Somewhere South of Miami

Rating:
Summary: This book hooked me
Review:  
 
If you're a birder, particularly a male birder, buy this book!

Take William Least Heat-Moon's travelog "Blue Highways," plunge his Central States' rambling journey 30 degrees south, add birds, booze, and broads, mold it around Jimmy Buffett's song "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," and there you have it.

For Woodstock-generation male birders like me, Faanes' story rings true. Many passages could have been lifted straight from our own diaries. Who among us hasn't felt the sting of divorce? Been bewildered by a departing woman's irrational behavior? Been amazed during our agony at the serenity we still find afield, time suspended for hours during a quest for an elusive species whose gap on our life list throbs like a dull toothache? And who among us hasn't sought his own means of reconciling to the fact that those dreams of shared years together have crashed? Through this autobiography, Faanes holds up the mirror to us as we join him on a journey to that most magical of places -- Elsewhere.

Rarely have I read an author so transparent, so willing to expose his raw, rough, reactive nature as well as his sophisticated self. Faanes lets the reader in on behaviors most of us would just as soon keep hidden. He weaves his tapestry of emotional healing using threads the color of Kirtland's Warblers, Eskimo Curlews, and a host of Caribbean endemics. Progressing through the book, one experiences the author's emotional transformation, like a songbird in molt. We follow Faanes' on his progressions from a hurting, bitter, highly impulsive male chauvenist to a seasoned researcher laced with mellowness born of a certain savoir faire.

Personal growth aside, this book is a fascinating narrative of birding adventures of which the rest of us can only dream. Imagine being paid to spend time birding in remote areas of the Turks & Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands. Faanes' vivid accounts put the reader in the heart of the action. I was particularly fascinated at being able to join him voyeuristically for any number of "life" discoveries - a new bird, airport, airline, food, beer or more exotic drink, willing woman, and even a survival technique or two.

Part of the fun of reading this book is being able to experience Faanes' sometimes dangerous adventures without the risk of actually being there. By recording the full range of his experiences in his book, Faanes provides us with not just a sip of tropical adventure but a fullblown chug. 
 

Rating:
Summary: Not Just Another Book About Travel ...
Review: This is a fast-moving story of a man of science who sought refuge in the things he could understand through the beauty of animals and nature, when the circumstances of his life were not understandable or bearable. It's interesting to see science and logic blend with emotion and spirit in this life-affirming collection of travel stories. Even though the book is constructed in chapters as parts of a whole story, each chapter reads like a short story, while following an overall theme of travel.

In seeking oblivion from pain by immersing himself in every kind of beauty he could find, Faanes found peace with himself and his circumstances. It's about traveling, but it's not JUST about travel or the exotic places Fannes tells about. It's the story of triumph over fear; of peace over pain. It's a story of healing and embracing life. I was charmed by the ironies that the author illustrated and touched by his honesty. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Rating:
Summary: A Goombay Smash of a Story
Review: This is a great book. When reading it, one has the feeling the story's bottom line has been lived in full by the author himself. If you have gone through a difficult period in life and immersed yourself in a personal passion to help ease the pain, this story is for you. Faanes' pain is divorce, his passions are rare birds and the disappearing habitats that sustain them.

He tells the story of a bird watcher---and a good one at that---who seeks to learn the real condition of a species thought to be on the brink of extinction. It is an enviable job; he gets to hop from one obscure island to the next, tracking down exotic birds, drinking the tropical beverage of choice---the Goombay Smash---and melting into a lay-back local scene seemingly set on slow-motion. And we can't forget the drug dealer dodging. A couple of Americans with binoculars and government papers draw attention to themselves in the lower latitudes. Sometimes this helps, sometimes it puts their lives in danger. I now have no choice but to pay a visit to the Dominican Republic. Read the book and you won't either.

His journey is a blast, but you can't help get the feeling that through this chase what the character really hopes to find is personal peace. All this with the wise lyrics of Jimmy Buffet and the Hiaasen-like, laugh-out-loud situations that for some unknown reason are only found in Florida and other tropical places to the south.

