The Spice Islands Voyage: The Quest for the Man Who Shared Darwin's Discovery of Evolution

Voyage #6

by Tim Severin

Overlooked by most history books, this biography profiles Alfred Russell Wallace, an Englishman whose name was on the first paper about natural selection and whose epic journey The Malay Archipelago was retraced in 1996 by the author.

Genres: Travel, History, Nonfiction, Science, Nature, Biography, Asia

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Tim Severin was a British explorer, historian and writer. Severin is noted for his work in retracing the legendary journeys of historical figures. Severin was awarded both the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He received the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for his 1982 book The Sindbad Voyage.

He was born Timothy Severin in Assam, India in 1940. Severin attended Tonbridge School and studied geography and history at Keble College, Oxford.

Severin has also written historical fiction along with non fiction. The Viking Series, first published in 2005, concerns a young Viking adventurer who travels the world. In 2007 he published The Adventures of Hector Lynch series set in the late 17th century about a 17-year-old Corsair.

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read many of Tim Severin's books - a genre I think of as nautical historical voyages. He is quite formulaic in these, where first he carries out research on a historical voyage; then builds a ship, usually with the help of craftsmen in the locale of the original; then after some sea trials sets off to replicate the historical voyage, unravelling some mysteries on the way. We learn about the hand-picked crew as we go, and pick up the background of the places visited and a comparison to 'now'.

That has been the recipe for most of his books of this genre; but this one is a little different. This book is significantly more heavy in the biographical details of Alfred Russel Wallace. I would estimate up to half the text is the biography following Wallace's life, movement and activities in the islands which are now a part of Indonesia, and the remainder of his life back in England. This is not a bad thing - the biography is well written and succinct, and woven through Severin's own travels in these same places.

We still start off with a boat - in this case a 14 metre long prahu kalulis, built in the traditional Kalulis style on Palau Warbal - but in this case Severin engaged a boat builder to build it, rather than involve himself directly. He still visited periodically and explained the techniques and construction but not to the save level as previous books. There could be a number of reasons for this change - perhaps the boat builders wouldn't entertain having him there 'helping' and there was no need to 'rediscover forgotten techniques' as the boats were still being built the same way as Wallace's was in the 1850's. Perhaps time was a factor, or perhaps Severin was more caught up in the voyage than the boat.

Nevertheless, it didn't distract, as we were learning about Wallace - his early life and his time from 1854 to 1862 in the Malay Archipelago, which is, of course the title of Wallaces's own book on his travels there. Wallace is a fascinating character, who Severin describes well, and one cannot but feel somewhat sorry for Wallace who may well have solved Charles Darwin's problems with his 'On the Origin of Species' with a timely letter from the islands to Darwin. Plenty to speculate about with the timing of this letter and Darwin's own realisation on the same topic, although Wallace was to defer to Darwin his whole life.

With the aid of Wallace's books, Severin steps through Wallace's time in the Maluku Islands (or Maluku Islands known at he time as the Spice Islands), his discoveries, some of his hypotheses, and how we spent his eight years. Wallace's journey was not linear enough to follow on Severin's journey, as Wallace was back and forwards various times to some islands. Severin simplified the route, taking in all places of importance, and wrapping Wallace's story around the various island visits. It was cleverly done, and the balance was good - assuming you are as interested enough in Wallace as you are in Severin and his experiences - which I clearly was.

Published in 1997, assuming the voyage took place the year before, Tim Severin was visiting places some 140 years after Wallace, and Severin did a good job of describing the many similarities, and differences. He is critical of places where pollution, environmental damage, and poor conservation management have occurred, but is not unreasonable in considering the reasons for this, or helplessness of many people or organisations in these situations (which was refreshing, as it could have just been a political bashing).

Severin's crew are a mixture of locals and other specialists, including a few old faces from previous books. They are an interesting bunch and add some colour and humour to the events of his several-month voyage. They are not at sea for long periods of time, so the journey certainly doesn't dominate the book, but the island destinations and interactions do.

They see an amazing array of birds, some breeds they see more than Wallace did in the same location. There is plenty of detail around the flora and fauna as is relevant to the story, which mixes in well with the other aspects of the book.

