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In Throwim Way Leg, Australia-based mammologist-raconteur Tim Flannery recalls scientific expeditions in the wilds of New Guinea that convey both the thrill of discovery and the negotiations necessary to bridge huge clashes of cultures. A world expert on New Guinea's fauna, Flannery has discovered 20 new species during his two decades of research. Yet his ability to convey unalloyed adventure in his taletelling makes these scientific expeditions read more like hair-raising, funky Redmond O'Hanlon-style travels than disciplined, scholarly field trips. Energy and danger run high.
Terrific thunderstorms and aircraft mishaps rattle Flannery during his travels. Yet the most memorable quality of Throwim Way Leg is Flannery's incorporation of humans into the natural world he writes about, often contrasting the jungled New Guinea denizens with stark modern technologies. He writes rich profiles of those he has met, and his images are memorable and meaningful: crowds of people gaping at a single television set; the remote landscape of Mt. Albert Edward dotted with cattle, Swiss chalets, and the smoky fires of the Goilala people; the malnourished Yapsiei greeting him reeking of the "sweet, sickly smell" of grile, a form of ringworm.
Ultimately, Flannery looks ahead and sees that the age of discovery is not at all complete in New Guinea, as so much remains unknown. But, in an often-told tale, modern political forces are at work, reshaping those unique natural and cultural environments that Throwim Way Leg explores with such vigor. --Byron Ricks
From Publishers Weekly
This energetic fusion of natural science and anthropology caused the Times Literary Supplement to declare that in Flannery "Australia has found its own Stephen Jay Gould." Indeed, Flannery's book is, like Gould's work, erudite and informing. But Flannery (The Future Eaters, 1994), an Australian biologist who specializes in mammalogy, gives us a much more personal take in this memoir of his scientific and cross-cultural adventures during 15 expeditions to New Guinea?undertaken in order to research the many species of mammals that exist on this large island, which he refers to as "one of the world's last frontiers." His accounts of crossing the rugged island terrain and enduring onslaughts from snakes, bees, flies and mosquitoes are vivid yet understated. During his explorations, Flannery documented many new species of mammals and discovered the presence of a bat that had previously been considered extinct. The best parts of the book are those in which Flannery tells of his forays into remote villages. His descriptions of the indigenous peoples he met and worked with are sympathetic and often very funny (with the humor frequently at his own expense), particularly the tales of the cannibals of Yominbip and Betavip. Flannery accepted funding from the Indonesian PT Freeport mining company, which operates in Irian Jaya, but that doesn't stop him from voicing his concern that the presence of Freeport has led to civil unrest, violence, racial tensions and environmental havoc. The title comes from New Guinea Pidgin; referring to a first step, it means "to go on a journey." Readers would do well to follow Flannery on this one. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
YA-New Guinea's myriad mountain ranges and steep river valleys fostered the isolation of its peoples and resulted in the development of hundreds of languages. Pidgin English is the one language the different tribes have in common, and "throwim way leg" means to go on what may be a long journey by thrusting out your leg to take that first step. Flannery steps out again and again, chronicling his major explorations of Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya from 1981 to 1996. He was especially interested in tree kangaroos, and went to great lengths to pursue and document new species of these elusive and endangered mammals. To explore New Guinea is to scramble up and down mountains, and enter caves full of skeletons, all the while enduring a meager diet of rats and other small animals. In each tribal village visited, Flannery spent much time and effort getting to know at least a few of the inhabitants, and made an effort to learn at least a little of their language. Consequently, he was welcomed wherever he went, in a land where outsiders are feared for their exploitation of both the peoples and their homeland. Flannery is a thoughtful chronicler of the lives of the indigenous peoples and an entertaining guide to this fascinating corner of the world. YAs interested in biological sciences, in ecology and conservation, and especially in exploration will find this book a great resource. Maps are provided of each area explored, and the color photographs show some of the people and animals encountered.Molly Connally, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review, D.J.R. Bruckner
It is an enthralling introduction to the mountain people of New Guinea ... and to their magnificent land.
From Kirkus Reviews
Flannery (The Future Eaters, not reviewed), a mammologist at home in the field, reports on his researches in a distinctly remote patch of upcountry New Guinea, which is about as upcountry as you can get. This is natural history in the raw, where p ersonal comfort and safety take a backseat to the thrill of trooping about in those rare blank spots on the zoological map. Flannery, who has carried out scientific work throughout Oceania, concentrates here on Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya, lands that routinely serve up new species of mammals to expeditions. In a vaguely old-fogey tone (``My first memories of Port Moresby are still vivid'' and ``There is one case I will never forget''), he recounts slogging and slashing his way toward Goodfellow's tree -kangaroo, which dwells in the treetops of New Guinea's oak forest, or a King of Saxony bird of paradise (Flannery may be a mammologist, but its with birds that he finds his most evocative encounters). He casually drops comments like, ``I was recovering f rom cerebral malaria at the time''; he carries out rude surgery in the wild; he makes the obligatory visit to an outhouse full of colossal hairy spiders. A python throws its coils around him (``I watched in amazement as my hand became miraculously attache d to my knee''), and he is mortally threatened more than once by natives who resent his presence. Flannery paces his narrative well, and makes his book that much more valuable by detailing the quirks and everyday lives of the local people he works with. H e ends the book with an intelligent, well-versed, and scathing critique of Indonesian malfeasance in Irian Jaya. A chronicle of fieldwork in places so untouched they feel out of time. How salutary it is to learn simply that such landscapes still exist! (1 6 pages color photos, not seen) (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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