Batfishing in the Rainforest: Strange Tales of Travel & Fishing

I read this book when I was about 16 years old and then I read it again. Fifteen years later, I would not be a writer or a hunter or a hunting instructor if I had not read 'Batfishing in the Rainforest' at that age. I have still never gone fishing for tarpon, but reading that book led me to seek out and appreciate whatever odd fish might be wherever I happen to find myself. Even if its just bluegill and bullheads in a pond, the point is to have the right attitude and a sense of adventure about what you're doing. I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone with a strong interest in the outdoors.

An absolute MUST READ for anyone with a sense of adventure. Makes me want to jump in my plane and head back into the Caribbean...or Bluefields...or Montego Bay...or Medelin.........oops! Can't go back there. Rick Magers [...]

Batfishing in the Rainforest is a collection of Randy Wayne White's essays - some of them poignant ("the Legend", White's tale of his dog is fabulous), many of them gut-bustingly funny (his experiences at a health spa and advice on "How to be a Competent Southern Waterperson are priceless), a few had me shaking my head (how can a person be suprised they got mugged in Lima? and how come I never meet fun travel companions in third world countries?) All of them are a pleasure to read. White never takes himself (or others) too seriously, and typically has a light and humorous take on things. The stories are brief - many originally written for Outdoor Magazine. I found the book thoroughly enjoyable and I strongly recommend it. For those of you who are familiar with White's "Doc Ford" novels, you can see where many of his characters, plots and the "research" for his tales come from. For those readers who have not yet discovered this marvelous writer, I encourage you to begin here and then sample his hand at fiction.

Randy Wayne White has more hits than misses in this book of essays. He has an authentic American take on the world, with a Floridian's amusement and acceptance of foul weather, tough dogs, tougher kids, and bugs of all kinds. This book is a keeper, and we are lucky it has been reprinted. His mysteries are real good, too, but somehow I wish that he would take his gift more seriously. By that, I think he could be a major American literary force, if he didn't have to pay for braces, college tuition, and fishing gear. However, being sun dried, and wind weathered, he should last long enough to get back into that true and raw, and heart felt need to be a voice from the salt flats that reaches people in a Pulitzer kind of way.

Batfishing in the Rainforest is one of the funniest, most insightful and heart touching collections of essays I've ever read. After reading Mr. White's newest novel (The Mangrove Coast) I have now gone on a search for every book he's written, and Batfishing in the Rainforest is unlike anything he -- or anyone else -- has done. Mr. White wrote most of these essays while he was a fishing guide, he says, at a lovely old marina on Sanibel Island, the famous vacation spot in Florida. From that little marina, he ranged far afield, traveling around the world to write quirky stories for Outside Magazine. The first story in the collection, a tale about his hilarious dog, Gator, is absolutely unforgetable and well worth the price of admission. The stories which follow, although occasionally uneven, are always uniquely written, often funny and always intelligent. Mr. White is one of those writer we all love to "discover'. DAH