In Trouble Again: A Journey Between the Orinoco and the Amazon

Good travel writing is as hard to find as good places to travel. Mr. O'Hanlon does a thoroughly enjoyable job of describing his misadventures in the miserable, bug-infested Amazon jungle. However, unless O'Hanlon is exaggerating, the trip could have easily ended in tragedy rather than comedy. As the book went on, I felt sympathy for his companions and guides who may have signed on to the trip assuming there was logic and sense to it. In the end, I hope O'Hanlon will stay home next time.

Redmond O'Hanlon displays a tempered lunacy in his account of an extraordinary search for the infamously violent Yamamoni tribe. It all seems a little contrived at first. He deliberately searches London for a traveling companion, then selects the most inappropriate he can find - a nightclub owner. Simon, his foil among the insects, snakes and spiders of the Amazon, loses his marbles half way through the book. The strength of In Trouble Again, is that despite feeling total sympathy for the sane, you can not help but admire O'Hanlon's crazed doggedness. Everytime he has an excuse to turn back, he redoubles his efforts, dragging his guides onwards. To say that he survives is certainly not spoiling the ending, but it is an extraordinary read and enough to limit adverturous dreams to the Discovery Channel. It deserves a 10, but O'Hanlon is obsessed with birds. I, like Simon, have always thought a bird is just a bird. Which is why I'm staying at home.

Madcap and hilarious, this is a travel book written by a travel writer like no other. The natural history of the Venezuelan jungle, combined with an eclectic mix of characters so goofy and improbable as to seem fictional, told by a man who, if he wasn't already a science writer, would have made a nice addition to the Monty Python crew.

It's amazing that Mr. O'Hanlon is still alive, but I'm glad he is. I'm most definitely looking forward to reading some more of his adventures.

I enjoyed reading this book; it was well-written. I learned a lot too; the author gives detailed accounts of his adventures as well as the plant and animal life that he encounters. Humor is sprinkled throughout the book; there are some really funny parts. There are also some parts that will really gross you out. It's great! The only drawback is the ending. It ends rather abruptly. I still wonder if he ever made it back home or if only his notes made it!!!

O'Hanlon is an academic, really; the natural history editor of the Times Literary Supplement and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Furthermore, he claims to look like Benny Hill, a claim borne out by his book-jacket photographs.
He is, therefore, an entirely unlikely candidate for the outrageous adventures he gets himself into while traveling.

I have read a handful of his accounts, and they are all completely mad. But I have to conclude that this is the best of the lot.

Briefly, this is the account of his travels through Amazonia, in a small wooden boat, ultimately to the homelands of the Yanomami (the "Fierce People" in Napoleon Chagnon's memorable phrase). Everyone O'Hanlon meets is terrified of the violent, unpredictable Yanomami, and he is hard pressed to find anyone to accompany him on his journey. When he finally meets them, he loses no time before joining them in a blast or two of hallucinogenic ebene, afterwards falling into a stupor while gazing lustfully at the local chief's young daughter.

Anyone could make these adventures interesting to read. After treatment by a writer of O'Hanlon's skill and humor, the book is impossible to put down.