LIVING DANGEROUSLY

by F. Spencer Chapman ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 31, 1954

Our British journalist, naturalist, photographer friend, author of The Jungle is Neutral (report -- July 1, 1949 bulletin, p. 348), uses BBC broadcast lectures as a springboard to share some spectacular moments in his far ranging life. From his first expedition to Iceland as a naturalist student, on he trips to Greenland, where he hunts with the delightful Eskimo and learns the art of kayaking, then to Lapland, where he discovers that reindeer aren't out of picture books. From the Arctic he turns to equally savage beauties of the Himalaya, where he makes the first ascent of the Fluted Peak in Sikkim. This is followed by the conquest of Chomolhari, with a thrilling descent as the angry goddess fairly flings him and his Nepalese companion down the mountain -- far and away the most absorbing reading in the book. We meet the people of Lhasa and admire their city before plunging into the Malayan jungle with our guide as he works behind the Japanese lines as saboteur and organizer through the war years (The Jungle is Neutral is a fuller account of this period). We come to know the Sakai, the wild jungle people, the creatures of the jungle and the diseases that plague man there. We come to appreciate, too, the author's philosophy of life made more meaningful when danger, not an artificial but an essential element, alerts him to its preciousness. These reminiscences, sometimes small in scope, sometimes spectacular, make pleasant reading.

Pub Date: March 31, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1954

Categories: NONFICTION