-
The Last Wild Men of Borneo
- A True Story of Death and Treasure
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $30.79
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Jungle of Stone
- The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya
- By: William Carlsen
- Narrated by: Paul Michael Garcia
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1839 rumors of extraordinary yet baffling stone ruins buried within the unmapped jungles of Central America reached two of the world's most intrepid travelers. Seized by the reports, American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens and British artist Frederick Catherwood sailed together out of New York Harbor on an expedition into the forbidding rainforests of present-day Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. What they found would rewrite the West's understanding of human history.
-
-
Unsung Explorers at the Heart of History
- By thomas on 01-10-17
By: William Carlsen
-
Savage Harvest
- A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art
- By: Carl Hoffman
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mysterious disappearance of Michael Rockefeller in remote New Guinea in 1961 has kept the world, and even Michael's powerful, influential family, guessing for years. Now, Carl Hoffman uncovers startling new evidence that finally tells the full, astonishing story.
-
-
Excellent story
- By Randy on 09-08-14
By: Carl Hoffman
-
Stranger in the Forest
- On Foot Across Borneo
- By: Eric Hansen
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Outfitted with a pair of ratty sand shoes and a knapsack full of trade goods, Eric Hansen set off to cross the rainforest of Borneo, one of the last places on earth largely untouched by Western civilization. For seven months Hansen hunted wild pig, gathered roots, and lived among tribes whose longhouses were still decorated with the headhunting swords of their ancestors, completing one of the great adventures of our time.
-
-
Strange forest
- By Stephen on 06-25-14
By: Eric Hansen
-
The Dragon Behind the Glass
- A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish
- By: Emily Voigt
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young man is murdered for his prized pet fish. An Asian tycoon buys a single specimen for $150,000. Meanwhile, a pet detective chases smugglers through the streets of New York. Delving into an outlandish realm of obsession, paranoia, and criminality, The Dragon Behind the Glass tells the story of a fish like none other: a powerful predator dating to the age of the dinosaurs.
-
-
A "must read" for all fish professionals.
- By Fishgen on 06-26-16
By: Emily Voigt
-
Turn Right at Machu Picchu
- Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
- By: Mark Adams
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writer for the New York Times and GQ, Mark Adams is also the acclaimed author of Mr. America. In this fascinating travelogue, Adams follows in the controversial footsteps of Hiram Bingham III, who’s been both lionized and vilified for his discovery of the famed Lost City in 1911—but which reputation is justified?
-
-
Spellbounding, exceptional vocals
- By KLewis on 09-19-15
By: Mark Adams
-
Sea People
- The Puzzle of Polynesia
- By: Christina Thompson
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thrilling, intellectual detective story that looks deep into the past to uncover who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific, where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.
-
-
Long Lost History
- By Than on 04-19-19
-
Jungle of Stone
- The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya
- By: William Carlsen
- Narrated by: Paul Michael Garcia
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1839 rumors of extraordinary yet baffling stone ruins buried within the unmapped jungles of Central America reached two of the world's most intrepid travelers. Seized by the reports, American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens and British artist Frederick Catherwood sailed together out of New York Harbor on an expedition into the forbidding rainforests of present-day Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. What they found would rewrite the West's understanding of human history.
-
-
Unsung Explorers at the Heart of History
- By thomas on 01-10-17
By: William Carlsen
-
Savage Harvest
- A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art
- By: Carl Hoffman
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mysterious disappearance of Michael Rockefeller in remote New Guinea in 1961 has kept the world, and even Michael's powerful, influential family, guessing for years. Now, Carl Hoffman uncovers startling new evidence that finally tells the full, astonishing story.
-
-
Excellent story
- By Randy on 09-08-14
By: Carl Hoffman
-
Stranger in the Forest
- On Foot Across Borneo
- By: Eric Hansen
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Outfitted with a pair of ratty sand shoes and a knapsack full of trade goods, Eric Hansen set off to cross the rainforest of Borneo, one of the last places on earth largely untouched by Western civilization. For seven months Hansen hunted wild pig, gathered roots, and lived among tribes whose longhouses were still decorated with the headhunting swords of their ancestors, completing one of the great adventures of our time.
