Along the River
that Flows Uphill -
from the Orinoco
to the Amazon
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Richard Starks
Miriam Murcutt
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Lost in Tibet
Along
the
River that
Flows Uphill - from the Orinoco to the Amazon
by Richard Starks and Miriam Murcutt
Along the River that Flows Uphill is a travel book that weaves the story of a journey to the Amazon with math, science and reason to explore the risks of adventure travel.
In 2005, Geographical - the official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society in London - commissioned authors Richard Starks and Miriam Murcutt to write an article about a strange river in Venezuela called the Casiquiare. This river is like no other on the face of the planet, since it joins two quite separate rivers - the Orinoco and the Amazon - by apparently flowing up and over the watershed that divides them.For Richard Starks - an award-winning journalist and author - the commission offered a chance to test himself against the standards set by his childhood, explorer-heroes - men like Burton, Speke, Baker, Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley. For Miriam Murcutt - a writer, editor and former marketing executive - the commission was a welcome chance for adventure.
The two authors hired a boat and an
Indian guide (left) to take them 1,000 miles up the Orinoco and along
the length of the Casiquiare to the Rio Negro, which flows
into the Amazon
near the town of Manaus in Brazil. They expected to travel
only with their guide, but when they first boarded his boat, they found
he had brought along his extended family, as well as a party of
Venezuelan fish-researchers and a young, overly persistent entomologist.Three days into the journey, their boat took on another passenger - a Yanomami Indian from a primitive tribe that’s reputed to be “the most violent people on Earth”.
Along the River that Flows Uphill is an account of the two authors’ journey. It begins conventionally enough, but when a Yanomami hunter threatens to shoot them with a poisoned arrow, the authors are forced to confront the risks they are taking. Richard Starks - from whose point of view the book is told - retreats to his scientific roots in an attempt to rationalize that risk, and to question his courage as measured against that of his hero, Stanley.
These trains of thought surface again when FARC guerrillas try to kidnap the authors and hold them for a $20,000 ransom.
Along the River that Flows Uphill is published by Haus Publishing, London, as part of its Armchair Traveller series of literary travel books. It is available from major bookstores in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, also, through Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, as well as through this website.
You can read extracts from the book on this website.
| Where to buy |
�
Richard Starks
and Miriam Murcutt
by Richard Starks and Miriam Murcutt
Published by:
Haus Publishing
Armchair Traveller Series
70 Cadogan Place
London SW1X 9AH
Phone: +44 207 838 9055
www.hauspublishing.co.uk
Contact the authors at: starksmurcutt@msn.com
