The Last Whalers

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A magnificent book Sebastian Junger and monumental achievement Mitchell Zuckoff that tells the epic story of the world s last subsistence whalers and the threats posed to a tribe on the brink An extraordinary feat of reportage and illumination Leslie Jamison, The Empathy Exams From the very first lines, I was riveted Robert Moor, On Trails A true work of artLyrically written and richly observed Michael Finkel, The Stranger in the Woods. Intimate and moving Francisco Cant , The Line Becomes a River Remarkable, gorgeously written Bronwen Dickey, Pit Bull On a volcanic island in the Savu Sea so remote that other Indonesians call it The Land Left Behind live the Lamalerans a tribe of 1,500 hunter gatherers who are the world s last subsistence whalers They have survived for half a millennium by hunting whales with bamboo harpoons and handmade wooden boats powered by sails of woven palm fronds But now, under assault from the rapacious fores of the modern era and a global economy, their way of life teeters on the brink of collapse.Award winning journalist Doug Bock Clark, one of a handful of Westerners who speak the Lamaleran language, lived with the tribe across three years, and he brings their world and their people to vivid life in this gripping story of a vanishing culture Jon, an orphaned apprentice whaler, toils to earn his harpoon and provide for his ailing grandparents, while Ika, his indomitable younger sister, is eager to forge a life unconstrained by tradition, and to realize a star crossed love Frans, an aging shaman, tries to unite the tribe in order to undo a deadly curse And Ignatius, a legendary harpooner entering retirement, labors to hand down the Ways of the Ancestors to his son, Ben, who would secretly rather become a DJ in the distant tourist mecca of Bali.Deeply empathetic and richly reported, The Last Whalers is a riveting, powerful chronicle of the collision between one of the planet s dwindling indigenous peoples and the irresistible enticements and upheavals of a rapidly transforming world. New Read [ The Last Whalers ] author [ Doug Bock Clark ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr I found this history of a present day Lamaleran tribe that exists on a remote Indonesian volcanic island, by harpooning whales for subsistence, to be quite fascinating Tribal members are proud of their hunter gatherer culture, which cannot remain isolated forever After many centuries some fishermen transition from homemade sailboats to the power of a simple Johnson 15 HP engine With Jakarta and Bali across the water modern conveniences of TV, cell phones, pop culture, along with Muslim religi I found this history of a present day Lamaleran tribe that exists on a remote Indonesian volcanic island, by harpooning whales for subsistence, to be quite fascinating Tribal members are proud of their hunter gatherer culture, which cannot remain isolated forever After many centuries some fishermen transition from homemade sailboats to the power of a simple Johnson 15 HP engine With Jakarta and Bali across the water modern conveniences of TV, cell phones, pop...One family, one heart, one action, one goal Lamaleran sayingLembata, in Southeast Asia, is home to the Lamalerans who arrived there 500 years ago They settled on the beach under a cliff, surviving by fishing for sperm whale and Manta ray and flying fish Those who are successful in the hunt share with aging family members and community members They are one of the few hunter gatherer societies left in the world But industrialized society is crowding in on them Their children are enticed to t One family, one heart, one action, one goal Lamaleran sayingLembata, in Southeast Asia, is home to the Lamalerans who arrived there 500 years ago They settled on the beach under a cliff, surviving by fishing for sperm whale and Manta ray and flying fish Those who are successful in the hunt share with aging family members and community members They are one of the few hunter gatherer societies left in the world But industrialized society is crowding in on them Their children are enticed to the cities for education and jobs Some remain for the air conditioning and running water Outboard motors and smaller boats are replacing the handcrafted boats propelled by oar and the young carry cell phones.In the middle of the typhoon is life Lamaleran songThe songs werethan music they were prayers from The Last WhalersOver three years, Clark spent a year living with the Lamalerans, participating as a community member, even eating manta ray brains ...Unfortunately, this was just far too much mundane detail than I cared to read It is all detail, with no plot or distinctive characters The Outside magazine article is enough for me Moreover, I don t agree at all with the author s editorial stance on the Lamalerans and the importance of their whaling culture, and his arguments were so unpersuasive as to turn me off It is an interesting cultural portrait still occasionally, very interesting and I appreciate the work that went into it but I ca Unfortunately, this was just far too much mundane detail than I cared to read It is all detail, with no plot or distinctive characters The Outside magazine article is enough for me Moreover, I don t agree at all with the author s editorial stance on the Lamalerans and the importance of their whaling culture, and his arguments were so unpersuasive as to turn me off It is an interesting cultural portrait still occasionally, very interesting and I appreciate the work that went into it but I can t reco...The Last Whalers is an absolutely extraordinary work Clark s portrayal of the Lamalerans, a hunter gatherer tribe inhabiting a remote Indonesian island, is both fascinating and moving He expertly shows how the Lamalerans hunt the largest carnivore in history, the sperm