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Summary: Orchid Fever
Review: I have read Mr Hansen's "Stranger in the Forest," and "Motoring with Mohammed." Therefore I was thrilled to see that he had a new book.I am neither an orchid grower, nor an orchid lover. Even so, this book held my interest from beginning to end. Mr. Hansen is unafraid to travel anywhere. He has been places and met people that the average person will never know. Through his thorough research, Mr. Hansen has taken me all over the world. He has collected the zaniest group of associates and friends I have ever heard of. I can recommend this fine book as a pleasure to read.
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Summary: Obsessed indeed
Review: Folks who harbor a passion, such as Bruce Chatwin's Meissen porcelain collector in "Utz" or Eric Hansen's scent-addled Japanese in "Orchid Fever," hold a fascination for me. In fact, I own up to being a bit obsessed for Hansen's books. I've read all, including his orchid obsessional, with the vigor that overtakes you when faced with one of those don't-look-up-till-you're-done reads. Now, I'm more than eager to check on my friends who proudly display Phalaenopsis in their public rooms to search out how many they may have tucked away behind closed doors.
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Summary: A wonderful book
Review: A previous Eric Hansen book, "Stranger in the Forest", is one of my favorites. I was therefore very excited to get my hands on "Orchid Fever" - and I am delighted. A wonderful book! Travel book, mystery book, horticultural book - I have only one suggestion: read it!
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Summary: Love=Orchids, Lunacy=Bureaucracy
Review: This is one of the most opinionated books I have ever read: it is zealous in its simple examples of right and wrong. Orchids and the people who love them are Good. The offical agencies that are supposed to regulate the orchid trade and conserve them are very, very Bad. It is also clear that the people who love orchids are not only good, they are also fetishists about the things, and all evidence to the contrary (evidence from the Nazi-like bureaucrats who invade greenhouses armed with attack dogs and semi-automatic weapons) everything they do in is in the best interests of the orchids. I could not figure out if there were too few orchids in the world or too many or which of what kind. Either they need rescuing from looming civilization, or there are so many of them it is stupid to regulate their trade at all. Every one who rescues them from the wild is doing a good thing, although they do not seem need to be saved as much as left alone. It is clear, however, that Hansen dotes on his eccentric cast of characters, complete with their sexually tinged, highly volatile love of these flowers, peculiar personal quirks, emotional disorders and nasty in-fighting. I, too, have been overwhelmed by the lush beauty of orchids at flower shows or botanical gardens, and am always sad to see the ones sent as gifts wither under my care. Still, I am happy to say that I have never lusted after them in the way Hansen's friends do -- making a religion of a plant just isn't in me. One thing: Hansen's opening sentence is just about the best one since "It was the worst of times, it was the best of time..." Apparently that goes for orchids too.
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Summary: Orchid InCITES
Review: Too contrived to be true? The plot of Orchid Fever, a tale of the mania that surrounds CITES (Congress on Trade in Endangered Species) and endangered orchids, smacks of a TV tabloid expose studded with international intrigue, wily authorities, blameless miscreants, crafty smugglers, anonymous informers, and the occasional white knight. It all sounds barely credible. But orchid people will understand author Eric Hansen's fascination with this compelling tale of good intentions gone terribly awry. Hansen skillfully weaves anecdotal threads to support his assertion that CITES - as it applies to flora listed in Part II of its appendix - has been manipulated from its inception by some of the orchid establishment (read Kew Gardens in London, England) to perpetuate that establishment's own control and authority. Hansen shows how this jealous manipulation has produced a tragic oxymoron by further endangering the rare flora, in this case slipper orchids, that it proposes to save by thwarting legal propagation and salvage. Hansen finds real orchid people are way eccentric enough to populate his story. Some are familiar to orchid hobbyists as occasional club speakers while others are less well known. It doesn't matter. All are interesting as the tale spins from steaming Borneo jungles to the cold latitudes of Denmark, while Hansen attempts to ferret out the facts about reported orchid rustlers. Can these awful stories about needless destruction of Paphiopedilum sanderianums and other rare slippers be true? Unfortunately so. The line between who are the good guys and who are not blurs as Hansen describes rivalries that are all about power and influence and not about saving orchids. It's a maddening, frustrating, agonizing read as heavy-handed plant police stomp through greenhouses accomplishing only destruction. When asked tough questions, the horticultural authorities who are supposed to be wearing white hats are suspiciously uncommunicative. Just as the reader concludes that the situation is indeed hopeless, Hansen closes with a parable of salvation. Illustrating just what one man with a good idea and a lot of tenacity can do, the author introduces us to a Johnny Orchidseed of sorts, whose solo efforts have rescued untold thousands of endangered plants. Maybe there's room for hope, after all. Orchid Fever delivers its "tale of love, lust, and lunacy" in a big way. Anyone who's been around orchids for more than 20 minutes will understand the issues, recognize his or her friends (and self) and appreciate how deliciously Hansen describes the world of orchid mania. Pity that it took a horticultural holocaust to do it.
