Lost in the Jungle Review
One of the great fringe benefits of writing books is that I get to read a lot of good books in the course of my research. I've been reading lots of first-person narratives of near-death survival experiences lately while working on my current book project which will be completed in the next two months. One such book is Yossi Ghinsberg's Lost in the Jungle. At one time, back when I was obsessed with getting to the jungle for the first time myself, I read anything and everything I could find related to jungle travel. Now, having been there and done that more than once, it began to have less appeal, and somehow I passed on Ghinsberg's excellent book a couple of times when I picked up the original hardcover edition in the bookstore and flipped through the pages.
I now realize the mistake I made after recently reading this book, which I couldn't put down once drawn into the narrative. Lost in the Jungle is in fact a gripping account of a lone man with little knowledge of wilderness survival facing one of the most unforgiving wildernesses in the world - a trackless swath of the Bolivian Amazon along the remote and inaccessible Tuichi River.
Ghinsberg is extremely fortunate that he lived to write his book. Two of the four companions he started out with on his ill-prepared trip were never heard from again. In the first part of the book as you read his account of how they ended up in such a predicament, it's hard to have much sympathy for any of them as you see mistake after mistake being made. But once Ghinsberg is alone and telling of his terrifying experiences after getting swept through raging rapids on a log raft when he becomes separated from his remaining companion, his descriptions of the difficulties the jungle presents and his methods of dealing with them with practically nothing win you over to his side. He turns out to be an incredibly tenacious survivor against odds that few experts would care to even contemplate. Even with his inexperience, he manages to find food, shelter himself from torrential downpours, survive a flash flood that nearly sweeps him away, extricate himself from quicksand bogs and fend off a prowling jaguar in the middle of the night.
I think the most important lesson this book has to teach is the role of attitude and the will to live in an extreme test of life or death. Ghinsberg refuses to give up, and near the end of the narrative, when he knows he can't walk out, he resigns himself to the possibility that he may have to wait months before someone comes along on the river. Even with this dismal prospect, he starts making plans to survive alone like a modern-day Robinson Crusoe of the jungle until he can get out. It is little wonder that today he makes his living as a motivational speaker. This review is condensed from my orginal review on [...]
Lost in the Jungle Feature
- ISBN13: 9781602393707
- Condition: New
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Lost in the Jungle Overview
A classic adventure book in the spirit of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Heart of Darkness. Four travelers meet in Bolivia and set off into the heart of the Amazon rainforest, but what begins as a dream adventure quickly deteriorates into a dangerous nightmare, and after weeks of wandering in the dense undergrowth, the four backpackers split up into two groups. But when a terrible rafting accident separates him from his partner, Yossi is forced to survive for weeks alone against one of the wildest backdrops on the planet. Stranded without a knife, map, or survival training, he must improvise shelter and forage for wild fruit to survive. As his feet begin to rot during raging storms, as he loses all sense of direction, and as he begins to lose all hope, he wonders whether he will make it out of the jungle alive.
Lost in the Jungle is the story of friendship and the teachings of nature, and a terrifying true account that you won’t be able to put down. .
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Customer Reviews
Don't waste your time or money - JRF -
Whine, whine, whine. This entire book is nothing more than a poorly written chronology of spoiled whiners who lacked the necessary mental aptitude and emotional maturity to navigate the jungle on their own. Maybe Ghinsberg should have spent a little more time trying to find a reliable map instead of getting high.
Disapointment as an adventure or even just a decent read.... - P. Chapin - Pahrump, Nevada
Be warned. This author has written some other things and apparently wrote this to assist his marketing efforts. I have been a mochilera and the people who do not bother learning about the wild country they want to see, as well as their companions, but covet hallucinogens via cacti -- they mostly headed into trouble one way or the other. He left the jungle no way due to his own intelligence and kept wanting "heip". Whiney...
Lost in The Jungle... - Michael GreenWest Coast British - Livermore, CA
Yossi adventure was a good read, had a hard time putting it down. It was a bit maddening at times - in that they made mistake which resulted in their hardships. Glad I missed that adventure. Yossi... take a Winchester with you next time!
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 24, 2010 22:29:04
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