Amazon Adventures

Suggested Books

Peru

A Neotropical Companion, Kricher, Plotkin
Maybe the best book for an overall education about the Amazon ecosystem

A Guide to the birds of Columbia, Hilty, Brown
The best book for identifying birds in Peru

The Cities of the Ancient Andes, Adriana Von Hagen, Craig Morris, Adriana Von Hagen, Raig Morris

Warriors of the Clouds: A Lost Civilization in the Upper amazon of Peru, Keith Muscutt (hardcover)
A good introduction to the areas we visit on our Lost Cities trips and on some of our expeditions. A truly unique area.

Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, Mark Plotkin
A good book of adventure and an insight into what should be done to save ethnobotanical knowledge.

Amazon Beaming, Petru Popescu
An account of a respected National Geographic photographer's experience with a tribe of Mayoruna Indians. He felt that this tribe, which had been thought to be extinct, used telepathic communication to communicate with him. (we offer special trips to visit Mayoruna Indians)

The Moche (Peoples of America), Garth Bawden

Discovering the Inca Ice Maiden : My Adventures on Ampato, Johan Reinhard

The Ancient Kingdoms of Peru, Nigel Davies

Amazon Dream, Roberta Allen

Brazil

1. Natural History
Tropical Nature, by Adrian Forsyth and Ken Miata, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1984
Neotropical Companion, Kricher, Princeton University Press, 1990

2. Field Guides
Neotropical Rainforest Mammals, Emmons, Louise H. 1997, University of Chicago Press
A Guide to the Birds of Venezuela, Schauensee, R.M. & Phelps, W.H. Jr 1978, Princeton, Princeton Univ. Press. (Best guide in English to the birds of the Eastern Amazon)
Latin American Insects and Entomology, Charles Hogue, University of California Press, Berkely, 1993
Birds of Tropical America, Hilty, Steve, Chapters Publishing Ltd., Shelborne, Vermont, 1994

3. General Guides
Insight Guides: Amazon Wildlife, APA Publications (HK), Ltd., 1992
The Amazon: Past, Present, and Future, Gheerbrant, Alain, Discoveries Series, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York

4. Travels
White Waters and Black, MacCreagh, Gordon, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1985 (first published 1926)
The Naturalist on the River Amazons, Bates, Henry Walter, Penguin Books, first edition 1863, (paperback edition 1989)

5. Children.s Publications
The Great Kapok Tree, Cherry, Lynne, 1990, Orlando, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

6. Accounts of Amazon Travels
The Naturalist on the River Amazons, Bates, Henry Walter, Penguin Books, first edition 1863, (paperback edition 1989)
In Trouble Again, O’Hanlon, Redmond, 1988, New York, The Atlantic Monthly Press
Jacques Cousteau’s Amazon Journey, Cousteau, Jacques,1984, New York, Harry Abrams, Inc. Publishers
Brazilian Adventure, Fleming, Peter, 1961, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company
White Waters and Black, MacCreagh, Gordon, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1985 (first published 1926)
The Rivers Amazon, Shoumatoff, Alex, 1978, Sierra Club Books, San Francisco
The Cloud Forest, Peter Matthiessen, 1961

7. Tropical Forest Descriptions
Tropical Nature, Forsyth, Adrian, 1984, Macmillan Publishing Company
Neotropical Companion, Kricher, Princeton University Press, 1990
A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, Wallace, Russell Alfred, 1853, London, Reeve and Co. (Dover reprint 1889 edition)
The High Frontier, Moffett, Mark, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1993

8. Rainforest Issues
Alternatives to Deforestation, Anderson, Anthony, ed., Columbia University Press, New York, 1990
The Fate of the Forest, Hecht, Susanna., Verso Publ, 1989
The Primary Source: Tropical Forests and Our Future, Myers, Norman, 1984, New York, W.W. Norton Press
The World is Burning, Shoumatoff, Alex, Avon Books, New York, 1990
Dreams of Amazonia, Stone, Roger D., Penguin Travel Series, 1985

9. Intro to Amazon Studies and Tropical Ecology
Diversity and the Tropical Rain Forest, Terborgh, John, Scientific American Library. 1992.
Life Above the Jungle Floor, Perry, Donald, Simon and Schuster, 1986.
Tropical Rain Forest Ecology, Mabberley, D.J., 2nd Edition, Blackie & Son Ltd., London 1992
An Introduction to Tropical Rainforests, Whitmore, T.C., Oxford University Press, New York, 1990
Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise; Meggers, B.J. 1971, Chicago, Aldine Publ. Co.
The Beak of the Finch, Jonathan Weiner, Alfred Knopf, New York, 1994 [an excellent outline of the processes of biological evolution]
The Diversity of Life, Edward O. Wilson, The Belknap Press of Harvard University, Cambridge, 1992

10. History and Natural History of the Brazilian Amazon
The Naturalist on the River Amazons, Bates, Henry Walter, Penguin Books, first edition 1863, (paperback edition 1989)
The Discovery of the Amazon, Medina, J.T. ed., 1988, New York, Dover Publications,
Through the Brazilian Wilderness, Roosevelt, Theodore. 1914, New York.
A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, Wallace, Russel Alfred, 1853, London, Reeve and Co. (Dover reprint 1889 edition)
The Amazon Rubber Boom 1850-1920, Weinstein, B. 1983, Stanford, Stanford Univ. Press
Explorers of the Amazon, Smith, Anthony, 1990, Viking Penguin, Inc., New York

