lord have mercy! that was a tough book to read. had it not been for my brother in law's high recommendation I would have dropped it for the repeated violence against y-women. I'm so relieved that the y-shaman telling the story to the author finally came to Christ as well as his tribe. at what price. but then it makes me think of all the bloody wars us civilized people have gone through just as bloody and brutal. it is the same spirit of doom, destruction and despair that the devil has against us creatures made by our Lord God Almighty. in the end I am glad I have read this testimony from a y-brother.

Great book!

Written from the point of view of the Yanomamo people of the rainforest, Spirit of the Rainforest is both disturbing and hopeful. What we believe is how we interact with the world. This true story reflects that.

I was surpriesed to find an assigned book from class turned out to be the best book I've read this year so far. Granted it's still only March, but the book is incredible in how it connects you to the Yanomamo people emotionally. There were many stories that had me cringing and angry, but I also laughed and felt joy in many instances as well. A must read for anyone.

This is such an egregious example of Christian propaganda that at a few points I burst out laughing at how silly it is. Ritchie portrays the Yanomamo as mostly wretched and "miserable," and so it's up to us more civilized people to help them learn better ways. (Ritchie responds to the charge of propaganda by pointing to a couple of his unflattering portrayals of missionaries in the book, but this isn't even remotely convincing.) The surprising thing is that the story is actually really compelling at points. Though it ought to be labeled as fiction, and all the conversion and epiphany scenes are just ridiculous, I have to admit I enjoyed reading it, and it even conveyed a few aspects of Yanomamo culture relatively well.

Crazy history of God's power and demonic strongholds in the Amazonian Rainforest.

I was assigned to read this book for class. This book is powerful, but it can also be very sad and disturbing. The book contains graphic depictions of rape and murder and many other things. It is definitely not for squeamish. It is a page turner, but after reading some of the stuff, I would have to put it away for a little while which is why it took me a while to read it. But I do recommend this book.

This book is not for the faint of heart, wow... Western culture is desensitized to spiritual warfare (many people deny a spiritual world even exists), but it is very real.

Brutally honest, compelling, convicting... The stories in this book reveal the depravity of mankind and the change of heart that the Word of God brings about.

Warning: fairly graphic depictions of murder, rape, and other violence. I don't fault the book for this; it's absolutely necessary for the story considering these are a common part of life for many Yanomamö people. Proceed with caution while reading, though.

I greatly appreciate Mark Andrew Ritchie's transparency. He has lived among the Yanomamö people and worked hard to fact-check the information in this book. These are not his personal beliefs or opinions; these are firsthand accounts as told by people who have committed, lived through, and been delivered from unimaginable horrors. Ritchie simply listened to these stories and wrote them down.

"I'm a nonfiction writer because fiction has to be 'real', but nonfiction only has to have happened."

Incredible story. This book is shocking, emotional, funny, uncomfortably graphic, easy to read, incredibly fascinating, and extremely eye-opening. Written through the eyes of a former shaman himself, this book takes you through a span of generations in the heart of the Amazon where this particular tribe lives and operates in their shamanistic practices.

It's easy to think of small uninterrupted tribes as ignorant, innocent and totally cut off from the fallen world, and much of the secular view is to just "leave these tribes alone - they don't need outside influence", but this in-depth look into their lives reminds me that MAN, no matter how "civilized" or not (what does that even mean anyway), is still man. Left to his own authority, he is sinful and corrupt and desperately in need of a God who saves from violence, immorality, death and turmoil.

This book is such a neat look at missionary work from the viewpoint of the people on the receiving end. It has opened my eyes to how the Lord can work, and how the devil also works to blind men’s eyes.
Warning though.... there is graphic violence and a lot of rape and other sexual happenings.

The first half of this book captivated me and wouldn't let me go. The story is told by an Amazonian Shaman. It's about what their life is like in the rainforest. It's graphic, violent, and shocking! The second half was by the American author who had transcribed the stories from the Shaman. He gives a defense of what was written in the first half and deals with the pushback he received from secular anthropologists for writing this controversial book.

The author(s) brought out the big issues of life in vivid, graphic storytelling.
There were many parallels between this "savage," uneducated culture, and our own. I especially liked how it brought out the reality of the moral law which is found in all cultures, tribes, and tongues. For Christians, it is also an excellent illustration of spiritual warfare.

We, "advanced" Westerners, tend to look down on these "simple people," yet we could learn a lot from them, especially in the spiritual world which we tend to ignore and live as if it doesn't exist.
It also reminded me of just how level the ground is at the foot of the cross and just how essential the gospel is to all cultures.

An excerpt from the book Christians will probably enjoy -

"Redhair lay in his hammock for two days because of the beating he got in the fight with Forgetful Village. Finally, he fell asleep from all the pain and his family thought he was almost dead. They ran to get the nabas to come and help. Everyone came into the house while they worked on Redhair. They knew he was near death, and they began wailing and mourning. "This young man is one of our own," one of the men said. "He was born here. He grew up here. If he dies, we'll have to go teach Forgetful Village a good lesson and take Yoshicami back." They all knew he was right. Something would have to be done about this killing. Then suddenly Redhair sat up perfectly well. Quiet fell over everyone. He smiled. For the first time since the fight, all his family could see he had no pain. Everyone was excited. "I feel just fine," he said. "Please listen to what I have to tell you. You have all known me all my life. Like so many of you, I'm a child of Yai Pada, the great spirit. Now, as you can see all around you," he said pointing around the house, "his people have come here to take me home. So I'm going with them now, and I just want to say before I go that I don't want any of you to even think about taking revenge against Forgetful Village." When Redhair talked about the people sent by Yai Pada, their excitement turned to concern. "There's no one here to take you," they said, looking around. "You're well. You're going to be fine." Redhair was shocked. "Can't you see these people?" he said. "They're standing all around here, waiting for me to finish talking to you." Everyone stared at him and shook their heads. "I can't believe you can't see them! Look, right there," he said, pointing to places around the house. No one saw anything. "Open your eyes!" Redhair kept pointing all around. "Can't you see them?" But they all just stared at him with sad faces. They shook their heads and clicked their tongues. "Well, they're here for me and I'm going with them to Yai Pada. We won't need revenge where I'm going, so please don't take any on Forgetful Village." For the first time, a crowd of Yanomamö had nothing to say. They watched quietly as Redhair lay back down on his hammock, curled up and died."

A true story about the wonder of incarnation and the need for humanity to understand one another.