-
-
Strange forest
- By Stephen on 06-25-14
By: Eric Hansen
-
The Dragon Behind the Glass
- A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish
- By: Emily Voigt
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young man is murdered for his prized pet fish. An Asian tycoon buys a single specimen for $150,000. Meanwhile, a pet detective chases smugglers through the streets of New York. Delving into an outlandish realm of obsession, paranoia, and criminality, The Dragon Behind the Glass tells the story of a fish like none other: a powerful predator dating to the age of the dinosaurs.
-
-
A "must read" for all fish professionals.
- By Fishgen on 06-26-16
By: Emily Voigt
-
Turn Right at Machu Picchu
- Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
- By: Mark Adams
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writer for the New York Times and GQ, Mark Adams is also the acclaimed author of Mr. America. In this fascinating travelogue, Adams follows in the controversial footsteps of Hiram Bingham III, who’s been both lionized and vilified for his discovery of the famed Lost City in 1911—but which reputation is justified?
-
-
Spellbounding, exceptional vocals
- By KLewis on 09-19-15
By: Mark Adams
-
Sea People
- The Puzzle of Polynesia
- By: Christina Thompson
- Narrated by: Susan Lyons
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A thrilling, intellectual detective story that looks deep into the past to uncover who first settled the islands of the remote Pacific, where they came from, how they got there, and how we know.
-
-
Long Lost History
- By Than on 04-19-19
-
The Lost City of the Monkey God
- A True Story
- By: Douglas Preston
- Narrated by: Bill Mumy
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die.
-
-
Great story! Narrator needs some training...
- By Dogs Yoga Singing on 06-07-17
By: Douglas Preston
-
The Jakarta Method
- Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World
- By: Vincent Bevins
- Narrated by: Tim Paige
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1965, the US government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important turning points of the 20th century, eliminating the largest communist party outside China and the Soviet Union and inspiring copycat terror programs in faraway countries like Brazil and Chile. But these events remain widely overlooked, precisely because the CIA's secret interventions were so successful.
-
-
Great book, but the narration has serious flaws
- By Prof. Neil Larsen on 08-03-20
By: Vincent Bevins
-
River of Darkness
- Francisco Orellana's Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon
- By: Buddy Levy
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1541, the brutal conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and his well-born lieutenant Francisco Orellana set off from Quito in search of La Canela, South America's rumored Land of Cinnamon, and the fabled El Dorado, "the golden man". Driving an enormous retinue of mercenaries, enslaved natives, horses, hunting dogs, and other animals across the Andes, they watched their proud expedition begin to disintegrate even before they descended into the nightmarish jungle, following the course of a powerful river.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Sammi on 02-17-18
By: Buddy Levy
-
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language
- How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
- By: David W. Anthony
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? The Horse, the Wheel, and Language solves a puzzle that has vexed scholars for two centuries and recovers a magnificent and influential civilization from the past.
-
-
Excellent
- By Anthony on 08-09-19
By: David W. Anthony
-
Blood River
- By: Tim Butcher
- Narrated by: Tim Butcher
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to cover Africa in 2000, he quickly became obsessed with the idea of recreating H. M. Stanley's famous expedition - and travelling alone. Despite warnings that his plan was suicidal, Butcher set out for the Congo's eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots.
-
-
This is a story about a great adventure
- By Dennis on 11-11-11
By: Tim Butcher
-
The Lost City of Z
- A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon. After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann set out to find out what happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z.
-
-
Wished I could be reborn in the past
- By Jens on 03-24-09
By: David Grann
-
Blue Highways
- A Journey into America
- By: William Least Heat-Moon
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed as a masterpiece of American travel writing, Blue Highways is an unforgettable journey along our nation's backroads. William Least Heat-Moon set out with little more than the need to put home behind him and a sense of curiosity about "those little towns that get on the map-if they get on at all-only because some cartographer has a blank space to fill: Remote, Oregon; Simplicity, Virginia; New Freedom, Pennsylvania; New Hope, Tennessee; Why, Arizona; Whynot, Mississippi." His adventures, his discoveries, and his recollections of the extraordinary people he encountered along the way amount to a revelation of the true American experience.
