Mad White Giant

by Benedict Allen

This is Benedict Allen's first book - a tale of triumphs, mishaps, dangers and sheer bloody-minded endurance but, at another level, an exploration of the Amazon's dark themes of allurement and exploitation. At the age of 22, inspired by a youthful aspiration to be an explorer, Allen set out to travel from the mouth of the Orinoco to the mouth of the Amazon. But as he stumbled through the Amazonian jungle, he was soon confronted by the harsh reality of his isolation in the midst of potentially perilous territory. Mercifully, the experience of living in the rainforest among indigenous Indians taught him how to survive - a skill of which he soon found himself to be in considerable and urgent need.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Benedict Colin Allen is a British writer, traveller and adventurer known for his technique of immersion among indigenous peoples from whom he acquires skills for hazardous journeys through unfamiliar terrain. In 2010, Allen was elected a Trustee of the Royal Geographical Society. He has recorded six TV series for the BBC, either alone or with partial or total use of camera crews, and has published ten books, including the Faber Book of Exploration, which he edited.[1]

Reviews

[Jessaka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago when a woman I knew had it on her coffee table. It was her book club book for the month. It was such an exciting story to me then, about a man who took a trip into the Amazon jungle and almost didn't make it out alive--a true story by the way. Years later I had my own jungle trip down in Mexico when my friend and I walked 7 miles to the ruins of Bonampak. For me it was mostly barefoot since the muddy road caused my feet to slip out of my sandals. But now, years later, with no more jungles ahead of me, the book was not as exciting, but at least I know from experience the perils of the jungle.

[Sonja Rajić · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading this book, I found that I had to remind myself ever so often that this is not a work of fiction. Beautifully rich in adventure and interesting anecdotes, Mad White Giant took me on the path through Amazon. I felt like I walked every single step with Allen on this strange adventure of his.
Unexpectedly witty, this book gave me so much more that I expected it to. I must say, I half expected it to be a boring travel book full of uninteresting detail. How wrong I was. Mad White Giant took me on a roller coaster of emotions, and I found myself much more attached to the book and the people in it than I expected, all together with the interesting sketches by Allen that really help you get into the atmosphere.
All in all, reading this was an amazing experience and an adventure on its own.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was unsure that I would like this tale of derring-do but it quickly grew on me for two reasons. One is that Allen writes well, knowing how to get maximum impact from his story of crossing the northern Amazon even though much of it consisted of trudging through seemingly endless forest. He conveys well too the relentless persistence needed to complete the journey having lost most of his possessions. But he also quickly shows a strong empathy for the tribes with whom he has contact, praising of their skills and honest about their shortcomings (and his own). His relations and interchanges with the few people he meets are the key to the book - rather than the forest itself, whose endless darkness he comes rather to resent.

In a sense this is also a coming of age story, in which an initially rather naive Allen develops the skills he'll need for even more ambitious future journeys, very largely by simply plunging into the forest and - with the help of the forest dwellers - learning them from scratch.

[Nat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the passages are really interesting, when hearing about the distinctive traditions of the different tribes Allen spent time with, how to survive in the jungle, etc. However, he seems a lot more concerned with describing his own suffering (which is entirely self-inflicted, as he imparted on the journey so unprepared). It would also have been nice if he hadn't felt the need to describe in detail the breasts of every woman he encountered. For a much more reflective account of a journey in this region, with a much bigger picture being considered, I recommend Amazon by Bruce Parry.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best nonfiction book I ever had the pleasure if reading.

[Nando · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leuk boek, niet te moeilijk geschreven.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Allen is a great adventurer and this is a thrilling account of his first journey to the Amazon as a young man. The writing is maybe not quite up to his later works, but that mostly doesn't matter because you read this story for the glimpse it offers of the fascinating, frightening, and amazing world of the Amazon Rainforest. It is a world that fast disappearing sadly. Reading Mad White Giant makes one realize how much we've already lost in the 30 odd years since the book's release.

[Carl Smith-owens · Rating 3 out of 5]

6.2004