10. Development and the Peoples of the Amazon
Assault on the Amazon, Bourne, R. 1978, London, Victor Gollancz Ltd.
Tribes of the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Brooks, E.; Furerst,R., Hemming, J. & Huxley, F., 1973, London, C. Knight
People of the Tropical Rain Forest, Denslow, J.S. & Padoch, C. 1988, Berkeley, Los Angeles & London, U. of Cal Press, with the Smithsonian Institution
Victims of the Miracle: Development and the Indians of Brazil, Davis, S. 1977,.
Adaptive Responses of Native Amazonians, Haines, R. B. & Vickers, W. T (eds.)1983, New York, Academic Press
A Question of Survival for the Indians of Brazil, Hanbury-Tenison, R. 1973, London, Angus and Robertson
Developing the Amazon, Moran, E.F. 1981, Bloomington, Indiana, Indiana Univ. Press
The Dilemma of Amazonian Development, Moran, E.F. (ed.) 1984, Boulder, Colorado, Westview Press
Development, Integration and the Ethnic Integrity of Brazilian Indians
Rain Forest Corridors, The Transamazon Colonization Scheme, Smith,N.J.H. 1982, Berkeley, Univ. of Cal Press
Welcome of Tears; The Tapirape’ Indians of Central Brazil, Wagley, C., 1977, New York, Oxford University Press
Shabono: A Visit to a Remote and Magical World in the South American Rainforest, Florinda Donner, 1992

11.Plants and Animals
South American Birds: A Photographic Aid to Identification, John S. Dunning, 1987
A Guide to the Birds of Columbia, Steven Hilty and William Brown, 1986
A Guide to the Birds of South America, Schauensee,
Insects of an Amazon Forest, Penny, Norman D. and Arias, Jorge R., Columbia University Press, 1982, New York
A Complete Introduction to Tarantulas, David, Al, THF Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey, 1987
The Piranha Book, E. Myers, George, THF Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey, 1972
Birds in Brazil, Sick, Helmut, Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey, 1993
Bird Families, Joselyn van Tyne
Mammals of the World, Walker, (in two volumes, a good way to learn mammal families)
Butterflies of South America, D’Abrera, Bernard, Hill House, 1984
Exotic Tropical Fishes, Axelrod, Herbert, R., T.F.H. Publications, Inc., Neptune City, New Jersey, 1985
Snakes of the World, Mattison, Chris, Facts on File Publications, New York, 1986
Tropical Forests and Their Crops, Smith, Nigel, J.H.,Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, 1992
Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names, Jobling, James A, Oxford University Press, 1992

12. Ecology and Development
Underdeveloping the Amazon-Extraction, Unequal exchange and the failure of the Modern State, Bunker, S.G. 1985, Urbana and Chicago, Univ. of Illinois Press
Human Carrying Capacity of the Brazilian Rain Forest, Fearnside, P.M. 1986, New York, Columbia Univ. Press
The Dilemma of Amazonian Development, Moran, E. (ed.) 1983,Boulder, Colo., Westview Press

13. Species Preservation and Extinction
New World Parrots in Crisis, Beissinger, Steven and Snyder, Noel F, Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington. 1992
*# Biodiversity, Wilson, E.O. 1988, Washington, National Academy Press

14. Medicinal Plants of the Amazon
Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice, Plotkin, Mark, Penguin Books, New York, 1993

15. The Culture of Brazil
The Brazilians, Page, Joseph,

Ecuador

Amazonia
Tropical Nature. Forsyth, Adrian; Miyata, Ken. Macmillan, 1984. The best introductory book for the layman.

A Neotropical Companion. Kricher, John C. Princenton University Press, 1989.

Key Environment Amazonia. Prance, G.; Lovejoy, T.,Ed., Pergamon Press, 1985. Excellent book; quite technical.

Anthropology
The Spears of Twilight, Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle, Descola, Philippe. The New Press, 1996. Currently the BEST BOOK about the Achuar.

The Jivaro. People of the Sacred Waterfalls. Harner, Michael, J. University of California Press Ltd. 1984.

Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Eliade, Mircea. Penguin Books, 1989.

Birds of Ecuador. Greenfield, Paul, et al., CECIA, 1990. An excellent checklist for birders.

Field Guide to the Birds of the Galapagos
Harris, M.P., Collins, 1974. The best guide for birding on the Islands.

Flora of the Galapagos Islands
Duncan, M., Wiggins, I., Standford University Press, 1971. By far the best and most complete book about the plants of the Galapagos.

Galapagos, A Natural History Guide
Jackson, M.H., The University of Calgary Press, 1990. Definitely the best introductory book about the Galapagos.

Reef Fish Identification: Galapagos
Humann, P., New word publications/Libri Mundi, and 1993. A serious guide for both snorkelers and divers.

The Galapagos Affair
Theherne, J.E. Jonathan Cape. If you are interested on the mysterious stories of Floreana, this is the book.

The Origin of Species
Darwin, C., John Murray, 1859. Although not very easy to read, this book introduces you into Darwin’s concept of evolution.

The Voyage of Beagle
Darwin, C., John Murray, 1845. The story of the voyage that changed the mind of the young Darwin, with a section about the Galapagos.