The Kenneth Anderson Omnibus: Volume 1: Tales from the Indian Jungle, Man-Eaters and Jungle Killers, The Call of the Man-Eater

by Kenneth Anderson

Reprint of three well-loved books, on experiences in Indian jungles, interaction with tigers and leopards, perspectives on wild animals. Beautifully written and informative.

Genres: Wildlife, Nonfiction, Adventure, Nature, India

729 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Kenneth Anderson (1910 – 1974) was an Indian writer and hunter who wrote many books about his adventures in the jungles of South India.

Reviews

[Mijan Rashid · Rating 5 out of 5]

কেনেথ এন্ডারসনের অমনিবাস - ১ (Omnibus) উনার লেখা তিনটি বই এর সংকলন, ১. Tales from the Indian jungle, ২.man-eaters and jungle killers, এবং ৩. The call of the man-eater


বাঘ, লেপার্ড, প্যানথার, হায়না, বন্য কুকুর, ভাল্লুক, হাতি ছাড়াও বিভিন্ন ধরনের হরিণ, বানর এবং পাখির আবাসস্থল ছিল মধ্য ভারতের (তৎকালীন কর্নাটক, হায়দারাবাদ এবং তামিলনাডু) জঙ্গল / বনে। কখনো প্রাকৃতিক কারণে আবার কখনো মানুষের জন্য নরখাদকে পরিনত হয় এই বনের বাঘ, লেপার্ড অথবা প্যানথার আর তারই কিছু নরখাদক হত্যার অভিগজ্ঞতা লেখক তুলে ধরেছেন আমাদের কাছে এই বই এর বিভিন্ন অধ্যায়ে। এছাড়াও বই এ পাগলা হাতি এবং ভাল্লুক শিকারের অভিজ্ঞতার উল্লেখ আছে। আর আছে ভারতের মানুষ, কালো জাদু এবং ভুত বা অতিপ্রাকৃত কিছু অভিজ্ঞতার বর্ননা। 


বইটির প্রতিটি অধ্যায়ে কেনেথ এন্ডারসনের ভারতের জঙ্গলে পদচারণার অভিজ্ঞতা এবং এর প্রতি ভালোবাসা লক্ষ্য করার মত।

[Yuvaraj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr Anderson's narration is immaculate... it really throws you back on his time and puts you besides him making you experience exactly what he sees, thinks, feels and does.... it also gives you an insight in the psyche of a person who admires nature slowly graduating to become a part of the jungle who lives in balance with nature although he remains a Hunter by instinct. Apart from engraving the primal behaviours of the flora and fauna through the keyhole of experiences of Mr Anderson, It also educates us the rural, urban and jungle life full of extraordinary hardships of Indians and many westerners in that era and shows us how their life circumstances make them such tough survivors.

[Rashmi Ananthakrishna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book.. Few chapters gets you hooked.. the way the writer has described the forest, animals are soo good that you actually feel you are right next to him experiencing the same things..

[Govind · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories of man-eaters and hunting them down.Kenneth Anderson is the southern counterpart of Jim Corbett.

[Vivek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hooter: A collection of shikari stories based in South and Central India primarily

Kenneth Anderson born in Hyderabad in the 1900s - an author and a hunter - shares a collection of stories of his brush with wildlife across the years in the jungles of South India. I got to know of the book from the fact that the IT concrete jungle of Bellandur was infamous for man eating tiger roaming the jungles of Bellandur in Kenneth's time.

The stories follow a similar pattern of him hunting the hunted and the cat and human games they play - but what adds color is the set up to each story is very different and also paints a unique color to life in India in those days from his perspective - a relatively privileged individual thanks to his colonial roots whilst living amongst the common villagers in far and out places in rural South India refering to terms and jargon which are slowly getting erased from our day to day lives. Whilst the protagonist animal usually never makes it past the book , the author does add vivid color and imagery to the wildlife in the book and does try to morally justify atleast to himself why he had to take on that particular "man-eater".

[Nora Ahsan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for adventure lovers

The nature and life of rural Indians amongst dangerous predators depicted meticulously and elegantly, Kenneth Anderson and his son's adventure filled hunting trips are almost unbelievable for faint hearted like myself. I would love to spend a starry night on a machaan in the middle of a forest (not alone!) but will never happen in this lifetime as I gather, so I like reading these in the comfort of my couch, preferably alone and in darkness.

[Rukmini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being in touch with a friend who is well connected to the jungles and wildlife photography, it has always been a pleasure to hear real life adventure stories from him. On his recommendation, I came across this book and it was seriously thrilling to go through the book. Beautiful way of narrating the stories, and this book gave a boon to my interest in wildlife. Overall an excellent read.

[patrick barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review of the Kennith Anderson Omnibus

Very good read. Right up there with Corbett and Capstick.I highly recommend this to anyone who likes adventure stories and the great outdoors

[Anaswara Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading aloud to my 9 year old. We had several months of reading and re-reading of Jim Corbett before this. I liked Kenneth Anderson more (found it more informative, liked that the context is the jungles of South India), but the child liked Jim Corbett better.

[bruce smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little inaccurate

Anderson is a poor man's Jim Corbett. Both in writing skills and knowledge if the cats he hunted. "... A tiger has no sense of smell" poor judgement. But the stories are riveting, the descriptions of the land fascinating. India as it was a generation ago.

[Aniruddha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely language - excellent book for anybody into the shikaar genre of books from India

[Vamsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adventurous book.

[E. Nagy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!

[Gitanjali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book. It is one of the best hair raising, shiver inducing adventure/shikar(hunting)book ever. Loved the way he describes the forests of India. After reading this book, I have decided to visit Indian Jungles and see for myself why Anderson loved them so...

It is a pity that he is not as well known as Jim Corbett as they both wrote the same genre. His writing style is different but in no way inferior. I would recommend this book to any one who loves to read about nature or hunting.

[Dayanand Prabhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book lacks a certain charm, which you expect from Andersons counterpart Corbett. Yet What keeps the reader going is Ken's Love for nature and his courageous heart. The book would be quite ideal for slow reading, but its isn't as gripping so to compel you to read 730 pages as your daily reading book as lot of hunting details gets quite monotonous after a few chapters.

[Midhun Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest book I have read recently… The narrative style of this book is so great that is so great that not only did I have the sensual experience of getting lost in the jungle, I developed empathy for the animals and even for the hunter sometimes..
It had given me a lot of nostalgic feeling and also at the same time I could read it like a thriller novel..

[Prathibha Hampapur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good to know the South Indian jungles n it's stories

[Koushik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting stories on man eating tigers and leopards. Must read for wildlife enthusiasts.

[Govind Negalur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book for jungle lovers.