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Wrapping your head around Indonesian culture can be a daunting task, as the country’s history, economics, politics and culture have been widely interpreted and documented by a host of writers. Literature about Java and Bali is relatively common, but anything about the other islands can be hard to find. The following provide general scratch-beneath-the-surface accounts of some of the experiences Indonesia has to offer.
Lyall Watson’s Gifts of Unknown Things observes the symbiotic relationship of a community and its environment on unnamed Indonesian island. The value of the natural world features highly in the book, and fans describe it as life affirming.
Hard Bargaining in Sumatra: Western Travelers and Toba Bataks in the Marketplace of Souvenirs, by Andrew Causey, describes the narrator’s sabbatical with the Toba Bataks of northern Sumatra, and humbly captures the sensual and physical landscape of the region.
Tim Flannery’s Throwim Way Leg is a must for Papuan inspiration. The author recounts his scientific expeditions to the province, where he discovered new species in Indiana Jones–style adventures. And it’s all true!
Indonesian history is detailed in Simon Winchester’s Krakatoa – The Day the World Exploded, which melds history, geology and politics, all centred on the 1888 eruption of Krakatoa – the world’s biggest bang.
In Search of Moby Dick, by Tim Severin, is an engagingly written search for the globe’s last whale-hunters that includes an extended stay in the whaling village of Lamalera, Nusa Tenggara.
Couched in an academic title, Adrian Vickers’ A History of Modern Indonesia is based around the writings of Pramoedya Ananta Toer, and summons the culture, turbulence and emotion of everyday Indonesian life.
Bali enthusiasts will love Dancing Out of Bali by John Coast, which invokes the people, life, music, and dance of Bali, told through the eyes of a young Englishman and his Javanese wife.
If you think travel’s rugged now, delve into Helen and Frank Schreider’s Drums of Tonkin, which documents their 1963 journey from Sumatra to Timor in an amphibious jeep: landslides, gun-toting soldiers and sea voyages galore.
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