.

Now it could be that if I didn't know the Amazon so well, didn't live on a beautiful island where conservation and progress are in opposition but forever butting up in the middle, that I would have enjoyed this book. Instead I found it to be ego-driven with the author's great delight in being such an interesting person. He wasn't. His adventures weren't spectacular to me and the unique events were commonplace.

Two stars. One extra because it was quite well-written.

______________________

This was how I got up the Amazon with the The Forsyte Saga.
This is how to catch crocodiles in your bare hands and where floating islands play a part. Removed by GR - writings.

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The self-aggrandizing in this book is nauseating.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot even write this review. This book was perfect. It was everything. So far this is hands-down the absolute best book out of my 2015 Winter Adventure Read.

Rosolie’s style of writing is passionate and energetic, thoughtful and compassionate, and completely immersive for the reader. I couldn’t help but fall in love with the forest, with the clouds, with anteaters, with hope, with jaguars, with the wonderfully intricate systems of the rainforest during this book. I mean, I don’t think that you could ask for a more charismatic locale or charismatic animals than what’s available in the Amazon, but Rosolie is really able to show you the little things that we should love and save in the rain forest too, down to the bullet ants, all without dragging down the narrative.

His discussions of different theories of conservation gave me a lot to chew on, and I literally have a list of probably 15 books that I want to read because Rosolie spoke so highly of them (including everything by Steve Irwin, apparently!). I love the outdoors, I love my national parks, I hate that so many people give into the idea that human progress and environmental destruction are synonymous, that progress is sans nature, that there aren’t less invasive and destructive methods we could use, but even I had never read about how the reintroduction of apex predators into Yellowstone affected not only the elk herds, but tree growth and pollen dispersal, which in turn led to increased reproductive of song birds, and quail, etc. His discussion on what is the “wildlife norm” for each generation is worrisome, and important. I have learned the ways in which I was complicit in the Amazon’s destruction, and I am resolved to do better. Rosolie doesn’t want to judge us, he wants to educate us, he wants to show us, and this book does and its beautiful.


TL; DR- If you read nothing else that I recommend, read this. I don’t think anyone will regret it.

Links to check into!
Tamandua Jungle Expeditions!

Jungle/Environmental News Real news.

Watch wild animals all over the world live on camera!

Ways to help- Citizen Scientist projects that need you! Everything from identifying animals in the Serengeti to identify comets in space.

[Sarah Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.

Paul Rosolie was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York but always struggled with school and dreamed of a day when he could immerse himself in another world, surrounded by animals and nature. At the age of 18 he made his first trip to the Amazon and gradually worked up to making solo trips into the jungle by himself. This book, based on Rosolie's journal entries written in the jungle, demonstrates his passion for his favorite place on earth, and serves as a cry for help to protect the jungle from humans.

Reading this book, it was hard for me to even imagine the world Rosolie describes, because it is so very different from the world most of us live in. In the very first chapter, Rosolie is alone in the jungle in the middle of a storm with large trees crashing to the jungle floor around him: "One hundred feet to my right a branch the size of a mature oak snapped and hit the earth with the force of a car crash. [...] Some of the true giants are so interlaced with vines and strangler tentacles that when they fall, their weight tears down almost an acre of jungle. There is no escape" (6). The area Rosolie explores is so dangerous and so remote "that the only reference to the river in literature is from the early 1900s, in the book Exploration Fawcett, which describes one team of explorers" (33). It's hard to imagine a terrain so dense and impenetrable that hundreds of years may pass before another human sees the same patch of land.

The situations Rosolie finds himself in over the course of this book are certainly suspenseful. In addition to the dangers of the landscape itself including falling trees and rivers, there is a multitude of animals, many of which are dangerous. These include giant anacondas, giant anteaters, giant otters, jaguars, caiman, ocelots, tapirs, and boars. Rosolie has countless run-ins with these dangerous animals; "Each morning we awoke to see tracks through our campsite; jaguars would come just inches from our sleeping bodies during the night" (123). His tales of all the massive snakes they chased were awe-inspiring. Such as the one that was "as thick as a small cow, and easily well over twenty-five feet long. This was not just a large snake, but the mega-snake of legends" (152). Or that time he emerges from his tent in the middle of the night and found a fourteen foot caiman staring at him. "Looking left and right, I saw the eyes of numerous other large caiman, eleven in total" (249).

