The Tree Where Man Was Born (Penguin Classics) Paperback – August 31, 2010

I purchased this book in anticipation of a journey to Africa. This chronicle is nonfiction, but it reads with the depth and intensity of poetry. Even though this book was written about the author's experience and impressions of Africa on a series of trips in the 1960's his insights remain timeless. The politics of Africa are convulsive and the boundaries of countries dynamic, but much of Tanzania and Kenya lands have been preserved and remain essentially the same as when Matthiessen visited 50 years ago. His descriptions of natural occurrences like the systematic attack of wild dogs on a new born zebra made me want to beg him to stop. But, he gives life to the landscape and all the animals that dwell there with same brilliant mastery of the language and pulls the reader forward. He does speak of mans beginnings as the title suggests, "Baboons in silhouette looked like early hominids hurling wild manic howling at my head." Even though the information about the descent of mankind is fascinating, for me it is Matthiessen's incredible descriptive powers that give magic to a land that is often harsh and unforgiving to man and beast. Speaking about Kilimanjaro he said, "The glacier glistens. A distant snow peak scours the mind, but a snow peak in the tropics draws the heart o a fine shimmering painful point of joy."I will read this book again when I return from Africa to compare notes and take lessons from a truly gifted writer.

I don't think I could have prepared better for my trip to Tanzania. I loved the country since I read the book. Although it's a bit dated (1972) and East Africa has changed, the substance is still as real as it was then. In about 250 pages I learned with a good level of detail about the human conflicts of East Africa, the consequences of colonialism, the geography and history of the region and the animals. Oh, the animals. After I read the book I felt so much closer to them. I understood better the matriarchal elephant, the lonely and super dangerous leopard, the gregarious wild dog, the tough life of a lion cub, the cycle of life that includes scavengers and the myriad of antelopes. There was so much new to me that I found myself checking new words (animals, plants, locations, verbs) very often. That makes the book harder to read, but so much more enlightening. There is some comedy too, especially the adventures with Iain Douglas-Hamilton, who survived the author to the date and has become one of the most prominent voices in defense of wildlife. More importantly, this book is not about the author: it's about the people and animals of East Africa. Selfless.

Typically beautiful description of the East African area. Would have liked more detail of the tribes living in the area. Peter Matthiessen is well known for painting glorious word pictures of all the locals he has been to. I have read most of the books he has written and am always enchanted by his love for and understanding of the lands he travel in.

The Tree Where Man Was Born (Classic, Nature, Penguin)The Tree Where Man Was Bornby Peter MatthiessenMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI bought this book before I knew who Peter Matthiessen was, namely, one of the greatest nature writers of all time. Because of the book's title, I thought the author would tie present day East Africa to a by-gone era when man was primitive and evolving and nature ruled. I read the first one-hundred fifty pages and put it down for five years before returning to it. At that time, I was lost in my passion for the life and times of early man and not so interested in anything that rhymed with 'present day'.Then, after finishing that portion of my writing, I returned to what might be Matthiessen's greatest nature book (well, there is Snow Leopard and At Play in the Fields of the Lord. Hard to pick). When I picked it up the second time, I couldn't put it down. His descriptions of nature, the depth of understanding he voices for the people of the land, his vivid descriptions of what happens around him are like no one else. Here are a few of my favorites:* Soon vegetation crowded the road, which was crossed at dusk by a band of bush-pig, neat-footed and burly, neck bristles erect, as if intent on punching holes right through the truck* Soft hills inset with outcrops of elephant-colored boulders rose beyond a bright stretch of blue river* Kamande Gatora is a contained person with the watchfulness of the near-blind; he had taken the Mau-Mau oath and been imprisoned, in the years after his mistress had gone home to Denmark, despite 'the kind deeds I was receiving from her untold and the old life we stayed with her* Marsabit in June: great elephants and volcanoes, lark song and bright butterflies and far below, pale desert wastes that vanish in the sands.* By morning the wind was blowing up in sandstorms. Flights of sand grouse, seeking water, hurtled back and forth over the cracking palms, and a train of camels etched a slow crack into the desert to the south.* Inland, black boulders climb to far-off ridges that rise in turn to the Kulal Mountains, in Rendille Land.* ...because the heat is dry and because the wind is never still for more than a few hours.* Since gnu are ever willing to stampede, the crossing is a hazard for the calves, and one morning of early winter more than six hundred drowned.* By late afternoon, when the predators become restless, raising their heads out of the grass to sniff the wind, those calves would already be running.I'm only to pg. 127... Does it take your breath away, too?

The writing is a bit pretentious and much of his conjecture about human origins has proved to not be correct.

As stated above. This was a gift

If you have an interest in the people, wildlife, and history of East Africa; this book is for you. Well written with vivid descriptions and great insight into the lives of the people who inhabit East Africa.

The Tree Where Man Was Born is an interesting account of Peter Matthiessen's travels in East Africa in the 1960s. It is most interesting--and sometimes moving--when Matthiessen relates his encounters with native peoples, some of great antiquity, and describes the forces of modernity that even then were threatening their traditional ways. The only impediment to enjoyment lies in the proliferation of factual details--peoples and places--that Matthiessen presents the reader without much accommodation in the form of maps, glossaries, or an index. Some such orientation would have been helpful in the effort to keep things in geographical and anthropological perspective.

This book is so well written and highly informative. It is a must read for anyone who seeks knowledge about Africa.

I'm sure it's a classic but it's an extremely dull read with almost incomprehensible and dense writing. It sets the atmosphere well though and it's obvious the writer is obsessed with Africa.

Matthiessen never disappoints. He writes like silk feels. One of the few authors whose books I re-read. The Tree Where Man was Born shows you an Africa seldom seen. The people are as wonderful as the places.

An icon of a book - unique in its craft. It's a journey through East Africa like no other.

A classic. A beautiful yet very sad account of Africa in the late 60s, early 70s. Peter Matthiessen is a superb author.