Recommended, but probably not as a first go as Severin's books in this genre.
4 stars.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Originally read in February 2003. The review from the first reading appears below, with some additional remarks after the second reading.

Readers should be forewarned: there a lot about Alfred Russel Wallace in this book. In fact, he dominates it. If you don't know who Wallace was or have little interest in him, then this isn't likely to be of much interest. Ostensibly an adventure/travelogue, Severin's quest to trace the route taken by Alfred Russel Wallace back in the 19th century when he explored "The Spice Islands" (present-day Indonesia), really is centered around Severin's fascination with Wallace. Since I share that fascination, naturally, I thought this was a terrific book. Others less Wallace-centric will probably find otherwise.

Yet, aside from all the information about and quotes from Wallace, this is outstanding armchair travel. Severin has made a career in "quests" - following the footsteps of some famous personage or another, be it Ghenghis Khan or Marco Polo. His theme in this book is the sad toll taken in modern times on the exquisite islands that Wallace viewed in relative pristine splendor. There's also a very interesting discussion of Wallace's role in the formulation of the theory of natural selection. Increasingly, Wallace is being heralded as a co-discoverer of the theory.

In short, of my many books by and about Wallace and this region, this is one of my favorites.

A few observations after a second reading of this book :

Like most books I have reread, The Spice Islands Voyage was not quite as enjoyable the second time around -- for, after all, there is little chance of that delightful first sensation of novelty in a repeat encounter -- but the second reading was a rewarding experience all the same. While I am not as keen a Wallace enthusiast as I once was (primarily because Wallace has, at long last, received the recognition that was due to him), I still found the sections of this book that focused on him to be the most interesting.

Of course, I also wondered how much has changed in the islands Severin visited in the years since he undertook his voyage. As I'm fairly certain the interval has only led to further losses and despoilment, it made the more "hopeful" passages of the book rather bittersweet reading. I've since read several books on the illegal animal trade, for instance, and can't help but wonder whether the "Wallace Standard" bird of paradise still has a fighting chance or what has become of the magnificent coral reefs that Severin's small craft sailed over.

At the end of the book, Severin ponders what Wallace would make of today's "Spice Islands." I have little doubt that even Wallace's trademark optimism would give way to astonished chagrin.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Spice Islands Voyage, in Search of Wallace is the June choice for our Indonesian bookgroup but I'm reading it early because it's hard to source and we need to circulate the library copy as best we can.

It's more than a travel book. Tim Severin is an explorer who specialises in recreating historic voyages, and the list of his books at Wikipedia is impressive:

Tracking Marco Polo (1964) – Motorcycle ride from Venice to Central Asia along the Silk Road
Explorers of the Mississippi (1968)
The Golden Antilles (1970)
The African Adventure (1973)
Vanishing Primitive Man (1973)
The Oriental Adventure: Explorers of the East (1976)
The Brendan Voyage (1978) – Sailing a leather currach from Ireland to Newfoundland
The Sindbad Voyage (1983) – Sailing an Arab dhow from Muscat, Oman to China
The Jason Voyage: The Quest for the Golden Fleece (1986) – Sailing from Greece to Georgia
The Ulysses Voyage (1987) – Sailing from Troy to Ithaca
Crusader (1989) – Riding a heavy horse from Belgium to the Middle East
In Search of Genghis Khan (1991)
The China Voyage (1994) – Across the Pacific Ocean (almost) on a bamboo raft named Hsu-Fu
The Spice Islands Voyage (1997)
In Search of Moby-Dick (1999)
Seeking Robinson Crusoe (aka In Search of Robinson Crusoe) (2002)

Lest you think that these adventures were merely Boys Own Adventures, here's a snippet from The Spice Islands Voyage that suggests otherwise:

This was the other, darker side to the apparent tropical paradise of palm trees, green forests and sandy beaches through which we were sailing, and where Wallace had soldiered on for six years of field work. During the Spice Islands voyage all of us suffered at one time or another from chills and low-grade fevers, even though we had modern medicines and, in Joe, our own doctor on board. In Banda a small insect bite on my leg turned septic in six hours and puffed up as if I had been bitten by a venomous insect. I felt giddy and unwell as if I had severe flu, and was dosed with antibiotics. Leonard developed blotches on his face, and Joe was tormented by rashes all over his body. Even Yanis with his iron constitution and india-rubber physique could sometimes be seen curled up miserably underneath a scrap of sailcloth, shivering and with his eyes dull with fever. Julia was by far the most vulnerable. In the twelve months during which she assisted the project, she contracted one bout of typhoid and had dengue fever twice. (p.129)

