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Geek in
A Geek in Indonesia: Discover the Land of Komodo Dragons, Balinese Healers and Dangdut Music
Award-winning writer and Indonesia expert Tim Hannigan gives Southeast Asia's biggest country its proper due. Written in an irreverent, youthful tone, A Geek in Indonesia provides a hip, streetwise introduction to an increasingly popular travel destination.
Hannigan leads readers on an eye-opening excursion around the archipelago, from the outer fringes where tribesmen still wear penis gourds and ritual battle gear to 21st-century cities filled with fashion bloggers, feminist activists, punk pioneers, and scandalous celebrities. He provides a quick introduction to Indonesian history, a rundown on traditional arts, insights on why Jakarta is the social media capital of the world, and tips on where to enjoy the region's thriving pop, jazz, and alternative music scenes. More than just an Indonesia travel guide, this volume is packed with lively articles on everything from office culture and the Indonesian blogosphere to dating rituals and TV soap operas.
Illustrated with hundreds of colorful images and loaded with the kind of insights that only an author with a lifelong passion for the country could provide, A Geek in Indonesia will enlighten and entertain Indonesian culture enthusiasts, backpackers, first-time visitors, newly-arrived expats, and longtime Indonesiaphiles alike.
Hannigan leads readers on an eye-opening excursion around the archipelago, from the outer fringes where tribesmen still wear penis gourds and ritual battle gear to 21st-century cities filled with fashion bloggers, feminist activists, punk pioneers, and scandalous celebrities. He provides a quick introduction to Indonesian history, a rundown on traditional arts, insights on why Jakarta is the social media capital of the world, and tips on where to enjoy the region's thriving pop, jazz, and alternative music scenes. More than just an Indonesia travel guide, this volume is packed with lively articles on everything from office culture and the Indonesian blogosphere to dating rituals and TV soap operas.
Illustrated with hundreds of colorful images and loaded with the kind of insights that only an author with a lifelong passion for the country could provide, A Geek in Indonesia will enlighten and entertain Indonesian culture enthusiasts, backpackers, first-time visitors, newly-arrived expats, and longtime Indonesiaphiles alike.
144 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2018
2 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Tim Hannigan
24 books57 followersTim Hannigan was born in Penzance in Cornwall in the far west of the United Kingdom. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a chef and an English teacher. He started his writing career as a travel journalist based in Indonesia. His first book, Murder in the Hindu Kush (The History Press, 2011), was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize. His second book, Raffles and the British Invasion of Java (Monsoon Books, 2012), won the 2013 John Brooks Award. He also wrote A Brief History of Indonesia (Tuttle, 2015), and edited and wrote new chapters for Willard Hanna's classic narrative history of Bali, now republished as A Brief History of Bali (Tuttle, 2016). His more recent books include The Travel Writing Tribe (2021) and The Granite Kingdom (2023). He has worked on guidebooks to many destinations including Nepal, India, Myanmar, Bali and Cornwall.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 15, 2022
I'd read Tim Hannigan's A Brief History of Indonesia: Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of the World's Largest Archipelago and loved it. Sultans, Spices and Tsunamis fills the gap in the market for “pithy pop history page-turners and lightweight travelogues” on Indonesia, covering Indonesia's history from the time of the arrival of Melanesian hunter-gatherers 95000 years ago to the early 2000s. Meanwhile, A Geek In Indonesia covers contemporary Indonesian culture.
This isn't your typical travel guide. Hannigan first visited Indonesia in 2002 - in the immediate aftermath of the Bali bombings - and travelled around the archipelago on and off for a good decade and a half, and living and working in the country for extended periods as an English teacher and journalist. Yes, like many other travel guides, Hannigan talk about contemporary Indonesia 101 - its geography, its laid-back and sociable culture, gotong royong and gengsi (face), alay (Hannigan says that the closest English-language equivalent is probably "wannabe"), jam karet ("rubber time"), Indonesia as the social media capital of the world.
But Hannigan also devotes a whole chapter on Indonesia's music scene, which includes not only the gamelan orchestras, folk songs and dangdut from popular imagination, but also a vibrant punk rock scene (Superman is Dead), Indonesian pop (Agnes Monica, Dara Puspita, Anggun), jazz. There is even Indonesian Celtic punk?? (Dirty Glass, Billy the Kid, Forgotten Generation, The Working Class Symphony), The Cloves and the Tobacco). There is also a chapter on Indonesian Cinema, TV and Media, and Hannigan also discusses the importance of sports such as soccer, badminton, pencak silat, and more recently surfing, in Indonesia.