-
-
A new Mark Twain... this is a great book
- By Mr. on 01-25-13
-
Origins
- How Earth's History Shaped Human History
- By: Lewis Dartnell
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When we talk about human history, we often focus on great leaders, population forces, and decisive wars. But how has the earth itself determined our destiny? Our planet wobbles, driving changes in climate that forced the transition from nomadism to farming. Mountainous terrain led to the development of democracy in Greece. Atmospheric circulation patterns later on shaped the progression of global exploration, colonization, and trade. Even today, voting behavior in the southeast United States ultimately follows the underlying pattern of 75 million-year-old sediments from an ancient sea.
-
-
GREAT Book with a Narrator Who's Falling Asleep
- By aaron on 08-02-20
By: Lewis Dartnell
-
The Amazon
- What Everyone Needs to Know
- By: Mark J. Plotkin
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complex ecosystem of the Amazon covers an area about the size of the continental US. Approximately one of every four flowering plant species on earth resides in the Amazon. A single Amazonian river may contain more fish species than all the rivers in Europe combined. The rain forest, which contains approximately 390 billion trees, plays a vital role in stabilizing the global climate by absorbing massive amounts of carbon dioxide - or releasing it into the atmosphere if the trees are destroyed.
-
-
Great introduction to Amazonia
- By Daniel on 08-14-20
By: Mark J. Plotkin
-
Indonesia, Etc.
- Exploring the Improbable Nation
- By: Elizabeth Pisani
- Narrated by: Jan Cramer
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bewitched by Indonesia for twenty-five years, Elizabeth Pisani recently traveled 26,000 miles around the archipelago in search of the links that bind this impossibly disparate nation. Fearless and funny, Pisani shares her deck space with pigs and cows, bunks down in a sulfurous volcano, and takes tea with a corpse. Along the way, she observes Big Men with child brides, debates corruption and cannibalism, and ponders "sticky" traditions that cannot be erased.
-
-
Bill Bryson channels Margaret Mead
- By John S. on 09-01-14
By: Elizabeth Pisani
-
In a Sunburned Country
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion on the Appalachian Trail resulted in the best seller A Walk in the Woods. Now, we follow him "Down Under" to Australia with this delectably funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance that combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiosity. More from Bill Bryson.
-
-
Laugh out loud funny
- By Larry on 06-09-03
By: Bill Bryson
-
Black Elk
- The Life of an American Visionary
- By: Joe Jackson
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in an era of rising violence, Black Elk killed his first man at Little Big Horn, witnessed the death of his second cousin Crazy Horse, and traveled to Europe with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Upon his return, he was swept up in the traditionalist Ghost Dance movement and shaken by the massacre at Wounded Knee. But Black Elk was not a warrior, and instead chose the path of a healer and holy man, motivated by a powerful prophetic vision that haunted and inspired him.
-
-
The detail from all the different sources
- By Gj3 on 01-21-20
By: Joe Jackson
Publisher's Summary
Two modern adventurers sought a treasure possessed by the legendary "Wild Men of Borneo". One found riches. The other vanished forever into an endless jungle. Had he shed civilization - or lost his mind? Global headlines suspected murder. Lured by these mysteries, New York Times best-selling author Carl Hoffman journeyed to find the truth, discovering that nothing is as it seems in the world's last Eden, where the lines between sinner, saint, and myth converge.
In 1984, Swiss traveler Bruno Manser joined an expedition to the Mulu caves on Borneo, the planet's third largest island. There he slipped into the forest interior to make contact with the Penan, an indigenous tribe of peace-loving nomads living among the Dayak people, the fabled "Headhunters of Borneo." Bruno lived for years with the Penan, gaining acceptance as a member of the tribe. However, when commercial logging began devouring the Penan's homeland, Bruno led the tribe against these outside forces, earning him status as an enemy of the state, but also worldwide fame as an environmental hero. He escaped captivity under gunfire twice, but the strain took a psychological toll. Then, in 2000, Bruno disappeared without a trace. Had he become a madman, a hermit, or a martyr?
