Kirkus Reviews
“Soul of the Tiger is the first book I’ve come across that clearly explains why and how the people of Southeast Asia need their tigers, their rhinos, their hornbills, even their crocodiles and cobras. It is interesting, relevant and important. It is also full of fun and adventure.”
CHARLES DE HAES, director general, WWF
“At a time when people and world leaders search for peace and harmony between humans and the natural environment, Soul of the Tiger provides insight into the experience of old and a path for the future. Exciting, informative, humorous, beautifully written, and well researched, it is a must for those who seek the meaning of sustainability.”
KENTON R. MILLER, director general, IUCN-World Conservation Union
“This timely and ambitious book brings into focus the ancient relationship between man and his surroundings in an attempt to halt our ruthless exploitation of the planet’s natural resurces…The message of the book is clear, and of overwhelming importance if we are to survive.”
Far Eastern Economic Review
“A marvelous book, unique, intelligent, attuned to cultures and filled with stimulating ideas…”
GEORGE SCHALLER, director of Wildlife Conservation International
“Soul of the Tiger is a book that travels through space – from the upbeat bustle of Bangkok to rich traditions in the Malaysian countryside- as well as through time, charting significant ‘ecocultural revolutions’ that have shaped Southeast Asia.”
Los Angeles Times
“In one fascinating account after another, the authors explain the folklore in which animals are an everyday part of community life as mythological symbols or ancestors incarnate, as well as being sources of meat, leather and medicine. The tales are told with humor, but without condescension. They look with favor on the harmony of human-wildlife relations and conclude that these traditional approaches to conservation should be encouraged in a third world that seeks to balance economic growth and environmental preservation. They note ‘The belief in universal souls means that we are all veritable soul brothers.’”
JOHN NOBLE WILFORD, in The New York Times
Redheads
“Redheads does for the struggle to save the rain forests of Borneo what Catch 22 did for the struggle to stay alive in World War II.”
DANIEL QUINN, author of Ishmael
“Redheads is a roaring tale of tropical suspense, an eco-thriller that is witty and smart and altogether a wonderful treat. It is the perfect example of a new genre, an eco-thriller so suspenseful that you learn about this strange world while sitting on the edge of your seat.”
THOMAS BASS, author of The Predictors and Camping with the Prince and Other Tales of Science in Africa
“A fast-paced novel, at once very funny and deeply serious, about a subject that should be of concern to everyone in today’s world.”
WILLIAM WARREN, author of Jim Thompson: The Legendary American of Thailand
“An absorbing story, reminiscent of the social commentary of Somerset Maugham and Evelyn Waugh. Everyone working in conservation should read it and heed it.”
JIM THORSELL, Ph.D., senior advisor, World Heritage, IUCN
“Redheads is a terrific book about apes and people, do-gooders and do-baddders, science and superstition, ecology and psychology, nature and nurture, and how we all fit together in this old world.”
MARK OLSHAKER, author of The Edge, co-author of Mindhunter
“A ribald, engrossing novel with a deeper message regarding the clash of cultures and our relation to the environment.”
EDWIN BERNBAUM, author of Sacred Mountains of the World.
“Redheads combines the witty insights of George MacDonald Fraser with the realism of Thomas Hardy - a real Asian treat.”
JEFFREY A. MCNEELY, chief scientist, IUCN-The World Conservation Union
“Redheads pits the ideals of science and biodiversity conservation against the real world of nasty politics, reductionist thinking, and economic ‘imperatives’. The engaging spell of the author weaves the impression that indigenous peoples and other primate inhabitants of the forest are the only hope we have left of saving the tropical ecosystems of the world.”
DARREL ADDISON POSEY, Ph.D., Oxford Centre for the Environment, Ethics and Society
“Sochaczewski, author of Soul of the Tiger and an ‘old Asia hand’, displays both his extensive knowledge of rainforest politics and a real ability to tell an entertaining story.”