Faanes' story is fun and enlightening at the same time---a thrilling ride from an author who I hope will take us on many more.

Rating:
Summary: A Goombay Smash of a Story
Review: This is a great book. When reading it, one has the feeling the story's bottom line has been lived in full by the author himself. If you have gone through a difficult period in life and immersed yourself in a personal passion to help ease the pain, this story is for you. Faanes' pain is divorce, his passions are rare birds and the disappearing habitats that sustain them.

He tells the story of a bird watcher---and a good one at that---who seeks to learn the real condition of a species thought to be on the brink of extinction. It is an enviable job; he gets to hop from one obscure island to the next, tracking down exotic birds, drinking the tropical beverage of choice---the Goombay Smash---and melting into a lay-back local scene seemingly set on slow-motion. And we can't forget the drug dealer dodging. A couple of Americans with binoculars and government papers draw attention to themselves in the lower latitudes. Sometimes this helps, sometimes it puts their lives in danger. I now have no choice but to pay a visit to the Dominican Republic. Read the book and you won't either.

His journey is a blast, but you can't help get the feeling that through this chase what the character really hopes to find is personal peace. All this with the wise lyrics of Jimmy Buffet and the Hiaasen-like, laugh-out-loud situations that for some unknown reason are only found in Florida and other tropical places to the south.

Faanes' story is fun and enlightening at the same time---a thrilling ride from an author who I hope will take us on many more.

Rating:
Summary: Finally im somewhere South of Oz:Somewhere South Of Miami
Review: This was a book that i could not put down! It is so true that when you read you can be anywhere your mind can travel. I saw the islands through Craig's eyes, the birds, the third world nations and yes even the beautiful Dominican women he so descriptively described. The rebounding of a heart broken by divorce entwined with mine as i read the words of a man lost then found again by his own rebirth for the love of birds, life,and the will to survive an unwanted divorce. Thank You, for teaching me the lessons in attitudes and latitudes Craig, through humor,logic and the desire to stop, look and listen at the beauty of those free spirited creatures we call birds..

Rating:
Summary: This book hooked me
Review:  
 
If you're a birder, particularly a male birder, buy this book!

Take William Least Heat-Moon's travelog "Blue Highways," plunge his Central States' rambling journey 30 degrees south, add birds, booze, and broads, mold it around Jimmy Buffett's song "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," and there you have it.

For Woodstock-generation male birders like me, Faanes' story rings true. Many passages could have been lifted straight from our own diaries. Who among us hasn't felt the sting of divorce? Been bewildered by a departing woman's irrational behavior? Been amazed during our agony at the serenity we still find afield, time suspended for hours during a quest for an elusive species whose gap on our life list throbs like a dull toothache? And who among us hasn't sought his own means of reconciling to the fact that those dreams of shared years together have crashed? Through this autobiography, Faanes holds up the mirror to us as we join him on a journey to that most magical of places -- Elsewhere.

Rarely have I read an author so transparent, so willing to expose his raw, rough, reactive nature as well as his sophisticated self. Faanes lets the reader in on behaviors most of us would just as soon keep hidden. He weaves his tapestry of emotional healing using threads the color of Kirtland's Warblers, Eskimo Curlews, and a host of Caribbean endemics. Progressing through the book, one experiences the author's emotional transformation, like a songbird in molt. We follow Faanes' on his progressions from a hurting, bitter, highly impulsive male chauvenist to a seasoned researcher laced with mellowness born of a certain savoir faire.

Personal growth aside, this book is a fascinating narrative of birding adventures of which the rest of us can only dream. Imagine being paid to spend time birding in remote areas of the Turks & Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands. Faanes' vivid accounts put the reader in the heart of the action. I was particularly fascinated at being able to join him voyeuristically for any number of "life" discoveries - a new bird, airport, airline, food, beer or more exotic drink, willing woman, and even a survival technique or two.

Part of the fun of reading this book is being able to experience Faanes' sometimes dangerous adventures without the risk of actually being there. By recording the full range of his experiences in his book, Faanes provides us with not just a sip of tropical adventure but a fullblown chug.