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Bumbling Through Borneo

Tom Schmidt
Kakibubu Media Limited (2009)
ISBN 9789881806659
Reviewed by Melissa Koltes for RebeccasReads (4/09)

As I began reading, I realized that “Bumbling Through Borneo” was nothing like I had expected.  Most backpacking stories are a diary of sorts of the events and circumstances that the writer experienced on his or her travels.  Although, we do have an account of the adventures in this book from the author, we also get something more. 

This is a short book about a man and the companions he picks up along the way as they backpack through Borneo and make their way up the Rejang River.  It integrates an adventure story, with historical facts, country information, and a keen sense of the effects from deforestation and climate changes all in a comic book-like format. 

I found the story did not pull me in as I had hoped.  The situations and experiences were not as developed or elaborated on to make this a truly entertaining book.  This may be due to the comic book format but nonetheless it was disappointing.  The stories were short, and aside from a few scenarios, consisted of just a few lines to sum up the events.  I felt as though I was reading the journal of someone that did not have enough time to fully write down how they ended up where they did, who they met along the way or what happened once they got there.  There was little conversation among the characters and many should have been fleshed out further.  Readers should also note that this appears to be the first in a series so all ends are not nicely tied up at the end of the book.

The historical and country information was interesting and well researched.  I found these sections much more fascinating than the story itself.  It was immensely disheartening to read of the ecological ramifications of both global warming and deforestation (extensive logging) by these small countries to feed the materialism of the larger countries. 


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