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Summary: Orchids: I am trying not to buy one.
Review: I have read Eric Hansen's Traveling with Mohammed and Stranger in the Forest with much satisfaction. I enjoy travel and adventure books and both of these fit my interests. My knowledge about orchids is very limited and I doubt I would have read Orchid Fever until I heard of a new book by Mr. Hansen. "Orchids" I said, by Hansen? Well I bought it and now I am trying not to buy one of these orchid creatures. The orchid world described by Hansen encompasses all the world has to offer; life, beauty, culture, pleasure, excitement, and the mis-use of power and guidance of those entrusted with political and regulation ability. It is strange how organizations such as CITES are created to preserve, protect, and educate and the results appear to be less than desirable. Another book to be read and enjoyed by Mr. Hansen. I would recommend it to anyone, not just orchid lovers.
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Summary: For Orchid Lovers and conservationists alike...
Review: Having grown up with orchids, and been involved with conservation groups and the "Orchid Community" for more than two decades, I can attest that the lunacy and lust laid out by the author is not only accurate but understated as well. The CITES fiasco is finally being addressed, but way to late to help the horticultural community that has suffered at the laws created to help endangered animals. Perhaps this book will serve as a wake up call, as well as being some of the best entertainment I have read this year. Eric Hansen's previous books are also classics to be read and treasured, but his humor and maturity show themselves in full force with this book. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Orchid Fever
Review: I am a fairly new "orchid lover" and I found this book fascinating. It was fun to travel around the world and hear what the professional orchid growers have to say about conservation and the "CITES" people. I only wish the book had been longer....
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Summary: Orchid Fever
Review: Unlike the petty bickering, rumors and lies of South Florida that were portrayed in Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief", Eric Hansen's "Orchid Fever" takes us on an even more important journey, through jungle adventures in Borneo, ice cream made from orchid roots in Turkey.Fragrances derived from Cymbedium faberi in Japan and scientists in Europe, finishing off with a professional orchid salvager in Minmesota. In all this world travel, the most important information is how the portentous laws of the CITES (convention on international trade endangered species) are just not working. Quoting Dr. Gunnar Seidenfaden in Chapter 14, CITES had developed into a bureaucratic police force dominated by lawyers who knew nothing about plants and who were obsessed with 'legalistic refinement and jurdical sophistry'. The laws have allowed world wide 'plant raids' by heavily armed officers as if they were performing a drug raid. ... Well researched with personal interviews, "Orchid Fever" could turn orchid hobbyists onto activists. Bil Nelson President, Wisconsin Orchid Society
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Summary: Orchid Fever is OUTSTANDING!
Review: Mr. Hansen has done a fantastic job combining his experiences, research, observation, and writing to provide us with a revealing look at "the orchid world". I found this expose both entertaining, and also a bit disturbing because it made me realize that although I have only been growing orchids for 2 1/2 years, by virtue of owning and caring for approximately 200 plants and joining a local orchid society and the American Orchid Society, I have become part of the "orchid world" described in the book even though I had not planned things that way! (A fellow orchid society member/neighbor of mine and local paphiopedilum specialist has helped me become interested and active in his hybridization program. This neighbor/specialist knows many of the people Mr. Hanson writes about in Orchid Fever!) This book is a fast read because Hansen's style includes frequent utilization of humor. The vivid descriptions of the personalities Mr. Hanson encountered and the places he visited while preparing to write this book are captivating and entertaining.
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