"Now this is REAL adventure: no radios, compasses, ice, emergency supplies for months at a time through one of the most hazardous and fascinating regions on earth."
-SIR RICHARD BRANSON
"Sets sails and sights for lands as unfamiliar and spectacular as anything dreamed up for a Steven Spielberg movie. Thoroughly fascinating nearly every harrowing step of the way."
- WASHINGTON POST
"Incomparable adventure teeming with thrills, chills, mystery and the bizarre."
- LOS ANGELES TIMES
The true story behind the award-winning PBS television series, Ring of Fire charts the Blair brothers' 10-year sojourn through the world's largest and least-known archipelago - the Islands of Indonesia. Amid impenetrable rain forests, erupting volcanoes and startling natural beauty, the brothers have captured on film and in words the story of one of the most captivating and intriguing explorations ever made.
Their odyssey began in 1972 with a 2,500-mile voyage through the fabled Spice Islands, in search of the Greater Bird of Paradise. A decade of further exploration followed, during which the authors lived amongst the Asmat cannibals of West Papua and the healers of Bali, and encountered man-eating dragons in Komodo and the elusive 'dream wanderers' of Borneo. With extraordinary courage, humour and passion for the unknown the Blairs draw us into a magical land where ancient myths still flourish.
LAWRENCE BLAIR is also the author of Rhythms of Vision. He has appeared on television both sides of the Atlantic and has lectured on psycho-anthropology at the University of Southern California. The late Lorne Blair worked for the BBC until 1971, when he began his work as an independent filmmaker. His films, including the prize-winning Lempad of Bali, have appeared on international television. The film series Ring of Fire - An Indonesian Odyssey is available on iTunes and Vimeo.
Blair, Lawrence: - "Dr. Lawrence Blair is an explorer, film maker, author and public speaker on the peoples and creatures of Indonesia. A resident of Bali he has assisted and led marine expeditions throughout the archipelago since the Lindblad Explorer - the first genuinely exploratory tourist ship - broached the Spice Islands in l978. His onboard companions have included Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, Sir Peter Scott, Ron and Valerie Taylor, Sir Michael Cowdray, Baron Von Schenk, Larry Summers, Richard Dawkins and numerous luminaries, less publicly known, in the fields of science.Educated in Britain, France and Mexico, Lawrence Blair earned his doctorate at Lancaster University, England, with a thesis which explored and defined the field of Psycho-Anthropology. This was subsequently published as the highly successful book: Rhythms of Vision - The Changing Patterns of Belief. He is also the writer, presenter and co-producer (with his late brother Lorne) of the PBS and BBC TV adventure series Ring of Fire, winner of two EMMY awards, aired in over sixty nations, and introduced by Richard Gere. Lawrence also wrote the companion book Ring of Fire, describing the brothers' astounding ten years of filming their Indonesian explorations. The book remained for ten weeks on the UK's TOP TEN BEST SELLER LIST. In 2005 and 2006 he wrote, presented and co-produced for SKY TV UK, the 5-part series Myths Magic and Monsters. Lawrence has lectured and appeared widely on international radio and tv, elucidating psycho-anthropology, tribal mysticism and the 'secrets' of Indonesia."