Although Rosolie puts himself in danger, he is obviously aware of the risks, since he frequently references people who have disappeared in the jungle and tales of anacondas found with man-sized lumps in their stomachs. He also relays the story of the explorer Fawcett who disappeared in the jungle in 1925. "More than a hundred people who went searching for Fawcett never returned" (201). It was hard reading stories of Rosolie despairing and at wit's end in the jungle, alone, and surrounded by danger.

I really enjoyed this book mostly because of the enthusiasm and obvious passion with which Rosolie writes. He writes in a conversational style, as if he was telling you his experiences personally. I was amused by his asides, such as a description of Nick Gordon, a famous explorer, who Rosolie describes by saying, "The guy was legit" (255). It's obvious that Rosolie is wholeheartedly devoted to the Amazon and preserving it. While Rosolie puts himself in danger on solo trips, with the only goal being to capture animals on film and explore the jungle, he does so knowing the risks. Additionally, his desire to help this place he is so passionate about is raising awareness and bringing knowledge to others, like me, who can read about a place we can only imagine.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely have mixed feelings about this book. I like that it gives a good perspective on what it's like on the ground in the Amazon rain forest in the 21st Century. And I appreciate its message about the importance of conservation. I just wish the prose wasn't so wide-eyed. People are always howling with laughter. Or their eyes are bulging with shock. Or they drop to their knees in awe. The hyperbole in this book gets a bit overwhelming at times.

It wasn't until I was pretty deep into the book that I realized that the author, Paul Rosolie, is the guy who tried to get swallowed by an anaconda on TV last year. That certainly undermined his credibility more than a little.

I'm hoping that Rosolie continues his conservation efforts, and gains some wisdom and maturity so that he can become an important voice. The other possibility, and a real one from what I can tell, is that he becomes entranced with the idea of being a reality show celebrity and he forgets his original mission and passion.

[Rick Presley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book in the same vein as Farley Mowat's "Never Cry Wolf" but with a much happier ending. Mowat concludes with a sense of helpless determination while Rosolie offers us hope for a world most of us will never see.

I've always had a fascination for the upper Amazon and have always wanted to visit. Rosolie only makes me more determined to one day travel into the upper reaches and see the wonder and diversity for myself. This is a great read from someone whose enthusiasm borders on the manic, but who also cares deeply for the home he has come to love. I can only hope that this book and his organization will succeed in their mission.

[James Sorensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book as part of the Goodreads first-read program.

Paul Rosolie was an unusual child. He hated school, not because he was stupid or didn't like to learn, but because he felt confined inside the four walls of the classroom. He wanted to be free from the restricting feel of those walls and as he got older he would spend more and more time staying away from the confines of organized education. At age eight an unexpected event would change the course of his life and contribute, in a large way, to this desire for freedom from enclosing walls. He and his mother went on a trip to the Bronx Zoo in New York. There they visited the Jungle World exhibit, which would set the direction his life would take.Paul was mesmerized by the animal and plant life he observed at the zoo. And at that moment he knew he would have to go to the Amazon some day.

By the end of his sophomore year in High School he decides enough is enough and decides he won't be going back. And he has the support of his loving parents. During the Summer he studies for and receives his GED and then begins college part-time while others his age are going into their Junior year in High School. At age eighteen he sends out many emails to persons looking for research assistants, never believing that he would be answered due to his lack of qualifications. But he soon gets a response from a British Biologist named Emma who, along with her husband JJ, are carrying out macaw studies deep in the jungle of Southeast Peru. The only catch is he has to find a way to get to Puerto Maldonado, the Capital of Madre de Dios, where he will be picked up and transported up river to the Las Piedras Biodiversity Station. The "LPBS" is a 27,000 acre research station in the middle of the Jungles of Peru where the indigenous wildlife is protected from encroachment from those that would destroy this pristine world.

Paul, along with the others that have been chosen to help, will study the macaws and other animal life in the area. But when the work day is done and the other volunteers retire to rest Paul's adventure is only beginning. Instead of sleep he is off by himself exploring the trails through the jungle, soaking up all the sights and learning everything he can about this wondrous land. But also learns of the tragedy of encroachment by profiteers who would destroy this world for their own selfish purpose.

Mr. Rosolie will spend many years going back and forth from Peru to college in New York as he educates himself and trains to become one of earths most knowledgeable conservationists. We are even treated to a trip to India where the author will meet his future wife, Gowri, and learn first hand the destructive power of man and what awaits the beautiful land he has come to love.

The reader will come to see close up the beauty of the animals that inhabit this magical world. We will learn of Paul's friendship with a Giant Anteater, he and JJ's attempt to capture the largest Anaconda either one of them had ever seen. We view the home of the Anaconda in the floating forest.
We come close up to the Jaguar that rules this world along with the Black Caiman and Giant Anteater.

And we follow along with a 21 year old man as he journeys into the deepest heart of the Madre de Dios along the river highway that will take him to The Western Gate, a world where modern man has never been.

This is a journey of highs and lows, of laughter and tears. This is an incredible story that is very well presented. Mr. Rosolie is a gifted writer that draws us into his world as we share in his failures and triumphs. It gives the reader insight into the interconnected world of man and the biodiversity that surrounds him. A side story about he near extinction of wolves in the Yellowstone Basin is a prime example of how the loss of just one species of animal can destroy the ecology the area in which it existed.

This is truly one of the best works of non-fiction I have ever read and is a must read for animal lovers and those who want to view themselves as members of a greater world around them.

[Tyson Titensor]

I read this as part of my new project to read everything I can about rivers in the Upper Amazon. This book didn't disappoint with exciting tales of river travel, conservation, wildlife encounters, and anaconda-hunting.

[Cav · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It has been a journey filled with unfathomable beauty and brutality that sounds more like fiction than fact: lost tribes, floating forests, murdering bandit-loggers killed by arrows, insectivorous slashing giants, and a secret Eden..."

Mother of God was a decent read, although I was expecting a bit more of a lively read, tbh.

Author Paul Rosolie is an American conservationist and writer. This book details his work in the Amazon rainforest in southeastern Peru. He was also the host of the Discovery Channel's 2014 nature documentary special, Eaten Alive.

Paul Rosolie:



I wasn't sure what to expect from this one going in. I have watched a few short YouTube clips of the author from his recent Joe Rogan Podcast appearance.
The book is mostly a travel account of his time in the Amazon jungle, although other work of his is also discussed here.

He writes with a somewhat engaging style; for the most part, and I found the formatting of this one to be decent as well.
The quote from the start of this review continues:

"...There would be fistfights, stickups, and beheadings; new species discovered, fossils unearthed, and people riding on giant snakes. I would see places that no one had seen before, and cultivate a unique relationship with the secret things of the Amazonian wild."

The book begins with a good intro; where Rosolie talks about his desire to discover a place that no man has been to. A place "forgotten for countless millennia..." It was this wanderlust that sparked his interest and work in the Amazon.

He lays out the aim of the book in this quote:

"I wrote this book careful to avoid it becoming a scientific text, or historical summary of the Amazon—other authors have written such volumes far better than I ever could. Instead, I chose to focus on the extremes of adventure, and the beauty of wildlife and natural systems. The events in the pages ahead are written as I experienced them. Aside from changing a few names, dates, and geographic details to protect people and places, everything that follows is true."

Contrary to popular belief, the myriad wild and dangerous animals that live in the jungle don't pose the greatest risk to someone who visits there. He writes:

"...If the storm intensified, there was little chance I’d survive the resulting carpet bombing of shed tree limbs. Some of the great explorers have claimed that snakes or piranhas or jaguars present the gravest threat in the Amazon, but these declarations betray inexperience. The trees themselves, in their dizzying innumerability, isolate and disorient you, and in a storm prove the most deadly. Some of the true giants are so interlaced with vines and strangler tentacles that when they fall, their weight tears down almost an acre of jungle. There is no way to escape."

Some more of what he talks about here includes
• Befriending an anteater; Lulu the anteater
• Looking for giant anacondas
• Searching for giant tigers in India
• Conservation efforts
• Catching poachers
• Encountering a lost tribe in the Amazon
• Searching for Jaguars in the jungle



Unfortunately, and despite the author's best efforts, I found much of the writing in the book a bit too long-winded at times. A more rigorous editing could have improved the finished product, IMHO.

