Adventure in Borneo

This is a well written book that keeps you wanting to read to the end. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down until I finished. Dan's adventures can at times keep you on the edge of your seat and at other times are hilarious. A must read

Reading this book reminds me of a lengthy movie preview. You just get wrapped up in the adventure when it screeches to a hault. It is not obvious that the writer did not experience the adventure but it is obvious that the writer had a finite amount of material. The book reads like a diary. Also it is unfortunate that Dan gave away his camera before he left for Borneo. It is difficult to describe riding in a dugout for hours or rely the destruction of logging on a landscape. But the book is accurate in dispelling the myth that all one needs to do to study wildlife is to go into the woods. Even the classic Pheasant Jungles actually devotes more words to people than pheasant. The book could have been more fully developed but I am glad it was at least written. Its a great afternoon read...well worth the purchase price.. I've studied quail in the remote mountains of Mexico but seeing a forest dwelling pheasant is still on my life's list...Dan gives me hope..

I loved this book! I feel it is a wonderful gift idea for anyone that enjoys reading a good story. I bought 3 as gifts, one for my son and two for my grandchildren.

Adventure in Borneo took me on a treck I would never have the courage to experience in real life. Dan James' interested in Pheasants and his willingness to travel to a far away jungle to find them are fascinating to this less than adventuous reviewer. His tenacity during nearly impossible situations is admirable. The author relays Dan's most endearing quality: the ability to laugh at himself. I enjoyed the book and have recommended it to friends. I became so interested in the birds mentioned that I read near my computer so I could google the images to see them for myself. An interesting read.

Reviewed by Jen Karsbaek for Reader Views (9/08) Dan loved birds. He was fascinated by them. He was particularly interested in pheasants, perhaps because he was never able to classify exactly what a pheasant was: "Pheasants are an odd group of birds that are loosely related and don't quite fit anywhere else. For every one thing that they all have in common, there will always be at least one exception to the rule." In his obsession with pheasants, Dan became aware of and particularly obsessed with one particular kind of pheasant: The Bornean Peacock Pheasant. With the death of the one living pair in the United States and no documented sightings in the wild since 1962, Dan felt that he needed to travel to Borneo to try and discover whether or not any Bornean Peacock Pheasants still existed. "Adventure in Borneo" really had quite a bit of potential. It could have been both an exciting, adventure filled travelogue as Dan journeyed through the interior of the Bornean forest. At the same time, it could have been very informative and interesting dealing with pheasants in general; and the different pheasants which Dan comes in contact with, in particular. Unfortunately, the book was simply not very well done. There was no particularly bad grammar writing, but neither was there particularly good writing. The sentence structure and word choice were just not particularly complex or sophisticated. In the interest of attempting to be informative and cover everything, Durrah had a tendency to jump from topic to topic almost as if by stream of consciousness, which gave the book a very choppy feel. I felt as if there was no background as to why Dan is so interested in pheasants in general or the Bornean Peacock Pheasant in particular. Certainly it is not communicated to the reader why these might be subjects of interest. Interested he clearly is, though, because there is a good deal of discussion on the topic of pheasants that is not grounded in any background information, it will go over the head of most readers. In addition, `adventure' seems to be a bit of a misnomer for Dan's journey, although I'm not sure if that is due to a lack of urgency in the writing or the actual nature of his trip. If you are very interested in pheasants or Borneo you may enjoy "Adventure in Borneo"--otherwise your reading time could probably be put to better use.