The Last Wild Men of Borneo, Carl Hoffman
The Last Wild Men of Borneo, Carl Hoffman
6 Rating(s)
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

The Last Wild Men of Borneo
A True Story of Death and Treasure

Author: Carl Hoffman

Narrator: Joe Barrett

Unabridged: 9 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 03/06/2018


Synopsis

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 bestselling 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.

About Carl Hoffman

Carl Hoffman is the author of the New York Times bestseller Savage Harvest, hailed as a “masterpiece” by Outside and named a New York Times editors’ choice and one of the Washington Post’s 50 notable works of nonfiction for 2014, as well as The Lunatic Express. He is a former contributing editor to National Geographic Traveler and Wired, and has traveled on assignment to eighty countries.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Philip on December 20, 2022

Excellent book, but man - a lot to unpack here. This is basically a story of the destruction of Borneo - its physical destruction, as its irreplaceable rainforests are cut down and sold off, only to be replaced by monoculture palm oil plantations; but also the cultural and spiritual destruction of it......more

Goodreads review by Carlos on January 20, 2021

Great read if you are interested in Borneo and the cultural relationships that go on there. The book talks about 2 different people and how their personalities influenced their decision in going to Borneo and what they did there. One of them Bruno is presented as an adventurous albeit a little selfi......more

Goodreads review by Chris on February 01, 2018

Delectable, although it should be a sad book. C onsidering the context which is about the destruction of the Borneo rainforest and its ancient human cultures, It is a true life thriller and semianthropological book, the destruction of the rainforest and part of the drama behind it The story of Bruno......more

Goodreads review by LeastTorque on August 20, 2018

This book was stone cold brilliant. Beautiful. Sad. Joyful. Incredibly thoughtful. Perfectly constructed. It would take a review as long as this book to cover its many facets. It is a travel book of the first order, a history of Borneo and its indigenous peoples, a study of human nature, a meditatio......more

Goodreads review by Jim on January 01, 2018

This wonderful book takes you back in time. Two men, unconnected, delve into the world of a jungle tribe called Dayak. One totally submerges into it, the other finds a fortune there. It also tells the tale of civilization encroaching on these nomads of a time not long past. A peoples self sufficient......more