CHRIS ELLIOTT, Ph.D., director, Forests for Life Campaign, WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature
“A great read. Redheads accurately and entertainingly captures the cynical reality of today’s conservation conflicts. This entertaining book is a must for anyone interested in learning how the global environment movement really works.”
DANIEL NAVID, director, Environmental Law Training Programme of the United Nations
“With the trained eyes and sensitivity of someone who lived among the orangutans in the wilds of Borneo, Sochaczewski tells a captivating story of the struggle to save the rainforests. Redheads reads like a fast-paged high-powered movie script that makes the issue of environmental devastation come alive and demand reforms.”
ROBERT A. PASTOR, professor, Emory Univeristy and former National Security Council Staff
“This rambunctious romp through the Borneo jungles is both fun and deceptively insightful. If this is how the world really works in the realm of nature protection, then where do we go from here? The story reveals important realities about the way things can be in the hurley-burley world of nature protection and environmentalism. Noble-intentioned jetsetting environmentalists: Take Heed!”
SIR RUSSELL BETTS, Ph.D., former director of WWF -World Wide Fund for Nature’s Indonesian program
“Each page carries the scent, the musk even, of tropical Asia – whether enveloped in vanishing rainforests or in the drama of full blooded characters whose courage, or cowardice, has become entwined in the greatest and most tragic story of our age – the catastrophic and irreplaceable loss of primeval forest.”
JAMES CLAD, professor of Asian Studies, Georgetown University, author of Behind the Myth: Business, Money and Power in Southeast Asia, United States assistant secretary of defense
“Ringing endorsement…[in] Sochaczewski’s tale of ambition and corruption, sex and compassion, he moves delightfully quirky, flawed characters around a fantastic plot like a clever puppeteer. Action, action and more action…readers feel his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, strikes a delicate balance between acutely funny and genuinely serious.”
PAIGE RISSER, Peace Corps Writers
Eco-Bluff Your Way to Instant Environmental Credibility
(co-authored with Jeffrey A. McNeely)
“Here we have a hilarious romp through the lexicon of eco-babble, replete with gentle but telling jabs at people, institutions and jargon of the Green world. But even a book this light-hearted powerfully signals the sweeping breadth of the authors’ knowledge about environmental affairs, and the intensity of their caring about the planet’s fate. Learn while you laugh, kind reader. Then go forth and spread the word.”
ROGER D. STONE, author of Dreams of Amazonia and The Voyage of the Sanderling
“What a book! I couldn’t cry…I was laughing too much! Well done, Paul and Jeff. You’ve managed to cover insights into potentially disastrous global issues in a bright and (dare I say) enjoyable way. You’ve opened our eyes to a new and more effective version of the pathway to environmental sanity.”
NOEL VIETMEYER, U.S. National Academy of Sciences
PRAISE FOR PAUL’S WRITING
The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen
“The spirit of Kipling in contemporary Asian journalism. Paul Spencer Sochaczewski is an old Asia hand of incomparable experience and penetration. In these essays and stories you will discover perceptions and details that rarely find their way into any travel guide. This collection is essential reading for anyone who wishes to pa
ss beyond even the unbeaten track, right to the heart of Asia.”
JOHN BURDETT, author of Bangkok Eight, Bangkok Tattoo, Bangkok Haunts
“Paul Sochaczewski skips about Asia like a Monkey God hopping from mountain to mountain, bringing back life-prolonging peaches while annoying the gatekeepers. Whatever you do, follow him on this journey!”
LEE CHOR LIN, director of National Museum of Singapore, former curator of Asian Civilisations Museum-Singapore, author of Batik: Creating an Identity
“In nearly 40 years of exploring Asia’s forgotten corners, Paul Sochaczewski has investigated some of the most important and not-often reported issues in nature conservation. He delves into the disappearance of a Swiss Robin Hood-type character who helped local tribespeople in Borneo fight for their rainforest homes. He examines the ecological foundation of modern ethnic headhunting, the plight of mother-of-pearl divers in Indonesia who drown because they are given poor equipment by Chinese traders, how “miracle rice” ruins Bali’s coral reefs, why Indian religious leaders teamed up with conservationists to re-green Krishna’s birthplace, and whether the concept of “green golf” is an oxymoron. All his tales are important, all filled with humor, drama and insight; you won’t find anything else like this on the bookshelf.”