The 'Wallace' referred to in this excerpt, is Alfred Russel Wallace, the British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist who is famous for two things: conceiving the theory of evolution independently of Darwin (which prompted Darwin to stir his stumps and publish The Origin of Species instead of dithering about); and identifying in 1859 the line separating the fauna of the Indo-Malayan and the Austro-Malayan regions in the Indonesian archipelago. Asian birds, bats and mammals are west of the line, and unique Australasian fauna are only found east of the line. As you can see from the diagram the science has developed since Thomas Huxley named this line after Wallace, because we now know more about ancient sea levels and the continental shelves, but Wallace's observations were still an amazing achievement.

Darwin, Severin tells us, got the lion's share of the credit for the theory of evolution, for as the years went by he was to make fewer and fewer references to his co-discoverer, instead referring to 'my doctrines' (as distinct from what he dismissed as Wallace's excellent memoir). So eventually everyone forgot that the theory of evolution was originally introduced to a small scientific gathering in Victorian London who would have thought of it as the Darwin-Wallace theory. 'Survival of the fittest' indeed...

Wallace wasn't, apparently, bitter about this. Severin says he came back from south-east Asia and stepped into Darwin's shadow, deliberately and courteously. His book, The Malay Archipelago, was the monument he preferred... However in later years when Wallace was struggling to support a wife and family, Darwin was at least instrumental in Wallace receiving a pension in recognition of his work. Later still, Wallace also received medals, honorary doctorates and an Order of Merit so at least among scientists, his pioneering ideas have been acknowledged. Severin's coverage of the intricacies of this controversy is excellent.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/04/14/t...

[Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Damn you kindle - if ever books cry out for maps and photos, these are them. Having a text only version felt like missing out on half of it. So this is a book about Tim Severin and a small crew recreating the voyages of Alfred Wallace around Indonesia in a similar vessel to those of 150 years ago. But it's really a biography of Wallace with travel supporting it. Wallace was a fascinating character - amateur naturalist who came to the same conclusions as Darwin on evolution while in Indonesia, and who corresponded with Darwin on this point prior to the publication of Darwin's masterwork. While Wallace is only now getting the recognition for this, he never sought it at the time, and seemed a remarkably generous and optimistic character who was delighted to deal with Darwin and have acknowledgement and had no intention of competing with him. Instead, he spent a few years in Indonesia, catching butterflies etc before returning to the UK. Unusually for many Victorians, he sounds like a genuinely likeable chap.

The travel pieces are fine - again missing maps and photos made it a little harder to visualise (distances sailed esp). Severin's travel prose is fine, but not exceptional (he is a sailor first, historian second, travel writer third in this book), but he records encounters with local officials - as depressing as you'd expect and villagers with exasperation, dry wit, and occasionally optimism when the importance of preserving the natural world is properly acknowledged.

Whatever Tim Severin has done has been interesting, and he's always a diverting read.

[Jrobertus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alfred Wallace was a naturalist, from modest means and no college education, who spent about six years slogging through the Spice Islands (modern Indonesia) collecting many new species of birds and insects and some mammals. He independently invented the concept of evolution of species by natural selection and his letter to Darwin spurred him to publicize his work on the subject. Some feel, in fact, that Wallace's letter gave the condensing idea to Darwin but we shall never know. Severin is an Irish writer and adventurer. He went to Indonesia, had a native boat build with methods of Wallace's time, assembled a crew and spent 6 months going over many of the areas Wallace covered. How had things changed? Not for the better if you are a naturalist. A few areas of this ecologically diverse area are being cared for but many are being exploited. Severin visited open markets where endangered species are sold as meat and there is no enforcement of their own laws. Just like Africa. The book is an interesting read. He has clear descriptions of the land they visit and maintains a nice parallel discussion of what Wallace saw and how that fit into the Victorian science scene.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a combination of travel, history, sailing, biography and conservation. Tim Severin writes well and his study of Alfred Russel Wallace is quite comprehensive. He touches on the controversy that Darwin pilfered Wallace’s original thoughts on natural selection; the awful wet markets of Langowen; the tropical diseases that Wallace endured in New Guinea and Indonesia as he collected his specimens; and also a wonderful description of rainfall in a tropical jungle.

[Sportyrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibe journey across The Spice Islands, Indonesia, retracing Alfred Wallace’s voyages.

Tim Severin and crew travel in a prahu (boat) made by descendants of the same people who built Wallace’s prahu approximately 150 years earlier.

The crew includes a naturalist who does field studies and records information on rare animals which is then compared with Wallace’s findings.

Each voyage is described based on Wallace’s time followed by the current voyage for comparison.

Alfred Wallace, along with Charles Darwin, was one of the first scientists to theorize the Origin of Species and Natural Selection. Wallace went on to leave his legacy in Wallacea and the Wallace Line.

I was glad that the author used his own observation without judgement of anyone encountered or the nation as a whole which many other travel journalists are fond to do.

The places visited seem like ideal travel locations overall. There were numerous photos although I would have liked to see more, especially of the beautiful harbors and coral reefs.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes animals, particularly birds, conservation, history, theorists and travel readers.

[Courtney]

I DNF'd at a little over 100 pages. I work in ecology and reading about the destruction in Indonesia was too painful for me.

[Paul baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

As always Severin offers an entertaining and enlightening voyage to the Spice Islands together with the fascinating history of Albert Wallace the Victorian explorer who had covered the same ground looking for and finding Birds of Paradise. Wallace also contributed significantly to Darwin’s work on evolution and may have been instrumental in Darwin finally settling his thoughts, goading him into action and not really giving Wallace the credit he deserved. But such was often the fate of lower class Englishmen.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So apparently this book is part of a series, although you don't have to read it as such. Severin, a modern-day explorer, would take voyages aboard traditional crafts, retracing the route of a famous voyager before. In this case, it was for Alfred Wallace, a naturalist who was working on evolution with Darwin.

Wallace sailed the Malay Archipelago, in a small craft called a prahu kalulis, among other boats. Severin, for this book, had a similar boat built, and with 5-6 other people at a time, resailed the route that Wallace previously took, making note of the species of flora and fauna still available in the area. It's somewhat sobering to note the extinction events and other degradation of local populations of animals, but not surprising, given that anywhere there is human, there is destruction.

Still, you get some bright points in this book by seeing how people, when not in a race against their neighbors, choose to conserve and protect their surroundings. Look for the good. I will say that this book is definitely a reflection of its age (written in the 90's) as I'm sure more is understood on the area and from the people's own voices and culture. Although on that note too given that it's twenty years later, what do the local animal populations look like now?

An interesting way to see the world someone else once tread, I definitely would be interested in reading Severin's other books.

Review by M. Reynard 2023

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retracing of the great naturalist's wanderings around the Moluccas in the Lesser Sunda islands, this part travelogue compared the area's fauna and peoples to the time when Wallace was there over 130 years ago. A large part also covered the man's contribution to the formation of the theory of evolution and the controversy surrounding Darwin's joint publication of it at the time. In this way it was never dull as there was an adventure story as well as biography.

I wish there were more photographs as only about a dozen color plates were inserted in the middle, while rough pencil sketches and reproductions from Wallace's book made up the rest of the illustrations. Given the technology of the time (late 1990s) I suppose it was the best they could do then, using satellite links to send text and images out during the journey, before the real advent of digital photography and fast mobile networks. The voyage itself was a tremendous and admirable undertaking, being on a custom made locally designed prahu. Surprised there wasn't a TV documentary series that covered it as it would have made a good film.

Heart breaking to read about the heedless plunder of the islands' wildlife at most locations back then. It is a wonder that the endemic macaques, babirusa and birds of paradise still manage to survive today.

[Caryatid · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a very handy ploy, pick an author to emulate who is long out of copyright and half your book is written for you. That's the impression with this book and not having read any others of this author I guess I'm stuck with this facile assessment.
This adventure seems obsessed with a particular rare bird when it could have encompassed so much more since Wallace's theory is so vast, covering so many species of animals then and now. And points the way literally and figuratively to extinction, sadly.
It's surprising how little information there is online about the author considering self is the keystone around which his stories revolve. The why of the name change from the prosaic Watkins to Severin was glossed over with little expansion of his early life - in fact little is written about the author at all.
This book with its thick but few pages is disappointing.
The heartbreak of Yanis losing his job yet being such a key factor in the voyage, so give him the boat, but no, no mention of the disposition of it.

