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| EXTREME EXPEDITIONS: Travel Adventures Stalking the World's Mystery Animals | 
 enlarge | Author: Adam Davies
Publisher: Anomalist Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 626983
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 164
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.5
ISBN: 1933665319
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9781933665313
ASIN: 1933665319
Publication Date: April 7, 2008
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Product Description
A PASSION FOR CRYPTOZOOLOGY Does a dinosaur exist in the Congo? Does a Yeti-like creature live in the jungles of Sumatra? Does a fearsome Death Worm inhabit the deserts of Mongolia? Explorer Adam Davies has traveled some of the most dangerous places in the world in search of these and other supposedly mythical beasts. In this fascinating account of his adventures, you'll read how he was shot at in the Congo, arrested and interrogated by the Mongolian Army in the Gobi Desert, filmed Norway's Nessie as it charged across a lake, and made world news when leading scientists backed his claims that a "jungle Yeti" exists! When not on expedition, Davies is a mildmannered Civil Servant living in Manchester in the United Kingdom. He spends most of his spare time and all of his money searching for mysterious creatures. Both his quests and successes have made headlines around the world. FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY: Foul language, excessive drinking, sexual situations, and encounters with some creatures of the natural world that would scare young children and more than a few adults as well.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Monsters! Booze! Jungles! Guns! April 29, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Those are broadly the four themes that dominate the packed-pages of a highly entertaining new book from Anomalist Books: Adam Davies' Extreme Expeditions - Travel Adventures Stalking The World's Mystery Animals.
Anomalist Books are at the forefront of publishing high-quality books on general Forteana, and Extreme Expeditions is a good addition to their line-up, and does not disappoint.
Basically, the book is a travelogue that sees our fearless author (and a variety of friends, colleagues and fellow monster-hunters) heading off to a whole range of exotic and far-away locations in search of mysterious beasts of a truly cryptozoological nature.
Like me, Adam is a Brit; and, as the book is written very much in the form of a personal diary, it contains (as the back-cover states): "...foul language, excessive drinking, sexual situations, and encounters with some creatures of the natural world that would scare young children and more than a few adults as well."
So, in other words, if you're looking to find out what really goes on behind-the-scenes during the course of a quest for monsters in exotic locales, then this is most definitely the book for you.
Adam writes well: he skilfully presents to his audience the details of the many and varied expeditions upon which he has embarked, including (A) 1998 trips to Sumatra (in search of the Orang-Pendek) and to the Congo (where he looks for the Mokele-Mbembe); (B) a 1999 quest to solve the riddle of the Norwegian equivalent of Nessie: Selma (a quest that is particularly - and spectacularly - successful); (C) a wild trek to Mongolia for the legendary Death Worm; (D) a second journey to Mongolia (this time for the Yeti-like Almas); and (E) much more of a monstrous nature.
The trials and tribulations that go with being a seeker of unknown animals are thrust into the spotlight time and again in the pages of Extreme Expeditions, too. Indeed, they demonstrate that, at times, monster-hunting can be a distinctly hazardous business. For example, Adam and his friends find themselves in more than a few dicey situations with gun-toting officials and military forces in the Congo; they cope with heat-stroke, wild animals, bites and stings as they scour strange lands for even stranger animals; they bargain, barter and do whatever has to be done to seek out their quarry; and (for those non-Brits that may want to read the book) you get to learn a great deal about British culture and how we like to pass the time of day - and night, too!
And with respect to the key issue of the book - strange and unknown animals - you won't be disappointed. Adam's search for Norway's Selma is a real highlight; and one suggesting the beast is a very real one. His quest to find the Orang-Pendek is illuminating (for what he discovers - such as some notable footprints); it's also tinged with sadness, however, as a result of the fact that the creature (whatever it really is) may very well be on the verge of extinction.
Adam also uncovers a wealth of data on the Death-Worm and the Almas (which, as the book shows, may also be on the verge of extinction, if it hasn't already gone belly-up), and makes it very clear to the reader that, despite what some people might assume to the contrary, our planet is still one steeped in mystery.
