An explorer describes his encounters with voodoo, shamanism, mental telepathy, zombies, and levitation in the remote regions of Borneo, Haiti, and elsewhere
What I learned: I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's the first book in almost 2 years where I thought, "Alright, I GOTTA buy this one" after reading it (all books listed since I started using it again have come from the good ol' Mooresville Public Library)(oh yeah, "On Love" by Stendal was the last one I felt that way about). If you're a fan of exotic travelogues and/or ancient/supernaturally-based cultures, it's a must-read. I had to put down the book after reading some parts of it, because some of the stories absolutely blew my mind. I have read quite a bit about many of the practices mentioned in the book, but his casual, intelligent, and enthusiastic first-person style lent quite a bit more atmosphere and feeling to the subject matter.
Some fascinating anecdotes about interesting cultures, but the narrator seems a bit too convinced of his own uniqueness to be taken as a completely credible source. The narrative is extremely disjointed, as well.