The Forest People

by Colin M. Turnbull

Book Overview

The bestselling, classic text on one anthropologist's incredible experience living among the African Mbuti Pygmies, and what he learned from their culture, customs, and love of life. In this... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671640992
• Release Date: July 1987
• Publisher: Touchstone
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.4" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

An interesting read

I enjoyed reading every page of this book. Left me wanting to know more about these beautiful people of the forest.

The Realm of Nature

This was a fantastic book. I had to read it for my Ethnology class and fell in love with the MaButi Pygmies. Turnbull does a great job of explaining the lives of the "forest people." His few years with the Pygmies is portrayed in this book. It is enchanting and amusing. I would recommend it to anyone.

true magic

This book is like making a real trip into the Ituri rainforest- or more exactly into the lives of some of the most remarkable people you will ever meet. The Bambuti become so real for us in part because of Turnbull's narative skill, but more, I think, because they themselves are so real, such wonderful humans. This, we want to believe, is what our species is really like, the way we were meant to be.Like all gathering- hunting people, the Bambuti are on intimate terms with mother nature. For them this means their beloved forest, which is a benign, nurturing, and protective mother. People who live outside the forest are scared to go near it. But the the Bambuti who are its children are completely happy there.What makes this book such a joy to read is that besides being so lovable, the Bambuti are very funny. Their humor is infectious and irresistable.Forever after reading The Forest People, everytime you think about the people you met there, and you will think about them, you can't help smiling.What could be better, especially the way the world is now, than to find a book that makes you really feel good about being a human, proud and happy to be living on the same planet as these wonderful people.

A New World For The Reader

I enjoyed reading this book from beginning to end. I really didn't want to put the book down. Before I read this book, I never heard of the Bambuti people or of the Ituri forest. I really felt as if I was living with them while reading the book. It was surely an eye opener for me. I wonder what has happened to Kenge, Manyalibo, Ausu, etc. It's really amazing how the Bambuti love their forest so much and that's all they need to get by. This book showed a lot of hardships and tragedies but yet the Bambuti people stressed how important their life is, with happiness and joy.

SURRENDER YOURSELF INTO ITS MAGIC

I first read The Forest People when I was in college. I took an anthropology course, and I was absolutely enchanted by this book.First of all, do not fear that this book is written by an anthropologist using dry and boring langauge and tried everything to stay objective thus being an impassion observer. This is not a book filled with statistics and boring observations and theories.No, Turnbull described the life of the Mbuti pygmies with such color, exuberance, detail and a healthy dash of humour that you cannot help but just being entranced by this book. You will learn of their daily lives, their hissy fits with each other, their methods of punishment, their relationship with the "negro" villagers whom they think are animals because they do not understand the forest. You will see their marriage rites, the rituals of the Molimo and the celebration of the Elima, when young pygmy girls are first "blessed" by menstrual blood.You will see the pygmies as individuals each with his or her own personality....Kenge the author's best friend, Moke an elderly and respected member of the Mbuti, Cephu the "bad hunter", beautiful Kidaya of the elima, who , Kondabate the pygmy belle who filed her teeth like a shark's, flirtatious Akidinimba with her infamously huge bosoms, "ugly" Aberi, Kamaikan, Kelemoke and even Amina, the daughter of a sub-chief from a nearby village. You will get to know them and feel as if you have known them all your lives.The Forest People is one of the best books EVER written on anthropology. You can't help but think about how life, as simple as it seems for the pyymies, is still fill with both joy and tribulations. I have read this book many times and every time it still have not lost its magic on me.This book was written in the 1960s. Turnbull have since passed away. I cannot help but think about what happaned to all these wonderful people we meet in the book today. Did Kenge have any children since? Did Kondabate ever had a child? Did Akidinimba stayed married?I just wish that there's a sequel to this wonderful book.

A review on The Forest People by Colin Turnbull.

Colin Turnbull, the late English born Anthropologist and writer was the first to be able to study the pygmies of Africa first hand. The first to be accepted and befriended by these mysterious and beautiful people of the African Congo. In The Forest People Turnbull recalls his experience of living hidden within the forest with a family group of pygmies. He tells us the wearisome struggle that the pygmies battle for to protect thier culture and home. Turnbull also looks deeply into thier way of life and uncovers for us a world of playfullness and enchanting spiritualism. He teaches us the vital part that the rainforest itself plays in the pygmy's existance and also the holiness of all nature. This book was a delight to read and opened my eyes to the pure world that we live on but that is rarely seen.