The Tiger

John Vaillant’s first book was the national bestseller The Golden Spruce, which won the Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction, as well as several other awards. He has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Outside, National Geographic and The Walrus, among other publications. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife and children.www.johnvaillant.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/JohnVaillantTwitter: JohnVAILLANT

出版者:Vintage

作者:John Vaillant

页数:352

出版时间:2011-5-3

价格:USD 16.00

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9780307389046

图书标签:NonFictionBiology远东俄罗斯东北虎TextbookSurvivalRyanReadingList

It’s December 1997, and a man-eating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia’s Far East. The tiger isn’t just killing people, it’s annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. As the trackers sift through the gruesome remains of the victims, they discover that these attacks aren’t random: the tiger is apparently engaged in a vendetta. Injured, starving, and extremely dangerous, the tiger must be found before it strikes again.

As he re-creates these extraordinary events, John Vaillant gives us an unforgettable portrait of this spectacularly beautiful and mysterious region. We meet the native tribes who for centuries have worshipped and lived alongside tigers, even sharing their kills with them. We witness the arrival of Russian settlers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, soldiers and hunters who greatly diminished the tiger populations. And we come to know their descendants, who, crushed by poverty, have turned to poaching and further upset the natural balance of the region.

This ancient, tenuous relationship between man and predator is at the very heart of this remarkable book. Throughout we encounter surprising theories of how humans and tigers may have evolved to coexist, how we may have developed as scavengers rather than hunters, and how early Homo sapiens may have fit seamlessly into the tiger’s ecosystem. Above all, we come to understand the endangered Siberian tiger, a highly intelligent super-predator that can grow to ten feet long, weigh more than six hundred pounds, and range daily over vast territories of forest and mountain.

Beautifully written and deeply informative, The Tiger circles around three main characters: Vladimir Markov, a poacher killed by the tiger; Yuri Trush, the lead tracker; and the tiger himself. It is an absolutely gripping tale of man and nature that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the taiga.

From the Hardcover edition.

用户评价

非常好看！这个作者不懂俄语，却写出一本后苏联时代俄罗斯滨海边疆区民族志一样的nonfiction，可见其下功夫之深。他在acknowledgement里格外致谢了他的俄语翻译，我觉得这个翻译对于此书成书的举足轻重的贡献值得格外大书特书。

非常好看！这个作者不懂俄语，却写出一本后苏联时代俄罗斯滨海边疆区民族志一样的nonfiction，可见其下功夫之深。他在acknowledgement里格外致谢了他的俄语翻译，我觉得这个翻译对于此书成书的举足轻重的贡献值得格外大书特书。

复仇的老虎好比白鲸或奥德赛中的独眼巨人，射向老虎的子弹就如同掷向白鲸的鱼叉般无力。与前辈亚森尼耶夫一样，作者将硬科学和大冒险细腻地揉捏在了一起。The Tiger不仅是本很好的老虎教科书，而且是本不错的历史书，作者不但分析了文化大革命和大跃进，甚至在引语中使用了苛政猛于虎，顿时泪幕。由布拉德皮特主演的电影不知何日杀青，但是在被作者被判为虎制品走私黑洞的天朝恐难上映，就在前几天还看到有人网购小老虎。。。另外还了解到一些趣味八卦，比如不光罗斯福和亚森尼耶夫，就连纳博科夫也是Captain Mayne Reid的粉丝，老纳在小时候竟然还将一部分The Headless Horseman翻译成了12音节的亚历山大体诗！

读的很慢,但实在写的太优美。也都是熟悉的人物,就没有中断的读了。

读的很慢,但实在写的太优美。也都是熟悉的人物,就没有中断的读了。