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Deep Jungle: Travel to the Heart of the Rainforest
An award-winning journalist takes us deep into the heart of the rain forests, past and present, to explore the many wonders of one of the final frontiers of biological science, where new discoveries occur daily.
- GenresTravel
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
4 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Fred Pearce
65 books94 followersFred Pearce is an English author and journalist based in London. He has been described as one of Britain's finest science writers and has reported on environment, popular science and development issues from 64 countries over the past 20 years. He specialises in global environmental issues, including water and climate change, and frequently takes heretic and counter-intuitive views - "a sceptic in the best sense", he says.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 10, 2022
Amazing?!!?? But terrifying??? Reading the book, you have to consider that it was written 17 years ago so whatever climate-related catastrophes are described, they’re probably MUCH worse today.
So beautifully written that you don’t even realise how much you learn from this book
So beautifully written that you don’t even realise how much you learn from this book
September 29, 2020
Fred Pearce is a gifted writer, and while there may be factual errors and contentious claims in his works, they never fail to be an entertaining read. This book was based on a TV series, though strangely I could find no information about it on the internet. The subject matter is a personal favourite of mine, but there was still much that was new and interesting, especially pertaining to the history of invasion and conquest of the Amazon by the conquistadors and the persistent search for El Dorado that drove many explorers to futile and punishing trips up and down its river system. We learn almost everything there is to know about this biologically bountiful biome, from the ecology of its flora and fauna to the human exploitation of its resources, from anti-malaria medicines to rubber, fruit trees and medical compounds. Evidence of ancient settlements in all three rain forest regions (Amazon, West/Central Africa, SE Asia) hints at the feasibility of these outwardly barren places to sustainably support sizeable human populations given the right agricultural techniques - knowledge that has largely been lost and that is only now beginning to be slowly rediscovered.
April 4, 2021
The relationship between humans and rainforests is more complicated and nuanced than I imagined. This book dispenses with so many longstanding and long accepted myths about these amazing bio diverse habitats, a fascinating and educational read.
March 3, 2022
I picked this up on a whim on holiday with no real idea what it was about but I am glad that I did.
Overall its an interesting overview of the worlds rainforests which gives plenty to think about both when looking at the history of them and what the future could behold.
Overall its an interesting overview of the worlds rainforests which gives plenty to think about both when looking at the history of them and what the future could behold.
September 2, 2013
This book manages to be both a beautiful coffee-table book and an insightful, well-written exploration of the rainforest, taking a machete to the simplistic diagnoses we find in the popular press. Fred Pearce, environment correspondent for New Scientist, has done some proper science writing here.
So the book is full of surprises.
1. Wind back the clock a thousand years, and jungles were the home of sophisticated civilisations. This is not just true of modern-day tourist honeypots like Ankor Wat or the Mayans. Nigeria's jungles hosted cities and empires; so did the Amazon. Fred Pearce cites linguistic studies, the beginnings of jungle archeology, and the nature of the soil and the trees planted, to show that people were working this land, despite the Western world not knowing about them.
2. These civilisations collapsed, perhaps because of the encounter with Europeans and their diseases. Remnants went off into the forest. So the standard Western model of the jungle -- 'pristine' rainforest and 'stone-age tribes untouched since the dawn of civilisation' -- is wrong. People have gardened, or farmed, or still better, stewarded, the jungle for centuries, and with rather more success than we managed in the 20th century.
3. Much of what is going on today thanks to the chain-saw and the hunt for ever-more-scarce bush-meat is economically rational for the people doing it.
4. Many of the suggested solutions to deforestation haven't worked. Selling traditional remedies to drug corporations is good, even vital for the future of humanity, but has tended not to benefit indigenous people, or stop rainforest destruction. National parks are hard to enforce. Even when jungle products are found that can only be produced on site, they have been victims to sudden boom and bust: everyone starts growing them, the price drops, everyone loses.
