Costa Rica: The Last Country the Gods Made

I agree with the first reviewer, my favorite essay was also "House Made of Rain." I've just never read anything like it-a vertical description of the rainforest from the point of view of a bird! The rest of the book is packed with everything that's right about travel writing-insight, humor and surprise. It's also a superior book that will interest and encourage ecotourists, conservationists and amateur naturalists wishing to learn more about the green soul of this irresistible country.By the way, I bought one autographed by the authors and they wrote a really cool thing: "The heart is a country and the mind a passport. Bon Voyage!"

When you see the cover, you know you're in for a MOST unusual book about a country about which 100 guide books have already been written. One sees an angel statue in a graveyard at dawn, or is it twilight? Is this Costa Rica or "have goth, will travel"? Well, maybe a little of both. The eccentricities of the two writers are on the front burner here with subjects like bats, nitrogen-fixing organisms, Arab-oil embargoes, human diseases, hydroelectricity, the Pan-American highway, trash-burning and communism. But maybe that's what makes these series of essays a good read, especially while one is traveling, because the 1-10 page segments stand on their own. And the photos are equally "unique," shall we say-not what one would normally expect from a travel book. Once you get past the beautiful inappropriateness of the cover picture, the reader is further challenged by artsy, gorgeous photos that seem to stand alone from the text. Fruit still-lifes, rodeo-cowboys, father and son mechanics on a lunch break, cattle herders, city street musicians, a sunlit pathway through a rainforest; all these random images "float" through the text without a care for relevance! However, having said that, somehow it works. The book as a whole, pictures plus words, truly gives one a "feeling" for Costa Rican life as it is really lived. That's the best way I can describe this strange but exciting book. It makes you feel because it makes you understand. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I bought this book last year after I came back from a trip to Costa Rica. I wish I had known about it beforehand! The writers are very passionate about everything Costa Rican from coffee to indigenous peoples, from ants to women's issues, from bananas to religion! My favorite chapter was "House Made of Rain", an exploration of the rain forest from the point of view of a bird--you'll never forget it! By the way, the book is a beautiful hardcover, not paperback.