To the mountains of the stars / Leo Daniel Brongersma .

[wollastoni]

I have just finished a fantastic book that many of you will love : "To the mountains of the stars" from the Dutch scientist : Brongersma

It was written in Dutch : Het witte Hart von Nieuw-Guinea
and translated in English : To the mountains of the stars
but also in French : Le coeur inconnu de la Nouvelle Guinée   
(click on the above links to find the books for sale)

In the 50ies, the Dutch government organised a fantastic scientific expedition into the Sibil Valley of Dutch New Guinea. Maybe the biggest scientific expedition ever organized in New Guinea with planes, helicopters, a team of 20 scientists (including naturalists), some militarians and policemen for the security and so on.
This expedition has been famous for :
- having reached the summit of Mount Juliana (around 4600m) for the first time
- crossing New Guinea from South to North for the first time (from Tanah Merah to Jayapura)

Some of the moths they caught during this 2-year expeditions are still being spread by my friends in Leiden Museum.

This book is not about insects (even if you will read some details about moth collecting there) but you will discover so much about :
- the difficulty of organizing such expeditions in those remote places,
- this area of New Guinea,
- local Papuan tribes,
- their various scientific discoveries,
- a taste about colonial New Guinea.

It is a fantastic read, very interesting for those of you who are interested in this part of the world or in organizing expeditions, fun in some way.

Hope you will like it
Olivier

[nomad]

I read this book many years ago, I borrowed a copy from the library. To be honest it was so long ago that I cannot remember much about it except this was about a very large Dutch expedition using I believe helicopters. I must get hold of a copy and read it again. Thanks for the reminder.

[timmsyrj]

I'll check this out, I am surprised when translated the words New Guinea ain't there though??

Rich

[wollastoni]

Rich - try the link above, it works.