The Tree Where Man Was Born

Posted on 15 March 2018 by Peter Matthiessen

In this classic volume, Matthiessen exquisitely combines both nature and travel writing to bring East Africa to vivid life He skillfully portrays the daily lives of herdsmen and hunter gatherers the drama of the predator kills the hundreds of exotic animals the breathtaking landscapes and the area s turbulent natural, political, and social histories. Download The Tree Where Man Was Born By Peter Matthiessen – kino-fada.fr I purchased this book in anticipation of a journey to Africa This chronicle is nonfiction, but it reads with the depth and intensity of poetry Even though this book was written about the author s experience and impressions of Africa on a series of trips in the 1960 s his insights remain timeless The politics of Africa are convulsive and the boundaries of countries dynamic, but much of Tanzani...The Tree Where Man Was Born is a series of belle lettres essays on various aspects of natural history and anthropology in northern Tanzania with a bit of Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya thrown in It is good for its time, but it was Peter Matthiessen s blessing and curse to live in a time before Barry Lopez, who surpassed him in every possible way blessing, because his star was not outshined, but cursed, because he was never able to enjoy the master s works Unlike Lopez s works, I felt that this The Tree Where Man Was Born is a series of belle lettres essays on various aspects of natural history and anthropology in northern Tanzania with a bit of Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya thrown in It is good for its time, but it was Peter Matthiessen s blessing and curse to live in a time before Barry Lopez, who surpassed him in every possible way blessing, because his star was not outshined, but cursed, because he was never able to enjoy the master s works Unlike Lopez s works, I felt that this book is best enjoyed during or after one has experienced the things Matthiessen is writing about That s how I read it while travelling in the Serengeti, Manyara, etc and I definitely gotout of it than I got out of the parts I hadn t experienced myself Matthiessen doesn t have the gift to transcribe things quite so vividly The parts about culture were interesting...I read this when it first came out over thirty years ago and I m inspired to read it again along with Matthiessen s Snow Leopard This has absolutely gorgeous photos by Eliot Porter, of Sierra Club calendar fame.I bought this book before I knew who Peter Matthiessen was, namely, one of the greatest nature writers of all time Because of the book s title, I thought the author would tie present day East Africa to a by gone era when man was primitive and evolving and nature ruled I read the first one hundred fifty pages and put it down for five years before returning to it At that time, I was lost in my passion for the life and times of early man and n...This one s a mixed bag, with long sections describing the ethnology of the various tribes and peoples in places totally obscure to me, which I found tough to follow Am I glad though, that I did not give up on the book after the brutally lengthy third chapter, but grudgingly gave it another shot after a few weeks hiatus For the following few chapters on the Serengeti and Masai Mara were amongst the best nature writing I have had the pleasure of reading The author shows why he was so highly reg This one s a mixed bag, with long sections describing the ethnology of the various tribes and peoples in places totally obscure to me, which I found tough to follow Am I glad though, that I did not give up on the book after the brutally lengthy third chapter, but grudgingly gave it another shot after a few weeks hiatus For the following few chapters on the Serengeti and Masai Mara were amongst the best nature writing I have had the pleasure of reading The author shows why he was s...Peter Matthiesson died this year He is one of my favorite authors The Tree Where Man Was Born is my second favorite book of his The Snow Leopard being the first , I read it before I went to Kenya in 1987 It may now be my second favorite book about Africa From the 60s to the 80s Matthiesson made several trips to Tanzania to visit naturalists and conservationists On the first he traveled from Khartoum to get there His descriptions and attention to detail astound me I can read his passages Peter Matthiesson died this year He is one of my favorite authors The Tree Where Man Was Born is my second favorite book of his The Snow Leopard being the first , I read it before I went to Kenya in 1987 It may now be my second favorite book about Africa From the 60s to the 80s Matthiess...Absolutely beautiful So descriptive and informative this is the kind of travel writing I like I love how Matthiessen was able to share his experiences in Africa without projecting his opinions on the reader, so that you get this wonderful i...It takes less concentration to read work like this than it should Although, a huge amount of learning is imparted, the material is handled so well that it seems to transport the reader directly on location One of the loveliest things about the style was how ...One of the best ever books I have read.The finest book ever written about East Africa.

15 March 2018

Peter Matthiessen