Not his best known book but this is an addictive mixture of biography, sociological study and adventure story, flipping from the experiences of biologist Richard Schultz in the 1940s to those of his student Wade Davis, 30 years later, exploring the Amazon basin. It explores the ruthless practices of early British pharmaceuticals, colonialism, Indian Tribes, the history of rubber and the coca plant with sidebars into tribal hallucinogens and the bad Latin of Timothy Leary. I don’t want to say more, as the surprising voyage he goes on and things he discovers work best if you’re not expecting them.
It isn’t the genre of book I usually read much of, but it’s gripping, page turning and has so much history and anecdote packed into its pages I couldn’t put it down. I think this book broadened my horizons into reading more history and travelogues, which in turn hugely influenced my outlook and writing. If you haven’t tried anything like this before you should give it a go, what you find might surprise you!