Enjoyed the stories and tales but since many selections were reprints of articles previously printed, there was a little too much overlap and repetition. Had this been cleaned up -- e.g. the book approached as a new work rather than a compilation -- it would have been 4-stars. Author Sochaczewski is an entertaining writer, and I've enjoyed his other books (especially "An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles" that uses the life and story of Alfred Russel Wallace as its base) immensely. All his books are part history, travelogue, documentary, ecology, campfire tales, and focus on Asia, which he first (like so many others) discovered in the 60s in the Peace Corps, which makes them good reading material for anyone who's lived or travelled in the region. ( )