[Fiona Whitaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book's narrative is engaging and informative, bringing Wallace's contributions and adventures to life. It's not just about evolution but also the rich history and culture of the Spice Islands. Sometimes it gets a bit dense with details, but overall, it's a captivating read.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wondering what the current conditions are of the Spice Islands.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had hoped for more, or at least an equal amount, of information about the voyages to each island. But the majority was about Wallace. So quite different than the other ones in the series.

[Thebroadgrumps · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rather enjoyed this book,, about a modern group trying to follow Wallace’s journeys in the east Indonesian islands and Irian jaya. Good preparation for an upcoming trip

[Jeannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent book to read when touring this area for the background it provides to the places you're visiting

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE SPICE ISLANDS VOYAGE is a wonderful travel book because it deals with 2 terrific subjects, the Spice Islands and Alfred Wallace.

I began my fascination with Alfred Wallace more than 20 years ago when I first read THE SONG OF THE DODO written by David Quammen. This excellent book sparked a deep curiosity about the details of evolution and the history behind its origin. THE SPICE ISLANDS VOYAGE deals with evolutionary theory's history more thoroughly than THE 8ONG OF THE DODO.

In this book, we follow Alfred Wallace through his mid-19th century exploration of The Spice Islands. We read much of his reminiscences about that journey, his trials and tribulations that resulted in his development of the origin of life's various forms. He was a great man and I recommend this wonderful book about him and his discoveries.

[Juliet Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1996, Tim Severin set out to travel round the Spice Islands of equatorial Indonesia on a locally made and designed boat in the footsteps of Alfred Russell Wallace, the brilliant biologist who had come up with the ideas of natural selection and evolution at the same time as Charles Darwin.

There are places where time seems to have stood still, the birds of paradise thriving and happily playing in the trees, hunted yes but in a sustainable way with the local villagers taking responsibility for restricting the amount they hunt. There are beautiful beaches and pristine stretches of water. People are invariably friendly and helpful.

Then there are sights which Severin knows would break the heart of Wallace if he were to return to these same places again. Harbours that are full of stinking rubbish, markets that are full of meat that comes straight from endangered species of birds and animals. Beaches were all the turtle nests have been dug out and every single egg stolen and eaten. Areas where the birds of paradise are being pushed into smaller and smaller patches of trees, their future existence becoming more precarious by the day.

The irony is that Wallace himself was not only a naturalist but a collector of birds and butterflies. in fact he financed his journey largely through the selling of rare bird skins and insect specimens. He also killed not insubstantial numbers of insects and birds for his scientific studies. In those days, it was all on a smaller scale, but even so, the pressures put on wildlife by hunting go far back.

This is a fascinating book, full of the wonder of the tropical beauty that still survives in some areas of these islands but not afraid to show the less palatable side of life in Indonesia, largely as a result of rapidly expanding human population and rampant greed.

The worst thing reading this though is the knowledge that so much must have changed in the twenty years since it was written, how much more of the paradise has been lost in that relatively short period of time?

