The Encounter: Amazon Beaming

Description

1971, the American photographer Loren McIntyre finds himself stranded in the depths of the Amazon rainforest, on the border between Brazil and Peru. Finding refuge with the Mayoruma tribe - the famous and elusive 'cat people' of the Javari Valley, McIntyre must adjust to a strange new way of life. Before long he finds his perception of the world beginning to change, and an unusual relationship starts to develop with the Mayoruma chief - is McIntryre really able to communicate telepathically with the headman? Petru Popescu's narrative account is interspersed with notes from McIntyre's diary to create a fascinating and disorientating account of an extraordinary true story.

Born in Bucharest in 1944, Petru Popescu is a Romanian-American writer, director and film producer. He studied English language and literature at Bucharest University before defecting to the United States from Communist Romania in 1975, after which his books were banned in his own country. His books include The Encounter and Almost Adam.

[Petru Popescu] gives McIntyre's story the narrative drive of a thriller... a book that suggests new ways of looking at the world and our place within it Sunday Telegraph Blazing tale of mysticism and acculturation Financial Times [An] eye-popping account... according to several excited critics, McBurney's use of the very latest in sound technology has the miraculous effect of making you feel you're right there in the Amazon jungle with Loren McIntyre and the Mayoruna. But for proof that the same effect can be produced by the rather less advanced method of ink on paper, look no further than this book Daily Mail As powerful and mystical as any ancient epic... Travel writing in a class of its own: Heart of Darkness meets Walden The Lady A fascinating tale of ethical and spiritual dilemmas Wanderlust An extraordinary, gripping tale Publishers Weekly Strange and wonderful... Fascinating reading... A sort of Castaneda exercise in mystical and ecological inquiry Kirkus Reviews