Papua New Guinea Books

Four Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea

Kira Salak

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: National Geographic Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $6.55

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Subjects -> Reference -> Writing -> Travel
Subjects -> Travel -> Australia & South Pacific -> Papua New Guinea
Subjects -> Travel -> Australia & South Pacific -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Fine travel journal 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

The book is full of personel feelings. I read travel journals and that is what I am looking for. If I want a guide I buy a guide. I admire writers who leave the reader with an understanding of who they are as well as where they are. Ms. Salek does a fine job doing just that.

Editorial Review:

Following the route taken by British explorer Ivan Champion in 1927, and amid breathtaking landscapes and wildlife, Salak traveled across this remote Pacific island-often called the last frontier of adventure travel-by dugout canoe and on foot. Along the way, she stayed in a village where cannibals m was still practiced behind the backs of the missionaries, met the leader of the OPM-the separatist guerrilla movement opposing the Indonesian occupation of Western New Guinea-and undertook an epic trek through the jungle. The New York Times said "Kira Salak is tough, a real-life Lara Croft." And Edward Marriott, proclaimed Four Corners to be "A travel book that transcends the genre¨It is, like all the best travel narratives, a resonant interior journey, and offers wisdom for our times."

Where the Spirits Dwell: An Odyssey in the Jungle of New Guinea

Tobias Schneebaum

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Grove Press Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $3.91

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Anthropology -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Anthropology -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

outrageous but true account of life among headhunters 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 11 people found this review helpful.

I read this at the suggestion of a drugged counter culture english teach in 1969 need I say more, the actual acount of Tobia's stay among the headhunters, where all other journalists who were dropped there and eaten, Tobias sheds his clothes and embraces the tribesmen and becomes one

this left such an impression on me that 30 years later i can remember all of it

going on hunts and cutting the enemy tribes limbs and heads and pileing them neatly and eating the hearts first to release thier evil sprit and use thier skulls as pillows

Interesting 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Having visited the region where this book is set I found it mostly interesting for giving a picture of how things used to be there - they are much changed today!
For those who haven't been to the Asmat region of New Guinea, this will be a fascinating read. Those inspired to go should be prepared to find it a lot more civilized these days.

Editorial Review:

Tobias Schneebaum here tells the remarkable story of his four years among the Asmat of New Guinea, a jungle-dwelling people rumored to have killed Michael Rockefeller. Instead of ferocious cannibals, Schneebaum found a regal, gentle people who freely accepted him and initiated him into a way of life no outsider had ever seen before.

Papua New Guinea Map by ITMB (Travel Reference Map)

ITMB Publishing

List Price: $11.95 By: ITMB Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $7.00

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Subjects -> Reference -> Atlases & Maps -> General AAS
Subjects -> Science -> Earth Sciences -> Geography -> General
Subjects -> Science -> Earth Sciences -> Geography -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

excellent New Guinea map 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I am a research entomologist studying certain groups of insects on New Guinea. Frequently, localities mentioned on sample data labels (villages and small towns)are on not indicated on most atlas maps. This map has many more such localities than do most maps and is thus very useful to me. Additionally, the boundaries of the provinces are clearly indicated. I have thus found this handsome map very useful.
For anyone travelling to PNG, this is the map to get!

Want to get OUT OF THIS WORLD? 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 8 people found this review helpful.

There is absolutely no place on our planet like Papua New Guinea. Wild, wonderful, lawless, infrastructure-less adventure awaits.

Editorial Review:

Folded road and travel map. Scale 1:2,000,000. Distinguishes roads ranging from national highways to major roads. Legend includes lodges, lighthouses, reefs, shipwrecks, beaches, scuba diving ares, fishing, mangroves, swamps. Elevations in feet. Indexed.

Four Corners: Into the Heart of New Guinea-One Woman's Solo Journey

Kira Salak

Amazon Price: $27.96 List Price: $34.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Counterpoint Amazon Marketplace: 47 new & used starting at $2.99

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Memoirs
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> Women
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A story of extraordinary danger and adventure as a very young woman attempts, alone, a trip across Papua New Guinea.

After her first taste of the freedom found in travel at age nineteen, Kira Salak spent the next several years of her youth as a constant, impulsive traveler. Barely old enough to drink, she leaves her life behind-graduate school, a job, a boyfriend who loves her-to attempt the impossible, her dream of following in the footsteps of British explorer Ivan Champion, the first person to successfully cross the island of Papua New Guinea in 1927. She is motivated by something much deeper than simply wanting to be the first woman to make such a crossing, and as she composes this memoir she still searches for answers. Why would a lone traveler, a very young woman at that, want to embark on such a dangerous and mysterious trip? Where was her fear? Or was this all an attempt to court and indulge her fear for some larger purpose? No one, on the road or at home, could quite understand.

Kira Salak matches her adventures in these vivid landscapes with prose that is quite simply thrilling. More than a travel book or adventure story, Four Corners is a work of self-discovery in extreme, of being at great risk in places that are on the edge and being, most of the time, their equal.

Cruising Guide to Southeast Asia, Vol. 1: South China Sea, Philippines, Gulf of Thailand to Singapore

Stephen Davies, Elaine Morgan

Amazon Price: $94.95 List Price: $94.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Imray, Laurie, Norie & Wilson Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $36.13

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Transportation -> Ships -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Transportation -> Ships -> General AAS
Subjects -> Sports -> Water Sports -> Sailing -> Excursion Guides

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Good, but not great 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The reality is there is little information for this part of the world. This is good information, but its not great and it does lack in certain areas, I don't know of a better book so I'd reccomend it, but do lots of homework before you go the information changes quickly.

