New Guinea - after Greenland, the world's largest island - is one of the last remaining frontiers. The topography is so rugged that until the arrival of aircraft tribes in adjacent valleys were often completely isolated. The wildlife is rich and often unique: giant rats, tree-kangaroos, singing dogs, echidnas, sweat bees and birds of paradise. Conditions for research are often appalling and Flannery's health and life are threatened. The mountain peoples of New Guinea, whom Flannery gets to know well, are no longer cannibals, but until a generation ago they would mount raids on other villages, kidnapping the children and eating the adults. Magic and sorcery still play a role in their lives and Flannery observes as Catholic missionaries seek to reform traditional beliefs, and mining companies exploit the huge gold and copper resources of the island.
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Amazon Review
Mammologist Tim Flannery assumed the age of exploration had died with Darwin. Upon arrival in New Guinea, though, he realises just how wrong he's been. Hilarious and riveting, Thowim Way Leg chronicles Flannery's adventures among the mountain people of New Guinea while in hot pursuit of giant rats, tree-kangaroos, bats, possums and bandicoots. In the local pidgin, "throwim way leg" describes the first decisive step in a journey. Flannery takes that step--and soon he's clambering up steep peaks; braving jungle critters like sweat bees, hairy spiders, pythons and the occasional crocodile; and perilously close to ending up in hot water more than once. Cannibalism, he assures us, is a thing of the past, but when he comes into contact with the Miyanmin--a people who refer to a neighbouring tribe as "bokis es bilong mipela" (literally, "our refrigerator")--we're left wondering how he got out alive.
Flannery's exuberance over the wildlife he encounters is interesting enough, but it's his ability to capture the indigenous perspective that makes this book worth reading. When his new-found friends learn, for instance, of the widespread custom of circumcision, they fall about in paroxysms of laughter. Equally perplexing (to an elderly gentlemen who has never seen rice) is how Flannery and his cronies could chance upon so many delectable ant-eggs. With 14 pages of colourful, enticing, "wish-I-could-go-there-right-now" photos. --Martha Silano --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
`An enthralling introduction to the mountain people of New Guinea-
unimaginably remote,. Charming, cunning, cruel - and to their magnificent
land' -- The New York Times
`This book combines an irresistible author with an irresistible subject...
it is so hard to put down' -- Jared Diamond
`Tim Flannery is in the league of the all-time great explorers
like Dr David Livingstone' -- Sir David Attenborough
`an extraordinary book... you can hear the thunderstorms, smell
the hunting dogs...a journey through and beyond fear'
-- Sunday Age --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
unimaginably remote,. Charming, cunning, cruel - and to their magnificent
land' -- The New York Times
`This book combines an irresistible author with an irresistible subject...
it is so hard to put down' -- Jared Diamond
`Tim Flannery is in the league of the all-time great explorers
like Dr David Livingstone' -- Sir David Attenborough
`an extraordinary book... you can hear the thunderstorms, smell
the hunting dogs...a journey through and beyond fear'
-- Sunday Age --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Stephen A. Haines
HALL OF FAME
Format:Paperback
If Tim Flannery isn't the luckiest biologist in the world, then perhaps he's the hardest working. He possesses a spirit of adventure that may exceed both. His twenty years of exploring the mysteries of New Guinea are superbly outlined and related in this engaging account. Although a mammalogist by profession, his interests range far beyond any academic discipline. We follow his efforts to meet and gain acceptance by the remote peoples of the New Guinea highlands. They are a diverse lot, and every new contact is fraught with uncertainty. He introduces us to the teasing pleasures of New Guinea pidgin, a language adopted by indigineous peoples to cross the nearly 1 000 languages that exist on the island.
Throwim' Away Leg, New Guinean pidgin for a journey, is an appropriate title for this book. Flannery's 15 long-term expeditions took him over most of the island, meeting the people, tracking animals and assessing the changes in the ecology. It is difficult, in this jet travel age to comprehend the impact of "remote people," but Flannery has done it. He's adept at sharing the wonder he felt in his travels. We feel his fears, his joys of discovery, his sadness at the incursion of industrial civilization in an unprepared land. Flannery's account is given with an astonishing detachment. He recognizes the needs of both the indigenous people and the invaders. Cannibalism, so abhorrent to "civilized" readers, is placed in its true framework as viewed by the New Guinean mountain peoples. He's aware of the population pressures on local resources among the tribes, not excusing, but imparting rare understanding of the reality of life in wilderness.
The author's love of wildlife is made clear throughout the book. An encounter with three-metre-long python that tried desperately to throttle him is related with incredible compassion. One can only sympathize with the pilot and passengers who shared the cockpit of a small aircraft with it on its journey to Port Moresby. Flannery's real feelings, however, are for the varieties of tree kangaroos living on the island. He asserts the high point of his travels was the classification of a rare black and white species of this creature. High point, indeed! Three
thousand metres up in the New Guinean highlands, local hunters brought him the chewed remains of two "Dingisios" - enough to identify and describe this rare animal.
Flannery's enthusiasms and vivid desriptive powers make this book an unforgettable read. His descriptions of the impact of outsiders, from both East and West, portray a land under immense stress. Not only Western mining and lumber companies, who have seared the landscape with roads, mines and felling, but Indonesia's settlement programmes come under his penetrating gaze. He recognizes their needs, but urges better forms of accomodation are required. The biological story is conveyed well integrated with social, political and environmental issues. An all-encompassing study, this book will give the reader many fresh insights and topics for further reflection. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
It«s well written, and describes less visited areas of Papua (Irian Jaya) and P.N.G.. Specially the area around Tembagapura, Bewani and Torricelli Mountain Range. It«s a fascinating account of newly discovered tree-kangaroos and other mammals. I would prefer a more detailed look at the tribal life, but the mission of the author was to collect animals. It«s also a good description of the difference between the two New Guinea countrys.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars
3 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Throwim Way Leg more than an Adventure book
21 Mar 2010
By Lonnie Mccaskill
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Throwim Way Leg is far more than an adventure book. It is an insight into the ecosystem of New Guinea and the lives of the people and cultures that live there. An incredibly difficult region to exploe due to the terrain of the country for many the only way they would ever be able to imagine how people live there is through a book like this. Not only isolated from the world but also isolated from communities within the region these people have survived. Papua New Guinea is one of those places where new dicoveries are still waiting to be found and books like this spark the imagination for those willing to make the effort. I highly suggest this book for anyone interested in the cultures, flora and fauna of New Guinea.
Lonnie McCaskill
Expedition Cargo
Lonnie McCaskill
Expedition Cargo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing insight into png history and culture
11 Jun 2012
By Scott
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition
If you love natural history exploration books this is for you. Incredible stories relating to the png culture and natural environment.
An interesting insight into the early expiditions that have shaped the life of Tim Flannery.
An interesting insight into the early expiditions that have shaped the life of Tim Flannery.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent picture of PNG
19 Dec 2012
By Auki
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Flannery has painted an excellent picture of how the PNG HIghlands was in the '80s and his story is more fascinating because of the science exploration narrative that goes behind the stories of PNG cultures. The impact of intervention and "development", especially extractive industry development, is very accurate.
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