There is nothing more blissful than reading a book on the deck of your Amazon riverboat, watching the jungle scenery pass by. What better way to enhance your jungle experience than learning of the possible adventures, discoveries, and exotic encounters that lie in wait for you on a vacation to the Amazon. But which books about the Amazon should you read?
From time to time, Rainforest Cruises have special guest cruise departures, like the Delfin II Amazon cruise that sailed in February 2016 with guest John Hemming, a world-renowned author, explorer, and overall expert on the Amazon and Incan Civilization.
Here, we’ve selected a list of 10 Books About the Amazon River, for you to read before, after, or during, your Amazon river cruise. Two of the Amazon books selected have been written by John Hemming himself, while others are Rainforest Cruises staff favorites and recommendations.
Author: John Hemming
John Hemming’s newest book, examining the thrilling stories of three pioneer English naturalists’ explorations and findings in the world’s richest ecosystem– the Amazon. Alfred Wallace, Henry Walter Bates, and Richard Spruce went on a journey over 150 years ago, to Amazonia, the world’s largest tropical forest and greatest river system. At that time, it was an almost-undiscovered environment for Western explorers and scientists. Each of the naturalists is famous for a particular discovery: Wallace is credited, along with Charles Darwin, for developing the theory of evolution; Spruce transported the quinine-bearing Cinchona tree to India, saving countless lives from malaria and Bates uncovered the phenomenon of protective mimicry among insects.
John Hemming reaches beyond the well-known narratives, offering an exciting story of frontier life in South America as seen through the lives of the great pioneers of anthropology, tribal linguistics, archaeology, and every branch of natural science.
Author: John Hemming
Author, John Hemming is one of the most powerful advocates of the Amazon– one of the most magnificent habitats on earth, containing the world’s largest river and home to the planet’s most biological diversity. In this book, Hemming discusses the current threats to the Amazon, such as deforestation, and the passionate struggles taking place in order to utilize, protect, and understand the Amazon. He also recalls the adventures (and misadventures) of explorers, Jesuit ecclesiastics, and greedy rubber barons, who enslaved thousands of Indians for profit.
Author: Paul Rosolie
A tale of an extraordinary adventure in the uncharted tributaries of the Western Amazon. This story captures the isolation and true beauty of the Amazon Rainforest in the Madre de Dios region of Peru, where the Andean mountain cloud forests fall into the lowland Amazon jungle, one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet. In January 2006, Paul Rosolie embarked on a journey to the west Amazon that would transform his life. He encountered giant snakes, isolated tribes untouched by outsiders, floating forests, prowling jaguars, poachers in the black market trade in endangered species, and much more. He ventured into the Amazon jungle’s most inaccessible tributaries and waterways. This book relives his adventure exploring one of the wildest places on Earth.
Author: David Grann
A New York Times Best-Seller, The Lost City of Z, follows the story of the legendary British explorer, Percy Fawcett, when he ventured into the unknown Amazon jungle searching for civilization. He never returned to tell his story. David Grann tells the stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z”, the greatest exploration mystery in the 20th century, and his own journey to the magnificent, and sometimes deadly, Amazon jungle.
Author: Buddy Levy
A true story of the legendary 16th-century explorer and his death-defying navigation of the Amazon River. Francisco Orellana became the first European to navigate and explore the entire length of the Amazon river. In this book, the author gives an account of the native populations– some welcoming and peaceful, giving life-saving guidance, while others ferociously hostile, performing terrifying rituals. Overflowing with violence and beauty, nobility and tragedy, River of Darkness is a breathtaking adventure that will sweep readers along on an epic voyage unlike any other.
Author: Scott Wallace
The Unconquered tells an extraordinary true story about a journey deep into the remote Amazon rainforest to track one of the world’s last uncontacted indigenous tribes. Wallace uncovers clues as to who the “Arrow People” might be and how they have managed to endure as one of the last unconquered tribes. Laced with lessons from anthropology and the Amazon’s own history, the author explores why so much about the Arrow People must remain in mystery if they are to survive.
The Unconquered reveals this critical battleground in the fight to save the planet as it has rarely been seen, wrapped in a page-turning tale of adventure.
Author: Gordon MacCreagh
Gordon MacCreagh recounts his adventures with eight “Eminent Scientificos” as they set out to explore the Amazon in 1923 without any idea of what lies ahead of them: rapids, malaria, monkey stew, and “dangerous savages.” This book is one of the most honest accounts ever written of a scientific expedition. The narrator takes you over the Peruvian Andes to the headwaters of the Amazon River, and then down the river until the expedition finally expires halfway to their intended destination: the mouth of the Amazon. Their encounters with parasites, water hazards, jungle dwellers, and many other jungle dangers, keep you reading more.
Author: Christopher Heaney
In 1911, a young Peruvian boy led an American explorer and Yale historian named Hiram Bingham into the ancient Incan citadel of Machu Picchu. Bingham made Machu Picchu famous, and his dispatches from the jungle made him a true Indiana Jones-like character. Christopher Heaney takes the reader into the heart of Peru’s past to relive the dramatic story of the final years of the Incan empire. Drawing on original research in untapped archives, Heaney vividly portrays both a stunning landscape and the complex history of a fascinating region that continues to inspire awe and controversy today.
Author: Candice Millard
The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth. The River of Doubt – it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that flows through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Here Roosevelt faced armed Indians with poison-tipped arrows, saw piranhas glide through its waters, and had to glide through white water rapids. While discovering the Amazon rainforest, Roosevelt and his men faced many hardships, losing their canoes, during starvation, and facing an Indian attack. From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rainforest to the darkest night of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, this book keeps the readers suspenseful and eager to read more.
Author: Ed Stafford
In April 2008, Ed Stafford set off to become the first man ever to walk the entire length of the Amazon. He started on the Pacific coast of Peru, crossed the Andes Mountain range to find the official source of the river. On his grueling 860-day, 4,000-plus mile journey, Stafford witnessed the devastation of deforestation firsthand, the pressure on tribes due to loss of habitats as well as nature in its true-raw form. Jaw-dropping from start to finish, Walking the Amazon is the unforgettable and gripping story of an unprecedented adventure.
Contact us to send in any Amazon book recommendations you may have, or if you need help planning your own Amazon river cruise adventure.
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