JEFF MCNEELY, chief scientist, International Union for Conservation of Nature
“Having grown up in Asia, I am deeply indebted to Paul Sochaczewski for his unique ability to reawaken the memories of the humanity and humor, wonder and reality of this magical part of the world. These stories leap off the pages and head straight into your heart. The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen is one of the finest gifts you could possibly give to yourself and to your best friends.”
ANDY SUNDBERG, United States presidential candidate (1988), former worldwide chairman of Democrats Abroad, founder American Citizens Abroad,
U.S. Naval officer, co-founder of Burlamaqui Society.
“In my line of work, I’ve been to a lot of places, met a lot of people and done a lot of things. Yet I never tire of living vicariously through Paul Sochaczewski and his writing adventures. He keeps finding these wonderful details that miraculously open up entire worlds to be explored. Paul is the last of the Great Hunters, only instead of trophies, it is stories he brings home for our admiration, wonder and delight.”
MARK OLSHAKER, filmmaker, author of Einstein’s Brain, The Edge, and Mindhunter
“Sochaczewski is blessed with a relentlessly probing curiosity, an easy-to-read writing style and a sensitive soul. His explorations of the remote jungles, far-flung archipelagoes and quirky characters of Asia leave us with fascinating accounts that mix natural history and modern-day reporting to investigate old fables and inspire new ones.”
JAMES FAHN, author of A Land on Fire: The Environmental Consequences of the Southeast Asian Boom, executive director of the Earth Journalism Network
“This is travel writing with a quirky difference. Admirers of Paul Spencer Sochaczewski’s serio-comic novel Redheads, set in the jungles of Borneo, will already know him as a dedicated environmentalist with a taste for off-beat characters and exotic settings. This collection of personal essays introduces a fascinating collection of real-life figures, ranging from a homeless man in Hawaii who claims to be the true last emperor of China to a group of Burmese monks who have trained cats to perform acrobatic tricks.
WILLIAM WARREN, author of Jim Thompson: The Unsolved Mystery and The Tropical Garden
“In the great tradition of Asian reporting. The humanity of Somerset Maugham, the adventure of Joseph Conrad, the perception of Paul Theroux, and a self-effacing voice uniquely his own.”
GARY BRAVER, bestselling author of Skin Deep
“Sochaczewski is a world-class searcher, reporter, and observer who has criss-crossed Asia for thirty years, pausing in the most unlikely places, finding extraordinary people, and along the way has gathered and shaped an insightful, witty chronicle. His essays are filled with a rich tapestry of eclectic, original nobles, wannabe royalty, naturalists, Hindu gods, and Buddhist monks. He is a knowledgeable guide to an often obscure world, revealing Asian cultures often themselves on the brink of extinction. In a hundred years, books like the Sultan and the Mermaid Queen may be our only reference to belief systems and a way of life that have gone extinct.”
CHRISTOPHER G. MOORE, author of the Vincent Calvino novels, Heart Talk
“The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen is proof positive that a writer/traveler can immerse himself in Asian cultures and yet remain objective enough to write extremely entertaining articles and colorful stories about what he has experienced. From Indonesian mysticism to a Hawaiian would-be Chinese emperor, the descriptions are spot-on. There is something in these articles and stories that reminds me of the writing of Paul Theroux - not as cynical, perhaps, but the author is just as able to look at events with a clear, unsentimental and yet sympathetic eye. You won’t regret a moment spent reading these tales which perfectly capture the allure and spice of the places visited.”
