Reviews

Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon by John Hemming

gregorygolz's review against another edition

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3.0

This would be great as a reference book, but is a bit sporadic with for of content. The author tries to squeeze tons of info into 350 pages. This is difficult with so much history.

tjrslc's review against another edition

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3.0

I didn't finish this books b/c it came due at the library and I knew that I would not finish it with the three renewals that I am granted. However it is good, just too reference-y for me right now -- it's the type of book that you can't read all at one time. If you are interested in the Amazon and its native people, this is probably a must read.

julis's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.0

Tree of Rivers covers the human history of the Amazon, starting with the first Europeans and going forward–with an exception ¾ of the way through to talk about the first humans. With five hundred years to cover, it’d be hard to argue that one book could be comprehensive, but Hemming makes a valiant attempt, and does a good job of curtailing himself to only the history of the Amazon, even if it left me confused about some of the politics in the rest of Brazil.