Reviews

Light at the Edge of the World by Wade Davis

ovenbird_reads's review against another edition

4.0

I've been a fan of Wade Davis for a long time, and this book is a beautiful over-view of his work and perspectives. Fairly succinct essays are accompanied by photography and the whole package has made me want to do a lot of deeper reading into the cultures and ways of living touched on here. If you've ever thought that the loss of the world's languages is no big deal or that it doesn't matter if indigenous cultures are subsumed into our technologically driven "modern" world, then you need to read this book right now. And there's just a lot of unbelievably interesting stuff in here. Did you know that the Inuit can make functional knives out of their own frozen feces? Neither did I. And that's only one of a million ways that they make their frozen landscape work for them instead of against them. Crazy! This book felt like a really fantastic undergraduate lecture. It only scratches the surface of a huge topic, but it's an excellent introduction that doesn't have a dull moment.

ekjlowe's review against another edition

4.0

This has amazing photographs! If I kept books on the coffee table, this would be one.

samuelbeer's review against another edition

3.0

Davis is a compelling writer, and reading this book did make me want to go to more cool places and do more cool things, but i never feel like i ended up going where he was trying to take me. It seemed like he was at his most effective when speaking in broad generalities (It's bad when the government destroys the ecological milieu of a given culture! People with good intentions can do bad things!), but it seemed like when he dealt with very specific cases (Person X had effect Y on culture Z) he presented accounts of the interactions that weren't particularly fair, or that posited a strict outside-inside binary that didn't allow for differing opinions about the contact by those inside the culture under consideration (or that suggested, despite his claim of the importance of self-determinism in cultural adaptation, that those who chose to embrace the contact and leave behind a more traditional lifestyle had made a less valid decision), or that didn't allow for the outside/globalized culture contacting the indigenous culture to consist of differing, mutually antagonistic groups. Finally, i understand the natural limitations that present to a male anthropologist, but i would very much have liked to have heard more female voices--it seemed likely that all (or, at the very least, most) of the cultures discussed were very much male-dominated. It seems that hearing some female voices commenting on the loss of a male-dominated culture would present a different reading experience from hearing a bunch of male voices bemoaning the loss of a male-dominated culture. And hey, look, i just wrote a review that makes me look like an ethnocentric indigenous culture-hater. Sigh.

lauren_endnotes's review against another edition

5.0

Due to the size of this book, many would simply think of it as a coffee table photography book. While the photos are quite stunning, all captured by Davis himself over the last 25 years in the field, it is the text that is the real gem. Davis currently researches as a National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence, but his career has led him to very remote areas of the world to learn about the distinct "ethnosphere", and the modern phenomenon of these vanishing cultures. With amazing detail, gathered first-hand and through interviews, he discusses his research in British Columbia, the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, the Amazon basin (Peru, Brazil, Ecuador),lowland Orinoco settlements in Venezuela and Colombia, Haiti, Malaysia, Kenya, Tibet, Australia, and Nunavut (among others with less detail). He notes that great effort has been put towards protecting biodiversity, while cultural diversity, as well as language is being lost everyday. With nods to many of the great anthropologists and scientists of the 19th and 20th century, he recognizes that modern nations can enrich themselves by accepting and encouraging the inherent diversity, "not as failed attempts at modernity", but as new opportunities to see the human experience in full color.

I have had the great opportunity to see Dr. Davis speak twice at the National Geographic Society in DC, both times sharing stories and research in Peru. His insights have enriched my travels, and reading this book made me long for Peru even more!

rowanglass's review

adventurous informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.0

Not a scholarly text by any means, but an interesting and informative guide through various cultures with which Wade Davis has come to know through his decades of work and travel. The text is broken up into thematic chapters, each dealing with one or several societies in various parts of the world and exploring the aspects of their cultures and worldviews that make them unique and singularly valuable, and interspersed with beautiful photos taken by Davis throughout his career, this book is presented beautifully and makes for good coffee table perusing. It also ends on an inspiring and hopeful note, despite the challenges and tragedies faced by the Indigenous peoples it discusses, leaving me with some hope for the future of a truly pluralistic and diverse humanity.

ivybeans's review

4.0

A wide range of stories about ancient cultures. I think that I understand how cultures should be allowed to modernize at their own speed. They can adapt if given time. Not all cultures are pretty but this book gives me more respect for ancient cultures and how they can thrive in the modern world.

carolabola's review

3.0

El autor nos lleva en un viaje a través de varias culturas que están desapareciendo alrededor del mundo. Es fascinante abrir los ojos ante otras formas de ver el mundo y darnos cuenta de que ninguna es mejor o peor. La diversidad nos enriquece.