The Tree Where Man Was Born Book

The Tree Where Man Was Born is a series of belle lettres essays on various aspects of natural history and anthropology in northern Tanzania (with a bit of Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya thrown in). It is good for its time, but it was Peter Matthiessen's blessing and curse to live in a time before Barry Lopez, who surpassed him in every possible way (blessing, because his star was not outshined, but cursed, because he was never able to enjoy the master's works).

Unlike Lopez's works, I felt that this book is best enjoyed during or after one has experienced the things Matthiessen is writing about. That's how I read it - while travelling in the Serengeti, Manyara, etc - and I definitely got more out of it than I got out of the parts I hadn't experienced myself. Matthiessen doesn't have the gift to transcribe things quite so vividly.

The parts about culture were interesting (especially regarding the Hadzabe) but there is a strangely anachronistic fascination with race and genealogy that dates the book a bit and is sometimes kind of uncomfortable. Matthiessen loves telling then-current theories about which tribes are related to which and come from where, and extrapolates this probably too much into their current way of life and personality. Lopez would cover all that but still leave with more of a sense of respect for the people who are still living there now, doing these things, living normal people lives. Not so much exoticization of the "natives." And there are some moments when Matthiessen implies they're lazy or dumb, too, which isn't helpful.

His mode of travel is certainly wonderful and admirable: he drives around the country in a seemingly self-sufficient Land Cruiser, staying with scientists and anthropologists and having them show him the things they are engaged in. But yeah, definitely worth the read.