Books by Laurens Van Der Post

A distinguished writer, explorer, and philosopher analyzes the interconnected twists of fate that led him to expeditions in Africa, to serve against the Japanese in World War II, to develop a close friendship with Carl Jung, and more.

Presents the personal story of a World War II POW who stayed behind in Japan in August 1945 to help preserve peace and ended up overseeing the same Japanese who had held him in captivity and ordered his execution.

A spiral-bound recipe book accompanies an illustrated survey of the many traditions in African cuisine.

During his lengthy career, author van der Post gave a number of lectures on various topics, but mostly concerning his impressions of his native continent, Africa. Several of these lectures were transcribed and printed as essays. CREATIVE PATTERN IN PRIMITIVE AFRICA is one such volume and in it, van der Post discusses the relationship between spirituality and storytelling among the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert.

An anthology of personal experiences and observations demonstrates the author's African heritage, his explorations in the Kalahari, his adventures in Japan and Russia, and his friendship with C. G. Jung.

A blend of personal reminiscence and historical insight seasons a history of Africa through its food, from the antelope of the Bushmen to the pastries of the Cape Colonists.

During his lengthy career, author van der Post gave a number of lectures on various topics, but mostly concerning his impressions of his native continent, Africa. Several of these lectures were transcribed and printed as essays. In INTUITION, INTELLECT & THE RACIAL QUESTION, which was originally delivered in 1963 at Adelphi University in New York, van der Post discusses the topic from his perspective as a native African of European descent.

During the 1950s, in the early stages of the Cold War, author van der Post set off across the Russian continent, interviewing the ordinary citizens and noting his impressions of the country--this volume is a journal of that trip.

Recounts the life and career of the great psychiatrist, his conversations with the author, a longtime friend, and the importance of his theories and writings to contemporary humanity.

An account of the author's grueling, but ultimately successful, journey in 1957, through Africa's remote, primitive Kalahari Desert, in search of the legendary bushmen, the hunters who pray to the great hunters in the sky.

A New York psychoanalyst and a Kalahari Bushman inspire the author to an exploration of primitive consciousness and the modern unconscious and their common promptings and imponderables.

Two old friends recall their experiences during World War II that reflect the love and brotherhood men find in the midst of hardship.

This encyclopedic and easily comprehended work, whose range extends from the Paleolithic Age to the present-day Gaia Hypothesis, is a grand synthesis of art, mythology, literature, and psychology. "A wonderfully readable synthesis . . . packed with riveting illustrations".--Publishers Weekly.

During his lengthy career, author van der Post gave a number of lectures on various topics, but mostly concerning his impressions of his native continent, Africa. Several of these lectures were transcribed and printed as essays. Condensed from four different lectures delivered over four days in October 1961, PATTERNS OF RENEWAL is one such volume and in it, van der Post discusses the storytelling methods of the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert with a focus on images of renewal.

This collection of linked short stories and novellas, upon which the film MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE was based, deals with the memories and experiences of British officers held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Indonesia during World War II.

In the South African bushland, on the border of the Kalahari desert, a white teenager and young Bushman forge a friendship that is tested by everything from girl problems to the region's tangled politics.

Describes the Bushmen traditions and culture, looks at the routines of their daily life, and explains why their nomadic existence is threatened.

Combines a spiritual odyssey with the author's account of his dangerous journey--part of a British fact-finding mission--through two little-known regions of British Central Africa in 1949

The author of The Heart of the Hunter shares his vision and his manifesto for renewal in the human spirit in this collection of three essays--"The Little Memory," "The Great Memory," and "The Other Journey."

The author looks back on the experiences, places, people, and beliefs that have shaped his life.