5. Fred Pearce does find some case studies that encourage optimism. He reports on Cameroonian cocoa farmers who plant their trees in the jungle, rather than clearing it. They also plant other fruit trees. In another model, a Central African government, I forget which, supports agriculture on the edges of a national park, to relieve the economic pressures. He even suggests that under some circumstances, drilling for oil in the rainforest can save the rainforest by improving the economy for everyone.
All these case studies point to a somewhat heretical conclusion, which Pearce doesn't quite enforce in the book. One way of saying it is that you have to consider people as well as chainsaws or bushmeat. Concentrate on a single issue, bushmeat for example, and you're doomed, as many well-meaning charities have discovered. The other way of saying it is this: rainforests need people to manage them. Remember the old joke of the vicar talking to a gardener: 'What a wonderful thing you and God have created,' says the vicar. The gardener thinks for a moment and then replies, 'Yes, and you should see what a mess it was when God had it to himself.' Humans are destroying the rainforest, bad people and good people together, but in the end we are also its only hope.
This book is slightly dated, published 2006, and a little too affected by the economic crash in Indonesia in the early 2000s: you wonder what has happened since. It's also repetitious in places; you will be often told there are only 15,000 Orang Utangs in the wild, living in Borneo and Sumatra. But you can pick it up for a penny on Amazon and it will adorn any naked coffee-tables you have about the place and help us all think through this major issue of our times. Super book.
So the book is full of surprises.
1. Wind back the clock a thousand years, and jungles were the home of sophisticated civilisations. This is not just true of modern-day tourist honeypots like Ankor Wat or the Mayans. Nigeria's jungles hosted cities and empires; so did the Amazon. Fred Pearce cites linguistic studies, the beginnings of jungle archeology, and the nature of the soil and the trees planted, to show that people were working this land, despite the Western world not knowing about them.
2. These civilisations collapsed, perhaps because of the encounter with Europeans and their diseases. Remnants went off into the forest. So the standard Western model of the jungle -- 'pristine' rainforest and 'stone-age tribes untouched since the dawn of civilisation' -- is wrong. People have gardened, or farmed, or still better, stewarded, the jungle for centuries, and with rather more success than we managed in the 20th century.
3. Much of what is going on today thanks to the chain-saw and the hunt for ever-more-scarce bush-meat is economically rational for the people doing it.
4. Many of the suggested solutions to deforestation haven't worked. Selling traditional remedies to drug corporations is good, even vital for the future of humanity, but has tended not to benefit indigenous people, or stop rainforest destruction. National parks are hard to enforce. Even when jungle products are found that can only be produced on site, they have been victims to sudden boom and bust: everyone starts growing them, the price drops, everyone loses.
5. Fred Pearce does find some case studies that encourage optimism. He reports on Cameroonian cocoa farmers who plant their trees in the jungle, rather than clearing it. They also plant other fruit trees. In another model, a Central African government, I forget which, supports agriculture on the edges of a national park, to relieve the economic pressures. He even suggests that under some circumstances, drilling for oil in the rainforest can save the rainforest by improving the economy for everyone.
All these case studies point to a somewhat heretical conclusion, which Pearce doesn't quite enforce in the book. One way of saying it is that you have to consider people as well as chainsaws or bushmeat. Concentrate on a single issue, bushmeat for example, and you're doomed, as many well-meaning charities have discovered. The other way of saying it is this: rainforests need people to manage them. Remember the old joke of the vicar talking to a gardener: 'What a wonderful thing you and God have created,' says the vicar. The gardener thinks for a moment and then replies, 'Yes, and you should see what a mess it was when God had it to himself.' Humans are destroying the rainforest, bad people and good people together, but in the end we are also its only hope.
This book is slightly dated, published 2006, and a little too affected by the economic crash in Indonesia in the early 2000s: you wonder what has happened since. It's also repetitious in places; you will be often told there are only 15,000 Orang Utangs in the wild, living in Borneo and Sumatra. But you can pick it up for a penny on Amazon and it will adorn any naked coffee-tables you have about the place and help us all think through this major issue of our times. Super book.