My favourite chapters - unsurprisingly - were Chapter 7 on Indonesian Food and Chapter 8 on Exploring Indonesia. Reading Chapter 7 made me want to run out and snack on gorengan like pisang molen, deep-fried tempe and bakwan jagung, sample Sundanese fried pigeon, gudek (jackfruit curry) from Yogyakarta, rawon from Surabaya, nasi pecel and sate from Madura. In Chapter 8, Hannigan outlines some of the must-sees and highlights from across the archipelago, based on his decade and a half of traipsing around Indonesia. I really wanted to visit eastern Indonesia after reading that chapter (relatively undeveloped tourist infrastructure notwithstanding).
A Geek in Indonesia was published in 2018 but some of the info already appears to be outdated. The Indohoy.com website doesn’t seem to work anymore, for instance. But it's still very much a worthwhile read. If Sultans, Spices and Tsunamis was an accessible Indonesian History 101, A Geek in Indonesia serves as its Indonesian Culture 101 counterpart.
This isn't your typical travel guide. Hannigan first visited Indonesia in 2002 - in the immediate aftermath of the Bali bombings - and travelled around the archipelago on and off for a good decade and a half, and living and working in the country for extended periods as an English teacher and journalist. Yes, like many other travel guides, Hannigan talk about contemporary Indonesia 101 - its geography, its laid-back and sociable culture, gotong royong and gengsi (face), alay (Hannigan says that the closest English-language equivalent is probably "wannabe"), jam karet ("rubber time"), Indonesia as the social media capital of the world.
But Hannigan also devotes a whole chapter on Indonesia's music scene, which includes not only the gamelan orchestras, folk songs and dangdut from popular imagination, but also a vibrant punk rock scene (Superman is Dead), Indonesian pop (Agnes Monica, Dara Puspita, Anggun), jazz. There is even Indonesian Celtic punk?? (Dirty Glass, Billy the Kid, Forgotten Generation, The Working Class Symphony), The Cloves and the Tobacco). There is also a chapter on Indonesian Cinema, TV and Media, and Hannigan also discusses the importance of sports such as soccer, badminton, pencak silat, and more recently surfing, in Indonesia.
My favourite chapters - unsurprisingly - were Chapter 7 on Indonesian Food and Chapter 8 on Exploring Indonesia. Reading Chapter 7 made me want to run out and snack on gorengan like pisang molen, deep-fried tempe and bakwan jagung, sample Sundanese fried pigeon, gudek (jackfruit curry) from Yogyakarta, rawon from Surabaya, nasi pecel and sate from Madura. In Chapter 8, Hannigan outlines some of the must-sees and highlights from across the archipelago, based on his decade and a half of traipsing around Indonesia. I really wanted to visit eastern Indonesia after reading that chapter (relatively undeveloped tourist infrastructure notwithstanding).
A Geek in Indonesia was published in 2018 but some of the info already appears to be outdated. The Indohoy.com website doesn’t seem to work anymore, for instance. But it's still very much a worthwhile read. If Sultans, Spices and Tsunamis was an accessible Indonesian History 101, A Geek in Indonesia serves as its Indonesian Culture 101 counterpart.
July 3, 2020
435 - 2020
Suka deh dengan gaya bertutur penulis buku ini. Spot on di banyak sisi Indonesia yang dibahas, tapi wajar saja sih mengingat dia pernah lumayan lama tinggal di Indonesia jadi cukup paham budaya (dan perilaku manusia) Indonesia, bukan cuma kulit-kulitnya saja. Sepertinya karena dia mantan koki, pas masuk ke bagian kuliner pembahasannya juga mendadak lebih antusias dan komprehensif karena sangat terasa dia apresiatif sekali dengan masifnya keragaman jenis hidangan dan bumbu yang dipakai. Sukses berat membuatku lapar tengah malam.
Padahal aku beli buku ini di obralan tengah tahun Peri+ hanya karena ingin melengkapi koleksi serial "A Geek in" dari Tuttle Publishing, dan agak skeptis dengan isinya sebelum mulai membaca...
Suka deh dengan gaya bertutur penulis buku ini. Spot on di banyak sisi Indonesia yang dibahas, tapi wajar saja sih mengingat dia pernah lumayan lama tinggal di Indonesia jadi cukup paham budaya (dan perilaku manusia) Indonesia, bukan cuma kulit-kulitnya saja. Sepertinya karena dia mantan koki, pas masuk ke bagian kuliner pembahasannya juga mendadak lebih antusias dan komprehensif karena sangat terasa dia apresiatif sekali dengan masifnya keragaman jenis hidangan dan bumbu yang dipakai. Sukses berat membuatku lapar tengah malam.