Easy to read, packed with adventure, intrigue, humor and (of course) monsters, Extreme Expeditions is a book that's entertaining, informative, memorable and instructive - in equal measures.
 A rollicking adventure tale May 15, 2008
Extreme Expeditions: Travel Adventures Stalking the World's Mystery Animals, by Adam Davies,is not your average cryptozoology book.
Davies spends a minimum of time rehashing old evidence and instead tells a rollicking first-person adventure tale. Davies, like the late Scott T. Norman, is one of those supremely dedicated amateurs who spends all available time and money poking around in remote, often supremely uncomfortable locations. He found little at the traditional monster haunts of Lake Tele and Loch Ness, believes he saw a large unknown animal in Lake Seljord, and made a significant contribution to research on one of the most probable animals in the cryptozoo, the bipedal Sumatran primate known as orang-pendek. Davies collected hair and a footprint cast for which some well-qualified "mainstream" scientists had no better explanation than "unknown primate."
The book is a jaunty, sometimes profane tale of colorful but basically sane people making a sincere, sometimes dangerous effort to solve zoological mysteries. Whether they turn out to have found new species is almost beside the point. I look forward to a sequel, if Davies survives his future expeditions long enough to write it. There are a few editing problems, and you wish Davies had gone into more depth in some areas, but it's a fun and thought-provoking read.
A lot of fun. July 13, 2008
If your looking for a book about the creatures this guy is hunting, look elsewhere. If you want to read a an enjoyable book about a guy who is determined to actually go to the places that most of us only read about and hunt for things that even he isn't sure actually exist, give this book a try and you won't be dissapointed. It's almost like hearing his tales over a few beers at the Pub.
Extremely entertaining! September 16, 2008
The book is a firsthand account of Adam Davies's experiences taken directly from his travel diaries while visiting various remote - and often dangerous - areas of the globe, pursuing his dream of finding and scientifically documenting the existence of so-called "legendary" creatures (known as cryptids, for those who are unfamiliar).
Besides being an enormously entertaining and frequently riotously funny read, "Extreme Expeditions" is, I felt, a very moving account of a man that is motivated by both a fascination for these creatures and a deep concern for their safety and preservation. For example, Adam has visited Sumatra on three separate occasions to look for the "orang-pendek", a jungle-dwelling, upright-walking hominid of relatively small stature (orang-pendek meaning "short man" in Indonesian). Of all the creatures for which he's searched, Adam has gathered the most compelling evidence of the orang-pendek's existence, having gotten a very good quality plaster cast of a small, human-/ape-like footprint, as well as a number of hair samples. Both the footprint cast and the hair samples were analyzed by highly reputable scientists and were determined to have come from an as-yet unidentified species of hominid.
The tragedy of the story, however, is the fact that with each successive expedition to the Sumatran jungles (the first being in 2001, then 2004 and 2007), Adam found that an alarmingly greater portion of this pristine rainforest had been clear cut to make way for farmland as human beings continually encroach on this land. If these creatures - and other cryptids - do indeed exist, what are there chances for survival as more of their habitat is destroyed through deforestation, pollution, etc.? And how many of these creatures have disappeared that we haven't yet had the opportunity to discover? As Adam raises these questions, it is obvious that this sad situation has lent a sense of urgency to his quest to discover these creatures "before", as he says, "it's too late".
I came away from reading his book with deep respect for the man's sense of purpose and sheer determination. I think the logistics involved in traveling to and through an area like the Congolese jungles or the Mongolian desert would be enough to stop me in my tracks. Once there, however, Adam and his crew have faced all manner of danger and hardship, including biting, stinging, poisonous insects and reptiles, absolutely vile-sounding food that even I wouldn't have the nerve to eat (and I'll eat almost anything), mountainous terrain, searing deserts, crocodile-filled swamps - not to mention an ardent female Mongolian wrestler! I might also mention the fact that Mr. Davies works a regular 9-5 office job in his native England and participates in these expeditions during his vacations and unpaid leave time, and all are self-funded.
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