The Second Jim Corbett Omnibus: My India Jungle Lore Tree Tops

Excellent delivery time and a superb read.

Tales of a great time in the last centuary

This is the 3rd time I've bought this book, says so much about the content and so little of my friends! Fascinating insight into rural India, it's people and fauna. Moving to Kenya the chapter on Tree Tops is a marvellous account of events as Princess Elizabeth became Her Majesty the Queen. Few men have a nature reserve named after them, Corbett is one. Indicative of the esteem in which he was held.

A very insightful book full of interesting tales and events that give background to who Jim Corbett was when he wasn't hunting.

This book is the 'follow up' to the first omnibus of Jim Corbett's accounts of hunting man-eaters. It fleshes out some of the biography of his life and will be of interest and enjoyment to those who likes his accounts of man-eaters. I will say the same about the author and the stories as I said about his first collection, then say a bit more about this particular production / publication of it: First off, this is a fantastic read and a great collection of Jim Corbett's stories. had read one or two of his stories in a larger collection of stories by many authors, as a child, and they had always captivated my imagination. Jim Corbett had more real understanding or, and balanced sympathy to nature than most of today's 'climate activists' and 'eco-warriors'. He had what I would regard as a healthy and correct relationship to nature: he loved it, understood his environment deeply and could read it like a book in a way few can today, lived in it all his life, but also understood when human intervention was necessary and that human life trumped animal life when a hard choice had to be made between the two (something else today's eco-warrriors get backwards most of the time), yet was never wantonly cruel towards animals, perhaps because he understood them so well. Towards the end of his life he traded the gun for a camera and shot film instead of bullets, but still tracking his 'prey' with the same vitality in a way that reminds me of when Sioux warriors used 'count coup' on an enemy by getting close enough to touch them with a coup stick in a non-lethal way that still demonstrated their prowess and bravery. He helped establish one of the first nature parks in India. These books should be on the shelves of every zoo, animal reserve gift shop and other place where the proprietors claim to 'promote nature'. This omnibus will flesh out more of his life story to those already familiar with his accounts of man-eating tigers and leopards. Like the other omnibus produced by the New Delhi branch of Oxford University Press, it shares some quality problems: 1. Other buyers have commented on the very thin paper used in the pages. It's true, the pages are so thin that the images and text from the other side of the page often show through (see pic). In some ways this can be a nuisance, making the text challenging to read at time if the light is angled on it the wrong way, or shines through a page (eg don't read it outdoors in sunshine for example, or with a lamp in front). But if the light falls squarely on the page I think the effect is not so pronounced and not so annoying. Very thin paper also means a much lighter, thinner book than it would otherwise be: nearly 600 pages in this omnibus. Heavy books look great on the coffee table but are not practical or comfortable to hold steady and read in bed, or on a flight. So, in a way, thin pages are actually an advantage here. 2. There are a number of typos and mispellings found throughout the text that suggest it was not properly proof-read, but on the whole, these are few enough to not interfere with the flow of the story. They are just evidence of a hurriedly-made and printed product. 3. Likewise, the same limited stock of illustrations are often repeated throughout the text, sometimes the same illustration used to accompany totally different stories, or stock images of the jungle, a tiger and so on - and often out of context, such as a pencil sketch of a tiger in the middle of a story about a leopard as if the publishers thought 'well, it's something to do with big felines anyway'. The artist was probably paid to produce 'X' number of pictures and the publishers just used these over and over. The quality of the pictures is often rather mediocre: the artist can't have ever seen a real gun, or how one is held when fired, though surely examples must be available in real life, museums or online to draw inspiration from? Once again, if you are forgiving, these don't stop you from enjoying the story. 4. On top of that, this book arrived with the final section 'Tree Tops' - about 100 pages in total - separated / torn from the spine as seen in the photos above. The tear is towards the bottom of the pages, and so they are still attached to the book, but it is very poor quality to sell a book like this. It is either very careless or downright dishonest of the sellers not to check the book before posting it (it arrived in plastic wrap as if it were fresh off the press) or state in advance it was torn and maybe mark down the price. For a full price on a new book, I expect to get a book in new condition and not torn. No, i am not going to to return it, it's not worth the hassle and expense, I will put some PVA glue on the spine where the tear is and hope it fixes the problem a bit. But it is really a shoddy quality product to arrive, presented as brand new, like this. My verdict: just about worth the money if you're buying this to read for yourself, but I wouldn't buy it as a gift for anyone eg for a birthday, Christmas etc and try and find a better quality production instead.

Read this book years ago great read

Bought as a present for my son. He admires Jim Corbett as much as I do. Don't go to walk the dogs on a dark night after reading one of these.

Good book thanks

Entertaining as always! Book in great condition with print that is easy on the eyes.

Good book, nicely written

Je note l'envoyeur, pas l'auteur. Corbett est toujours une excellente lecture et je ne doute pas qu'il en est de même pour ce volume. Mais quand le colis arrive vide, je suis en droit de déconseiller cet achat. De plus, le site ne prévoit aucune option pour le signaler. Je n'ai que l'option de "renvoyer le produit" pour obtenir un renseignement, et si je ne le fais pas d'ici 30 jours je paye. Sans produit entre les mains, cela m'est impossible. Ce commentaire est ma seule manière de signaler le problème à Amazon. J'espère qu'il sera pris en compte au moins, et que cette dernière porte ne me sera pas fermée au nez.

AS always Corbett is a winner. Wonderful read. Wonderful print quality.

Leí Man eaters of Kumaon a los 11 años. Me fascinó. Pero cuando lo releí ya en ingles a los 22, yo ya sabia lo que era la selva, porque habia estado alli. También sabia el terror que puede originar un devorador de hombres: Entre Longa y Mavinga en Angola, tuve protagonismo en un caso horrible. Asi que cuando relei Man eaters, comprendí lo que expresaba Corbett con la sencillez de un Premio Nobel. Mi India es precioso, y Jungle Lore ya lo conocía. Es el primer libro autenticamente ecologista (de los de verdad) en la Historia. Y naturalmente, lo escribió quien sabia apretar el gatillo del rifle cuando la vida de sus semejantes estaba en juego.