********************

Mother of God was still an interesting read.
3.5 stars.

[John Caviglia · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a not-so-distant-time there were blanks upon the face of maps, tempting men with the riches and dangers of the unknown. Today, satellites have “pixelled in” the entire surface of our globe. Nonetheless a few places remain untrodden by the boot of map-making men: Madre de Dios (Mother of God), a region in the headwaters of the Amazon in southeast Peru is one of them, and Paul Roselie was the first to set foot there….

His journey began with a childhood visit to the Bronx Zoo, specifically the Jungle World exhibit, which left him with a vivid, indelible memory and set him on the path that eventually led him to Brazil. A dyslexic, Rosolie was a misfit in school, preferring to lose himself (literally) in wilderness. He also kept wild menageries at home, such as snakes and preying mantises. And when he was only eighteen, a British biologist running a research station in Amazonia, in southeast Peru, accepted him as a temporary research assistant … and from that point, Rosolie never looked back….

He immersed himself in the life and work of the research station, befriending an Ese-Eja—an Amzonian native—who taught Rosolie jungle lore. Become something of a native himself, he explored and came to love the jungle, both in danger and in beauty. And one day, talking to an old native, he discovered that there was a remote place where no white man had set foot, and that, as it is sacred to the natives, they shunned it too. And so Rosolie determined to be the first to penetrate this unbelievably remote, indescribably dangerous, hauntingly beautiful place. His actual journey there is the heart of his narrative, and I leave the extraordinary details to him….

It seems appropriate to me that the title of this work was the preferred expletive of a friend of mine—former nun of Irish descent—as superlatives are necessary for this tale. An anaconda thick as a cow and twenty six feet long! Mother of God! AND … he wrestled it! Mother of God! And so it goes…. The adventures of Rosolie are real, dangerous, and fascinating, having the horrified allure for “civilized man” of such works as Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Alejo Carpentier’s Los pasos perdidos (Lost Steps). A journey out in space is here a journey back in time….

Rosolie’s love of the last refugia of wilderness have made him into their passionate conservationist. This I laud in him and in his book. Were I younger (and more comfortable with confronting armed poachers) I might have considered personally aiding him in his efforts—for the jungle is fascinating, beautiful, and well worth saving….

All in all, Mother of God fascinated me. And it is a quick, easy read, for there is nothing scholarly or pedantic in it. (I might mention that the uncorrected proof copy that I received for review has some problems, the largest being that—apparently in a revision that had the narrative begin in medias res—there are large swatches of text almost identically repeated at the beginning and at the height of the adventure.)

Recommended for lovers of adventure and the jungle, as well as conservationists who love the same. Those squeamish about snakes and extreme tropical ingestion might want to skip some parts. And in a personal footnote I might add that in Mother of God I found the relish for life and living things delightful, in particular as I just finished reading a book about the opposite—Bartleby and Company. Mother of God is not the literature of NO. This is living at the extreme edge of YES, and writing about it! The prose may be rough around the edges, but it can be read with gusto.

Thanks to First Reads!

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be an easy, quick, and very fun read. It is not academic, but it is a true adventure story, told from the perspective of the adventurer. Also a commendable first book for the author, who seems to have a knack for storytelling. He lived the sort of adventure that I have only fantasized about and read accounts of in other books that preceded this one such as 'Lost City of Z', 'River of Doubt', and 'Into the Wild'. Somewhat like Percey Fawcett, Christopher McCandless, and Everett Reuss, the author was driven by an insatiable desire to explore. But unlike these people, the author lived to tell about it, albeit only by sheer luck in my opinion - he was equally insane (or driven, if you prefer). The author employed a fast-paced, concise style of narrative, which paused along the way to paint clever descriptions of Amazonia. Occasional tangents were also produced wherein personal commentary was appended onto a part of the story. There did seem to be considerable effort put towards paying homage to the many adventure and nature writers who have inspired the author and come before him, such as Thoreau, London, and Muir to name a few - all of whom are referenced abundantly. In any case, the writing approach effectively pulled me in, as every day I read this while riding the light rail to and from work, and I was quickly transported away from the crowds of people surrounding me and into Rosolie's wild journeys through the Amazon. This book is escapism at its best.

[Ludmilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is from Michael Edelstein, Paul's professor from Ramapo college:

Through his first book, Mother of God, Paul Rosolie takes us to places few others have ever been and where we are unlikely ever to ourselves travel. We encounter a wilderness the likes of which we had become convinced no longer existed, a real life Shangri la. And as we plunge deeper in Paul’s---and our---journey---our awe is matched by the tension of knowing that its very existence creates a risk that it will be destroyed. Almost an inevitability. It is here that we encounter the basis for Paul’s battle against this juggernaut. He is not traveling into the jungle to wrestle the largest snakes on earth; Paul and the snakes are on the same side. Rather his struggle is to overcome an even stronger force, the eco-destruction of modern times. And we realize from the strength of Paul’s will that he---and we—are strong enough and smart enough to prevail. We just need the kind of inspiration that Paul Rosolie lifts us with.

Michael R. Edelstein

[Julian Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

An impassioned cry for the environment wrapped up in his personal adventures in the darkest parts of the Amazon rain forest.

Filled with luxurious descriptions of the natural world, the thrilling drama of encounters with wildlife and frustration at mankind's insistence on destroying beauty for the sake of making money, this book has all the motivation you need to stand up for what is right.

A cracking story well told.

[Jasdavis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is honestly one of the most inspirational books I've read in a long time, not just because it's about a beautiful and amazing place (and it is) but also because of the human story of how life can take show you wonders you never expected to see. Do you like adventure? Exploration? People trying to make the world better? If yes, then read this book.

[Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

For someone who is not a writer by trade, I thought it was incredibly well-written. The book started off real strong for me, but somewhat fizzled. At times I felt that it was too soapboxy (I'm aware I just made up a word) and took away from my enjoyment of the book. Maybe I'm not the target audience.

[Sumanasaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book . It is simple yet profound . Makes u want to visit the amazon and experience some of the wonders . Truly loved the book . I was left wanting to read more of it even after i had turned the last page . Would love to read it again ...

[Cynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good meemior. Would have been better with more definitions and pics.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The adventurous elements of this book bring the sizzle that makes this story different and captivating. I have a thing about journeys along rivers anyway, but chuck in macaws and tapir, rafting downstream on a fallen giant and wrestling anacondas and I was firmly in the grips of living vicariously through Paul Rosolie. His enthusiasm for the jungle is a thing to marvel at. If Paul was exploring the wildest tropical rainforest on earth, then I have spent years of mine in the least. In Singapore’s relict primary and secondary rainforest, one is never far from a water fountain, a bathroom, or the possibility of help and shelter, not to mention barely being able to walk five minutes without seeing another person. Ubiquitous phone reception and well-ordered pathways add to its artificial feel. Nevertheless, they are a wonder to melt into. The reason I can marvel at Paul’s energy in the jungle is that I have learned that half a day in the rainforest, to the untrained urbanite, feels like hard work. Dehydration and the energy sapping heat can make a moderate hike feel like a marathon. Chuck in all the challenges of being in pristine jungle – the bugs, razor sharp spikes and twigs, the disorientation, the real threat of wild animals and indigenous tribes – together with carrying your own supplies for weeks on end, and I have the utmost respect for this man’s courage and spirit.

Paul was well rewarded with witnessing things most people will never see. And even those of us lucky enough to see such astonishing biodiversity will seldom come close to experiencing it with what he calls a state of peak experience, which comes hard to the distracted human mind. And he is right. How can one ever experience the pure joy of seeing a caiman approach his tent, or the indigenous tribe stare at him from across a river? If we paid hundreds of dollars for the experience we would likely do so in comfort, from a safe and steady vessel, and be thinking of posting the photo on social media when we returned to the comfort of a lodge.

As enjoyable as this book is, it does not hit five-star quality for me, for several reasons. There is some repetition in Paul’s writing, which is hard to avoid but within consecutive paragraphs or pages meant the feel of the moment did not sparkle. He would state he was covered in mud and blood or that his raft was only one sharp hit away from bursting, which were decent descriptions of his situation, only to repeat these descriptions word for word two or three times in a single passage. And in the most biodiverse place on earth, that Paul paints a lovely picture of, he describes relatively few species. It felt like an infinite number of times it was lapwing and capybara on the riverbanks, macaws looking like flying rainbows, or black caiman staring at him in the dark. I was dying to hear what else was out there. He had a dozen anaconda encounters but what about all the other snakes in the Amazon? I must give a special mention, however, of his giant otter encounter which was superb as a moment and in his telling.

Then we get to Paul himself. What a guy. The raw honesty in his words. He built strong relationships with real people, whom he described so warmly. And his introduction of his trouble school days was a nice touch and shows that if people are given the right environment, they can thrive. That was thought provoking. He seems to be an adrenaline junkie, in his words “another instance of wet paint and my need to touch the wall”. Approaching a wounded jaguar in a cave, was that really a good idea? Likewise, luring a caiman towards your tent with bait? Whilst most of this was charming, some of it troubled me. For example, when the caiman ate his mosquito net, his principal concern was for how vulnerable he would be from then on. And yet, I was wondering how the poor caiman would feel swallowing a net, I doubt that ended well for the crocodilian.

Paul Rosolie was a brilliant writer when he let his enthusiasm and adventure take the central stage. But his philosophical musings were a little clichéd. He would frequently castigate humanities greed and narcissism but fail to draw us towards the nuances of conservation in the Amazon. What was really driving the issues in Peru? What is the quality of life like for people – are they living hand to mouth or is it greedy corporations? It was the classic evil poachers and loggers against the conservation heroes. It is all too easy to criticise hypocrisy, and I do not want to be too harsh on people for having blind spots. However, Paul would lament the last great wildernesses disappearing and bemoan the state of India’s remaining nature parks, with the animals somewhat trapped in pockets of a once greater continuous expanse. Countless times he would critique people for encroaching into nature and yet, the whole premise of his venture was that he himself could access those places. In the Amazon, that story held, but in India when he snuck into a nature reserve illegally, I almost put the book down. What makes him different from the one billion Indians, whom he wants this area protected from? Sure, he means no harm, but what if thousands of others walked into the reserve for the same reasons as him? He spoke glowingly of places where the presence of just one human had not affected the wildlife and yet he was exempt from judgement. This disrespect, or dare I say, his narcissism, grated on me, when throughout this book he painted the rest of humanity as self-centered and greedy.

Maybe I am being harsh on Paul, but I usually share such musing only for books I really enjoyed. Thanks for sharing the Amazon with us and for being you, someone different and making your way in the world. After coming within whiskers of disaster, Paul is a somewhat lucky man to be able to tell us his tale and as are we to read it.

[Jennifer Grissim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why aren’t more people talking about this book? Paul writes the most captivating descriptions of nature that transport you right into the Amazon with him. His adventures reignite my sense of wonder and appreciation for nature. I got a glimpse of old my adventurous spirit that has been somewhat lost in the comfort of my daily routines of adulthood. While everyone I know who’s been to the Amazon tell me horror stories, this book makes me want to go…

[Iftekhar Naim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breathtaking! It's definitely one of the best nature adventure books I read! The descriptions of wildlife encounters are almost surreal. Starting from cuddling with a giant anteater, tracking and wrestling giant anacondas, and close encounters with jaguars and black caimans - it's all pretty incredible! While going through all these descriptions, I was touched by the author's sincerety and love for nature and its conservation.

[Isa-Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give 3 stars to the book itself, but 5 stars to the way it transported me to a pure, wild and untamed place on this earth

[Venky Khanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great first-hand forest Adventure! Definitely read it!
Paul helps us understand more of Amazon and the wonderful experiences that it hides within itself. Also, the necessity to preserve such rain-forests, cannot be emphasised enough.

Additionally, some people review saying that Paul is too full of himself, BUT, if you would, have had such a unique first-hand experience, imagine how you would express it?
Additionally, he is not an author/writer by profession. He is a naturalist! Give the guy some credit I say!

[Siri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paul Rosolie’s Mother of God is a sincere, passionate tribute to the transformative power of nature and true wilderness. It speaks about finding one's passion, and becoming so wholly engulfed in it that you are truly alive only in its presence. It is engaging and captivates you from the first page to the last. I couldn’t put the book down each time I picked it up! Rosolie’s book has a rare quality that makes all readers (irrespective of their interests) want to go on reading. Whether you’re a reader or not, whether you prefer fiction to non-fiction, doesn’t seem to matter once you’ve begun reading.