DEAN BARRETT, author of Memoirs of a Bangkok Warrior
“For three decades Paul Sochaczewski has been trawling Asia for lost white tribes, Hobbits, dancing ghosts, the Last Emperor of China and dancing temple cats, reporting back with tales of hilarity and insight. He’s also been at the forefront of efforts to raise awareness of Asia’s great environmental diversity, documenting the struggle of indigenous tribes in Borneo to save their precious forest, and has championed “Darwin’s shadow”, that other great of evolution, Alfred Russel Wallace. This collection captures the diversity of Asia in all its colorful, and often funny, glory.”
JOHN CLEWLEY, Bangkok Post columnist
“What a discovery! Paul Sochaczewski is that rarest of writers, who knows that the real “Asian miracle” isn’t malls or computer geeks. In his years traveling the continent he has discovered an eternal assemblage of arcane explorers, putative emperors, frivolous mystics, sacrosanct elephants and, yes, miracle workers. When Sochaczewski finds them, in Javanese palaces or mile-high golf courses, they are caviar (or sweetened bird’s nest) for his fascinating portraits. A book for everyone who knows that the Mysterious East is alive and well.”
HARRY ROLNICK, author of The Chinese Gourmet, The Complete Book of Coffee, and Spice Chronicles: Exotic Tales of a Hungry Traveler
“A wonderful book about traditions and beliefs in Asia. Sochaczewski has that rare gift to bring history and fable to life with respect and affection. This book should be required reading for politicians and people in NGOs concerned with Asia – indeed for anyone seeking a better understanding of life and culture in this most fascinating part of the world.”
DANIEL NAVID, international environment and development law expert, former UN diplomat and secretary general of the International Wetlands Convention
“Rich pickings from the unexpected corners of the Far East. What makes The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen outstanding must surely be the inquisitive mind, the compassionate tone and openhearted admiration of the author towards his subjects. Whatever landmarks you already have on Asia, this book sweeps you to new frontiers.”
CYNTHIA WEE-HOEFER, daughter of Asia, freelance writer
“Among this book’s fascinating stories about the people and natural history of South East Asia, we learn that the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace may have a better claim to the theory of natural selection than Charles Darwin.”
JOHN G. WILSON, author of The Forgotten Naturalist:. In Search of Alfred Russel Wallace
“Only a lifetime of ambling through Asian cultures could enrich a writer to this degree and enable him to infuse his writing with local lore and wisdom in the manner Paul Sochaczewski has done in this colorful and insightful collection.”
JOHN EVERINGHAM, photographer, publisher: Artasia Press, Dragon Art Media
“Having seen at least a thousand films from Hollywood, France, Italy, England, Germany, Japan, China, and Russia during my seventy-odd years of life, I had come to assume that I
had a pretty good idea of what goes on in the world. This delightful book, The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen, has completely (and thankfully) demolished that naive notion. It is a vast tapestry embroidered with real peoples, places, and customs far more exotic than any of the quaint ‘travelers tales’ of ancient times, and any reader who takes it home is a lucky one!”
DANIEL QUINN, author of Ishmael
“Paul has the extraordinary ability to find hidden and overlooked stories and reveal them as meaningful and profound.”
R. IAN LLOYD, National Geographic photographer.
“As a mystic healer I understand the spiritual power of the Mermaid Queen, and have on occasion merged with her strong presence. In this book Sochaczewski has managed something quite extraordinary – he has taken exotic, sometimes esoteric subjects and made them interesting and accessible. His writing peels back the layers of myth and reality, revealing a sensitive, humorous and insightful core of humanity.”
AMA LIA WAI-CHING LEE, Pemangku Maha Jeroh Sandat, mystic healer, dancer, chronicler
“Sochaczewki is obsessed with were-tigers, seductress mermaids, tiny forest men and one particular beetle-loving Victorian naturalist who changed the way we look at the place of man in the universe. Ho hum. But as you read these fabulous stories, you realize that he has another, higher, obsession: getting to know people. Whether they’re from Brooklyn, Burma or highland Borneo, Sochaczewski shares with us their voices and their stories. And afterwards he goes golfing.”
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