Pickell, David

views updated

PICKELL, David

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Simi Valley, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Tuttle Publishing, 153 Milk St., Boston, MA 02109.

CAREER:

Writer, editor, and explorer.

WRITINGS:

(With Wally Slagian) Diving Bali: A Guide to the World's Greatest Diving, Tuttle Publishing (Boston, MA), 2000.

Kamoro: Between the Tides in Irian Jaya, photographs by Kal Muller, Aopao Productions (Jakarta, Indonesia), 2001.

Between the Tides: A Fascinating Journey among the Kamoro of New Guinea, photographs by Kal Muller, Periplus Editions: Tuttle Publishing (Boston, MA), 2003.

EDITOR

Borneo: Journey into the Tropical Rainforest, photographs by Kal Muller, Passport Books (Lincolnwood, IL), 1990.

East of Bali, from Lombok to Timor: Periplus Adventure Guide, photographs by Kal Muller, Passport Books (Lincolnwood, IL), 1991.

Kalimantan: Indonesian Borneo, text and photographs by Kal Muller, Periplus Editions (Singapore), 1996.

Maluku: Indonesian Spice Islands, text and photographs by Kal Muller, Periplus Editions (Singapore), 1997.

SIDELIGHTS:

An explorer and travel writer, David Pickell has written or edited books about diving, exploration, and adventure in exotic locations around the world. With coauthor Wally Slagian, Pickell wrote Diving Bali: A Guide to the World's Greatest Diving, in which the authors provide detailed descriptions of some of the best places for exciting and visually rich diving off the Balinese coast. Pickell and Slagian explore the uniqueness of the sites they profile, and add informative background information on topics such as marine life, reef ecosystems, weather, tides, and more. The book also includes detailed maps and contact information for dive operations, transportation, and hotels.

In Between the Tides: A Fascinating Journey among the Kamoro of New Guinea, Pickell and photographer Kal Muller present a detailed profile of a culture once thought to be extinct. The Kamoro are a nomadic group numbering fewer than 20,000 who live in Irian Jaya, the Indonesian half of New Guinea. Long-term exposure to Dutch, Malay, and other Indonesian cultures was thought to have wiped out traditional Kamoro ways of life. However, when Muller chanced upon a Kamoro initiation ceremony, he recognized that the culture was still intact. Between the Tides documents Pickell and Muller's 1997 travels among the Kamoro as they documented cultural practices, ceremonies, social customs, and other unique aspects of Kamoro life, including ceremonies and practices being rediscovered or recreated. The book provides "both contemporary and historical views of this little-known culture," commented Lucille M. Boone in Library Journal, and includes material on the area's wildlife, geology, history, and plant life.