American Michael Palmieri is, in many ways, Bruno's opposite. Evading the Vietnam War, the Californian wandered the world, finally settling in Bali in the 1970s. From there, he staged expeditions into the Bornean jungle to acquire astonishing art and artifacts from the Dayaks. He would become one of the world's most successful tribal-art field collectors, supplying sacred works to prestigious museums and wealthy private collectors. And yet suspicion shadowed this self-styled buccaneer who made his living extracting the treasure of the Dayak: Was he preserving or exploiting native culture?
As Carl Hoffman unravels the deepening riddle of Bruno's disappearance and seeks answers to the questions surrounding both men, it becomes clear saint and sinner are not so easily defined, and Michael and Bruno are, in a sense, two parts of one whole: each spent his life in pursuit of the sacred fire of indigenous people. The Last Wild Men of Borneo is the product of Hoffman's extensive travels to the region, guided by Penan through jungle paths traveled by Bruno and by Palmieri himself up rivers to remote villages. Hoffman also draws on exclusive interviews with Manser's family and colleagues, and rare access to his letters and journals. Here is a peerless adventure propelled by the entwined lives of two singular, enigmatic men whose stories reveal both the grandeur and the precarious fate of the wildest place on earth.
More from the same
Author
Narrator
What listeners say about The Last Wild Men of Borneo
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rick
- 05-26-19
Art, Timber, and a Vanishing Culture
During the parallel, contemporaneous, but largely separate lives of two Westerners, Borneo emerges from the Dark Ages, where it might have been better off remaining. It’s difficult to say.
Bruno Manser, a Swiss shepherd, climber, and student of nature, made his way in 1984 to live among the Penan people of Borneo, learning their language, adopting their customs, and earning their respect and acceptance. Michael Palmieri was a California surfer kid and draft dodger when he got to the region, where he, too, absorbed the culture and language and became an expert in tribal art whose provenance spanned centuries.
The two men met only once, barely realizing it, but both their lives had a profound impact on Borneo in the late 20th century. Palmieri had a long and lucrative career as an art dealer, while Manser fought the logging companies that were systematically clearing away the forests that were the Penan people’s world.
Hoffman’s account shows that neither man could easily be defined as “good” or “bad.” Palmieri devoted his entire adult life to Borneo and Indonesia, making a profitable business of selling ancient ironwood sculptures and other artifacts to collectors and museums worldwide – but much of that art would have been lost if he hadn’t. Manser gave his all to the cause of saving the Penan’s rain forest from destruction – but he didn’t succeed, and in the end disappeared into that wilderness without a trace.
Hoffman leaves it to the reader to decide.
His most sympathetic characters are the Penan themselves, who were promised schools and modernization by the Malaysian government in exchange for their timber, but got very little. “They had everything they needed; were fabulously wealthy. The Penan had nothing, but they had everything. They and their forest were incalculably rich… Indeed, their forest had become so rare, so valuable, that rich people who could never get enough had come and taken it away.”
Impeccably read by the incomparable Joe Barrett.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Christine Currie
- 03-26-18
adventure is my bedtime story
love love love this work. great storytelling with much to glean along art history and travel
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Than
- 07-21-19
Wow
This is an amazing tale. The book tells the story of two different men. I can see why it angered some other reviewers who thought the writer shoulder have just written two books but I'm happy to hear both stories awkwardly mashed together as one book.
Bruno's story I had never heard of before now and it draws to mind the book "Into the Wild" about Christopher McCandless. Someone renouncing the modern world to go back to a primitive existence. It also gives a good window into one of the last nomadic people on Earth right as their lifestyle in the forest is destroyed by logging companies and the government of Malaysia. It's hard to believe the story all took place in my own lifetime because it feels more like a first contact narrative from hundreds of years ago. Fascinating start to finish.
Michael P's story is more lackluster and less adventurous. He does have some adventure stories but they're told looking back on his younger days. His modern life is one of bartering for cultural art found in the forest that he rarely goes to find himself. It gives one a good sense of the art that gets saved, destroyed, collected, faked, etc. One is grateful he has saved ancient artifacts from destruction while also being mad he's selling them to the highest bidder for a profit
Overall I highly recommend the book if you're into tales of uncontacted tribes during first contact (even though the Penan aren't exactly uncontacted) or ancient traditions being lost to the modern world.
1 person found this helpful