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

Rating:
Summary: Passing insights about PNG, way too much about Ms. Salak
Review: If you are a friend of Ms. Salak and want to know more about her inner life, then I recommend this book highly. For the rest of us, her personal identity struggles and self diagnoses get old really fast. Like many travelogues, because she passes much too quickly through the areas that are her stated theme of the book, one doesn't really get to know much about the people and places; it is mostly an "author as hero" kind of book. If you'd like to know more about this area of Papua New Guinea, I suggest the very readable "The Gebusi: Lives Transformed in a Rainforest World," by Bruce Knauft.

Rating:
Summary: Enthralling
Review: Like all great travelogues, "Four Corners" is an account that recognizes the important fact that the traveler themself is an integral part of the journey. Kira Salak takes us on her adventure through one of the wildest and rawest parts of the world, filled with beauty and danger, friendliness and brutality. Along the way she spends time in introspective examination. Why would someone make this trip? Why subject oneself to the uncertainies of a trip with no itinerary through so remote a place? Her answers are as important to the book as the trip itself. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST ADVENTURE TRAVEL BOOK I'VE EVER READ
Review: This book COMPLETELY engaged me from beginning to end. It tells the story of a young woman drawn to danger and adventure in one of the most remote locations on earth. She reaches distant tribes that haven't seen any white people, where the kids all run off in terror, thinking she's yellow-haired ghost. She spends time with other tribes still practicing cannibalism, puts up with unsavory local traders, meets shamans and fanatical missionaries and all manner of colorful characters. This is an adventure book on two different levels--we not only learn about the fascinating country of New Guinea, but we learn what drove Ms. Salak to go on such a dangerous and remarkable journey. And more incredibly, she went on this journey ALONE. My hat goes off to her.

If you're looking for some dry, academic kind of book on New Guinea culture--like the previous reviewer seemed to be--then I suggest you go to the library and pick up some scientific journals and go nuts. But if you'd like a great, really readable adventure story that will hold your interest from beginning to end, that won't be a waste of your time or money, then this is the book for you. I've shared this gem with all of my friends--world backpackers and arm-chair travelers alike--and they all loved it.