Paul Spencer Sochaczewski

Announcing the Launch of Jungle Gyre

Posted on 23. Sep, 2026 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books, Jungle Gyre

An Angry Borneo Princess, Eco-Revenge, and Jungle Justice

Have a Whirl — Release Your Inner Fred and Ginger

Posted on 23. Sep, 2026 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Share Your Journey

Some Tips on Expanding From “Good” to “Great”

Seek Conflict! Just Say No!

Posted on 23. Sep, 2026 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Share Your Journey

Without a Problem, You’ve Got No Story

Writing a Book? Start with a Bang

Posted on 12. May, 2026 by Paul Sochaczewski in Share Your Journey

Writing a Book? Start with a Bang Engage the Reader from the Beginning Happy World Book Day – April 25 GENEVA, Switzerland Bravo. You want to write a book. You’ve been working on your book for years, surrounded by scraps of paper, sleep-interrupted ideas, and a bunch of floppy disks dating back to […]

To Tell the Story, Write in Scenes: Reduce the Narrative; Show, Don’t Tell

Posted on 10. Mar, 2026 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books, Share Your Journey

Happy International Writers’ Day — March 3 GENEVA, Switzerland Your family has been bugging you to write the story of how you quit medical school (breaking your mother’s heart) and found enlightenment in a Himalayan ashram. Or the story of how you became the world’s first topless rodeo clown (it was the […]

Happy Birthday Thomas Barbour

Posted on 08. Aug, 2025 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books

Happy Birthday Thomas Barbour When writing about historical characters, scholars search letters, journals, media accounts, and personal memories for the holy grail that “proves” a speculation about events and motivations. From these sources, historians then evaluate and triangulate until, like Miss Marple, they reach a satisfactory solution to the puzzle. (Or as […]

Quests

Posted on 10. Jun, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books

Quests is a volume of 24 personal adventures pursued over more than 50 years— at times obscure, long-gestating, sentimental, and ridiculous.

Quests don’t have to be cinematic or physical. A quest might be as seemingly low-key as getting a degree, eating escargots in Paris, learning a language, or mastering the art of making puff pastry.

I will never climb K2 or windsurf across the Atlantic. I don’t intend to attempt to “discover” an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon, locate the source of the Nile, or find the Holy Grail.

I’d like to know what quests you’ve chosen. Big or small? Distant or close to home? Did you achieve your goal? If not, does it matter?

The Real First White Rajah of Borneo

Posted on 15. Sep, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Sultan and the Mermaid Queen

I belong to a small group of people curious about the life and times of Alexander Hare. When we get together, we ponder an improbable question: How did an ambitious 19th-century slave-owner, harem-builder, and political arriviste become the First White Rajah of Borneo?

The bigger question: How does one become king or queen numero uno? More specifically, how might I become the first Supreme Leader With Wisdom Like Solomon Whose Eyes Spot Prey Like an Eagle and Whose Courage Rivals That of a Tiger of my own country?

“Look Here, Sir, What a Curious Bird”

Posted on 29. May, 2025 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books

“Look Here, Sir, What a Curious Bird” Searching for Ali, Alfred Russel Wallace’s Faithful Companion   Publishing details Publication: July 4, 2023 ISBN: Trade Paperback: 978-2-940573-41-7 ISBN: eBook: 978-2-94-573-42-4 310 pages Prices: Paperback: $18.95 eBook: $8.95 Note: The book is also available on order from independent booksellers Description For some 50 years, I […]

A Conservation Notebook

Posted on 16. Feb, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books

A Conservation Notebook Ego-Greed, and Oh-So-Cute Orangutans — Tales From a Half-Century on the Environmental Front Lines Publishing details Publication: June 28, 2022 ISBN: Trade Paperback: 978-2-940573-39-4 ISBN: eBook: 978-2-940573-40-0 310 pages Prices: Paperback: $18.95 eBook: $8.95 Note: The book is also available on order from independent booksellers Description Are you optimistic about […]

Searching for Ganesha

Posted on 18. Feb, 2022 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books

Searching for Ganesha Collecting Images of the Sweet-Loving, Elephant-Headed Hindu Deity Everybody Admires Publishing details ISBN: Paperback: 978-2-940573-37-0 ISBN: eBook: 978-2-940573-38-7 248 pages More than 200 full-color, museum-quality photos of Ganesha objects in Paul’s collection Prices: Paperback: $34.95 eBook: $9.99 A sample selection of pages from the book Description Across […]

EarthLove: Chronicles of the Rainforest War

Posted on 18. Oct, 2020 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books

EarthLove Chronicles of the Rainforest War ISBN: 978-2-940573-35-6 Description There is a war to save the rainforests of Borneo. EarthLove chronicles the history of the global conservation movement and exposes battles pitting ego and greed versus noble intentions. Who has the power to stop the rape of the tropical rainforests? Rich, athletic, virile Senator Rod […]

Dead, but Still Kicking

Posted on 18. Nov, 2023 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books

Do you believe in spirits?

Paul Sochaczewski travels to Indonesia, Myanmar, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland to speak with mediums, shamans, and, yes, spirits of dead folks. In this innovative work of personal journalism, Sochaczewski—a self-described Agnostic Spiritualist—creates the Three Tenets of Spiritualism. He gets a personal mandate from Moses, speaks with Alfred Russel Wallace about his relationship with Charles Darwin, gets frustrated by conflicting messages given by Wallace’s assistant Ali, encounters a female vampire ghost who wants to follow him home (it’s his own fault), converses with nature spirits, and is invited on a date with the Mermaid Queen of Java.

Exceptional Encounters

Posted on 03. Mar, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Books

Can an army of orangutan guerillas save the Indonesian rainforest? Why is China creating a retirement haven in the South China Sea for rich despots?  What happened when the descendant of the over-sexed first White Rajah of Borneo returned to claim his throne? Did Filipino “love sorcerers” help swing a U.S. election?  Can an American pilgrim find enlightenment through carnal escapades? How can Asia’s first “shaman university” repel attacks by rogue black-magic wizards?  And why is Indonesia’s Mermaid Queen really angry and not going to take it anymore?

An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles

Posted on 17. Oct, 2020 by Paul Sochaczewski in An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles

While Alfred Russel Wallace is recognized as co-discoverer of the theory of natural selection (and was perhaps deliberately sidelined by Darwin) he was also an edgy social commentator and a voracious collector of “natural productions” – while in Asia he caught, skinned, and pickled 125,660 specimens including 212 new species of birds, 200 new species of ants, and 900 new species of beetles.

In the book Sochaczewski, who has lived and worked in Southeast Asia for more than 40 years, follows Wallace’s eight years of exploration in Southeast Asia, based on Wallace’s classic book The Malay Archipelago.

In An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles Sochaczewski has created an innovative form of storytelling, combining incisive biography and personal travelogue.