Reflections of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo
by Birute M. F. Galdikas
List Price:
Our Price: $17.57
You Save: $2.42 (12%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.87 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Birute M. F. GaldikasEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1996-08-01
ISBN: 0316301868
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780316301862
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Reflections of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo
Book Review: An essential insight
Summary: 5 Stars
Galdikas provides an essential insight into the lives of orangutans before the current torrent of rainforest destruction. In this day of "Orangutan Island" and other necessary rescue efforts, it is helpful to learn the patterns of truly wild orangutan life before sanctuaries and rehabilitation. I found myself constantly highlighting and making notes in the margin of this book -- which I usually don't do.
Galdikas also gives a passionate and honest narration of the early days of orangutan advocacy, which she helped spur. Like many Westerners, I find the appearance of apathy on the part of Indonesian government utterly appalling. More than any other book that I've read on the subject, she explains the Indonesian culture driving their governmental policies and (in)actions.
This is a "must read" for anyone seriously interested in saving the orangutans. BUT you must follow it up with A Dark Place in the Jungle: Following Leakey's Last Angel into Borneo, a book by Linda Spalding that provides an insight into Galdikas. Spalding's book is essential to understanding why orangutan advocacy today is splintered between groups who lack transparency and, arguably, effectiveness.
Summary of Reflections of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo
From the first, it was an adventure. In 1971, at age twenty-five, Galdikas left the placid world of American academia for the remote jungles of Indonesian Borneo. Living with her husband in a primitive camp, she became surrogate mother to a "family" of ex-captive orangutans - and gradually adjusted to the blood-sucking leeches, swarms of carnivorous insects, and constant humidity that rotted her belongings in the first year. Her first son spent the early years of his life at Camp Leakey with adopted orangutans as his only playmates. The wild orangutans Galdikas studied and the ex-captives she rehabilitated became an extended family of characters no less vivid than her human companions. Throatpouch, a huge and irritable grouch, fought off rivals for the right to claim adolescent Priscilla as his mate. Handsome Cara at first tried to rid the forest of its human intruder by hurling dead branches at Galdikas from the canopy above. Little Sugito, rescued from a cramped cage and returned to the jungle claimed Galdikas as his mother and clung to her fiercely, night and day, for months. A groundbreaking chronicler of the orangutans' life cycle, Galdikas also describes the threats that increasingly menace them: the battles with poachers and loggers, the illicit trade in infant orangutans, the frustrations of official bureaucracy. Her story is a rare combination of personal epiphany, crucial scientific discovery, and international impact - a life of human and environmental challenge. Reflections of Eden is the third act of a drama that has captivated the world: the story of a pioneering primatologist, a world leader in conservation, and a remarkable woman.Scientists Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Scientists Books
Measure for Measure: A Musical History of Scienceby Thomas Levenson
Oxford Univ Pr (Txt); Published: 1997-10; Hardcover; Book
The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plantsby Jane S. Smith
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2010-02-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.37
Price in other shops:
Don't You Have Time to Thinkby Richard P Feynman
Penguin; Published: 2006; Paperback; Book
Science at the Extreme: Scientists on the Cutting Edge of Discoveryby Peter Lane Taylor
McGraw-Hill Companies; Published: 2000-08-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.15
Price in other shops:
Enigmas of Chance: An Autobiography (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation series)by Mark Kac
Harpercollins; Published: 1985-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $125.00
Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earthby Andrew Smith
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006-08-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.60
Price in other shops:
Alfred Tarski: Life and Logic (Cambridge Concise Histories)by Anita Burdman Feferman, Solomon Feferman
Cambridge University Press; Published: 2008-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.97
Price in other shops:
The Beat of a Different Drum: The Life and Science of Richard Feynmanby Jagdish Mehra
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1994-03-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $123.81
For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronautby Scott Carpenter, Kris Stoever
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2003-01-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.94
Price in other shops:
Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mirby Jerry M. Linenger
McGraw-Hill; Published: 2000-12-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Among the Orangutans: The Birute Galdikas Story (Great Naturalists)by Evelyn Gallardo
Chronicle Books; Published: 1993-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.95
The Primate Anthology: Essays on Primate Behavior, Ecology and Conservation from Natural Historyby Russell L. Ciochon, Richard A. Nisbett
Prentice Hall; Published: 1997-10-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $54.99
Price in other shops:
Walking with the Great Apesby Sy Montgomery
Chelsea Green Publishing; Published: 2009-08-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops:
In the Shadow of Manby Jane Goodall
Mariner Books; Published: 2010-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.11
Price in other shops:
Among Orangutans: Red Apes and the Rise of Human Cultureby Carel van Schaik
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; Published: 2004-11-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.80
Price in other shops:
Gorillas in the Mistby Dian Fossey Dr.
Mariner Books; Published: 2000-10-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.59
Price in other shops:
Orangutans: Wizards of the Rain Forestby Anne E. Russon
Firefly Books; Published: 2004-08-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
The Intimate Ape: Orangutans and the Secret Life of a Vanishing Speciesby Shawn Thompson
Citadel; Published: 2010-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.80
Price in other shops:
Orangutan Odysseyby Birute Mary Galdikas
Harry N. Abrams; Published: 1999-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.92
Price in other shops:
Orangutan Island: Season 1GT; Release date: 2010-01-26; DVD
Best price: $11.77
Price in other shops: