Among Tigers: Fighting to Bring Back Asia's Big Cats [Mīkstie vāki]

“A splendid and important testament to what it takes to save this storied, apex predator in a world swarming with humans and awash in greed and needs. This book is essential reading for everyone who wants to see the tiger survive.” —Sy Montgomery, author of Spell of the Tiger and The Soul of an Octopus 

For over five decades, K. Ullas Karanth has been engaged in the struggle to bring wild tigers back from the brink in India, their last remaining wild stronghold. He tells the story of the tiger itself—its incredible biology, its critical role in shaping natural ecosystems of Asia, and the unique place it holds in our collective imagination.

But Among Tigers is also the story of how we wound up with fewer than 5,000 wild tigers, and how, with focused efforts, we can grow that population ten times or more in a few decades. In doing so, we would bring not only the world’s largest and most beloved feline back from the brink, but also save countless other species that share the tigers habitats from the freezing forests of Siberia to the tropics of India.

Karanth shares the adventurous real-life story of his quest to save a species and, along the way, the hopeful realization that tiger conservation is a battle that can be won. 

Ultimately, the book is a roadmap showing us how to not only save the greatest of great cats but also bring it roaring back at numbers never before seen in our lifetimes.

This hilarious travelogue comes to us from 'down under,' where it was first published, and is probably unlike any other travel account you have ever read. Sheward hits the road with her twenty-something chum, Elisa, as they head for Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia with nary a plan. Sheward has a sharp ear for humor, with chapter titles such as “The Annoyance of Being Earnest,” “Haight-Ashbury on the Mekong,” “Animosity Bridge,” and “Subterranean Hoedown.” They find themselves in the most incredible situations. They meet characters like the “Kip Kid” and the “Queen of Whatever” and a variety of stoned backpackers and slum runners who turn out to provide a series of absurd and laugh-out-loud misadventures.Once you have taken this wayward journey through Southeast Asia, your perception of the world may be altered somewhat, but you will have been highly amused and even informed by this unique adventure. From a bizarre encounter with a Xena-obsessed hotel clerk in northern Thailand, to a stoned flight on a crumbling Russian plane in Laos, harassed in Vietnam and confused in Cambodia, Tamara Sheward takes a wayward journey through the underbelly of Southeast Asia so often bypassed by traditional travel writers. Peppered with swindlers, sleazeballs and sanctimonious hippies, Bad Karma puts backpacker culture through the wringer.

Sheward hits the road with her twenty-something chum, Elissa, and they head for Thailand, Laos and Cambodia with nary a plan. Sheward has a gift for writing humorous prose, with chapter titles such as "Smells Like Leprosy" amd "Subterranean Hoedown," and they find themselves in the most incredible situations. They meet these characters, like the Kip Kid and the Queen of Whatever, and a variety of stoned backpackers and slum runners, in what turns out to be a series of absurd and funny misadventures. Sheward is our guide on a wayward journey through the underbelly of South-East Asia, so often bypassed by traditional travel writers.