whale, using centuries old technology By having lived amongst the tribe across three years, the author is able to describe the hunts in stunning and dramatic detail, with the insight of someone intimately familiar with not only The Last Whalers is an absolutely extraordinary work Clark s portrayal of the Lamalerans, a hunter gatherer tribe inhabiting a remote Indonesian island, is both fascinating and moving He expertly shows how the Lamalerans hunt the largest carnivore in history, the sperm whale, using centuries old technology By having lived amongst the tribe across three years, the author is able to describe the hunts in stunning and dramatic detail, with the insight of someone intimately familiar with not only the mechanics of the process, but also the history, culture, and people of Lamalera The stories of the Lamalerans themselves are evengripping from a young orphaned whaler waiting for his big break to an aging legendary harpooner struggling to understand his son s resistance to the traditional way of life They bravely stand up ...Read this book after reading an article about Otto Warmbier by the author that struck me as exceptionally well reported The Last Whalers was beautifully written and intimately reported from page 1 Around page 30, I wondered, do I really want to read an entire book about this Realizing this was the regrettable sentiment of my impoverished attention span, I doubled down and am glad I did This is as close to experiencing this way of life as I ll ever get When I think of books I ve read about i Read this book after reading an article about Otto Warmbier by the author that struck me as exceptionally well reported The Last Whalers was beautifully written and intimately reported from page 1 Around page 30, I wondered, do I really want to read an entire book about this Realizing this was the regrettable sentiment of my impoverished attention span, I doubled down and am glad I did This is as close to experiencing this way of life as I ll ever get When I think of books ...Remarkable Clark paints a vivid and unflinching portrait of life for a community in Indonesia that is in ways large and small wrestling with their hunter gatherer past and an encroaching modern culture Rather th...This is a rich and wonderfully crafted book Clark does an excellent job of laying out the intricacies of the tribe s history, blending of local beliefs and Catholicism, personal relationships, and factors pushing individual people and larger change There is a lot of detail, but he creates a story that allowed me to still keep track of all the players and micro and macro scales described Certain situations were painted with such amazing detail I could see the hue of the water blending into tha This is a rich and wonderfully crafted book Clark does an excellent job of laying out the intricacies of the tribe s history, blending of local beliefs and Catholicism, personal relationships, and factors pushing individual people and larger change There is a lot of detail, but he creates a story that allowed me to still keep track of all the players and micro and macro scales described Certain situations were painted with such amazing detail I could see th...This was an extraordinary, and difficult, book to read The Lamalareans are an indigenuous society, located at the far eastern tip of Indonesia For centuries, their way of life had not changed, and their religion, culture and society were intertwined with the Way of the Ancestors The Way provided them with all their physical and spiritual needs And then the modern world intruded The author describes their culture and life through some individual members of the tribe who we get to know, and t This was an extraordinary, and difficult, book to read The Lamalareans are an indigenuous society, located at the far eastern tip of Indonesia For centuries, their way of life had not changed, and their religion, culture and society were intertwined with the Way of the Ancestors The Way provided them with all their physical and spiritual needs And then the modern world intruded The author describes their culture and life through some individual members of the tribe who we get to know, and through them the reader sees the stresses of balancing the ancestral ways with the impact of their collision with the modern world and their efforts to adjust to this new world As subsistence whalers, their life is deeply entwined with the natural world, and the rhythms of that world The description of the hunt, what an honor it is to be the harpooner of the whales,...For three years journalist Doug Bock Clark lived on a remote Indonesian island with the Lamalerans, a tribe of some 1,500 who, as the world s last subsistence whale hunters, harvest their food sperm whales when they re lucky but also manta rays, porpoises, and whale sharks by leaping from their handcrafted oar powered boats called tena and plunging a harpoon into their prey So they re basically fighting whales in the water This is dangerous For human and whale Broken bones abound, and de For three years journalist Doug Bock Clark lived on a remote Indonesian island with the Lamalerans, a tribe of some 1,500 who, as the world s last subsistence whale hunters, harvest their food sperm whales when they re lucky but also manta rays, porpoises, and whale sharks by leaping from their handcrafted oar powered boats called tena and plunging a harpoon into their prey So they re basically fighting whales in the water This is dangerous For human and whale Broken bones abound, and deaths, though the only person we come to know in these 300 pages who dies is killed by a massive devil ray the creature wraps its wings around its attacker and dives to drown him The Lamalerans are true hunter gatherers all food killed is shared, there s no money exchanged even trade with other tribes, specifically an agriculture based culture ...Well