Wild Borneo: The Wildlife and Scenery of Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan
by Nick Garbutt
from The MIT Press
2007 Kiriyama Prize "Notable Book".
The island of Borneo is a place of great natural beauty and rich biodiversity. From the peaks of the majestic Mount Kinabalu to the enchanting coral-fringed islands that lie offshore, with vast tracts of lush rainforest in between, Borneo's landscape is as varied as it is magnificent. In Wild Borneo, author Nick Garbutt embarks upon a fascinating investigation into the wonders of this island, exploring every aspect of Borneo's terrain, from its rainforest-covered lowland areas to its mountain ranges, highland areas, and winding rivers. He shows us the profusion of flora and fauna living within these habitats, including the enormous Rafflesia flower, the carnivorous Pitcher plants, snakes, frogs and lizards that fly, fish that walk on mud, and rich and varied bird life. The island is home to a diversity of mammal species, some of which are highly unusual, including the outrageous-looking Proboscis Monkey, the remarkably tolerant Bornean Pygmy Elephant, the diminutive and shaggy Sumatran Rhinoceros, the native Bornean Orang-utan, and the doe-eyed, endearing Slow Loris.
Published in association with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, Wild Borneo also examines the ongoing attempts to preserve the island's natural resources in the face of commercial logging and large-scale land clearing. Illustrated with more than 200 stunning photographs, this book offers a vivid celebration of Borneo's many natural wonders.
Sandakan Brothel #8: An episode in the history of lower-class Japanese women
by Tomoko Yamazaki
from M.E. Sharpe
Mubarak Al-Sabah: Founder of Modern Kuwait, 1896-1915
by B. J. Slot
from Arabian Pub.
Descent into Chaos: The Doomed Expedition to Low's Gully
by Richard Connaughton
from Potomac Books
Islamic Art in the Kuwait National Museum: The Al-Sabahv Collection
Wild Malaysia: The Wildlife and Scenery of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak, and Sabah
by Junaidi Payne
from The MIT Press
Wild Malaysia is a major new pictorial study of the natural history of southeast Asia's southernmost peninsula and offshore islands, which are home to an enormous wealth of species. Produced in association with the World Wide Fund for Nature, it is illustrated with 400 superb full-color plates taken especially for this book, of plants, insects and other invertebrates, fish, reptiles, frogs, birds, and mammals, each in its natural habitat.
Wild Malaysia offers a general yet accurate introduction to this spectacularly scenic region and its national parks. Malaysia's tropical islands, topped by rainforest and ringed by coral reefs and transparent blue seas, are as beautiful and untouched as anywhere in the world. Its vast and exotic wildlife encompasses elephants and the world's smallest rhinoceros, a profusion of monkeys and apes (including proboscis and leaf monkeys, gibbons, and orangutans), the slow loris and the tarsier, the clouded leopard and the sunbear, bats and reptiles, a spectacular variety of bird and marine life, and over 10,000 species of plants.
An extensive introduction examines the topography, history, climate, and peoples of Malaysia and includes important discussions of the relationship between man and forest, between conservation and development. Sections on animal and plant life provide an overview of the multiplicity of species to be found. And in "A Walk through the Rainforest," Junaidi Payne explains the complex interdependence of the forest ecosystem, details Malaysia's conservation programs, and the plans to create new reserves and protected areas not only in the forest but on the islands and surrounding seas as well.
Individual chapters describe peninsular Malaysia's islands, coastal areas, and hill forest (many of which have been designated as national parks), Sarawak's great rivers and cave systems, and Sabah's offshore islands with their coral reefs, marine life, and exotic flora. There is also a complete list of conservation areas.
Gerald Cubitt is one of the world's leading natural history photographers. Junaidi Payne is a professional conservation biologist and Senior Scientific Officer with World Wide Fund Malaysia. He is coauthor with Charles M. Francis of A Field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo.
Al-Sabah: Genealogy and History of Kuwait's Ruling Family, 1752-1986 (Middle East Cultures Series, No 13)
by Alan Rush
from Ithaca
Kuwait, 1950-1965: Britain, the al-Sabah, and Oil (British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Monographs) (British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Monograph)
by Simon C. Smith
from British Academy
Based on a wide range of official and private papers, this study examines the development of relations between Kuwait and Britain during the reign of Shaikh Abdullah Salim - a period of spectacular expansion in oil production. Of particular concern are Kuwait's role in the post-war British economy, the survival of the al-Sabah ruling family in an era of unprecedented change, and the interaction of Kuwait with the Arab world.
Property and Politics in Sabah, Malaysia: Native Struggles over Land Rights (Culture, Place, and Nature)
by Amity A. Doolittle
from University of Washington Press
In 1990, shortly after a Malaysian politician announced that the boundaries of Kinabalu Park, a primary tourist destination, were to be expanded to include the species-rich tropical forest known locally as Bukit Hempuen, most of the area was burned to the ground, allegedly by local people. What would motivate the people who had for generations hunted and gathered forest products there to act so destructively?
In this volume, Amity Doolittle illuminates this and other contemporary land-use issues by examining how resources were used historically in Sabah from 1881 to 1996 and what customary rights of access to land and resources were enjoyed by local people. Drawing upon anthropology, political science, environmental history, and political ecology, she looks at how control over and access to resources have been defined, negotiated, and contested by colonial state agents, the postcolonial Malaysian state, and local people.
The study is grounded in methodological and theoretical advances in the field of political ecology, merging the traditions of human ecology and political economy and looking at environmental conflicts in terms of the particulars of place, culture, and history. Doolittle assumes that environmental problems have causes that are complex and changing and that solutions must be specific to time and place. Using a political ecology perspective allows her to focus on the root causes of environmental degradation, exposing the underlying political, economic, and social forces at work. The challenge in the twenty-first century, she writes, is to move beyond blaming local people for resource degradation and to find ways to achieve equitable access to natural resources and more sustainable land use practices.
Property and Politics in Sabah, Malaysia has great relevance to development studies, political ecology, environmental planning, anthropology, and legal studies in natural resource management.
Pairin's victory: 1985-1986 Sabah elections
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