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How to Walk a Puma: And Other Things I Learned While Stumbling through South America
On his nineteenth birthday, Peter Allison flipped a coin. One side would take him to Africa and the other to South America, the two places he wanted to explore before he died. He recounted his time spent as a safari guide in Africa to much acclaim in Whatever You Do, Don’t Run and Don’t Look Behind You. Sixteen years later, he makes his way to Santiago, Chile, ready to see...more
Paperback, 200 pages
Published
December 20th 2011
by Lyons Press
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This would be the first not-about-Africa book we've reviewed here, but it has ties to Africa. For those that have enjoyed Peter Allison's books (Whatever You Do, Don't Run! and Don't Look Behind You), How to Walk a Puma: And Other Things I Learned While Stumbling through South America is a natural segue. When he was nineteen, Peter flipped a coin to decide between going to South America and Africa; Africa won. After many (entertaining) years as a safari guide in Africa, he longed to explore the...more
Peter Allison is an animal enthusiast who spent eight years working at an African safari lodge (documented in his two previous books, DON'T RUN, Whatever You Do: My Adventures as a Safari Guide and Don't Look Behind You!: True Tales of a Safari Guide. In 2009-2010, he spent 18 months traveling around South America and this book is about his adventures on that continent. They include living naked with an Ecuadorian native tribe, exploring glaciers in Patagonia, near death on an Bolivian river and...more
An engagingly written memoir by an ex-safari guide in Africa about his adventures exploring the South American flora and fauna and the quest to spot a jaguar.
It starts with his volunteering at a place where rescued animals are housed and taken care of with the hope of them eventually being released back in the wild. So, Peter lands a job as a walker to Roy, the puma and suffers quite a few funny and not-so-funny accidents. Later on it continues to other parts of the continent, experiencing a sc...more
It starts with his volunteering at a place where rescued animals are housed and taken care of with the hope of them eventually being released back in the wild. So, Peter lands a job as a walker to Roy, the puma and suffers quite a few funny and not-so-funny accidents. Later on it continues to other parts of the continent, experiencing a sc...more
I was really looking forward to this book as I loved Allison's other two books. If I were to rate the first couple of chapters it would have been a 5 star book. Those chapters were funny and contained an animal. The middle part of the book was OK, the end I just wanted to be done. This is not necessarily a reflection on the book I am sure some people will love it but it was just not interesting for me. I also felt like he was preaching a little too much - I got it the first time around - he is a...more
Peter Allison is an entertaining writer. His love of life in the wild and love of all animals comes shining through in each of his books; I greatly enjoyed the previous two about his safari guiding years in Africa. This one was even better. Peter's self-deprecating way of not taking himself too seriously is always a treat and some of his descriptive phrasing choices are downright hilarious.
Although I haven't walked the glaciers of Patagonia, I related deeply with his awe and amazement at the ex...more
Although I haven't walked the glaciers of Patagonia, I related deeply with his awe and amazement at the ex...more
I have read both Peter Allison's other books,a nd having spent time in South America, looked forward to this one. It did not disappoint, and the chapters on walking a puma were really quite hilarious. he certainly made me want to go to the Amazon. Having said that, all 3 of his books have left me wanting more,a nd I do feel that he could have done more with this book. He could have delved into the rich cultures I'd South America, perhaps written more about his characters and about more character...more
Yay, first review! ;) I think this is the best book I've read by Peter Allison, I really enjoyed it. It's an incredibly quick read and is really humorous at parts. I have a lot of respect for people who are not ashamed to poke fun at themselves and the author certainly does a lot of that in this book. I enjoyed how each chapter was a different short story (a chapter in the adventure) but each chapter ties easily into the overall story. Overall, this book is really entertaining.
Something I just n...more
Something I just n...more
I LOVED Peter's first two books--I've reread them both several times just for the laughs (and because I can't believe he's still alive!). But this book wasn't much like the previous two--sadly. The first two were wild adventures that had you both blazing through the pages to see what happened next, but rereading each story immediately after because 'there was NO WAY he did/survived that!'
The first few chapters with Roy were good... but after that the book seemed to be more of an inner journey--...more
The first few chapters with Roy were good... but after that the book seemed to be more of an inner journey--...more
Ever since I read my first Peter Allison book in April of last year I've been waiting eagerly to read his newest book of adventures! Unfortunately I was on the waiting list for the library since the book's release date but at least I was the first one to read the copy I got last week (Which I finished in a few hours mind you).