July 13, 2012
I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this book after picking it up at a bargain price in the sale section of a local bookstore. Pearce has produced a comprehensive introduction to the rainforests of the world, our shared histories, the many many benefits we gain from them and the disastrous (and occasionally not so disastrous) ways in which we 'manage' this fragile habitat. He gives a balanced view of rainforest management and conservation, pointing out that people need a monetary reason to protect these areas (surprise surprise) otherwise they will continue to clear fell/slash and burn/generally decimate the area and will not prevent others from doing so. This book also carries with it a word of warning concerning the importance of the rainforests in the global ecosystem and what may happen were they lost completely and how deforestation has already worsened the effects of natural events of local people.
Pearce writes in a very reader friendly manner and keeps things understandable and simple without being condescending to the reader, but the only downside of this is that it does end up over-simplifying a hugely complex issue in places. He does however encourage further reading with a few suggestions related to each chapter given at the back of the book. This book shows the passion Pearce has for the natural world and the reader can't help but be affected by this passion too, which can only be a positive thing (shame we can't force those in power to read this).
Pearce writes in a very reader friendly manner and keeps things understandable and simple without being condescending to the reader, but the only downside of this is that it does end up over-simplifying a hugely complex issue in places. He does however encourage further reading with a few suggestions related to each chapter given at the back of the book. This book shows the passion Pearce has for the natural world and the reader can't help but be affected by this passion too, which can only be a positive thing (shame we can't force those in power to read this).
January 31, 2017
Admittedly I started reading this book with no small amount of dubiousness. I imagined it would be a whiff-whaffy exploration of what jungles could be. I found the opposite.
Pearce gives a reasoned and almost holistic walkthrough of the 'jungle' what it meant, has come to mean and what it signifies in the geographical imagination. Although it isn't in-depth or rigorous in the evidence presented, it offers counter-points to many eagerly accepted notions of 'the jungle' and provides a springboard for finding out further information. The author, to me at least, seemed to apply just the right amount of nuance throughout, offering ample space to realistic alternatives and only mentioning the slightly more... unrealistic arguments, but still offering them up as antithetical alternatives and providing a polyvocality of opinion - something which I thought was a central tenet of this book. The breakdown of chapters allowed for a more exciting read than perhaps would have been expected without. Would recommend for the sake of general interest.
Pearce gives a reasoned and almost holistic walkthrough of the 'jungle' what it meant, has come to mean and what it signifies in the geographical imagination. Although it isn't in-depth or rigorous in the evidence presented, it offers counter-points to many eagerly accepted notions of 'the jungle' and provides a springboard for finding out further information. The author, to me at least, seemed to apply just the right amount of nuance throughout, offering ample space to realistic alternatives and only mentioning the slightly more... unrealistic arguments, but still offering them up as antithetical alternatives and providing a polyvocality of opinion - something which I thought was a central tenet of this book. The breakdown of chapters allowed for a more exciting read than perhaps would have been expected without. Would recommend for the sake of general interest.
January 6, 2014
This could easily have been a folk tale about how precious the rainforest is and how evil mankind has been to fell the trees it has since industrialisation, and in some chapters it does come across this way, but it does have a caveat. For thousands of years man has lived economic lives in tropical rainforests (i.e. extracting its resources for sustenance and bartering) so there does exist an argument for locals to profit from cocoa farming or vegetation and food that can only live in certain forests in certain parts of the world. It is quite a good read but it skips all over the world within paragraphs which makes it difficult to keep up with the pace.
August 9, 2011
An interesting introduction to the jungles of the world. Although it doesn't cover any topic in depth, it's a good place to start if you haven't picked up a book in a while and are interested in the natural world.
August 17, 2023
A great introduction to one of the most fascinating biomes on Earth. Mixing history, archaeology, biology, climatology, and a host of other -ologies, this book has something to pique everyone's interest.
March 23, 2015
A good read, exploring the history of our ever-changing relationship with the jungle.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews