Into the Heart of Borneo and In Trouble Again by Redmond O'Hanlon.

To be clear, O'Hanlon was a natural history book REVIEWER, before all this. His editor decided, in a fit of whimsy, to pack him up and send him to Borneo for two months.

"As a former academic and a natural history book reviewer I was astonished to discover, on being threatened with a two-month exile to the primary jungles of Borneo, just how fast a man can read.

Powerful as your scholarly instincts may be, there is no matching the strength of that irrational desire to find a means of keeping your head upon your shoulders; of retaining your frontal appendage in its accustomed place; of barring 1,700 different species of parasitic worm from your bloodstream and Wagler's pit viper from just about anywhere; of removing small, black, wild-boar ticks from your crutch with minimum discomfort (you do it with Sellotape); of declining to wear a globulating necklace of leeches all day long; of sidestepping amoebic and basillary dysentery, yellow and blackwater and dengue fevers, malaria, cholera, typhoid, rabies, hepatitis, tuberculosis and the crocodile (thumbs in its eyes, if you have time, they say)."

The book is an absolute delight and when he survived, returned, and submitted it, his reward was to be sent to the Amazon for FOUR months.

He did a third book in the Congo which is not a light and friendly read. I'm glad I read it, but it's absolutely horrifying on multiple levels.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/...

His 4th book, Trawler, isn't as morose as No Mercy, but it's not light and friendly either. Basically "Deadliest Catch: The Book".

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/...