It wasn't until I was pretty deep into the book that I realized that the author, Paul Rosolie, is the guy who tried to get swallowed by an anaconda on TV last year. That certainly undermined his credibility more than a little. Rosolie’s writing style makes one feel like they are experiencing everything he describes. His words seemed to talk directly to me, and yet I know that he has experienced things I could not even imagine. His words create entirely different worlds in the reader’s mind. He describes things we can only hope to dream of. His book makes us feel like the world still hides mysterious and beautiful things that we know nothing of. It makes us sensitive, transforms us into humble human beings who are aware that there is something going on that is much larger than us. Reading this book, it was hard for me to even imagine the world Rosolie describes, because it is so very different from the world most of us live in. In the very first chapter, Rosolie is alone in the jungle in the middle of a storm with large trees crashing to the jungle floor around him: "One hundred feet to my right a branch the size of a mature oak snapped and hit the earth with the force of a car crash. [...] Some of the true giants are so interlaced with vines and strangler tentacles that when they fall, their weight tears down almost an acre of jungle. There is no escape" (6). The area Rosolie explores is so dangerous and so remote "that the only reference to the river in literature is from the early 1900s, in the book Exploration Fawcett, which describes one team of explorers" (33). It's hard to imagine a terrain so dense and impenetrable that hundreds of years may pass before another human sees the same patch of land.

All creatures are not meek and good, but his point is, as is with a lot of propaganda, if you can't work it through the facts, then go for the emotions, guilt-trip 'em. It is implied that we should get off our lazy arses and fill our days and evenings with meaningful work towards conserving the wildlife of this planet just like he does, no time for levity, frippery or going to the pub. or so people lived around this lake which was so big it took a river motor boat 2.5 hours to sail around. A few people lived in houses on stilts, one with the most beautiful parquet floor a la William Morris I have ever seen, but most on floating houses. I lived in the latter. The dish-washing and toileting arrangements involved holes in the sweet-smelling wood floor with pirañas waiting to clean the plates or receive... offerings. The reader will come to see close up the beauty of the animals that inhabit this magical world. We will learn of Paul's friendship with a Giant Anteater, he and JJ's attempt to capture the largest Anaconda either one of them had ever seen. We view the home of the Anaconda in the floating forest. The last example I want to write about is his encounter with 'rare, fast-moving' morpho butterflies. So rare apparently that his Indian friend takes a leaf to wrap up a dead one the author found in a parcel. I was out hunting one day with the medicine man's son. We had two dogs with us and spears and found ourselves in a beautiful little glade with a small pool in the middle and sunlight shafting down from high up above the canopy. There were morphos everywhere! Although the author says they were very fast fliers, these ones were taking it easy. Their huge, hand-size wings, glimmering and shining all the blues a sky can be, as they glided around the glade sometimes settling on us. One brushed my cheek with a wing and left a drift of angel dust. It was like an enchantment.I arrived when the waters had gone down considerably and on dry land there was a small tree with a dead and stinky anaconda draped from not far above the ground, over the top and down to the ground again. It was bigger than anything in the Guinness book of world records and eclipsed the author's biggest ever 25' one. The author said he fantasised that if he had taken a picture it would have been on the front cover of Time. Judging by the size of the tree the dead one I saw was between 35-45 ft. long. The Indians I was with said that it was a big snake, unusual but not unique and that they left it there as a warning to other snakes not to come near.

The author sure seems to be full of himself and I found long stretches corny and unnecessarily over descriptive. A rain storm is described as if we were witnessing something biblical and fictionalized with hyperbole usually saved for a cheesy romance novel. It goes on and on and I found myself constantly looking at how many hours were left to the production.

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Paul Rosolie: These efforts are still in their infancy. We are trying to raise awareness about the river and its positional significance between the other major protected areas in the Madre de Dios. We are doing this through film, writing (this book!), and ecotourism. It is a complex task to protect this river. Most of the land is divided up into concessions and so anything you want to do has to include dozens of stakeholders. Thankfully many of the landowners on Las Piedras are wholly in support of protecting the river and stemming the unregulated influx of settlers and extractors that are currently flooding in. I wasn't sure what to expect from this one going in. I have watched a few short YouTube clips of the author from his recent Joe Rogan Podcast appearance. Then we get to Paul himself. What a guy. The raw honesty in his words. He built strong relationships with real people, whom he described so warmly. And his introduction of his trouble school days was a nice touch and shows that if people are given the right environment, they can thrive. That was thought provoking. He seems to be an adrenaline junkie, in his words “another instance of wet paint and my need to touch the wall”. Approaching a wounded jaguar in a cave, was that really a good idea? Likewise, luring a caiman towards your tent with bait? Whilst most of this was charming, some of it troubled me. For example, when the caiman ate his mosquito net, his principal concern was for how vulnerable he would be from then on. And yet, I was wondering how the poor caiman would feel swallowing a net, I doubt that ended well for the crocodilian. This is a bit like blaming people for the problems of pollution and Garbage on the planet when really it is industry, from cafes on up, that are responsible for over 95% of it. As long as it's the individual doing their best to be green, we will get swallowed by a massive wave of communal self-congratulation and governments, industry, banks and businessmen will continue on in their own sweet way, destroying the planet for money. This should not be an emotional issue as it is sold, it certainly isn't to industry or the banks. So that sentence of his and its import made me dnf this book. Another thing was when the author described the 'rarely-seen landscape of floating islands' by moonlight. These floating islands were common on the lake where the river flowed very slowly through. They vary greatly in size from a small rug upwards. They are made up of matted grass roots, the beautiful water hyacinth and small bushes. I was told you can't walk on them, although the big ones will support your weight, because they are full of biting ants. Also, in the daytime, crocodiles hide under them for the shade.

From your haven in the sky, indulge in the ultimate luxury: a front-row seat to nature's daily masterpiece. Our treehouse offers a perspective on elusive canopy wildlife that you won't find anywhere else. A rousing eco-adventure. . . . This is old-school nature writing, unabashedly romantic and free of alienation. . . . Rosolie's powers of description are so vivid and engrossing that readers will be swept along in his passion."-- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Paul Rosolie: This is the most important question! Most people reading this book or this interview don’t live near a rainforest. But there are actually many ways to help from home, wherever you live. Mongabay: Your route into the world of conservation has been truly unique. For young people interested in conservation and rainforests in particular, what advice would you give?So when the author writes about his trips into the jungle, I'm not exactly ignorant and he is writing to impress with things he says are unique but in fact are quite everyday. Paul Rosolie has travelled to the very heart of this wilderness in search of rare flora and fauna. His adventures - with giant anacondas, huge cayman, the mighty jaguar and one very small anteater - are by turn thrilling, terrifying and revelatory. Paul crosses some of the world's harshest terrain and encounters some of its most extreme weather conditions. He battles with life-threatening tropical diseases and the extreme mental challenges presented by being alone in the heart of the jungle.