Again with the READING Friday, July 31, 2009

Even today, the Brazilian government estimates that there are more than sixty Indian tribes that have never been contacted by outsiders. "These forests are...almost the only place on earth where indigenous people can survive in isolation from the rest of mankind," John Hemming, the distinguished historian of Brazilian Indians and a former director of the Royal Geographical Society, wrote. Sydney Possuelo, who was in charge of the Brazilian department set up to protect Indian tribes, has said of these groups, "No one knows for sure who they are, where they are, how many they are, and what languages they speak." In 2006, members of a nomadic tribe called Nukak-Maku emerged from the Amazon in Columbia and announced they were ready to join the modern world, though they were unaware that Columbia was a country and ask if the planes overhead were on an invisible road.

Crazy, bizarre, exceptionally well-told tale of obsession and exploration. I loved this book.