Editorial Review:

This new pilot covers the South China Sea including Hong Kong, Philippines, Eastern Malaysia and Thailand to Sinapore. Stephen Davies and Elaine Morgan's detailed text provides cruise planning information, an extensive discussion on climate, technical data concerning radio and weather forecasting services and general background commentary on each country. Each region is then treated in detail and pilotage information is given for key harbours. This pilot is a unique source of information for cruise planning and also will be an essential reference for yachtsmen on passage.

Three Worlds Gone Mad: Dangerous Journeys through the War Zones of Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific

Robert Young Pelton

List Price: $14.95 By: The Lyons Press Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $5.63

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Ethnic & National -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Ethnic & National -> General AAS
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Travel

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

As the author of The World's Most Dangerous Places, Robert Young Pelton has come to know some of the most unusual and dangerous individuals in the world. In THE HUNTER, THE HAMMER, AND HEAVEN, he introduces an extraordinary cast of characters from three of the most war-ravaged countries on earth - the West African country of Sierra Leone, the breakaway republic of Chechnya, and a mysterious island in the South Pacific called Bougainville.

In war-torn Sierra Leone, as he wanders through the world's most expensive peacekeeping mission, he meets an ex-mercenary who hunts pirates, a ragtag militia whose members believe they have supernatural powers, and white men with "diamond fever."

In Chechnya, Pelton enters the jihad with three traveling companions - an American muhjadin who wants to die, a young woman seeing her first war as a journalist, and a grumpy cameraman. Pelton brings this motley crew down the secret muj trail from Georgia and into terrorist-filled bunkers, suicide squad-manned front lines, and SCUD missile attacks.

Finally, Pelton chronicles his two-year odyssey to meet one of the most elusive rebel leaders in the world - Francis Ona - who has survived numerous assassination attempts and who threatens to kill any white man who sets foot on his tiny island, Bougainville.

Filled with tension and intrigue, THE HUNTER, THE HAMMER, AND HEAVEN offers a dramatic vision of war and humanity.

The School That Fell From The Sky

Fred Hargesheimer

Amazon Price: $19.95 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Bookstand Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 26 new & used starting at $13.74

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Historical -> General AAS
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General

Editorial Review:

This is the story of a Photo Reconnaissance pilot in WWII shot out of the sky over the rain forest of the island of New Britain in the South Pacific. After 30 days alone he was found by friendly natives. Hidden from the nearby Japanese soldiers and later taken to the camp of a team of Australian Commandos who arranged his rescue in a USA submarine. He returned to New Britain in 1963 with his son, Dick, to build a school for the natives who saved his life. Today, over 400 children attend the Airmen's Memorial School.

Papua New Guinea (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)

Adrian Lipscomb, Rowan McKinnon, Tony Wheeler

List Price: $17.95 By: Lonely Planet Publications Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $44.00

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Subjects -> History -> Australia & Oceania -> General AAS
Subjects -> Travel -> Australia & South Pacific -> Papua New Guinea
Subjects -> Travel -> Australia & South Pacific -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Papua New Guinea seems like the last place on Earth. Its terrain is so rugged, its jungles so impenetrable, that even at the end of the 20th century it remains largely unknown by the West. As late as 1993, new tribes were still being discovered in this land of more than 700 languages and as many cultural and racial groups. Travel there is neither particularly easy nor particularly safe, yet--more and more--intrepid travelers are making their way to the island's shores. Lonely Planet has produced a guidebook to help visitors get the most out of their time and money. Papua New Guinea, by Tony Wheeler and Jon Murray, pulls no punches; it is up-front about the potential for trouble on the island--everything from crime to insurgency. But while the authors acknowledge the possibilities, they are hardly alarmists, noting that a lot of trouble can be avoided if you "listen to local advice, and above all, make friends with people who live in the area you are visiting." Good advice, no matter what your destination.

Color photographs; sidebars containing fascinating tidbits of history, culture, language, and more; and plenty of detailed maps make Lonely Planet's Papua New Guinea a good read and a great guidebook. So, if you're thinking of stepping off the beaten path on your next trip, consider Papua New Guinea--and Lonely Planet's excellent guide.

Papua New Guinea (Hema Maps International)

South Pacific Maps Pty Ltd, Hema Maps

Amazon Price: $8.95 List Price: $8.95 Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks By: Hema Maps Pty Ltd Amazon Marketplace: 8 new & used starting at $7.95

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> General AAS

Editorial Review:

Folded paper road and travel map of New Zealand. Distinguishes between major and minor roads and features elevation tinting. Includes an index of towns and places. Scale 1:2,167,000.

Race to the Snow: Photography and the Exploration of Dutch New Guinea, 1907 to 1936

List Price: $19.95 By: Koninklijk Instituut Voor de Tropen Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $140.21

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Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Travel -> Africa
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Travel -> Far East

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This is the first collection of photographs -- many never previously published -- depicting the Dutch and British expeditions to South New Guinea between 1907 and 1936.

When a seventeenth century report of snow-covered mountains in the interior of the tropical island of New Guinea was confirmed, the Dutch and British mounted expeditions in a race to reach them first. The authors chronicle the successes, heartbreaks and tragedies of the expeditions. The photographs depict the mountains, expedition members, and the Papuan people they encountered. It took until 1936 for a team led by Anton Colijn to finally make a successful ascent of Mt Carstensz, the highest peak in New Guinea.

The encounters between the expeditions and the Papuan people living in the mountains were the first of their kind. The photographs were taken by the expeditions as a form of evidence of these first contacts. More recently, as the photographs have become available to these same Papuan communities, the range of interpretations of their meaning has expanded. For communities such as the Amungme, these photographs provide an important window into their past, and a new means of rethinking current issues. The photographs, together with Papuan and European narratives about the events of the expeditions, represent a history that is very much alive and working in the service of the present.