[Mike Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the most delightful, engaging and interesting book I have read in quite a while. Severin re-traces an exploration mounted by Alfred Wallace, of evolutionary theory fame from the later 1800's. The book is part travelogue, part discussion of Wallace' relationship to Darwin's development of his theory of evolution, part biography of Wallace himself, boat-building journal, taxonomy survey of several islands and habitats in Indonesia, ecological commentary, and cultural survey of Indonesian islands. Everything was presented, to my mind, in just the right balance. I had no recollection of Wallace, so the intrigue with him and Darwin was eye-opening. I had not read any travel books about maritime Southeast Asia before, so that was a delight. There was enough discussion of the building of the traditional-style boat for the journey to pique my interest, but not so much to be wearisome. Severin also took time to help us get to know just a bit about his entourage, including the locals on whom he relied. The discussion of saving the sea turtle eggs was worth the whole time spent with the book. The trip to the meat market was truly cringe-inducing. I also learned something about Birds of Paradise birds, including the goal of the trip, Wallace' Standard Wing species. The pen-and-ink illustrations were endearing; the color photos in the center of the book were a real delight!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Severin is one of my favorite authors. I have read Brendan Voyage, Sindbad Voyage, Ulysses Voyage, and the China Voyage. All of the previous books deal with more of the archeaology (ie how does one make and sail a bronze age galley?) and trying to figure out the feasibility of a voyage as described and where they might have gone while sailing a traditional craft for that voyage.
This one is different since Alfred Wallace's voyages in the Indonesian islands is detailed and fairly recent history so there is no question if the voyage is doable. Instead, Tim Severin takes Wallace's notes and tries to see how much has changed in 160 years in terms of animal diversity especially in terms of birds and butteflies, the cultures encountered and the villages that Wallace visited.
While Tim re-traces Wallace's voyages and notes all the changes, good and bad, he weaves in Wallace's biography. It was a fascinating read. Recommended!

[The Final Chapter · Rating 3 out of 5]

High 3. Severin has crafted an entertaining part-travelogue and part-historical biography as he reconstructs the voyages of Alfred Wallace around the Malay archipelago between 1854-61 in search of the fabulous birds of paradise. The author provides a timely reminder of the significant and forgotten contribution Wallace made to the development of the theory of natural selection. Severin recounts this self-taught naturalist's own awakening to survival of the fittest and correspondence on the same with Darwin, who was himself struggling to come to terms with formulating the underlying theory behind his own observations. The writer imbibes all with his enthusiasm for preserving this idyllic paradise while also eulogising the worthy figure of Wallace, who despite having his contribution credited by Darwin in the latter's 'Origin of the Species' has unjustly slipped into obscurity.

[Les Dangerfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the way Severin wove together his own travelogue amongst the islands at the far eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago with the story of Alfred Russell Wallace, in particular the details of the latter's journey in the same part of Indonesia 140 years earlier. By drawing comparisons between the two journeys, he also illustrates very well how man has negatively affected biodiversity during the intervening years. Two specific areas which interested me were a) the story of how Wallace reached the same conclusions on evolution as Darwin and arguably ahead of him - did Darwin pull a fast one?; the fact that Wallace, in collecting species to send back to England, was guilty of the same damage to biodiversity for which we criticise present day hunters in this and other parts of the world. A good read - perhaps more than four stars!

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tim Severin writes books about his loose travel reconstructions of famous ocean voyages. (Think Ulysses, Sinbad and so on...) In this one, he mounts an expedition to make a traditional pradhu and sail a more direct conglomerate route than that of Alfred Wallace back in Victorian times.

Alfred was the guy who didn't get credit for evolution. He did come up with it, though, while sailing and observing around the islands of Indonesia. He also financed his forays by shooting rare birds and mounting butterflies for sale back in England.

Tim neatly juxtaposes history and natural history with an account of what's up in Indonesia today. His writing never attains excitement, but it soldiers on and gets the job done. Overall, this was a decent read.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great writing as usual. Less detail than some of his other voyage writings with more about the inspiration for the trip, Alfred Wallace. Reminded me in some ways of Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams - attempting to find and see rare species on the brink of extinction. I am almost afraid to know what happened to some of the species in the years since this was written when their chances seemed so dim even then.

[Richie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall not a bad read. I was initially drawn to the book largely due to my fascination of the Spice Islands. While the centered heavily around the life of Alfred Wallace (the man credited with sharing Darwin's discovery of evolution) the book did give glimpes of what life in the Spice Islands was like in Wallace's time versus today.

[Emilio PÆsano · Rating 3 out of 5]

activist travel fiction, maybe? lots of causes here, some which the author handles better than others... he's strongest when documenting his interactions with prau makers in the moluccas and his distaste for the endangered animal market in makassar... he's not quite as capable supporting wallace's (rightful) claim to the discovery of natural selection.

[Stew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting "re-creation" of Alfred Russel Wallace's 1850's voyages to remote Eastern Indonesia. Interest limited to those who like exotic travel, adventure travel, exotic birds and animals, natural history

[Lysergius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just the thing for the armchair traveller. The descriptions are decent and the voyage suitably perilous.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting exploration of the life of Wallace.