This one was just as funny and entertaining as I had hoped it would be though you can tell that Peter went at his journey across South America a little older and a little...more
This one was just as funny and entertaining as I had hoped it would be though you can tell that Peter went at his journey across South America a little older and a little...more
Peter Allison has a delightful sense of humor, and I had to struggle not to laugh aloud in public a few times when I was reading How to Walk a Puma. It's a fun read between using a puking cat as a pick up line, dodging puma attacks, and surviving earthquakes and crazy drivers, there is a lot to enjoy. At some point I became a bit annoyed at someone having the time to spend a year and a half just doing whatever came to his mind, but that was probably more jealousy on my part than bad writing on h...more
I really don't know how Peter Allison is still alive. I love his sense of humor, and this book was good but I enjoyed his other books more. One problem with his books: they are too short!
As this one came to an end, I felt like he was just rushing to get it finished. However, the last part of this journey was with a tribe who were still totally laid back, no sense or care for time, so it was probably just now as adventuresome (although he clearly enjoyed it.)
Anyway, I'm now waiting for his next b...more
As this one came to an end, I felt like he was just rushing to get it finished. However, the last part of this journey was with a tribe who were still totally laid back, no sense or care for time, so it was probably just now as adventuresome (although he clearly enjoyed it.)
Anyway, I'm now waiting for his next b...more
This is a lighthearted and highly enjoyable traveller's tale. Allison writes engagingly of those he meets in his eighteen month sojourn and his interest in the fauna around him is infectious. His willingness to take crazy risks and do whatever it takes to find out about, and fit in with, those he meets makes him the best kind of traveller to read about!
Another entertaining book by Peter Allison. I had read his previous two books in between safaris in Tanzania and found this book to be just as vivid and engaging even though I have never been to most of the places he wrote about. If you like Bill Bryson, travel writing, or simply good story-telling, I recommend this book!
I started reading this around 1pm after picking it up from the library. I finished it by 11:30pm. Nice book for an armchair traveller to take you around South America. Starts in Bolivia, moves into Chile briefly, back to Bolivia, then ends the last half of the book in various parts of Ecuador.
I enjoy Allison's adventures and his wild life as well as personal knowledge lessons. He makes me laugh and I enjoy walking with him through the places I am too chicken to explore on my own. Just call me cluck cluck. I also read this as an ebook on my Sony reader. Woo hoo. And I love Roy.
Another fun animal adventure-related travelogue by this former African safari guide, this time outlining his 18 months exploring South America. Allison has a humourous, if slightly self-deprecating, writing style, but most importantly he allows his love for wild animals and places to come through.
A good read, but it didn't resonate with me the way the first two books did. The author is a likeable guy, very similar in style to Mathew Polly (Except Polly is writing about martial arts) you'd have a beer with both guys and listen to their stories all day.
Peter Allisons books are so easy to read I just wish they were longer! In his usual style this book is both informative and hilarious. Inti Wara Yassi sounds amazing and i would like to go and walk a puma myself
Not as good as his safari books, but still fun. He's funny, self deprecating and can weave a story with the best of them. Read it while in South America which made it more fun.
I liked this but not as much as I liked the earlier ones about him being a guide in Botswana.
Great book went straight out and bought another by same author !
This was a fast, fun read, though I didn't enjoy it as much as his other two books. However, I like the voice that he writes with and I appreciate how he can write both humorous and heartfelt anecdotes. He is a great voice for conservation and someone I would love to go on safari with in the future.
Oh, for the love of animals, a humorous story, I could read this again.
May 08, 2013
Michele
marked it as to-read
May 08, 2013
Trish
marked it as to-read
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“I answered that I was sure, and he asked me again, and this time I understood his concern. ‘I’m not embarrassed!’ I said, or at least tried to say, before recalling that embarazada means something entirely different to ‘embarrassed’ and that I’d just wailed at the doctor that I wasn’t pregnant, something his medical training had presumably made evident to him.”
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“But after dealing with Roy for a while I just wanted to get through the time I’d signed on for, to prove to myself that I couldn’t be beaten by a girly-faced, chicken-boned, racist cat.”
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1 person liked it
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