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Soul of the Tiger
Soul of the Tiger takes us to a increasingly-threatened world where human life is intimately linked with rhinos and cobras, elephants and man-eating tigers, and eagles which fight snakes — both in the physical world as well as the metaphysical and divine realms. The fascinating, bizarre, and often humorous accounts reveal the vital connection between people in Southeast Asia and their animal neighbors; to the villagers, animals are omens, divinities, meat, leather, competitors, and even ancestors. We meet a Bornean farmer, who, although an Evangelical Christian, waits to plant his rice until the yellow wagtail arrives. Witness animal fights that fill the needs once met by headhunting. Talk with Indonesians who believe that man-eating tigers carry the souls of their victims.
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Uncle Joe and Aunt Anisoara
My uncle and aunt’s love affair illustrates the challenges of trying to decipher a relationship.
How could I not love an uncle who, when he babysat me, let me stay up well past my bedtime to watch wrestling (Antonino Rocca was my favorite) and horror movies (Boris Karloff’s The Mummy was the scariest)? How could I not love an uncle who lived in the middle of Greenwich Village, who took me to my first Broadway show, who tried to disprove Einstein? How could I not love an uncle who invented a slew of often-useless gadgets, and who chastised major corporations for their lousy ad campaigns — and then offered them new campaigns that were hardly better? How could I not love an uncle who married a wannabe Romanian noble and bought a farm in the middle of the Adirondack mountains because it resembled his wife’s native Transylvania?
Uncle Joe Rubin died of colon cancer in 1960 when I was 13. I was at an age when I was particularly incurious about life’s complexities and more than a little spooked by having a close family member wither away in our spare room.
News & Events
10 November — Opening of COP 30 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Ah, yet another international gathering to discuss progress in addressing the problem of climate change. This year it will be held in Belém, Brazil, and the participants will also focus on nature conservation in the country, including the vast Amazon region. I’ve been following Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace for some 50 years, including a […]
Intro to a speculative biography of Ali
My speculative biography of Ali, Alfred Russel Wallace’s assistant, was honored as the Best Historical Book of 2024 by the United States Peace Corps Writers. Here’s an excerpt from the book’s introduction. Look Here, Sir, What a Curious Bird Intro to a speculative biography of Ali, Alfred Russel Wallace’s assistant in the Malay Archipelago […]
Alfred Russel Wallace and Things That Go Bump in the Night
Alfred Russel Wallace is best known for his scientific achievements — collecting and documenting hundreds of new species of “natural productions,” major insights into biogeography, island endemism, and cultural anthropology, and notably, his development of a theory of evolution by natural selection independently of and prior to that of Charles Darwin. But Wallace was also […]