"Look Here, Sir, What a Curious Bird": Searching for Ali, Alfred Russel Wallace's Faithful Companion

by Paul Spencer Sochaczewski

Overview

A Great Man and His Unheralded Assistant

For some 50 years, Paul Sochaczewski has been on the trail of famous naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and his little-known assistant Ali.

The result of this quest is an imaginative "enhanced biography" of an illiterate 19th-century teenager from Borneo who helped Wallace become one of history's most successful explorers of the natural world.

This deliciously speculative book, filled with humor and touching scenes of imagined conversations, takes a hard look at "slippery truth," and, perhaps most important, asks the question: "Is there someone in your life who has quietly helped you, perhaps without adequate recognition, on your journey?"

In this innovative approach to biography, you'll discover:

• New clues that expand our knowledge of Ali's background and career
• Why writing the history of a 19th-century teenage boy from Borneo is so challenging
• Details about how Ali collected some 5,000 of Wallace's 8,050 bird specimens
• Imagined conversations that explore emotions and perceptions of Wallace and Ali
• How each of us has an "Ali" who has helped us along the way

Who's your Ali? Perhaps this book might encourage to reach out to someone forgotten but who eased your path along your journey?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9782940573417
Publisher:	Explorer's Eye Press
Publication date:	07/11/2023
Pages:	274
Sales rank:	801,349
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Paul Spencer Sochaczewski has followed Alfred Russel Wallace up the Rio Negro in Brazil and throughout Southeast Asia, and his acclaimed personal memoir, An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles (Explorer's Eye Press, 2017), reflects the many facets of Wallace's interests and achievements. Paul's international career began with the US Peace Corps, where he worked with remote communities in Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. He has lived and worked in more than 85 countries, including long stints in Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. He worked with WWF International for 15 years as director of Creative Services and head of the Faith and Environment Program. He is American-French and lives in Geneva, Switzerland.

Editorial Reviews

"Once again, Paul Spencer Sochaczewski has created a new literary genre, which he simply calls an 'enhanced biography, ' of Wallace's assistant Ali. His creativity is remarkable - he somehow manages to combine solid scholarship, personal memoir, good heart and hearty humor, delicious speculation, soul-touching imagined scenarios, a plenitude of cartoons and photos, and riveting asides. He even invokes the aid of mediums and shamans to pursue his quest to learn more about this intriguing and under-appreciated 19th-century Borneo teenager. A splendid work of innovative history writing."

- James Clad, Board of Supervisors, Library of Congress, and former professor of Asian Studies, Georgetown University

"Famous explorers and adventurers have rarely pursued their quests alone; such was the case with Alfred Russel Wallace, the great Victorian naturalist whose daring expeditions were aided by a young man referred to simply as 'Ali.' This is an important, enlightening book not only because it tells Ali's story, at last giving him the prominence he deserves, but because it reminds us that we each have Alis in our lives, people to whom we should from time to time raise a grateful glass in thanks."

- Benedict Allen, BBC Television explorer and author of Explorer: The Quest for Adventure and the Great Unknown

"Another fascinating and insightful book from the prolific pen of Paul Spencer Sochaczewski."

- Robin Hanbury-Tenison, explorer and author of The Oxford Book of Exploration

"In this enthralling 'enhanced biography, ' Paul Spencer Sochaczewski describes in detail his search for the true identity of Alfred Russel Wallace's assistant Ali, whose competence and, at times, compassion, undoubtedly safe-guarded and supported Wallace during his travels in the Malay Archipelago."

- Dato Sri Gathorne, Lord Cranbrook, author of Mammals of Borneo

"Alfred Russel Wallace is best known as a ground-breaking naturalist, but he also played an indirect but important role in promoting the mid-19th-century exotic bird trade between eastern Indonesia and Europe. This book offers an insightful look at the relationship between Wallace and his able assistant Ali, who likely collected some 5,000 of the more than 8,050 rare birds that Wallace is given credit for."

- Marc Argeloo, author of Natuuramnesie and historian focusing on the 19th-century Ternate bird trade

From the Publisher