Padahal aku beli buku ini di obralan tengah tahun Peri+ hanya karena ingin melengkapi koleksi serial "A Geek in" dari Tuttle Publishing, dan agak skeptis dengan isinya sebelum mulai membaca...
June 1, 2019
Short version: you would be far better watching bloggers on YouTube talking about their Indonesian experience than taking this book.
Long version:
> For anyone wanting to move beyond tired travel guide cliches, A Geek in Indonesia is a hip, irreverent and streetwise introduction to Southeast Asia's biggest country
Irreverent? It starts with a list of classifications:
> So let’s start with the superlatives… Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country, and its biggest Muslim-majority state. It has more than one hundred active volcanoes and something like 17,000 islands, making it the biggest archipelagic nation and the most volcanic place on the planet. It is home to more than a quarter of a billion people, but most of them live on Java which is about the same size as Illinois and is therefore, somewhat predictably, the most densely populated island on earth. The distance between Indonesia’s westernmost and easternmost extremities is about the same as that between London and Tehran. Indonesia is also Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, and the world’s third largest democracy.
This is a school boy essay.
The perspective is well, that of a tourist gathering data for a book on which he already passed the first deadline. It's a former colonial space. It is not a country in the sense that Germans live in Germany. It's more like a country made of France, Germany, Poland and Russia, all regions with its own people, languages, customs, cuisine.
Or in short, it is a racist book. These are the Indonesians, they are Muslim and their cuisine is very varied.
> Traditionally, the Indonesian view of employment broke down quite simply. If you were from a poor, uneducated background you were set for a life of labor, probably on the land, and without much by the way of prospects. If you were rich, well you were rich already. And if you were somewhere in the middle, you aimed to join the public sector. The idea of a successful salaried career in the private sector was unusual: if you weren’t set for hard labor or public service, and didn’t already have a silver spoon in your mouth, then you went in for entrepreneurship, be it selling snacks at the side of the road, or creating a booming import-export empire.
>
> But things began to change from the late 1960s
Given the independence is dated 1949, and it took some time to spread the news to such a large place, "public sector" is an euphemism for the colonial administration. So it is the state, only we won't tell you what state.
Long version:
> For anyone wanting to move beyond tired travel guide cliches, A Geek in Indonesia is a hip, irreverent and streetwise introduction to Southeast Asia's biggest country
Irreverent? It starts with a list of classifications:
> So let’s start with the superlatives… Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country, and its biggest Muslim-majority state. It has more than one hundred active volcanoes and something like 17,000 islands, making it the biggest archipelagic nation and the most volcanic place on the planet. It is home to more than a quarter of a billion people, but most of them live on Java which is about the same size as Illinois and is therefore, somewhat predictably, the most densely populated island on earth. The distance between Indonesia’s westernmost and easternmost extremities is about the same as that between London and Tehran. Indonesia is also Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, and the world’s third largest democracy.
This is a school boy essay.
The perspective is well, that of a tourist gathering data for a book on which he already passed the first deadline. It's a former colonial space. It is not a country in the sense that Germans live in Germany. It's more like a country made of France, Germany, Poland and Russia, all regions with its own people, languages, customs, cuisine.
Or in short, it is a racist book. These are the Indonesians, they are Muslim and their cuisine is very varied.
> Traditionally, the Indonesian view of employment broke down quite simply. If you were from a poor, uneducated background you were set for a life of labor, probably on the land, and without much by the way of prospects. If you were rich, well you were rich already. And if you were somewhere in the middle, you aimed to join the public sector. The idea of a successful salaried career in the private sector was unusual: if you weren’t set for hard labor or public service, and didn’t already have a silver spoon in your mouth, then you went in for entrepreneurship, be it selling snacks at the side of the road, or creating a booming import-export empire.
>
> But things began to change from the late 1960s
Given the independence is dated 1949, and it took some time to spread the news to such a large place, "public sector" is an euphemism for the colonial administration. So it is the state, only we won't tell you what state.
November 14, 2023
This book has a very broad focus, and some of my enjoyment definitely comes from the fact that I personally love both music and food which are both topics that get good treatment.
Still though, this book attempts to give a broad strokes overview of Indonesia - culture, history, geography, travel. Although it's a very strange mandate I think it ultimately succeeds in its goal, and makes me wish there were books like this for more countries.