Rosolie’s book made me fall in love with wildlife in a completely new way. His words carried me from New York to Peru to India and beyond. His words moved me to tears, made me deliriously happy, got my heart pounding, and made me laugh all within those too few pages.
He weaves images and thoughts together with incredible skill. Mother of God is personal, enriching, enlightening, and complex at the same time. He not only captures his feelings with a rare and remarkable talent for language, he also provides us with scientific facts, anecdotes, and history. He documents endangered native tribal narratives with reverence and awe, in times when the smaller stories and people are being pushed further and further away from our consciousness.

Rosolie’s writing style makes one feel like they are experiencing everything he describes. His words seemed to talk directly to me, and yet I know that he has experienced things I could not even imagine. His words create entirely different worlds in the reader’s mind. He describes things we can only hope to dream of. His book makes us feel like the world still hides mysterious and beautiful things that we know nothing of. It makes us sensitive, transforms us into humble human beings who are aware that there is something going on that is much larger than us.

Reading the last page and the last few words was the hardest part. The book finished much sooner than I wanted it to.

[chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't get past how he thought it was an ethically sound decision to knowingly travel within 6 miles of an uncontacted indigenous tribe. I am also having a hard time squaring in my head his rationalizing the trip as anything more than adventure-seeking. This seems more selfish to me than conservation-minded. To this point, he plans to do a documentary showcasing the beauty of the place, but takes virtually no footage? He sees a giant tortoise 3x larger than any he has seen previously and doesn't even photograph it? He lies on a log over the river to observe the wildlife, but doesn't bring his camera? His decision making around holding the meat on a rope around the massive caiman, resulting in the loss of essential equipment, is equally mystifying. I believe in the sincerity of his conservationism, I'm just uncomfortable with the idea of exploring and exposing an untouched land as anything other than thrill seeking. This point could be debated.

[Tiffany Roufs · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been a while since I literally couldn't put a book down. I have a full-time job, own a house, volunteer, and have a 3.5 year old - I finished this book in 2 days. While I believe every word of it, Author Paul Rosolie's gripping story of his love affair with the wild world of the Western Amazon often had my mouth hanging open in disbelief. I have been lucky enough to travel to the region, and Rosolie captures the magic and mystery while showing me a whole new side. It is well-written, educating, enlightening, and wonderful.

If you love adventure, romance, and the wild places of this earth, pick up this one next. You won't regret it. I think Paul Rosolie is going places, and you will be able to say you read his autobiography before he was famous.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like the various ecosystems that comprise the Amazon Rainforest/River, Paul Rosolie's "Mother of God" is a diverse blend of coming of age story, jungle adventure, conservation discourse and escapades with exotic wildlife. Rosolie is at his best when lucidly conveying the overwhelming sensory bombardment of what its like to dwell and traverse through untamed wilderness so I particularly enjoyed the opening chapters (his transformation from a naive 18 year old to seasoned jungle explorer) and the final portions - where his experience and knowledge is put to the test of solo trekking through the most raw and isolated locales of the region.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful and moving account of the a young man's encounter with the Amazon wilderness.

What I liked most was the direct appeal to preserve nature for its own sake - though it may be true, I am scarcely moved appeals to save the Amazon because of the undiscovered pharmaceuticals it may hold. It also speaks powerfully to the ways in which encounters with the natural world can be a vital part of a person's growth into adult hood and can become a central connection that anchors us to our world and our communities.

[Mohsin Kazmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pauls stories and experiences in the Amazon where equal to some of the most exciting stories I read as a child in school. His experiences in the Amazon inspired me to continue my quest for knowledge in conservation. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to anyone who wants an honest and raw look at one of the most exotic and un inhabited places in the world.

[Adam Assoian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way the author conveys his stories and experiences in the Amazon, and his conservation efforts are truly breathtaking. I've never felt more connected to an authors story and the felt the undeniable passion he has for what he has made his life's work.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet, another incredilble book about the Amazon to add to my non-fiction favorites shelf. Someday, I may have to go there just to see all the sights and wonders. But, for now, I will continue to be the consummate armchair traveler.......