written, fascinating account of life of one of the few remaining indigenous tribes in the world and how modernity is encroaching on their way of life The hunting scenes were difficult for me to read but I liked this overallThe Lamalerans are by far the most interesting people I ve heard or read about I highly recommend.The author spent time over three years with the isolated Lamalaren tribe of Eastern Indonesia, learning their language and culture at least as much as he could to the point where some of them considered him a part of their tribe Not only does he write about the trials and tribulations of the hunter gatherer tribe whale hunting with spears and wooden boats can it getadventurous , but he writes of the struggles the tribe has had and will be having in an ever encroaching western technol The author spent time over three years with the isolated Lamalaren tribe of Eastern Indonesia, learning their language and culture at least as much as he could to the point where some of them considered him a part of their tribe Not only does he write about the trials and tribulations of the hunter gatherer tribe whale hunting with spears and wooden boats can it getadventurous , but he writes of the struggles the tribe has had and will be having in an ever encroaching western technological world It s one part historical narrative, one part exploring your world, and one part conservation I thoroughly enjoyed it Now, some quotes Row calmly, row tranquilly, as the waves are loosed upon the shore.Daydream calmly, daydream tranquilly, in the middle of the typhoon of life.In the middle of the typhoon of life The modern industrial lifesty...This is an honest warts and all portrait of one of the last surviving hunter gatherer cultures on the planet It reads a littlelike a novel than most typical anthropology books, which most people will probably like even though I personally don t prefer that writing style He does a good job describing them without romanticizing Not all environmentally minded westerners will love the way these people live I know I m definitely not a fan of killing whales and dolphins, and now that mercu This is an honest warts and all portrait of one of the last surviving hunter gatherer cultures on the planet It reads a littlelike a novel than most typical anthropology books, which most people will probably like even though I personally don t prefer that writing style He does a good job describing them without romanticizing Not all environmentally minded westerners will love the way these people live I know I m definitely not a fan of killing whales and dolphins, and now that mercury pollution is bioaccumulating at the top of the ocean food chain I wouldn t expect their diets to be too healthy either, but it still makes me sad to see so many simpler cultures like this fading away People really should keep an open mind about this stuff Consider the fact that one sperm whale can potentially feed ...This is a remarkable book Clark depicts the Lamalerans in an intimate and honest way, as only someone who dedicated time over years, getting to know the people, their culture, and even learning their language, could The writing style is absolutely beautiful I found myself re reading sentences just to absorb and appreciate the delightful way that Clark strings words together From the vivid depictions of whaling expeditions to illustrations of the internal struggles of people torn between custo This is a remarkable book Clark depicts the Lamalerans in an intimate and honest way, as only someone who dedicated time over years, getting to know the people, their culture, and even learning their language, could The writing style is absolutely beautiful I found myself re reading sentences just to absorb and appreciate the delightful way that Clark strings words together From the vivid depictions of whaling expeditions to illustrations of the internal struggles of people torn between custom and modernization, this is journalism at its best, reading like a novel that you can t put down You get to know the characters their hopes and dreams and flaws and become invested in their stories and choices Additionally, this book brings up important and relevant questions for all of us to ponder with the...A review I had read that led me to this book discussed the beauty of its writing first, the crafting of the story told, and the rare skill of description wielded by its author, and that the narrative, though incredible, and the reporting, though truly timely and exotic, were even outshined by the gifts of Doug Bock Clark For the most part, I concur this is a gorgeously told story by a master craftsman, but I would argue that the story itself, and most important the characters in the story are A review I had read that led me to this book discussed the beauty of its writing first, the crafting of the story told, and the rare skill of description wielded by its author, and that the narrative, though incredible, and the reporting, though truly timely and exotic, were even outshined by the gifts of Doug Bock Clark For the most part, I concur this is a gorgeously told story by a master craftsman, but I would argue that the story itself, and most important the characters in the story are clearly what inspire the beautiful writing This is a human story a story about humans navigating the world around them navigating relationships, family, expectations, traditions, opportunities, social judgements, aspirations, and change Once I started, I wanted to be reading this tale whenever I was not, and when the final pages were all I had left, I found several reasons to stop reading simply so that it would not end I miss the characters I want to go back Thank you, Mr Clark, for taking me to L...

The Last Whalers
  • 16 July 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 368 pages
  • 0316390623
  • Doug Bock Clark
  • The Last Whalers