Featured Book
Curious Encounters of the Human Kind – Borneo
This is the fourth book in a five-book series of unusual (and true) personal travel tales.
How has a town named after a female vampire ghost spawned an entire genre of kitschy horror films? Why did a quiet Swiss man choose to live rough in the rainforest with the semi-nomadic Penans — and what inner spirit drove him to fight a David vs Goliath rebellion against timber tycoons and corrupt officials who were destroying the Penans’s home? Has White-Brown colonialism been replaced by Brown-Brown arrogance? What’s the story of the grandmother who spits at meddling ghosts (but only because they spit first)? Why did the first White Rajah of Borneo amass a vast harem of concubines? What happened when I tried to ride the tidal bore that almost killed Somerset Maugham? In what way was an illiterate Borneo teenager instrumental in helping Alfred Russel Wallace develop the theory of natural selection? How close are we to orangutans — “our poor cousins who look like they haven’t done so well in life” — and why do some rehabilitant orangutans go bi-polar?
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Featured Articles
Why do boys leave home?
WHY DO BOYS LEAVE HOME? The rite of passage and the teenage imperative BATANG AI, Sarawak, Malaysia I stood on a ridge near the border between Malaysian Sarawak and Indonesian Kalimantan. I had been gone half the day and had not brought food. Time to return to camp, a damp grouping of leaky impromptu […]
News & Events
Happy Return to UK for Alfred Russel Wallace
Jilted, Culture Shock, Illness, Writer’s Block, and Unpacking 20,000 Beetles Stress From Alfred Russel Wallace’s Move Caused a Long Delay in Writing His Most Famous Book Happy Return to UK for Alfred Russel Wallace (1862) — April 1 HURSTPIERPOINT, West Sussex, England Moving is one of life’s most stressful activities. Consider Alfred […]
10 November — Opening of COP 30 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Ah, yet another international gathering to discuss progress in addressing the problem of climate change. This year it will be held in Belém, Brazil, and the participants will also focus on nature conservation in the country, including the vast Amazon region. I’ve been following Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace for some 50 years, including a […]
Intro to a speculative biography of Ali
My speculative biography of Ali, Alfred Russel Wallace’s assistant, was honored as the Best Historical Book of 2024 by the United States Peace Corps Writers. Here’s an excerpt from the book’s introduction. Look Here, Sir, What a Curious Bird Intro to a speculative biography of Ali, Alfred Russel Wallace’s assistant in the Malay Archipelago […]