Furthermore, and this is more personal, but Tim's take on Indonesia (or the parts of it I feel I myself know decently well) uncannily matches my own take. E.g. Kuta is surprisingly lovable, Ubud has extremely vacuous hippy-dippy elements but is also somehow magical and very worth visiting in spite of it. But most importantly that even in the bintang-singlet wearing heart of the most touristy part of the island you're at most a ~10 minute motor scooter ride (or ~1 hour walk) from some truly magical adventures if you just have the courage/inclination to go exploring.
I wish I'd read it before my first Indonesia visit, but I'm still very happy to be able to ~15 years and ~10 visits later.
Still though, this book attempts to give a broad strokes overview of Indonesia - culture, history, geography, travel. Although it's a very strange mandate I think it ultimately succeeds in its goal, and makes me wish there were books like this for more countries.
Furthermore, and this is more personal, but Tim's take on Indonesia (or the parts of it I feel I myself know decently well) uncannily matches my own take. E.g. Kuta is surprisingly lovable, Ubud has extremely vacuous hippy-dippy elements but is also somehow magical and very worth visiting in spite of it. But most importantly that even in the bintang-singlet wearing heart of the most touristy part of the island you're at most a ~10 minute motor scooter ride (or ~1 hour walk) from some truly magical adventures if you just have the courage/inclination to go exploring.
I wish I'd read it before my first Indonesia visit, but I'm still very happy to be able to ~15 years and ~10 visits later.
July 2, 2019
Excellent up to date snapshots of a modern, changing, vibrant, exciting Indonesia. I have visited, worked and lived in Indonesia for the past 22 years. In that time I have witnessed so much change. Much of it positive, other aspects less so. At times a challenging place, yet ultimately such a rewarding country. Tim Hannigan captures Indonesia in all its guises. The photos are excellent too. A great book.
April 1, 2018
This photo-laden book will tell you a lot about Indonesian culture, including music, food, weddings, entertainment, travel, etc. The information is shared in two-page spreads that are visually appealing. I learned a lot, even though I've visited the country many times. The author is British, but has lived in Indonesia off and on for about 15 years.
July 8, 2018
I think this is more of a quick guide to different aspects related to living in Indonesia, rather than a travel book. I bought this thinking it would give some inspiration on things to suggest my foreign friends see or do when visiting Indonesia. Didn’t help me much on that aspect, but definitely a nice read for people who’d like to know Indonesia a bit more than its hot tourism spots.
August 29, 2022
I missed more thorough explanations in some of the most interesting sections (tradition and society) but overall it's a good book to introduce yourself in what Indonesia is all about.
September 14, 2025
I read this book to learn more about the culture of my partner, and it did not disappoint. In fact, there was even a specific portion that brought me to tears, because it was so accurate to how gentle and warm my partner, who is from Yogya, is:
"The degree of emphasis on 'softness' in how you handle yourself and your interactions with others varies from region to region across Indonesia. Generally speaking, the people from Java--and in particular southern Central Java around Yogyakarta and Solo--are renowned as the most halus ('soft', or 'smooth') in their manners... [A]voidance of any dramatic displays of emotion, especially anger; and general politeness when talking to others: these things run deep, wherever you are in Indonesia... The emphasis is on being at ease, and making sure others are at ease, and being polite and avoiding emotional outbursts are a big part of that."
I have long marveled at, and will continue to dream about, all of Indonesia that I know I will physically never be able-bodied enough to see, but this book helped me pinpoint a few more accessible locations I would definitely like to visit with my partner in his hometown, if I am so fortunate to land in Java one day. The natural beauty there is truly astounding. This book also made me crave bakso, which I have had once at a Hari Merdeka picnic with him and his sister here in the United States.
"The degree of emphasis on 'softness' in how you handle yourself and your interactions with others varies from region to region across Indonesia. Generally speaking, the people from Java--and in particular southern Central Java around Yogyakarta and Solo--are renowned as the most halus ('soft', or 'smooth') in their manners... [A]voidance of any dramatic displays of emotion, especially anger; and general politeness when talking to others: these things run deep, wherever you are in Indonesia... The emphasis is on being at ease, and making sure others are at ease, and being polite and avoiding emotional outbursts are a big part of that."
I have long marveled at, and will continue to dream about, all of Indonesia that I know I will physically never be able-bodied enough to see, but this book helped me pinpoint a few more accessible locations I would definitely like to visit with my partner in his hometown, if I am so fortunate to land in Java one day. The natural beauty there is truly astounding. This book also made me crave bakso, which I have had once at a Hari Merdeka picnic with him and his sister here in the United States.
April 3, 2023
Biased.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews